Vyacheslav Ivankov
Born(1940-01-02)2 January 1940
Georgia
Died9 October 2009(2009-10-09) (aged 69)
Moscow, Russia
Resting placeVagankovo Cemetery, Moscow
Other namesYaponchik (Little Japanese)
Occupation(s)Thief, gangster, racketeer, drug-trafficker
Criminal chargeextortion
Penalty10 years in American prison and 10 in Russian prison camp

Vyacheslav Kirillovich Ivankov (Russian: Вячесла́в Кири́ллович Иванько́в; 2 January 1940 – 9 October 2009) was a Russian mafia boss and thief in law who was believed to have connections with Russian state intelligence organizations and their organized crime partners.[1] He operated in both the Soviet Union and the United States. His nickname, "Yaponchik" (Япончик) translates from Russian as "Little Japanese", due to his faintly Asian facial features.[2]

Early life

Ivankov was born in Georgia to parents of Russian ethnicity,[3][4] when it was part of the Soviet Union, to Olga Gostasvits and Bernard Royal-Ivankov, and lived on Iosebidze Street, in the capital of Tbilisi. He grew up in Moscow. Ivankov was an amateur wrestler in his youth and served his first prison time for his participation in a bar fight, in which he claimed he was defending the honor of a woman. After his release, he began to move up in the criminal world, selling goods on the black market. Later Ivankov became involved in gang activity. His gang used forged police documents to enter houses and then burglarize them. In 1974, in Butyrka prison he was "crowned" i.e. awarded by criminal brotherhood the title of vor v zakone (thief in law).

In 1982, authorities had finally caught up with him and he was arrested on firearms, forgery and drug-trafficking charges. Though he was sentenced to fourteen years he was released in 1991, reportedly thanks to the intervention of a powerful politician and a bribed judge of the Russian supreme court.

Ivankov was an ardent anti-Communist.[5]

Moving to the United States

According to Alexander Litvinenko, Ivankov headed the narcotics trafficking of the Uzbek network in the United States.[6][7][8][9][10] Robert Eringer confirmed this.[11]

Ivankov arrived in the United States in March 1992, despite having served a prison sentence of around ten years and a reputation as one of the fiercest and one of the most brutal criminals in Russia. Unlike the Cosa Nostra, where the boss gives out the orders, Ivankov used to go out and extort himself. He had arrived on a regular business visa stating that he would be working in the film industry. His front company in the United States was Slavic, Inc.[12]

His reason for arriving in the United States was not initially clear. The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs advised the FBI that Ivankov had come to "manage and control Russian Organized Crime activities in this country", advice that the FBI took on board. However Alexander Grant, editor for newspaper Novoye Russkoye Slovo said in 1994 Ivankov had left Russia because it was too dangerous for him there, since there are "new criminal entrepreneurs who don't respect the likes of Yaponchik" and that he was not criminally active in the United States.[13] However, Ivankov did become criminally active in the United States. The actual scope of his activities is unclear, since conflicting sources describe his gang on Brighton Beach as around 100 members strong and being the "premier Russian crime group in Brooklyn" to something on the scale of Lucky Luciano's nationwide Mafia Commission many decades earlier.

Ivankov was arrested by the FBI on June 8, 1995, charged with the extortion of $2.7 million from an investment advisory firm known as Summit, ran by two Russian businessmen, and in June the next year he was convicted along with multiple codefendants. At the time of his arrest, Ivankov was found to be in possession of thousands of dollars and seven[14] different passports under different names and countries. A .38 caliber revolver wrapped in a sock was determined by witnesses to have been thrown from the apartment in which Ivankov resided.

During interviews in prison, Ivankov accused the FBI of inventing the "myth" of the Russian mafia in order to prove the usefulness of their Russian division. He stated that Russia "is one uninterrupted criminal swamp," the main criminals being the Kremlin and the FSB and that anybody who thinks he is the leader of the so-called Russian mafia is foolish. He was subsequently transferred from a jail in Brooklyn to the more secure Manhattan Detention Complex (MDC) in Manhattan and then Otisville FCI. Ivankov was incarcerated with his cousin Eugene Slusker, who was also charged in the case. In prison, he became an associate of Pavle Stanimirović, son of Vojislav Stanimirović. Ivankov, Slusker and Stanimirović all retained and utilized the services of attorney Robert S. Wolf; the first American lawyer to ever be allowed entry into Russian Gulag prisons in Siberia.

