diplomats named one of Bulgaria’s largest crime organizations and which was created by communist-era military and intelligence officers with connections at the highest state level. If using any of Russia Beyond's content, partly or in full, always provide an active hyperlink to the original material.Several heads of Russian state-owned companies - including acquaintances of President Vladimir Putin - have residences in a Bulgarian Black Sea resort controlled by TIM - an organization U.S. Click here to find out who ‘thieves-in-law’ were, Russia’s violent mafia bosses. If so, donations to the obshchak should be viewed as a gesture of commitment and loyalty to the bosses of the criminal underworld, adherence to the social norms of thieves’ lifestyle and as a long-term investment by ambitious outlaws who aspire to eventually get to the top of the food chain. Those who unlawfully encroach on the obshchak are said to be sentenced to death in most cases.Īlthough the destination of the money from the free obshchak cannot be known for sure, the fund is believed to be used to sponsor future criminal activities, support families of deceased mafia bosses, bribe state officials and keep the criminal underworld afloat, in general.ĭespite the declared “noble” causes, however, some believe the spoils that the obshchak provides go to the few at the top of the criminal hierarchy. "The number of people guarding this obschak sometimes reaches 20 fighters, selected at a group meeting." The mission is trusted to fanatics, the type of thieves with the deepest loyalty to the thief-in-law principle,” claims the above-mentioned YouTube channel. Guarding the cashbox is an honorable and a profitable activity. According to some sources, the number of people guarding this obschak sometimes reaches 20 fighters, selected at a group meeting. “A cashbox of this sort is guarded not by one or two people. ‘Tourers’, car thieves and gang-bang car thief brigades may get taxed 15-20 percent for the right to work in their native region and disturbing the peace,” according to a popular YouTube channel dedicated to researching the Russian criminal underworld.Īlthough the free obshchak can exist in the form of a legalized financial structure, criminal bosses are believed to favor hard cash, as it is harder for the authorities to trace and arrest the money. The criminals regularly working in the region are required to pay 5-10 percent of the profits, depending on the value of the stolen goods. A contribution to the common sum is called a share. “Everyone pays tax to belong to the obschak: regular route pickpockets, purse snatchers, car thieves, drug dealers, house robbers and hucksters and loot repurchasers. The cash flows from all sorts of criminals dealing in the country. The financial schemes directed to replenish the free obshchak are also more elaborate. I thank you all for your attention and concern. So, I’m sending the money totalling 600 rubles back to the treasury. Seeing as, today, one of you is going back out into the general pop, I’m sending over another 400 rubles… these 400 rubles - in agreement with other tramps - are to be deposited into the obschak, together with the previous 200 rubles: they were given to Ruslan as a thief, but this is not appropriate, as he is no thief. ‘Tramps’ of the 16th BUR, I salute you wishing you only the Best and the Brightest - Vyatcheslav ‘Yaponchik’ here. A letter by notorious Russian mafia boss Vyacheslav Yaponchik to the inmates of one of the Russian prisons reads: Sometimes, the camp obshchak may be replenished from the so-called “free cash desk” (Russian: svobodnaya kassa), a network of financial sources located outside of the prison walls and aimed at channeling a stable cash flow inside.Īs it often happened in the 1990s, local seniors with ties to the criminal underworld coerced the youth to donate money to the obshchak, a practice known as “keeping the boys warm” (Russian: patsanov na zone gret’).Īnother source of cash inflow to the camp obshchak is donations from rich and powerful thieves in law. In prison, senior inmates may levy all card games in a prison with a tax of 20 percent or more.
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