Aslan Usoyan ( ka, ასლან უსოიანი, russian: Асла́н Раши́дович Усоя́н; 27 February 1937 – 16 January 2013), also known as Baba Gurgur and Grandpa Hassan ( ''Ded Hasan'') or just Grandpa (), was a

mafia "Mafia" is an informal term that is used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the original “Mafia”, the Sicilian Mafia and Italian Mafia. The central activity of such an organization would be the arbitration of d ...

boss, an ethnic

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish languages *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern Kurdistan **Eastern Kurdistan **Northern Kurdistan **Western Kurdistan See also * Kurd (dis ...

mobster and

thief in law A “thief in law” (Russian: вор в зако́не, Georgian: კანონიერი ქურდი), in the Soviet Union, the post-Soviet states, and respective diasporas abroad is a specifically granted formal and special status of ...

, who began his career operating in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

and

Kurdistan Kurdistan ( ku, کوردستان ,Kurdistan ; lit. "land of the Kurds") or Greater Kurdistan is a roughly defined geo-cultural territory in Western Asia wherein the Kurds form a prominent majority population and the Kurdish culture, languages ...

, continued 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 millio ...

Ural Ural may refer to: *Ural (region), in Russia and Kazakhstan *Ural Mountains, in Russia and Kazakhstan *Ural (river), in Russia and Kazakhstan * Ual (tool), a mortar tool used by the Bodo people of India *Ural Federal District, in Russia *Ural econ ...

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a ...

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked co ...

Krasnodar Krasnodar (; rus, Краснода́р, p=krəsnɐˈdar; ady, Краснодар), formerly Yekaterinodar (until 1920), is the largest city and the administrative centre of Krasnodar Krai, Russia. The city stands on the Kuban River in southe ...

, Sochi, and other parts of the

former Soviet Union The post-Soviet states, also known as the former Soviet Union (FSU), the former Soviet Republics and in Russia as the near abroad (russian: links=no, ближнее зарубежье, blizhneye zarubezhye), are the 15 sovereign states that wer ...

. According to ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Eco ...

'', he was "reputed to be Russia's mafia boss".

Criminal acts

Starting in 2007, Usoyan was embroiled in a gang war with Georgian mobster Tariel Oniani, who was seeking to reestablish himself in Moscow. Several of Usoyan's top lieutenants were killed including the Armenian national Alek Minalyan, a man allegedly in charge of extorting construction firms working on the 2014 Winter Olympics. In July 2008 police raided Oniani's yacht as a meeting took place amongst the criminal leaders in an attempt to settle the conflict. Usoyan was not however amongst those detained. He later gave an interview to a newspaper, denying the stories of escalating violence and stated that "We are a peaceful people and don't bother anybody, we are for peace in order to prevent lawlessness". Vyacheslav Ivankov was brought in to mediate the conflict, in which he sided with Usoyan's faction. He was however shot by a sniper while leaving a Moscow restaurant in July 2009, and died of his wounds in October that year. Although he did not attend, Usoyan sent an elaborate wreath to Ivankov's funeral saying "To our brother from Grandpa Hassan". In April 2010, Usoyan was arrested by Ukrainian security forces after entering the country illegally using false documents. His business in Ukraine was allegedly connected to a rift with an Armenian organized crime group. On 16 September 2010, Usoyan was shot by a 9 mm calibre bullet fired by an unidentified assailant in central Moscow, but survived the attack along with his bodyguard who was also wounded. It was at first announced to the press that Usoyan had died to ensure his safety. In the early 2010s the Obama administration placed sanctions on members of the alleged criminal organisation the

Brothers' Circle The Brothers' Circle or Bratski Krug ( rus, Братский круг) is a term used to refer to Russian organized crime, commonly the Russian mafia. It is a loose translation of the Russian term "Bratva" (Russian: Братва), which can also be ...

. It has been speculated that the so-called circle is a stand-in for Usoyan's network.

Alleged ties to PKK

It was assumed that Usoyan, an ethnic Kurd, was one of the weapon suppliers to the

Kurdistan Workers' Party The Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK is a Kurdish militant political organization and armed guerrilla movement, which historically operated throughout Kurdistan, but is now primarily based in the mountainous Kurdish-majority regions of sout ...

(PKK) that is fighting an armed struggle against the Turkish state for an autonomous

and cultural and political rights for the Kurds in Turkey.Tahiri, Hussein. ''The Structure of Kurdish Society and the Struggle for a Kurdish State''. Costa Mesa, California: Mazda Publications 2007. pp 232 ff

Death

On 16 January 2013 and a month before his 76th birthday, Usoyan was shot in the head by a sniper perched on the sixth floor of an adjacent apartment building after leaving a restaurant which served as his office, and despite efforts of his bodyguards and ambulance workers he died en route to the hospital. The family decided to fly Usoyan's body to be buried in his native Tbilisi, but the

Tbilisi International Airport Shota Rustaveli Tbilisi International Airport ( ka, თბილისის შოთა რუსთაველის სახელობის საერთაშორისო აეროპორტი) , formerly ''Novo Alexeyevka In ...

refused to accept the plane. His death was thought to be likely to spur chaos in the criminal world. The day Usoyan was shot dead, an Armenian crime fiction writer, Sergey Galoyan, said in a conversation with a local news website that the mafia king's murder might be linked to a certain unrest in the criminal world, particularly the construction of the Sochi Olympic facilities which are said to have attracted considerable investments. The main suspects behind Usoyan's murder are Tariel Oniani and Rovshan Janiev.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Usoyan, Aslan 1937 births 2013 deaths Thieves in law Yazidis from Georgia (country) Russian Yazidis Russian people of Kurdish descent Soviet Kurdish people Kurdish criminals Russian crime bosses Russian gangsters Murdered Russian gangsters Gangsters from Georgia (country) Criminals from Tbilisi Deaths by firearm in Russia People murdered in Russia