Semyan "Sam" Kislin

Semyan "Sam" Kislin (born 1934 or 1935 Odesa) was "a member or associate" of Ivankov per a 1994 FBI report obtained by the Associated Press.[15][16] Kislin of Trans Commodities Inc. who hired Michael Cherney to manage Trans Commodities from 1988 to 1992, made donations to Rudy Giuliani's mayoral campaigns in the 1990s.[17][18][19][20] Kislin issued numerous mortgages to investors, who were overwhelming associated with countries from the former Soviet Union, in the 2001 opened Trump World Tower.[21][22] Kislin, who states that he is very close to the Cherney brothers, claims that he persuaded his ally Giuliani to have President Trump claim that Ukraine is full of corruption.[23][24]

Return to Russia

On July 13, 2004, Ivankov was deported to Russia to face murder charges over two Turkish nationals who were shot in a Moscow restaurant following a heated argument in 1992. A third was seriously wounded in the alleged incident. The jury found him not guilty and he was acquitted the same day on July 18, 2005. The witnesses, a police officer among them, claimed to have never seen him in their lives.[25]

2009 assassination

On July 28, 2009, at around 19:20 Moscow time, Ivankov was shot while leaving a restaurant on Khoroshevskoye Road in Moscow. A sniper rifle was found abandoned in a nearby parked vehicle.[26]

Having died from his injuries seventy-three days later, on October 9, 2009,[27] Ivankov was buried in Moscow on October 13, 2009.[28] The funeral was well-publicised, receiving widespread media attention in Russia and worldwide. In attendance were hundreds of gangsters representing criminal syndicates from around the former USSR, each sending their own tributes. One card at the funeral read "From the Dagestani Bratva", another "From the Kazakh Bratva" and one elaborate wreath came from Aslan "Grandpa Hassan" Usoyan who was not himself in attendance. It is suspected that the murder was carried out as part of an ongoing gang war between Usoyan and Georgian crime boss Tariel Oniani, where Ivankov took Usoyan's side.[29]

As a part of the Spanish police operation "Wasp" (Russian: спецоперация «Оса»), Lasha Shushanashvili (Lasha Rustavsky) (Russian: Лаша Шушанашвили (Лаша Руставский); b. 25 July 1961 Rustavi, Georgia), who is close to Aslan Usoyan (Ded Khasan) (Russian: Аслан Усоян (Дед Хасан)) and is in the Brothers' Circle, was arrested in Greece in late January 2012 as the main beneficiary in Ivankov's death and for the attempted murder of Ded Khasan.[30][31] Previously, his younger brother "Koba" or Kakhaber Shushanashvili (Kakha Rustavsky) (Russian: Кахабер Шушанашвили (Каха Руставский)) and Zviad Darsadze (Russian: Звиад Дарсадзе), who was his chief accountant or keeper of the obschak (common fund) (Russian: Общак), were arrested in Barcelona on March 15, 2010 as part of the Spanish police operation "Java" (Russian: полицейской операции «Ява») and extradited to Georgia in early January 2012 but the police in Greece were unable to detain Lasha Shushanashvili when they attempted to arrest him in Thessaloniki.[32][33][34][35] On 3 February 2009, he was arrested for an illegal visit to Russia after which he had to leave Russia within 15 days because on 8 September 2008 he was deemed persona non grata due to his falsifying his papers when he requested Russian citizenship and took refuge in Greece.[33][36][37][38]

