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Cold War
Published in the TOGLIATTI OBSERVER
March 1, 2002

Our editorial team has learned that in the summer of 2001, Togliatti police detained a few men who allegedly were to become assassins and eliminate the entire leadership of the Neverov organized criminal group. Investigators believe that the person who ordered this crime is criminal boss Igor Sirotenko (Sirota [orphan]), well known in the city. When this investigation was no longer a secret, rumors started circulating around town about the beginning of a new full-fledged war between criminal groups.

We tried to look into the emerging situation. And, since law enforcement agencies flatly refused to talk to journalists, we turned for comments directly to representatives of the conflicting parties. We need to point out that the potential adversaries have totally different assessments of the emerging situation. Therefore we have tried to reflect all points of view in our publication.

VRV-3: Reality or Police Bluff?

The Conman

Representatives of the Neverov group believe that frictions between them and the Sirotenko gang members started in a very remote past -- mid-90s. Before that time the leaders of these groups and their subordinates maintained neutral/friendly relations.

It was Mikhail Kashin, an entrepreneur well known in Togliatti back in those days, director of the "Invest-capital" company, who caused the discord between the criminal bosses. Calling him an entrepreneur, though, is definitely an overstatement. He became famous in our city by pulling off a whole series of fraudulent operations which did damage to both the city budget and a number of commercial organizations fairly well known in Togliatti.

For example, Kashin was the organizer of and subcontractor in the construction of a multi-department children's hospital in the Avtozavodsky district. At the time, the Savings Bank issued a 12 million dollar loan for this construction project guaranteed by the city budget. The money disappeared, while the pit on the site where the hospital was to be built is still "enjoyed" by the residents. The fraud Kashin pulled off with the VAZ automobile plant payments to the electrical power company has received far less coverage. To pay for the power it consumed, the automobile plant at the time issued promissory notes, which were to be turned into cash by mediating companies created by Kashin under the patronage of criminal boss Fogel (Foks), which would be used for payments to Samarenergo. However, the money never reached the power company. They were also getting promissory notes. Not the liquid securities issued by the VAZ plant though; the ones they received were of no value whatsoever. It is still a mystery how Kashin managed to foist those on the power company. The Togliatti Bank, which funded Kashin's schemes with too much abandon, fell also largely due to the doings of this "merchant."

In general, as a person enjoying considerable respect in certain circles of our city referred to Kashin in a conversation with the author of the present article, "Misha is as twisted as a piglet's tail. A real con artist."

Kashin: Partner or Debtor?

In the opinion of the Neverov gangsters, the first signs of a lack of understanding between Sirotenko and Neverov emerged because of this very twisted Kashin. It all started with Misha devising a financial scheme which, if successfully implemented, promised its organizers a sizeable return. At first glance the scheme looked fairly innocent and legal.

It is well known that in the mid-90s the VAZ automobile plant experienced considerable difficulties in terms of operating assets and oftentimes used cars as payment for spare parts received from suppliers. Barter reigned at the plant. Kashin decided to put it to use. He entered into an agreement with a gas condensate plant located in the city of Perm to ship its product to the city of Kazan. An enterprise located there manufactured polyethylene film from gas condensate. Kashin supplied the film to the VAZ plant, which in turn used cars to pay for the film.

The arrangement would be quite acceptable for those days, except for one nuance. It was not implemented with Kashin's money, but with funds coming from certain companies controlled by Igor Sirotenko (Sirota). The cars used by the plant as payment were shipped and sold through the Real-Lada company, which was also under the influence of the abovementioned criminal boss. As for Kashin, his revenue from the arrangement as organizer and main person responsible for its implementation was a relatively small percentage of the profit. Responsible, because for every penny spent he had to respond to questions from the owners of the arrangement, Igor Sirotenko and Miron Mokrov. Business was hot and smooth until a certain point in time. But at some point Kashin apparently could no longer resist his ever-present desire to get a lot of "fast" money and decided to try a fraud.

The Neverov gang maintains that Kashin simply "pumped out" the group's money from the arrangement he had created himself in order to spend it on one of his next-in-line projects. As far as we know, the amount being discussed approximated three million rubles. And when the owners of the business, Miron and Sirota, found this out and started "pressing" Kashin, he turned for help to one of the leaders of the Neverov group, Boris Vechetomov (Borya Mordvin). And asked him for money in exchange for a share in a lucrative -- but someone else's -- business.

