Vyacheslav Kirillovich Ivankov (; 2 January 1940 – 9 October 2009) was a
Russian mafia
The Russian mafia ( or ), also known as Bratva ( ; ) less as Obshchak (Общак) or Brigades (Бригады) , is a collective of various organized crime related elements originating or/and operating in Russia.
In December 2009, Timur ...
boss and
thief in law
Theft (, cognate to ) is the act of taking another person's property or Service (economics), services without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it. The word ''theft'' is also used as a synon ...
who was believed to have connections with Russian state intelligence organizations and their organized crime partners.
[The Chekist Takeover of the Russian State](_blank)
Anderson, Julie (2006), International Journal of Intelligence and Counter-Intelligence, 19:2, 237 – 288. He operated in both the
Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
and the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. His nickname, "Yaponchik" (), translates from Russian as "Little Japanese", due to his faintly Asian facial features.
Early life
Ivankov was born in
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States
Georgia may also refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
to parents of
Russian
Russian(s) may refer to:
*Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*A citizen of Russia
*Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages
*''The Russians'', a b ...
ethnicity, when it was part of the
Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
, to Olga Gostasvits and Bernard Royal-Ivankov, and lived on Iosebidze Street, in the capital of Tbilisi. He grew up in
Moscow
Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
. 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
A black market is a Secrecy, clandestine Market (economics), market or series of transactions that has some aspect of illegality, or is not compliant with an institutional set of rules. If the rule defines the set of goods and services who ...
. 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
VOR or vor may refer to:
Organizations
* Vale of Rheidol Railway in Wales
* in Austria
* Voice of Russia, a radio broadcaster
Science, technology and medicine
* VHF omnidirectional range, a radio navigation aid used in aviation
* Vestibul ...
'' (
thief in law
Theft (, cognate to ) is the act of taking another person's property or Service (economics), services without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it. The word ''theft'' is also used as a synon ...
).
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.
Moving to the United States
According to
Alexander Litvinenko
Alexander Valterovich Litvinenko (30 August 1962 ( at WebCite) – 23 November 2006) was a British-naturalised Russian defector and former officer of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) who specialised in tackling organized crime, ...
, Ivankov headed the narcotics trafficking of the Uzbek network in the United States.
Robert Eringer confirmed this.
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
The Sicilian Mafia or Cosa Nostra (, ; "our thing"), also referred to as simply Mafia, is a criminal society and criminal organization originating on the island of Sicily and dates back to the mid-19th century. Emerging as a form of local protect ...
, 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
The film industry or motion picture industry comprises the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking, i.e., film production company, production companies, film studios, cinematography, animation, film production, screenwriting, pre- ...
. His front company in the United States was Slavic, Inc.
His reason for arriving in the United States was not initially clear. The Russian
Ministry of Internal Affairs advised the
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...
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. 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
Brighton Beach is a List of Brooklyn neighborhoods, neighborhood in the southern portion of the New York City Borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn, within the greater Coney Island area along the Atlantic Ocean coastline. Brighton Beach ...
as around 100 members strong and being the "premier Russian crime group in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
" 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
Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit (e.g., money or goods) through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, although making unfounded ...
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 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
The Russian mafia ( or ), also known as Bratva ( ; ) less as Obshchak (Общак) or Brigades (Бригады) , is a collective of various organized crime related elements originating or/and operating in Russia.
In December 2009, Timur ...
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
The Moscow Kremlin (also the Kremlin) is a fortified complex in Moscow, Russia. Located in the centre of the country's capital city, the Moscow Kremlin (fortification), Kremlin comprises five palaces, four cathedrals, and the enclosing Mosco ...
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
The Gulag was a system of Labor camp, forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. The word ''Gulag'' originally referred only to the division of the Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies, Soviet secret police that was in charge of runnin ...
prisons in Siberia.
Semyan "Sam" Kislin
Semyan "Sam" Kislin (born 1934 or 1935
Odesa
Odesa, also spelled Odessa, is the third most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern ...
) was "a member or associate" of Ivankov per a 1994 FBI report obtained by the
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City.
Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
. Kislin of
Trans Commodities Inc. who hired
Michael Cherney to manage Trans Commodities from 1988 to 1992, made donations to
Rudy Giuliani
Rudolph William Louis Giuliani ( , ; born May 28, 1944) is an American politician and Disbarment, disbarred lawyer who served as the 107th mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001. He previously served as the United States Associate Attorney ...
's mayoral campaigns in the 1990s.
Kislin issued numerous mortgages to investors, who were overwhelmingly associated with countries from the former Soviet Union, in the 2001 opened
Trump World Tower. 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.
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.
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
A sniper rifle is a high-precision, long range shooting, long-range rifle. Requirements include high accuracy, reliability, mobility, concealment, and optics, for anti-personnel weapon, anti-personnel, anti-materiel rifle, anti-materiel and sur ...
was found abandoned in a nearby parked vehicle.
Having died from his injuries seventy-three days later, on October 9, 2009,
[В Москве умер Вячеслав Иваньков — «вор в законе» Япончик]
Ivankov was buried in
Moscow
Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
on October 13, 2009. 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
Dagestan
Dagestan ( ; ; ), officially the Republic of Dagestan, is a republic of Russia situated in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe, along the Caspian Sea. It is located north of the Greater Caucasus, and is a part of the North Caucasian Fede ...
i
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.
As a part of the special police operation "Wasp" (),
Lasha Shushanashvili (Lasha Rustavsky) (; b. 25 July 1961
Rustavi,
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States
Georgia may also refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
), who is close to Aslan Usoyan (Ded Khasan) () and is in the
Brothers' Circle, was arrested in
Greece
Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...
in late January 2012 as the main beneficiary in Ivankov's death and for the attempted murder of Ded Khasan. Previously, his younger brother "Koba" or Kakhaber Shushanashvili (Kakha Rustavsky) () and Zviad Darsadze (), who was his chief accountant or keeper of the ''
obschak'' (common fund) (), were arrested in
Barcelona
Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...
on March 15, 2010 as part of the Spanish police operation "Java" () 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
Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...
.
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
In diplomacy, a ' (PNG) is a foreign diplomat that is asked by the host country to be recalled to their home country. If the person is not recalled as requested, the host state may refuse to recognize the person concerned as a member of the diplo ...
'' due to his
falsifying his papers when he requested Russian citizenship and took refuge in Greece.
[
]
Ivankov successor: Alexei Petrov aka Alexei Suvorov
Following the death of Ivankov in 2009, Alexei Petrov (; 13 November 1962 Moscow
Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
, USSR
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
- 1 August 2019 Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine), also known as Alexei Suvorov () ''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. Living among Israel, Germany and Austria, he headed the Mazutka gang or Mazutkinskaya OPG (). When Ivankov left for the United States in March 1992, Petrov headed Ivankov's affairs in Moscow, Russia, and Europe. 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
Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million , where the police had great difficulty finding him after his name changed.[ In 1995, the French detained him on falsified papers, however, the judge released him.][ 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.][ 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.][ 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. Upon ]Aslan Usoyan
Aslan Rashidovich Usoyan ( ka, ასლან რაშიდოვიჩ უსოიანი, ; 27 February 1937 – 16 January 2013), also known as Baba Gurgur and Grandpa Hassan () or just Grandpa (), was a Georgian-born Soviet-Russian crim ...
's (Ded Khasan) death on 16 January 2013, Petrov became a "judge" over matters involving ''vory''.[ On 1 August 2019, Petrov was beaten and stabbed to death by two men in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine.
]
Personal
Ivankov's son, Eduard Ivankov, often represented his father's interests at meetings with Semion Mogilevich
Semion Yudkovich Mogilevich (, ; , ; born June 30, 1946) is a Ukrainian-born Russian organized crime boss. He is described by agencies in the European Union and United States as the " boss of all bosses" of most Russian Mafia syndicates in th ...
who was very close to the elder Ivankov.
References
External links
BBC News – Russian 'godfather' returns home
BBC News – Russian crime boss laid to rest
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ivankov, Vyacheslav
1940 births
2009 deaths
Deaths by firearm in Russia
Russian crime bosses
Murdered Russian gangsters
Russian anti-communists
Russian gangsters
Russian emigrants to the United States
Russian murder victims
Thieves in law
People murdered in Russia
Prisoners and detainees of the Soviet Union
Criminals from Tbilisi
People from Brighton Beach