Ivankov successor: Alexei Petrov aka Alexei Suvorov

Following the death of Ivankov in 2009, Alexei Petrov (Russian: Алексей Петров; 13 November 1962 Moscow, USSR - 1 August 2019 Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine), also known as Alexei Suvorov (Russian: Алексей Суворов) Lyonya Sly, Lenya the Tricky, or Petrik, became the successor to Ivankov. Just before Ivankov's death, Petrov was the first vor to visit Ivankov while Ivankov was in the hospital at which time Ivankov named Petrov as his successor.[39] Living among Israel, Germany and Austria, he headed the Mazutka gang or Mazutkinskaya OPG (Russian: Мазуткинская ОПГ).[40] When Ivankov left for the United States in March 1992, Petrov headed Ivankov's affairs in Moscow, Russia, and Europe.[41] In 1993 under police surveillance, he left Russia for Ukraine where he married his Ukrainian wife and took her surname then left for Austria and then Nice, France, where the police had great difficulty finding him after his name changed.[41] In 1995, the French detained him on falsified papers, however, the judge released him.[41] Allegedly, he was involved in trafficking narcotics from Central and South America and helped organize the 3 November 1996 assassination of 41 year old Paul Tatum, a co-owner of the Radisson Slavyanskaya Hotel in Moscow.[41][42][43] Upon Yapochik's attempted assassination in 2009 which led to Ivankov's death, Petrov returned to Moscow to be at the side of his godfather Ivankov.[41] Although Petrov tried to prevent the collapse of Ivankov's criminal empire, both Mikhas's Solntsevskaya and the Semion Mogilevich crime network gained Ivankov's criminal assets.[44] Upon Aslan Usoyan's (Ded Khasan) death on 16 January 2013, Petrov became a "judge" over matters involving vory.[41] On 1 August 2019, Petrov was beaten and stabbed to death by two men in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine.[45][46]

Personal

Ivankov's son, Eduard Ivankov, often represented his father's interests at meetings with Semion Mogilevich who was very close to the elder Ivankov.[47]