Vechetomov did give him the money, but Kashin never returned it to Sirota. Instead, he disappeared from the city, having presented the criminal bosses with an opportunity to figure out on their own who owed whom how much and what for. After Kashin disappeared from Togliatti, Sirota and Miron allegedly billed Mordvin for the amount of the debt and even threatened him. Vechetomov rejected the claims and responded with threats to the threats.

On the other hand, the version related by the Neverov gang members is refuted in its entirety by representatives of Sirotenko's organized criminal group. They maintain that there were no aggravating incidents in their work with Kashin. And Igor Sirotenko became one of the few partners of Misha's who he not only never defrauded, but instead provided revenue for. When it came to saying goodbye, Kashin and Sirota did it peacefully, no debts or claims. As for Vechetomov, Sirotenko never had anything to do with him at all and only knew about him because Mordvin was a companion of Kashin's.

That is why the reported conflict between Sirota and Vechetomov is sheer fiction from start to finish.

We cannot say whether it is so or not. But we know for sure that on September 26, 1997 an unknown killer gunned down Borya Mordvin in his own car on the way home from the Komsomolets night club. The city's criminal circles have two versions of why Vechetomov was killed. According to one of them, the death of Neverov's comrade-in-arms is ascribed to the ill will of Igor Sirotenko. This version however is popular mostly with the not too informed "rank-and-file torpedoes," while people of noticeable position in the gang hierarchy are of a different opinion: the late Vechetomov lost his life as a result of his own infatuation with scandals and alcohol. According to them, on that ill-fated day, while at the Komsomolets night club, a very drunk Vechetomov had a row with Stolyarov (Stolyar), leader of the Kupeyev organized criminal group. The drunken criminal bosses' verbal shootout gradually turned into a fist fight. The security managed to stop the clash, which nonetheless did not prevent the Neverov lieutenant from verbally abusing Stolyarov and those close to him rather strongly. The "gang rules" demanded that such statements not remain unpunished. And after leaving the nightclub, Vechetomov was gunned down. It allegedly was Stolyar himself who shot him, who, having sobered up, later "sincerely repented."

The Watermelon Saga: Delusion or Reality?

In the opinion of the Neverov gang, as time went on, the lack of understanding between the city's two largest organized criminal groups only increased. And the neutral/friendly relations gradually transformed into neutral/hostile.

One of the next factors in the emergence of the "lack of understanding" between the gangsters was the story of the split-up of a production facility located in the Komsomolsky district next to the Komsomolskaya automobile maintenance shop.

Everyone in the city knows that this shop is part of Igor Sirotenko's sphere of influence, so to speak, as are the enterprises located in its vicinity. The production facility we want to tell you about is not an exception.

According to the Neverov gang story, a few years ago the Sirotenko gang happened to lay their hands on a gigantic shipment of watermelons. It is not billions of Russian rubles that we are talking about, but a great quantity of red fruit with juicy red flesh and striped skin. Watermelons must be stored and sold. The director of the abovementioned facility who had enjoyed Igor Sirotenko's protection earlier volunteered to handle this. But the director did something wrong. So the gang's watermelons peacefully rotted on the territory of his facility. The director's pitiful tale of the poor quality of the fruit, insufficient demand and the abundance of competitors naturally failed to produce any impression on the owner of the watermelons. And he demanded money for his goods, with a threat that unless the payment was made, the director's head would be used as a watermelon, seeing as it was also round and could be sliced.

Looking for a way out, the scared merchant asked the Neverov group leaders for help. And he did receive a certain amount from them to pay off his debt to Sirota. It was short of giving the owner of the watermelons complete satisfaction, but the merchant promised to provide the remainder of the funds on his own. Neverov certainly had not given him the money for his pretty eyes. The director was to pay back in time and in addition help the gang buy the controlling block of the facility shares, which at the moment was owned by workers.

He kept his promise. As a result, the Neverov gang ended up owing the controlling block of shares which they bought from the workers for a little more than 30 thousand rubles. It was properly registered with the Federal securities commission.

However, while fulfilling the promise he had given to Neverov, the director never returned the "watermelon" debt to Sirota in full. He may have felt stingy about his "personal" funds, or those may have been in short supply. As a result, Igor Sirotenko suggested that he pay with his facility, which had already been sold to Neverov.

