Crime boss Kostya. Heroes of our time
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Yesterday in St. Petersburg they buried the “authoritative” businessman Konstantin Yakovlev (Kostya Mogila), who was killed two weeks ago in Moscow. The funeral of the “authority” was delayed due to the celebration of the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg and attracted the most different people- from thieves in law and bandits to the monks of the Zelenetsky monastery, which last years Konstantin Yakovlev helped. With details - ANDREY Y-TSYGANOV.
From the very morning, the lads began to arrive at the Trinity Cathedral of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, where the funeral service for Konstantin Yakovlev was to be held. The location of the funeral was decided the day before - Konstantin Yakovlev’s relatives chose another, more modest church, but then it was decided that it would not accommodate everyone who wanted to say goodbye to Kostya Mogila. There really were a lot of people interested. By half past twelve in the afternoon, the entire area in front of the entrance to the monastery was filled with jeeps and Mercedes with difficult license plates. And for ordinary mourners, the stewards prepared four buses.
A mahogany, carved coffin containing the body of the deceased was placed in the middle of the temple. He was immediately surrounded by relatives, followed by citizens of characteristic appearance. At the entrance to the cathedral, mourning wreaths with the inscriptions “Sister to brother” and “From friends” appeared. However, most of the “friends” remained on the street until the very beginning of the funeral service, standing in a semicircle in front of the cathedral. Believers who came to the service on the occasion of the Feast of the Ascension of the Lord hastily left the territory of the monastery. Even the beggars, who are usually located along the entire road from the entrance to the Lavra to the Trinity Cathedral, this time moved outside the gates of the monastery and collected a generous harvest there. Journalists crowded at the entrance to the cathedral. The lads did not pay attention to the cameras, and only then, at the cemetery, a representative citizen approached Kommersant correspondents and advised them not to get into trouble: they say, “you yourself understand, there are people here who may not like the filming. People can react in different ways.” ".
There was no procession of the cross, usually held on Ascension. Instead, at noon, as planned, the funeral service for Kostya Mogila began. “He was a big boss, huh?” the granny, collecting candle stubs, asked me. “God rest. The bosses are from God.” According to the most conservative estimates, about 500 people came to say goodbye to Kostya Mogila. Among them were the “authority” Vyacheslav Slatin (Pasha Kudryash) and the deputy of the legislative assembly of St. Petersburg Denis Volchek. Towards the end of the funeral service, ex-vice-president of the St. Petersburg Fuel Company Vladimir Barsukov (Kumarin), whom the police once considered the main enemy of the deceased, appeared at the doors of the cathedral. He stood at the entrance until the end of the service.
As one of the participants in the funeral explained to a Kommersant correspondent, the crowd gathered here is diverse: “That guy from Broiler’s team, that one from Malyshevsky. I haven’t seen some of the guys for 20 years. By the way, there are not many thieves - apparently they are afraid that they will be caught here SOBR with riot police." Representatives of legal big business The Kommersant correspondent did not recognize him in the crowd of people saying goodbye (those around Kostya Mogila said that he had long “come out of the shadows” and was a member of a number of prestigious business clubs. However, in the most famous of them, the St. Petersburg English Club, Kommersant was told that Konstantin Yakovlev had no relation).
The funeral cortege, surrounded by traffic police escort vehicles, stretched for half a kilometer. But at the cemetery (Northern; not the most prestigious of St. Petersburg cemeteries - it’s just that Konstantin Yakovlev’s mother is buried there) only the closest people gathered - about 200 people. Deputy businessman Denis Volchek, whom rumor calls one of the main “successors” of the deceased, stayed in the back rows, avoiding cameras. The lads did not make speeches over the coffin. Konstantin Yakovlev’s confessor, a monk of the Zelenetsky monastery, said: “The Lord called Konstantin to the very best moment his life when he took the path of repentance." And the president of the public organization "Academy of Spiritual Revival" founded by Yakovlev promised to tell "what kind of guy" the deceased was.