References

  1. ↑ The Chekist Takeover of the Russian State, Anderson, Julie (2006), International Journal of Intelligence and Counter-Intelligence, 19:2, 237 – 288.
  2. ↑ Gene Mustain and Jerry Capeci (1997-04-21). "Infamous from Moscow to N.Y." NYDailyNews.com. Archived from the original on 2009-10-18. Retrieved 2009-10-15.
  3. ↑ https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-2004-07-08-0407080015-story.html
  4. ↑ https://www.danielkalder.com/essays/requiem-for-a-russian-mobster-coliseum
  5. ↑ "Reputed Russian mob boss gets 10 years". UPI. 29 January 1997. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  6. ↑ Кириленко, Анастасия (Kirilenko, Anastasia) (21 January 2016). "Путин и мафия. За что убили Александра Литвиненко" [Putin and mafia. Why Alexander Litvinenko was killed]. The Insider (in Russian). Archived from the original on 23 January 2016. Retrieved 18 August 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. ↑ Litvinenko, Alexander Схема связей преступного мира, нарисованная Литвиненко (Litvinenko's diagram of the connections of the underworld) Archived from the original on 23 January 2016. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  8. ↑ Радио Озодлик (Radio Ozodlik) (24 February 2016). Литвиненко утверждал о связях «узбекских бандитов Гафура и Салима» с Путиным (Litvinenko claimed links between "Uzbek bandits Gafur and Salim" with Putin). Радио Озодлик. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  9. ↑ Литвиненко, Александр (Litvinenko, Alexander) (2002). ЛПГ (Лубянская преступная группировка) (LPG (Lubyanka criminal group)). Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  10. ↑ Литвиненко, Александр (Litvinenko, Alexander) (2002). Глава 4. Узбекский след (Chapter 4. Uzbek trace). Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  11. ↑ Кириленко, Анастасия (Kirilenko, Anastasia) (16 December 2013). "Путин на "личной службе" у князя Альбера" [Putin on "personal service" with Prince Albert]. Радио Свобода (Radio Svoboda). Archived from the original on 9 October 2016. Retrieved 18 August 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  12. ↑ Friedman, Robert I. (January 22, 1996). "Bern Leaks: Money Plane." New York. Archived from the original on September 29, 2022.
  13. ↑ James O. Finckenauer; Elin J. Waring (1998). Russian Mafia in America: Immigration, Culture, and Crime. Boston: Northeastern University Press. p. 113. ISBN 978-1-55553-374-8.
  14. ↑ Russian Organized Crime in the United States. U.S. Government Printing Office. May 15, 1996. ISBN 9780160536328. Retrieved 1 March 2020. p. 31
  15. ↑ Royce, Knut (14 December 1999). "FBI tracked alleged Russian mob ties of Giuliani campaign supporter". Center for Public Integrity. Archived from the original on 7 January 2004. Retrieved 21 April 2023.
  16. ↑ Melby, Kaleb; Geiger, Keri (March 15, 2017). "Behind Trump's Russia Romance, There's a Tower Full of Oligarchs: Down on his luck, the mogul found help from émigrés from the old Soviet empire". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on March 17, 2017. Retrieved December 18, 2020.
  17. ↑ Behar, Richard (12 June 2000). "Capitalism in a cold climate". Fortune. Archived from the original on 15 July 2007. Retrieved 21 April 2023. The story of Trans World's aluminum empire is filled with bribes, shell companies, profiteers, and more than a few corpses. Then again, in today's Russia, that's pretty much par for the course.
  18. ↑ Tracy, Jen (December 22, 1999). "Giuliani Donor Linked to Russian Mob". The Moscow Times. Retrieved August 18, 2021.
  19. ↑ "Солнцевская ОПГ за Зеленского. Кто помогает победить марионетке Коломойского" [Solntsevskaya organized criminal group for Zelensky. Who helps to defeat Kolomoisky's puppet]. CRiME (crime-ua.com) (in Russian). 2 April 2019. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  20. ↑ Кириленко, Анастасия (Kirilenko, Anastasia) (29 March 2019). "АНТИФЕЙК: Разоблачители «Банды Порошенко» оказались героями расследований The Insider о Солнцевской ОПГ" [ANTI-FAKE: The Poroshenko Gang whistleblowers turned out to be the heroes of The Insider's investigations about the Solntsevo organized criminal group]. The Insider (in Russian). Retrieved 18 August 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  21. ↑ Unger, Craig (July 13, 2017). "Trump's Russian Laundromat: How to use Trump Tower and other luxury high-rises to clean dirty money, run an international crime syndicate, and propel a failed real estate developer into the White House". New Republic. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  22. ↑ Кириленко, Анастасия (Kirilenko, Anastasia) (6 April 2018). "КОРРУПЦИЯ: Кандидат от района Солнцево. Что связывает Трампа с российскими ОПГ" [CORRUPTION: Candidate from the Solntsevo region. What connects Trump with Russian organized crime groups]. The Insider (in Russian). Retrieved 18 August 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  23. ↑ Kislin, Sam (1 September 2019). «Я кошмар Порошенко» ("I'm Poroshenko's nightmare"). Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  24. ↑ "Скандал. В США Зеленский встретился с боссом «русской мафии»" [Scandal. In the USA, Zelensky meets with the boss of the "Russian mafia"]. CRiME (crime-ua.com) (in Russian). 10 October 2019. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  25. ↑ BBC News – Russian gangland boss acquitted
  26. ↑ BBC News (July 28, 2009). Russian mafia boss Yaponchik shot. BBC News, July 28, 2009. Retrieved from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8173631.stm.
  27. ↑ В Москве умер Вячеслав Иваньков — «вор в законе» Япончик Archived 2009-10-12 at the Wayback Machine