Not surprisingly, a dispute over the fate of the facility broke out between the groups, since both teams considered their claims to the facility ownership justified. A meeting was scheduled in order to resolve the issue. The negotiations were fairly tense. The Neverov gang members argued that they owned the facility absolutely legally and that Sirota's financial claims were groundless. They were telling him: "The money is owed to you by a specific individual, so do whatever you want with him, and leave the enterprise to us. Moreover, this individual also owes us. And the partial payment he made to you is our credit." Sirota, on his part, demanded that either the facility be divided, or the entire loan repaid. Eventually the parties arrived at a consensus. The director repaid his debt to Sirota, while the Neverov gang retained ownership of the facility, and continued to happily use the newly acquired property until 1997. Then the facility was sold to Yugservice company because it was not profitable.

Sirota, however, was still unhappy about how the facility situation was handled. And already after the conflict was resolved, he personally ordered the driveway to the ill-fated facility closed. The thing is, the road leading to the facility passed through the territory of the Komsomolskaya automobile maintenance shop controlled, as we already said, by Sirota. So he ordered the shop security not to allow transit of "unauthorized" vehicles through their territory. Consequently the Neverov gang had to build a new access road to their acquired property.

Sirota's loyalists, however, maintain that there was no conflict over the facility. Moreover, in a conversation with us, one of the criminal bosses of the Sirotenko gang called this version a "weird delusion." His interpretation was as follows: some people would like to add a "historic base" to the recently emerged financial disputes and are inventing ridiculous stuff. Besides, by all appearances those are not just inventions, but a clear attempt to draw the attention of law enforcement. "See how good and law abiding we are, and how bad Sirota is." Even though they know perfectly well that Igor Sirotenko's commercial interests are represented in the city in a wide enough range, he is fairly well-to-do, and a shipment of rotten watermelons would never have attracted his attention. The man is busy enough and would have never gotten involved with nonsense, like setting up barriers to prevent Neverov's vehicles from passing through. This entire story around the facility is the creation of a sick mind.

Sirota and Miron: Friendship or "Roof?"

The above stated facts may never have existed. It is also possible that they would never have resulted in a large scale conflict. But in the mid-90s both groups wanted to expand their sphere of influence. And since by that time Togliatti had already been divided between various organized criminal groups, it could only be done through establishment of alliances or by eliminating a competitor.

The Neverov group and the Sirotenko group chose different ways to strengthen their positions. For example, Sirota's loyalists maintain that their team, if one can say so, formed a long term friendly alliance with Miron Mokrov's team (Miron). Miron's group was fairly well off financially. It controlled numerous enterprises in the Avtozavodsky district, and it also had excellent connections with the VAZ plant management. However, in terms of fighting power it was insufficiently strong, and its stronger competitors, like Sergey Neverov, had long planned a takeover.

This is why, as members of Sirota's organized criminal group maintain, Miron accepted the alliance with them: so that the powerful partner could protect him from trouble. And Mironov's group granted the Sirotenko gang access to its resources voluntarily, and the latter treated Mironov's group in the same fashion. Moreover, Sirota and Miron were friends on a personal level. For instance, Sirotenko, while still involved in a conflict with Vdovin and afraid for his life, was hiding in an apartment belonging to Mokrov. And Mokrov also enjoyed Sirota's protection in times of danger.

Sergey Neverov's subordinates, who had long eyed Mokrov's property, maintain the opposite. They are saying that despite the fact that Miron was a drug addict, his brain worked fine and he was excellent at putting together financial schemes. And the reports of his personal friendship with Sirota belong to the realm of scientific fiction. It is just that when Sirota and Ruzliayev learned that Miron was making big money, they took him into the woods, put a gun to his head and told him to share. Miron was scared and started paying toll to the stronger teams.

We cannot say which version is correct. But we know for sure that it was about Miron's legacy that the conflict between Sirota and Neverov ran high. The groups began to divide Miron's property back before his death in the mid-90s. They say that the Neverov gang even made a few attempts to harass Mokrov. However, certain circumstances forced them to leave Miron alone for a while.

War that was Postponed?

What happened was this: a war that started in 1994 between the Ruzliayev gang and the allied organized criminal groups divided the city's criminal community in two factions. Some groups sided with Vdovin (Papa), others with Ruzliayev (Big Man). Also Neverov and Sirotenko found themselves on different sides of the barricade. According to some information, combat operations of the Neverov gang were funded by the Shejkin group and conducted under the aegis of Papa. While Sirotenko initially placed his resources and his fighters at the Big Man's disposal.

