Vitali Yevgenyevich Dyomochka (
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
: Вита́лий Евге́ньевич Дёмочка; born 5 December 1970), also known as Bondar, is a Russian director, writer, and actor. Dyomochka previously was head of an
organised crime group in
Ussuriysk
Ussuriysk (russian: Уссури́йск) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Primorsky Krai, Russia, located in the fertile valley of the Razdolnaya River, north of Vladivostok, the administrative center of the krai, and about ...
,
Primmorsky Krai; he subsequently dramatised his experiences in the TV series ''
Spets''.
Biography
Although Dyomochka was an A-grade student, he was expelled from school and later college.
As the Soviet era drew to a close, he started his criminal career collecting
protection money
A protection racket is a type of racket and a scheme of organized crime perpetrated by a potentially hazardous organized crime group that generally guarantees protection outside the sanction of the law to another entity or individual from viol ...
from local clothing stores as capitalism started to take off.
Vitali was convicted of several crimes including extortion and shooting a rival gangster, and after his release from prison in 1997 became the head of the
Podstava criminal group. The gang specialized in
blackmail
Blackmail is an act of coercion using the threat of revealing or publicizing either substantially true or false information about a person or people unless certain demands are met. It is often damaging information, and it may be revealed to fa ...
ing money from passing drivers by setting up car accidents.
Dyomochka was also interviewed in the 2010 documentary ''
Thieves by Law
''Thieves by Law'', or ''Ganavim Ba Hok'' is a 2010 documentary film charting the rise of Russian organized crime in the wake of the fall of the Soviet Union. In the film several noted crime figures are interviewed, a number of which are currently ...
''.
''Spets'' TV show
Unsatisfied with the way organized crime was depicted in
film
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
and
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
, Vitali set about creating his own
TV series
A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed betw ...
. Largely financed by his own money, the seven-part series finished production in 2003 and became a huge success, getting close to 100% ratings on a local television station. The series drew a lot upon Vitali's own experiences, such as when a driver he had attempted to blackmail turned out to be a judge.
Over the course of the series ten members of his gang were arrested and one was murdered by rivals.
References
Sources
AmericanMafia.com article about ''Spets'' and Vitali
* ttps://www.imdb.com/title/tt1644577/ IMDB page for ''Thieves by Law''br>Russian mobster shoots TV show
''The Washington Times
''The Washington Times'' is an American conservative daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., that covers general interest topics with a particular emphasis on national politics. Its broadsheet daily edition is distributed throughout ...
''
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dyomochka, Vitali
Russian crime bosses
Russian gangsters
Russian television personalities
Living people
Thieves in law
Year of birth missing (living people)
Russian YouTubers