  28. ↑ Schwirtz, Michael (2009-10-13). "For a Departed Mobster, Some Roses but No Tears". New York Times. Retrieved 2009-10-13.
  29. ↑ The Times – Russia salutes its mafia as the good guys, October 25 2009
  30. ↑ Канев, Сергей (Kanev, Sergey) (24 January 2012). "Лашу взяли. В Греции задержан "начальник УСБ и КРУ" при Деде Хасане Лаша Шушанашвили (Руставский)" [Lasha was taken. In Greece, "the head of the Internal Security and Control Department" under Dede Khasan Lasha Shushanashvili (Rustavsky) was detained]. «Руспрес» (Rospres) (in Russian). Archived from the original on 19 February 2021. Retrieved 19 February 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  31. ↑ Канев, Сергей (Kanev, Sergey) (23 January 2012). "Подробности ареста Лаши Шушанашвили" [Details of Lasha Shushanashvili's arrest]. «Руспрес» (Rospres) (in Russian). Archived from the original on 24 October 2012. Retrieved 19 February 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  32. ↑ ""Ява" с повинной: В Европе задержаны грузинские "воры в законе"" ["Java" confessed: Georgian thieves in law were detained in Europe]. «Прайм Крайм» (Prime Crime) (in Russian). 15 March 2010. Archived from the original on 8 January 2015. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
  33. 1 2 "Грузины и греки – братья навеки: Главарь мафиозного клана избежал ареста" [Georgians and Greeks are brothers forever: the leader of the mafia clan escaped arrest]. «Прайм Крайм» (Prime Crime) (in Russian). 17 March 2010. Archived from the original on 8 January 2015. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
  34. ↑ "JAVA душит" [JAVA chokes]. «Руспрес» (Rospres) (in Russian). 22 March 2010. Archived from the original on 7 December 2011. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
  35. ↑ "Каху выдают: Испания согласилась экстрадировать грузинского "вора в законе"" [Kakha is extradited: Spain agreed to extradite Georgian thief in law]. «Прайм Крайм» (Prime Crime) (in Russian). 6 January 2012. Archived from the original on 24 October 2014. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
  36. ↑ "Лашанулся" [Lashanul]. «Прайм Крайм» (Prime Crime) (in Russian). 4 February 2009. Archived from the original on 8 February 2009. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
  37. ↑ Вершов, Юрий (Vershov, Yuri) (23 July 2009). ""Вор в законе" угрожает безопасности России" [Thief in law threatens Russia's security]. Росбалт (Rosblat) (in Russian). Archived from the original on 2 January 2014. Retrieved 19 February 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  38. ↑ "Лашанулся: Москве задержан вернувшийся в Россию "вор в законе" Лаша Шушанашвили" [Lashanul: Moscow detained "thief in law" Lasha Shushanashvili who returned to Russia]. «Прайм Крайм» (Prime Crime) (in Russian). 4 February 2009. Archived from the original on 13 March 2015. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
  39. ↑ "НА УКРАИНЕ КАЗНЕН РУССКИЙ ВОР В ЗАКОНЕ ЛЕНЯ ХИТРЫЙ" [RUSSIAN THIEF IN LAW LENYA SLY WAS EXECUTED IN UKRAINE]. Вести.ру (vesti.ru) (in Russian). 3 August 2019. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  40. ↑ ""Казнь" преемника Япончика попала на видео" ["Execution" of Yaponchik's successor caught on video]. Рамблер (rambler.ru). 2 August 2019. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  41. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Смотрящий за Мазуткинской ОПГ вор в законе Петрик" [Thief in law Petrik overseeing the Mazutkinskaya organized criminal group]. (mzk1.ru) (in Russian). Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  42. ↑ БЕРРЕС, ЛЕОНИД (BERRES, LEONID); ГЕРАСИМОВ, АЛЕКСЕЙ (GERASIMOV, ALEXEY); ИВАНИДЗЕ, ВЛАДИМИР (IVANIDZE, VLADIMIR) (5 November 1996). "Смерть американского предпринимателя: "Кто в Россию с инвестициями придет, тот от них и погибнет"" [Death of an American entrepreneur: "Whoever comes to Russia with investments will die from them"]. "Коммерсантъ" (in Russian). Retrieved 21 August 2021. On the evening of November 3, American businessman Paul Tatum was killed in Moscow. His firm owned a large stake in the Intourist RadAmer Hotel and Business Center JV and operated a business center located in the Radisson-Slavyanskaya Hotel. Due to the distribution of the profits of the business center, Tatum was brewing a conflict with business partners. Paul Tatum told Kommersant correspondents about him the day before his death. He did not think that the conflict would be resolved in this way.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  43. ↑ "Пол Тэйтум (Paul Edward Tatum) (1955-1996)" [Paul Edward Tatum (1955-1996)]. m-necropol.ru (in Russian). 1999. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  44. ↑ Ухачевский, Сергей (Ukhachevsky, Sergei) (7 May 2021). "Семен Могилевич задолжал Украине" [Semyon Mogilevich owes Ukraine]. ArgumentUA.com (in Russian). Retrieved 26 August 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  45. ↑ "Видео: преемника Япончика Леню Хитрого убили в Запорожье" [Video: Yaponchik's successor Lenya the Tricky was killed in Zaporizhzhia]. РЕН ТВ (ren.tv) (in Russian). 1 August 2019. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  46. ↑ "В Запорожье убили криминального авторитета — преемника Япончика" [Crime boss killed in Zaporizhzhia - Yaponchik's successor]. «Известия» (iz.uz) (in Russian). 2 August 2019. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  47. ↑ "Semion Mogilevich Organization Eurasian Organized Crime" (PDF). FBI. August 1998. p. 32. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
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