Otari Kvantrishvili
Otari "Otarik" Kvantrishvili (Georgian: ოთარ კვანტრიშვილი) (January 27, 1948 – April 5, 1994) was a Georgian mafia boss and one of Moscow's leading organised crime figures during the early 1990s.
Prior to his 1966 conviction for rape, Kvantrishvili was on his way to becoming a world-champion wrestler. In the 1980s he then founded the Dynamo Sports Club and later the 21st Century Association, an organisation ostensibly dedicated to funding sports but was widely regarded as a front for racketeering.[1] During the chaotic transition to capitalism in the early 1990s, Otarik became something of a public face for the mafia, befriending politicians and celebrities such as Joseph Kobzon while also acting as a mediator between various underworld factions, including the thieves in law and Slavic and Chechen mobsters.[2]
In late 1993, Kvantrishvili publicly announced his intention to enter politics through a new party, the Party of Sportsmen, at a conference attended by many well-known athletes. But several months later he was shot dead by a sniper while leaving a bathhouse.[3]
On September 29, 2008, four members of the Orekhovo-Medvedkovo gang were convicted, among other things, for organizing Kvantrishvili's murder. Oleg Pylev was sentenced to life in prison, Aleksei Sherstobitov (knowns as Lyosha the Soldier Russian: Лёша Солдат) received 23 years of imprisonment, Pavel Makarov - 13 years and Sergei Yelizarov - 11 years. Sherstobitov was the one who actually killed Kvantrishvili. He received a Lada car as payment for Kvantrishvili's murder.[4]
References
- ↑ Friedman, Robert; Red Mafiya: How the Russian Mob Has Invaded America; 2000
- ↑ Khlebnikov P.; Conversation with a Barbarian: Interviews with a Chechen Field Commander on Banditry and Islam - Moscow, Detekiv-Press, 2003
- ↑ NY Times - A Slaying Puts Russian Underworld on Parade
- ↑ Repentance did not count for Lyosha the Soldier Kommersant, September 30, 2008