The Orekhovskaya Organized Crime Group (russian: Ореховская организованная преступная группировка) was a powerful

criminal organization Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...

based in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

active between the late 1980s and early 2000s.

History

The gang was founded in 1988 and was made up primarily of former young sportsmen between 18 and 25. The gang's leader was

Sergey Timofeev Sergey Anatolyevich Timofeyev (russian: Сергей Анатольевич Тимофеев; born 5 March 1965) is a Kazakhstani professional football coach and a former player. He played for Kairat Almaty in the Soviet Top League as well a ...

, nicknamed "Sylvester" after Sylvester Stallone for his muscular build. Todorov established contacts with other prominent underworld figures such as

Vyacheslav Ivankov Vyacheslav Kirillovich Ivankov (russian: Вячесла́в Кири́ллович Иванько́в) (January 2, 1940 – October 9, 2009) was a Russian mafia boss and thief in law who was believed to have connections with Russian state intelli ...

and Sergei Mikhailov. In 1989 the gang merged with the

Solntsevskaya bratva The Solntsevskaya Organized Crime Group (russian: Солнцевская организованная преступная группировка), also known as the Solntsevskaya Bratva (russian: link=no, Солнцевская братва), is a ...

to combat the growing threat of

Chechen mafia The Chechen Mafia ( ce, Нохчийн мафи, ''Noxçiyn mafi''; rus, Чеченская мафия, Chechenskaya mafiya) is one of the largest ethnic organized crime groups operating in the former Soviet Union next to established Russian mafi ...

gangs. However, by 1997 the alliance had split and Todorov was again running an independent gang. The gang also acquired a reputation of disregarding codes of conduct in the criminal underworld, starting and ending conflicts as they pleased. At the start of the 1990s the gang was the second most powerful crime gang of Moscow Region and Russia. In 1993 the group got into conflict with other russian gangs and killed mobster Viktor Kogan, who was moving in on their territory. On September 13, 1994, the gang split into around a dozen warring factions. These all gradually faded away over time and what was left of the gang was swallowed up by the

Solntsevskaya Bratva The Solntsevskaya Organized Crime Group (russian: Солнцевская организованная преступная группировка), also known as the Solntsevskaya Bratva (russian: link=no, Солнцевская братва), is a ...

. In 2005 eleven former gang members were sentenced to up to 53 years for their involvement in 264 brutal murders, including that of notorious hitman

Alexander Solonik Alexander Viktorovich Solonik (russian: Алекса́ндр Ви́кторович Соло́ник) (16 October 1960 – 31 January 1997) was a Russian gangster, known for his reputation as a notorious contract killer, hitman in the Russian crim ...

.The Moscow Times - 11 Sent to prison for 264 Brutal Slayings
/ref> The gang altogether are believed to be responsible for at least 6800 murders.

References

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History

References

See also