By 1997 the situation at the Great Racketeering War front was quite definite. Papa was outplaying the Big Man across the board and his comrades-in-arms had every right to celebrate their triumph, quoting classical Russian literature: "Hurray! We are pressing ahead, the Swedish are giving in!"

Apparently the Neverov gang decided to take advantage of this and harass the Mironov group allied with Sirota. Why not bite off a slice of property belonging to the enemy in distress? Their thinking must have been, Sirota is acting on Ruzliayev's side, and if we take something away from him, he will not be too upset. And if he is, Papa the winner will support us, and so will Shejkin and the Tatars with their fighters, and Ilchenko (the Playful) with his guns and money. So Igor Vladimirovich will have to move over and tough it out.

Let us point out that the Neverov gang is quite logical in this case. In the opinion of Sirota's loyalists, back then they would not have dared to openly confront their group on their own, the reason being that the Neverov group belonged to the best achievers in the business. However, the achieved success brought about the loss of a number of fighting qualities. The Neverov gang had enough weapons, means of communication and surveillance, but they had few gunmen. In this regard they were by far weaker than Sirota, who was more or less OK in terms of weaponry and had a large number of fighters ready to carry out any order of his. Therefore when the Neverov gang started the assault, they most probably counted on the "bayonets" of Shejkin, the Tatars and visitors from out of town. And their calculations fell through. Sirota outplayed them strategically. His group abandoned the ranks of the "anti-Papa" coalition. His relations with Papa were restored, and those with the Big Man went bad. So by the time his relations with Neverov aggravated, Sirota was no longer part of the conflict which in the opinion of his adversary was to secure his superior position. Apparently the potential allies the Neverov gang had counted on politely indicated that in case of hostilities between the competitors they would have to rely on their own forces for combat purposes. Probably with the explanation that there is enough trouble for everyone even without your problems involving just the Ruzliayev outcasts who kill innocent but profitable merchants without thinking twice. Realizing that he was left one-on-one with a strong adversary who was ready to fight to the end for his property, Neverov retreated.

However, the version we have presented here is being flatly refuted by the Neverov gang. They believe that they can protect their financial interests quite efficiently, and can allocate the necessary means. And if someone does not think so, let him try to encroach upon their property.

Outburst of Emotions - And Miron Is No More

The general dissatisfaction of the groups with each other's behavior was growing. That is why development of a large scale conflict was only a matter of time. On November 13, 1997 the accumulated negative emotions burst out. On that day Miron and his bodyguard Vassily Sinyakov (The Blue) clashed with members of the Neverov group, Tolmachev, Batrshin, and Lomakin, at the Mir youth club. As a result, Lomakin and Batrshin were killed and Tolmachev wounded. Sergey Pichugayev, security guard for the billiard parlor, was also killed. We have written about this event many times, so we will not be too specific or describe it in detail. Let us just say that the massacre at the Mir triggered a short-spanned but bloody war between the Mironov and the Neverov groups. It ended with Miron's death. He was gunned down on October 19, 1999 in the hallway of his house. Igor Rakovsky and Anatoly Korolev, who had been steering the team together with Miron, were killed not long before that. As a result, the decapitated group ceased to exist. Competitors rushed for its commercial legacy like vultures for prey. Those were Sirota and Neverov.

Heirs

It so happened that it was they who became the main claimants to Mironov's legacy, Sirotenko as his ally and friend, Neverov as the winner who must take possession of the property of the defeated. The resulting situation clearly meant that war was unavoidable. Miron had in a way represented Sirota in the Avtozavodsky district, and as we have already mentioned, they were not only allies, but friends as well.

Besides, Igor Sirotenko and Miron Mokrov oftentimes would together found (naturally, acting through front men) numerous commercial enterprises. One and the same person, Anatoly Korolev, director of the VAZ plant shop 81/1 handled the shipping of cars to Sirotenko's and Mironov's organizations.

It seems to us that the conflict could have been avoided if the Neverov gang had settled for the companies owned by Mironov only and left Sirotenko in charge of the enterprises belonging jointly to him and Mokrov. On the other hand it is not evident, and we do not rule out that the conflict would have escalated in any event.

The reason is that Igor Sirotenko did not participate openly on Miron's side in the hostilities against the Neverov gangsters, because Miron's actions had violated all criminal rules of honor. In a state of inebriation, he killed three of Neverov's subordinates who had done nothing to provoke the conflict.