The “brothers” listened to the speeches without enthusiasm: it is no secret that it was the religious and social activity Konstantin Yakovlev was turned away from most of his “guards” and “authorities”. “The main thing now is who they (Moscow thieves in law - Kommersant) will appoint instead of him,” said one of the ceremony participants, meaning that, despite the break with crime, Kostya Mogila remained “ godfather" St. Petersburg. (Kommersant, 06.06.2003)
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Kostya Mogila
His real name is Konstantin Karol'evich Yakovlev, he was born on February 4, 1954 in Leningrad. His parents belonged to the old St. Petersburg intelligentsia; his father was repressed at one time as an enemy of the people and was released from the camp only in 1947. Later, Konstantin’s father became the director of a large research institute of all-Union significance. Konstantin himself has been involved in sports since childhood - freestyle wrestling, in which he reached the level of a candidate master of sports. It is interesting that Yakovlev’s grandfather was a Russian officer, served before the revolution in the Cuirassier Regiment, and after the revolution he became a preacher of the Church of Evangelical Peasants. After school, Yakovlev graduated from a physical and mechanical technical school, then served in the army, in a sports company, and only after demobilization he began to “spin.” At first, Kostya Mogila did stunt work - together with his friend Evgeny Toporov and several other sports guys, they roamed around different studios Soviet Union like shabashniks (Toporov was Konstantin’s closest friend, who was later very worried when Evgeniy was killed in Sweden - in the early 90s). In the early 80s, Kostya was known for working as a carrier of money from large workshops from Sukhumi and Tbilisi. The money they trusted him with was huge at that time - he transported 600-700 thousand rubles from city to city. Back then it was a very big risk, because Zhiguli cars cost less than 10 thousand.
Gradually Yakovlev began to dwell on other topics, although for a long time and worked alone. He became close friends with Pavel Kudryashov, the same one who stood at the origins of the “hood” movement - it was Kudryashov who at one time threw the Azerbaijanis out of Sosnovaya Polyana. At that time, Kudryashov was Malyshev’s shareholder. Yakovlev and Kudryashov were often identified and it was even said that they had a single team, but this was not true. It’s just that Mogila and Pasha Kudryashov were connected by purely human and friendly relations. By the way, later, when Kudryashov was well promoted, many people began to use his name, however, according to his own estimates, 90 percent of those who introduced me had no real share. Mogila’s own team was formed more or less only in 1989. Yakovlev was helped to take a stable position in gangster Petersburg by the fact that he knew many future authorities practically from childhood - they all hung around in the Moskovsky district, Mogila’s native district. Pavel Kudryashov even worked at one time in the “Wind Rose”, where Kumarin once started.
In the early 90s, Mogila had some troubles with the law, and he was even forced to spend some time in Kresty, from where, however, he was soon released. However, while he was sitting, unrest began in his team - in particular, one of his people, a certain Igor Kuvalda (former boxer), wanted more independence. His desire for separatism culminated in the assassination attempt on Mogila in 1993. At that time, Yakovlev still had an office on Varshavskaya Street. By the way, he was one of the first authorities who officially settled in a normal office and thereby outlined his inner desire for legalization and “clean business.” When the killers entered the office on Varshavskaya, they, by the way, said that they had come from Pasha Kudryashov - they knew that Mogila would react to this name and would always accept it immediately. Yakovlev’s life was saved by his good reaction - when the killer entered the office, took out a barrel and started shooting, Mogila managed to fall behind the table, reached for the pump-action shotgun, but it turned out that it was lying in a different place, not where it usually was. The killer managed to mortally wound two of Mogila’s people, but then he was still detained. Since then, Mogila has drawn the appropriate conclusions, strengthened its own security service and catches killers every six months.
Somewhere from 1994, Kostya Mogila began to appear more and more often in official places, in the company of legal entrepreneurs. Of course, he did not completely break with the lads, but he emphasized in every possible way that he “was not drawn to the black gangster-criminal environment.” Yakovlev's interests extended to banking sector and in the area of funds mass media. Sergei Lisovsky becomes one of his partners, and Kostya receives a share in the famous Premier SV agency, which, in turn, had a very good positions on Channel Five (at that time Channel Five was headed by Bella Alekseevna Kurkova, a well-known democrat who, according to rumors, the people of Kostya Mogila once managed to drag out of the airport literally from under the noses of killers). Subsequently, Yakovlev further strengthened his position in the field of regional television.
