The Russian Mafia
A photo of the Russian Mob Crime boss known as Vasili Antonovich Yeitrulosky*, circa 1964.
In the years following WWII, the Russian Mafia had established itself within the cities of War torn Russia doing many things like arms smuggling, prostitution, drugs smuggling, assassinations, bombings, kidnappings, and hijackings. Many of the Gangsters were former soldiers and partisans of the Soviet Army.
A Russian Gangster in his old Soviet Navy Uniform, circa 1955.
Caught Russian Gangsters about to be executed by Cossack Border Guards, circa 1954.
AK-61 rifles seized by Bharati Border Guards, circa 1959.
Packages of Cocaine seized by Cossack State Border Guards, circa 1964.
One of the most recognizable Russian Gangsters, was Anton Gruglevosky or better known as Vasili Antonovich Yeitrulosky. Yeitrulosky was born near Gomel, Belorussia on April 12th, 1910 to a Jewish Family. In which his family emigrated to America due to antisemitism of the Imperial Russian Government in 1911, when Vasili was just about 11 months old. Spend almost his entire childhood growing up in the city of New York City, in which at the age of 20, he met Meyer Lansky, who the two men became lifelong friends. In which, Yeitrulosky moved to Los Angeles and established a Crime Syndicate there, in which by 1946, his syndicate was thriving. When the Japanese established the Pacific States of America and the Kenpeitai launches a War against Organized Crime** there in 1948, Yeitrulosky realized that it is time to get out and decided to relocate to Russia, which he learned the Police forces there were corrupt. In the September of that year, Yeitrulosky arrived at Arkhangelsk with his family and much of his wealth and set up his new Syndicate in the city of Moscow. By 1957, his Syndicate ended up becoming the dominate Mafia Organization of Russia, Vasili ran his organization and lived his life like an aristocrat. Which it had around 6,100 members (mainly made up of Russians, Kazakhstanis, Chinese, Serbs, Jews, and Mongolians) and operations set up in almost all of Russia's Major Cities. Yeitrulosky by then was the 11th Richest Man of Russia and had a large number of contacts within the Russian Government and Military. His main rival, Dimitry Kozlov and his syndicate based in the city of Tula, however, Kozlov was less powerful. The zenith of Yeitrulosky's Empire was between the years of 1963 to 1989, when Yeitrulosky died at the age of 79 years old.
Aleksandra Yietruloskaya at the age of 22 with members of the Yietrulosky Mafia Syndicate in a forest in Siberia, circa 1961. Aleksandra would inherit her father's empire when he passed away in 1989, in which she became known as the Queen of the Russian Mafia.
Members of the Yietrulosky Syndicate near the Russian-Chinese Border as part of an arms smuggling operation to Bharat, circa 1957.
Gangsters of the Yietrulosky Syndicate about to attack a Finnish Checkpoint, near St. Petersberg, circa 1956.
Gangsters of the Kozlov Syndicate moving in on a Yeitrulosky controlled building in Smolensk, circa 1962.
A Yeitrulosky Gangster in the street in an aftermath of a street battle against Kozlov gangsters in Smolensk, circa 1962.
Dimitry Kozlov in Red Army Uniform, circa 1941 during the Opening Stages of the German-Soviet War.
Lavrenity Beria, a former head of the NKVD under Stalin. Beria was Kozlov's 2nd in Command until his death by gangsters of the Yeitulosky Syndicates by a drive by shooting in 1960.
The main opposition to the Yeitulosky Mafia Empire was the Kozlov Syndicate headed by former Red Army General Dimitry Kozlov along with his sidekick, former NKVD head Lavrenity Beria. The Kozlov Syndicate started out as a Communist Partisan group in Western Russia who fought against both the Germans and the Japanese during the German-Japanese War. After the war, Kozlov transformed his Partisan Army into a Crime Group, which in the first four years was the dominant Mafia Organization, until it got eclipsed by the Yeitulosky Crime Family. The Kozlov Family had made the city of Tula it's main base since 1950, in which it spread it's influence to other cities like Moscow, St. Petersberg, Nizhny Novgorod, Ufa, Kazan, and Saratov. The two syndicates very quickly got engaged in a turf war in many cities, which included Smolensk. Where on April 1st, 1962, members of the Kozlov Gang attacked a Yeitulosky controlled building in Smolensk, in which, their rivals defended their building and killed all 35 Kozlov gangsters while losing 24 of their own men, and 12 innocent bystanders were killed. The downfall of the Kozlov Syndicate came when Dimitry Kozlov died of natural causes in 1966 at a hospital in Tula. His successor, Vladimir Semichastny, would commit to polices that would badly divide the newly renamed Semichastny Syndicate, and would lead to infighting within the Crime Family and ultimately break it up in 1971.
Vladimir Semichastny would lead the Semichastny (formerly Kozlov) Syndicate from 1966 to it's breakup in 1971, he would ultimately be murdered by his own men on July 4th, 1972 on the streets of Tula.
The weapons of the Russian Mafia were many, but they preferred automatic weapons, such as the PPSh, Kulak, PPS-43, MP-40, AK-61, L1A4, and others.
Thousands of AK-61 rifles were stolen from Ukrainian Army Arsenals and smuggled into Russia, thus becoming popular among Russian Gangsters.
The PPSH-41, which was massed produced by the Soviets during the German-Soviet War, was another popular weapon for the Gangsters.
The Kulak (Russian for Fist) was modeled after the PPSh-41, this weapon was popular with Russian Gangsters for the fact that it was easy to conceal and it was light.
Rifles such as the Mosin Nagant, K98, SKS-50, Gewehr 43, SVT-40, and Arisaka were commonly used as sniper rifles.
The DP-27 was a popular machine gun with the Gangsters of Russia, owing to being lightweight.
Russian Gangster of the Yeituloskaya Syndicate, circa 2014.
Boris Nayfeld and his Syndicate beginning of 2004 onwards became a major rival to Aleksandra Yietuloskaya's Syndicate.
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* = His common title was the King of the Russian Mafia
** = The Kenpeitai whould secretly support the Japanese Mafia in the PSA in the War against American Organized Crime