At the same time Sirota never made a secret out of whose side he sympathized with, and most probably provided material as well as technical assistance to his war-waging friend. Our sources maintain that when, after the Mir massacre, Mokrov ended up behind bars, it was Sirota who paid his "ransom" to the corrupt police officers. According to our information, the payment was made in the colossal amount of US $200,000. We are inclined to hold true both the fact of the "ransom" payment and the amount paid, since Miron had been detained at the crime scene and under the normal course of investigations there was no way he could be set free.

We also know exactly how Igor Sirotenko reacted to the death of his friend. He was gravely upset, especially by the fact that immediately following his murder the Neverov gang did not fail to circulate the version implicating Sirota himself in ordering Miron's murder so as to lay hands on his men and money. Such libel is very hurtful for a criminal boss, all the more so that in the opinion of Sirotenko's gang the people circulating the base rumors were using them as a cover to appropriate the entire legacy of Mironov, while taking advantage of the complicated situation in which Sirotenko's organized criminal group found itself at that moment.

Sirota Got Under "Pressure"?

It was due to the fact that at the moment Sirota was under "pressure" from law enforcement. The wardens of order were not interested in him because of the events in Togliatti. Sirota drew their attention in connection with a criminal war that broke out in the city of Tambov and the Tambov region. In 1999-2000 over 30 murders for hire were committed in the relatively small Tambov (far smaller in population than Togliatti). Among those gunned down were deputy chief of the department of internal affairs of the Tambov region, police colonel Mikhail Biriukov, and former chief of the regional organized crime department colonel, Valery Dzhurayev, who later became chief of one of Tambov's district departments of internal affairs.

The interests of two criminal clans were at stake in the "Tambov" criminal war, which was waged with no less violence than the gangsters' wars of Togliatti. Each of the groups had a "roof" provided by high ranking police bosses, and it was this "protective roof" that the murders of the two important police officers were linked to.

In order to solve the "Tambov" case a special group of investigators was put together which included representatives of the General Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation and the main department of criminal investigations of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia. According to our information, in the course of the investigation the police obtained data indicating that the murders for hire for one of the parties at war in Tambov were carried out by a "team of killers" from Togliatti. And according to the police information, the hit men were members of the Sirotenko organized criminal group.

Let us note that Igor Sirotenko is indeed on warm and friendly terms with Svistunov (Svist), a Tambov criminal boss who took an active part in the re-appropriation of property in the city of Tambov. They come to visit with one another quite often and were once even detained by the organized crime unit while celebrating Sirotenko's birthday at the Dubki (a suburban Togliatti recreation center).

To make a long story short, based on the information obtained by the investigation team on the "Tambov case" the General Prosecutor's Office issued special instructions to our wardens of order to conduct surveillance and investigatory operations vis-*-vis Sirota's organized criminal group. Officers of the main department of criminal investigations of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation became frequent visitors to our city. By all appearances their visits were fruitful.

And in 2001 Sirotenko's gang started suffering "non-combat losses" so to speak. In accordance with the instructions from the General Prosecutor's Office the local wardens of order stepped up surveillance over merchants controlled by Sirota, began to detain his subordinates, summon all known organized criminal group members for interrogations, and put the heads of the group on the wanted list. In other words, they started a regular "pressing."

Let us note that the leaders of Sirota's organized criminal group do not dispute the fact of pressure coming from law enforcement agencies. But in their view it is not related at all to the "Tambov" case, and the motives behind the actions of the wardens of order are explained by their mercantile interests. They explain it by saying that the "people in uniform" decided to appropriate a number of enterprises controlled by Sirota and Miron. Provide them with what they call a "red roof." That is how the special instructions from the General Prosecutor's Office came about.

But it was only issued after heads of a number of companies financially linked with Igor Sirotenko were approached by big police bosses with an offer of "cooperation," saying something like this: time to stop working with organized crime and to start improving the well-being of law enforcement agencies. If not, there will be "mask shows" and other unpleasant events in your companies.

We'll Bravely Go to Fight

Under the circumstances any gang is better off lying low. In other words, group leaders under such circumstances usually leave town while rank-and-file members start living an "honest" life, spending their savings on food. Everyone waits for the fuss raised by the wardens of order to subside. If however a group being closely watched by the police starts active combat operations, the probability of making mistakes potentially providing investigators with new evidence increases.

