Thieves in law are respective diasporas in the post-Soviet States. They are professional criminals who enjoy status of elite in organised crime gangs and prisons.
Russia has recently released a law prescribing punishment for those who hold the highest position in criminal hierarchy: imprisonment from 8 to 15 years. It forces the thieves to comply with the changes.
Their lifestyle rests on special laws. For example, they cannot be interviewed by journalists. Sasha Sulim managed to interview some people who represent the thieves in law, such as their friends and relatives in order to find out more about current life and future of the cast.
Contents:
0:00 Intro
1:28 "I committed my first robbery during my years in university, when I was forced to study".
4:55 Who was Vladimir Tyurin (nickname Tyurik)?
6:51 About Konstantin Borisov (nickname Kostyl)
8:25 How did thieves in law originate?
10:37 The first laws of the thieves
12:06 About enforcers who help prisoners
14:46 Friends and relatives about Konstantin
16:36 The thieves during the WW2: violation of the laws and the Bitch Wars
19:48 Coronation of Tyurik and Kostyl
23:44 Popularisation of thieves in law. Khruschev declared a war against them.
25:36 I was 14 and was looking for protection so I ended up in a gang.
26:50 Racketeering in 1990s
31:53 Tyurik: authority for those who are free, Kostyl: authority in prison.
35:01 Relationship between the thieves and gangs
37:53 About a person who spent 32 years in prison
39:39 Are government officials connected with criminal world?
42:52 Are thieves in law allowed to have families?
46:19 Grandpa Hassan, a thief in law
48:00 Thieves in law have democracy, there is never a leader.
49:31 Illness and death of Konstantin Borisov (Kostyl)
52:24 Vladimir Tyurin (Tyurik) these days
55:03 What do enforces, appointed by a thief in law, do?
56:42 How has the thieves' ideology changed?
58:57 Has the new law about the highest criminal authority affected lives of thieves in law?
1:06:12 Are criminal authorities allowed to withdraw from their activity?