Chechen mafia
| Founding location | Russia, former Soviet Union |
|---|---|
| Territory | Active in many parts of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union (mostly Moscow). |
| Ethnicity | Predominantly Chechens |
| Criminal activities | Money laundering, racketeering, extortion, arms trafficking, cybercrime, human trafficking, prostitution, drug trafficking, arson, fraud, larceny, murder |
| Allies | Caucasian Mujahadeen, Al-Qaeda |
| Rivals | Russian Mafia and other Slavic crime groups |
The Chechen mafia (Chechen: Нохчийн мафи); "Noxçiyn mafi" Russian: Чеченская мафия, tr. Chechenskaya mafiya) is one of the largest ethnic organized crime groups operating in the former Soviet Union next to established Russian mafia groups.
While most Slavic and Caucasian gangsters in the Soviet era followed the thieves in law subculture, Chechens largely resisted this, instead preferring to use the tribal structure of the teip as well as the concept of an abrek, the outlaw-hero. There are relatively few Chechen thieves-in-law.
The Moscow branch of the Chechen mafia, also known as the Obschina or "community", was founded by gangster Nikolay Suleimanov during the 1980s. Suliemanov operated a second-hand car business and made the bulk of his profits through tax evasion. The group later moved into extortion as capitalism penetrated the Soviet economy, and at this point Khozh-Ahmed Noukhayev, at the time a university student and part of an underground student movement dedicated to Chechen independence, was brought in as an enforcer. The more ideological Noukhayev imposed an additional condition on businesses under his "protection", which was that they must invite a Chechen into their workforce. Facilitating Chechen migration into Moscow would mean his organisation became a formidable force in the underworld. Boris Berezovsky was one of the businessmen associated with the Chechens during this period.
The Chechen reputation for violence was formidable, and before long they became the dominant crime group in Moscow. This brought them into conflict with the Slavic gangs, including the Solntsevskaya bratva and the Orekhovskaya gang, who formed an alliance to oust the Chechens from the city. They were supported by the FSB, who were concerned at the growing links between organised crime and the Chechen separatist movement.
...
Wikipedia