Following this logic, Sirotenko's gang tried to lie low as well, a fact that the Neverov group was quick to take advantage of. They started bringing Mironov's enterprises under their control.

Igor Sirotenko, indignant over Neverov's actions but realizing that under the circumstances war would be to his disadvantage, attempted to solve the problem through negotiations. Initially, though, neither side would agree to a compromise. The Neverov gang said they would absolutely not give up their material claims, while Sirota assured them that there was no way he would allow anyone to take the companies he had invested in.

First Victims of the "Bloodless" War

It started with the strengthening of personal safety measures by leaders of both groups. And these safety measures proved justified, at least for the commanding body of the Neverov group. In the summer of 2001 the Togliatti wardens of order simultaneously averted four murders for hire. The entire top of the Neverov group was to become killers' victims. The potential victims included Sergey Neverov, Mikhail Zujkov, Aleksandr Petrovsky, and Aleksandr Volkov. The case materials identify none other than Igor Sirotenko as the person who ordered the crime. Investigators believe that Sirota was preparing to eliminate the leaders of the Neverov team as follows.

Immediately after Miron Mokrov was murdered, most of his subordinates offered their services to Igor Sirotenko. The offer included not only services, but also the companies Mironov used to control. However, as we have already said, Sergey Neverov's subordinates also claimed the "Mironov" property, since they believed, and not without a reason, that "the winner gets everything."

In order to resolve the growing contradictions, Sirota suggested that the "defectors" prove their ability to act. And they had to do it by physically eliminating the top men in charge of Neverov's organized criminal group.

Former Mironov lieutenants Rozov and Ziuzin became the organizers of the elimination, and Korostylyov, who formerly served in the army's special forces and was decorated with a combat order for carrying out a number of special operations in "hot zones," took it upon himself to actually carry out the elimination. He set up physical surveillance over the potential victims and had their residential addresses and personal vehicles identified. The order itself was to be carried out by Lipatov, Kamanin, and Prokayev, members of the Sirotenko gang and the fallen-apart gang of Mironov.

The killers found out that Neverov and his deputy Petrovsky moved around in an armored car and had acquired three grenade launchers in addition to regular firearms, apparently with the intent to duplicate in the streets of Togliatti the experiment of the terrorists who had used an RPG grenade launcher to destroy the limousine of Georgia's President Shevardnadze.

The gangsters took care of their own safety, as well. For the purposes of this operation they purchased an UAZ minivan and lined it from inside with steel plates, thus turning it into a small fortress on wheels.

The hunt for the leaders of the competing group continued through the entire summer of 2001, but the killers were plagued by bad luck. Sometimes the Neverov bosses would change their places of residence (each of them had a few "unofficial" apartments), at other times unauthorized persons would get in the way, or the killers themselves would disagree about something. But the most glorious event in the activities of the simpleton killers was their detention by the police. They were apprehended right in their armored vehicle, along with their weapons, masks, wigs, and other paraphernalia. As a matter of fact, they were arrested not far from where the entire leadership of the Neverov organized criminal group was assembled for a meeting. As of today, there are a few versions explaining how the police learned about the "act of terror" in advance.

Did Anyone Order the Murder? Perhaps No One Did?

The Neverov group sticks to the version in which the killers were betrayed by their very comrades. Sirota, they are saying, had waited a few months for his orders to be carried out. But one failure followed another, and eventually the criminal boss got mad. He sensed that the lack of brain displayed by former comrades-in-arms of Mironov could bring the operation to a total failure and lead the law enforcement people to him. So he ordered a liquidation of the inept organizers of the crime. As a result, Ziuzin was shot and the second organizer of the attempt on the Neverov bosses, Aleksey Rozov, became the object of a hunt. When Rozov learned about this, he got very scared and could not think of anything better than to turn himself in to the prosecutor's office and "sell out" on Sirota, his comrade-in-arms, and his former subordinates. As a result, the killers were detained at the crime scene, while Sirota himself and his subordinates Prokayev and Vorobyov were put on the wanted list. As for Rozov, who confessed, the law enforcement people let him go free.

After this he disappeared. The Neverov gang maintains that the mysterious disappearance of the main witness is Sirota's handiwork, and that should Rozov ever be found, it will be as a corpse.

