Every country and even city has its own thieves in law. But who are these people? What are they like? Some of them are described in this article.
Thieves in law are people who have been given a certain title in the criminal world, who belong to the “elite” of this environment and enjoy great authority among other criminals. Thieves in law are often called "legalists", this is a specific phenomenon in the world of crime. The criminal world is a phenomenon inalienable from human civilization. With each century, new traditions appeared that thieves should adhere to. This article will be devoted to a certain part of the marginal community, calling itself "Armenian thieves in law."
National "Mafia"
This is a group organized according to ethnicity and includes criminals of one of the peoples. Armenian thieves in law declared themselves back in 1980. Unlike the Azerbaijani and Georgian thieves in law, they grouped earlier. At the beginning of their “career”, Armenian thieves extorted money from Moscow compatriots. Probably, everyone remembers the difficult 90s, because it was precisely in these years that banditry flourished in the country.
Crime
In 1991, Armenian thieves in law carried out 52 crimes, and already in 1992 - 100. What happened next? And then every year there were more violations of the Criminal Code. So, already in 1993 the number of crimes reached 182.
In 1992, the Armenian thieves in law in Moscow consisted of 17 groups, the average number of which was more than 40 people. They were pretty influential people. Due to the war that was then in Armenia, from 1992 to 1994, many people left the country, including criminals. In 1994, there were about 150 thousand Armenians in Moscow.
Armenian organized crime groups
In 1995, most of the Armenian organized crime groups lost their leaders, half of them were killed by killers or they suffered during the showdown. In the same year, a conflict broke out in the Armenian group, as a result of which 5 people were killed and half of the community was seriously injured. The activities of organized crime groups were aimed at crimes related to the economy, drug trafficking, robberies. Everything was done in order to take possession of vehicles, appropriate state and personal property.
The most famous Armenian organized crime group at that time was Leninakan, which operated in the Southern District, headed by Gevorok Farzadyan. It consisted of 20 people and specialized in car thefts. There was also a group in the Northern District, calling itself "Metsoyan", it consisted of 30 people. There was an organized criminal group that was engaged in illegal financial operations with weapons, it was called "Madatyana." There were many such organized crime groups; they were "responsible" for a certain area. They had a different composition and specific goals that they performed. Many were engaged in racketeering, dropping debts in various ways, selling drugs, etc.
The total number of all participants in the Armenian groups was more than 500 people. A characteristic feature - these people had experience in warfare and took part in contract crimes. They were disciplined, well controlled by ringleaders. Another feature is the development of ties between group leaders with prominent politicians in Russia and the CIS.
Armenian thieves in law list
The most influential and famous thieves from Armenia were:
- Kamo Safaryan;
- Rafael Baghdasaryan, nicknamed Raf Svo;
- Rudolph Hovhannes;
- Vyachikos Six-fingered;
- Araik Arauelyan;
- Hayk Arakelyan;
- Harutyun Rostomyan;
- Vardkes Aslanyan;
- Rafis Habsalyamov;
- Vachigan Petrosov;
- Tigran Asatryan;
- Marspetuni Petrosyan;
- Robert Sargsyan;
- Nigal Barseghyan and others.
In 2007, Kamo Safaryan and Vardan Asatryan wanted to hold a thieves rally in Kiev, Ukraine, wanting to restore their positions there. But they were detained by the police, and in a very short time they were deported back to their homeland. In 2014, about 60 thieves from Armenia who were engaged in criminal activities lived in other countries. With all this, they rarely appeared at home.
The most influential Armenian thieves in law and their gatherings
The most influential is the organized group “Armenian Power”, it operates in the United States of America. This gang appeared back in the 80s, in Los Angeles County. They transport drugs, engage in fraud, steal personal information, gamble, and abduct people. They also racket, extort money, and even kill people. They cheated on health insurance for the poor. This group includes about 200 thieves.
First Armenian thief in law
Many are interested: the first Armenian thief in law - who is he? Unfortunately, the story is silent about this, but one of the oldest was Karlen Tovmasyan, in the criminal world he was known as Gizh Karlen, or Crazy Karlen. Died of a serious illness at the age of 87. He was faithful to the criminal world for the rest of his life. He was known thanks to the inadequate acts with which he sinned at gatherings. But, unfortunately, this did not help him become the "icon" of the thieves' world either in his native Armenia or abroad.
Many respected him, and some considered him an upstart. They say that he could trump his title, speak out against other thieves in law, and he did it without any reason. Because of such actions, he received the nickname Psycho. Once he came to a thieves ’meeting with girls of easy virtue, later they turned out to be valuable witnesses in the case.