There is, however, a different version of how the killers ended up in the hands of justice. According to this version, Rozov's visit to the prosecutor's office can hardly be called voluntary. The explanation being that the Neverov gang's counterintelligence may have done a good job and its leaders learned about the elimination operation being prepared against them. The information was then leaked via some friendly policemen to the wardens of order.

The latter detained the organizers and the killers, worked with them, obtained confessing testimony from Rozov and then let him go free. After which "the snitch" preferred to disappear from town. This version is indirectly supported by a statement of city prosecutor Evgeny Novozhilov, made in one of his recent interviews. He stated that the criminal situation in the city is under control, and recently "one organized criminal group asked for protection against another." By all appearances he meant the Neverov group.

But there is also a third version of events which the leadership of Sirotenko's group is holding. They believe that the entire case is fabricated and that Igor Sirotenko learned from hearsay that he "had ordered Neverov killed." Plus, the persons called "organizers" and "actual doers" of the crime by the investigators have never been members of his group or had anything to do with it. The case was most probably concocted by the wardens of order themselves towards the same old purpose: to take Sirotenko's commercial organizations away from him. The "red roof" is simply stepping up the pressure and is looking for new opportunities to do so. Meanwhile, the Neverov group in this situation has neither been victimized by Sirota nor ordered a criminal case. The Neverov gang simply agreed to help the big police bosses make their commercial ambitions come true.

The Plan is Beautiful but not Implemented

The Neverov gang, however, maintains that Sirota did want to eliminate their leaders, and they give his plan its due. Because if the killers had managed to implement their plot, the Neverov organized criminal group would have ceased to exist. Since, as the "victims" themselves admit, no one else except them could lead the group and keep it under control during hostilities. This is how the responsibilities are distributed in the Neverov group: Neverov handles general supervision, Petrovsky monitors commercial activities, while Zujkov, who has done time in prison and enjoys the respect of the criminal world, is responsible for contacts with thieves and is in charge of security and operations involving force. If Sirota had destroyed the trio, ordinary "torpedoes" and controlled merchants would have disbanded on their own. But the planned operation fell through.

According to our intelligence, as a result a counter-order was placed for Sirotenko himself and his closest aids, even though one cannot rule out a possibility that the order had been placed much earlier than Sirota's operation fell through. And according to some information, Igor Sirotenko even left the city limits of Togliatti for a short period of time in order to secure his personal safety. As the owner of one of the major companies controlled by Neverov told us, "Sirota may not be too clever, but he is extremely smart. He can smell danger from a hundred miles away. Trouble is imminent now."

Will There Be More Work For the Police Than They Can Handle?

This sentence may prove to be a sad prophecy. Now the enemies, being well informed about each other's plans, will be extremely concerned about their personal safety. This will certainly make it more difficult to resolve the conflict "with one blow." And as we know from the history of the previous gangster wars in Togliatti, when a conflict between gangs is not resolved through liquidation of group leaders, widescale bloodshed begins. And in their attempt to deprive each other of the economic foundation, organized criminal groups move on to mutual elimination of controlled merchants. The latter are turned into sacrificial lambs.

Whether and how many "lambs" will be killed depends on the ability of the local law enforcement agencies to bring the situation under control. So far the local wardens of order have managed to do this. Even now they are motivated to avert the slaughter. No one needs war: neither the recently appointed chief of the department of internal affairs nor the city prosecutor, who according to our information has a nice opportunity to advance in his career due to a number of achievements by his subordinates.

However, rumor has it that the conflict was resolved without the participation of law enforcement agencies. They say that a month and a half ago Sirota and his adversaries had a few meetings, and a peace treaty was negotiated. The parties agreed that each group would keep the part of Mironov's legacy it had secured before the start of the "hostilities." In case of future disputes the gangs will resolve those through negotiations, and not through use of weapons. All orders placed mutually for members of both gangs are canceled, and the hit men who the orders were assigned to return to peaceful occupations. The Neverov gang, with its powerful connections in the law enforcement agencies, will stop helping the criminal investigation against Sirota's organized criminal group. And Igor Sirotenko in his turn brings the investigation into a deadlock using his own means. Some facts that we are aware of confirm these rumors. For example, according to our information, some evidence is already missing from the case materials, in particular the wigs seized from the detained killers. They got "lost" during the transfer of the case from one investigator to another. As we have already said, the prosecution's main witness, Rozov, who testified that the detained gangsters were connected with Sirotenko, has also been "lost." So it is possible that the prosecutor's office will have nothing to send to the court.