In the mid-90s, Moscow thieves repeatedly offered Mogila the position of “overseer” of the city, and, according to rumors, even a coronation. However, he diplomatically refused, while managing not to offend the proposers. It is known that Mogila has extremely warm relations with one of the most respected thieves in law in Russia - Grandfather Hasan. It was rumored, by the way, that Khasan was dragged to St. Petersburg by none other than Mogila. However, Mogila’s diplomatic abilities, which helped him get along normally with everyone in gangster Petersburg, did not save him from the serious problems that arose in him in 1998 - the reasons for these problems will be discussed below, but they really resulted in what they began to attribute to him directly related to the murder of the vice-governor of St. Petersburg Manevich in 1997. This version was voiced in one of St. Petersburg’s newspapers, and in the city itself, in some places on the embankments and on the walls of houses, inscriptions even appeared: “Yakovlev, why did you kill Manevich?” At the same time, rumors about Mogila’s involvement in the death of Vladislav Listyev in 1995 began to heat up. All this created an extremely nervous environment around Yakovlev. However, it is possible that the authors of the inscriptions “Yakovlev, why did you kill Manevich?” We were simply happy to take advantage of the fact that Mogila is the governor’s namesake...
The tendency of many leaders of gangster St. Petersburg to move closer to legal business (which, however, was also flawed, because only a naive person could talk about absolutely “clean” business in Russia in the second half of the 90s. As one elderly person who had already seen a lot in his life said century businessman: “We have everything in Russia, so I won’t be surprised if it turns out that somewhere we have an honest business too”) contributed to closer contacts between representatives of the gangster and bureaucratic elite. Moreover, both of them were objectively interested in “condensing” these contacts. The most advantageous view business in Russia was not the trade in weapons, drugs or, say, gasoline, but the trade in power. An official who received a meager government salary could contribute to the decision-making process high level on some issue - and a certain commercial structure made a fabulous profit. But the same official could slow down the resolution of the issue, and instead of profit, the result was continuous losses.
The stratum of officials who traded in “making decisions” (or, conversely, not making them) rapidly accumulated large money supply. But, as you know, it’s not enough to “cut” money, you still need to save it (in order to be able to use it later), it’s also advisable to invest it in some business (that is, legalize or launder it - at least slightly, because the real thing, as in In the West, laundering of “dark” capital was not required in Russia). Representatives of the gangster elite were well suited for laundering and saving ill-gotten capital - at least those of them who had already realized the need to change their own image. The bandits (more precisely, some of their leaders), meeting the officials halfway, solved not only the issues of strengthening their own social status and their own safety (who would dare to develop the closest connection of a major boss?), but they were already breaking through to the tastiest, biggest and “sweetest” a pie that was only found in the kitchen Russian business- to the public sector... By and large, real (what is called “adult”) organized crime in the city on the Neva arose precisely when gangster Petersburg came into close working contact with corrupt one. In the second half of the 90s, this contact became so inextricable and obvious that many officials no longer even felt ashamed of their compromising (as they would have said before) connections. Apparently, new times and new economic conditions have formed new views among the bureaucrats, those according to which it is probably not the presence of close contacts with bandits that can compromise, but, on the contrary, the absence of such connections (and, consequently, the lack of the possibility of “resolving issues” on , as some civil servants like to put it, at the informal level).
With all this, is it any wonder that in 1997 the former deputy of the former mayor of St. Petersburg Sobchak, Lev Savenkov, was sentenced to several years in prison? As deputy mayor for trade, Savenkov was involved in no less than smuggling, and not alone, but in a very worthy company.
The alliance between bandits and officials in Russia was facilitated by the fact that even by 1998, the country had not yet developed a legal concept of what “corruption” is. Consequently, there was no need to talk about any strategy or tactics to combat this phenomenon, which did not receive any legislative assessment. The article on bribery present in the Criminal Code made it possible to suppress only a very narrow and, perhaps, the most primitive manifestation of corruption - serious people Back in the first half of the 90s, they began to abandon the practice of accepting envelopes with money. You can pay for services in a million other, much more beautiful ways... In general, when the conversation about the bond between representatives of the lads and the bureaucracy moves from general reasoning when it comes to specifics, one has to be very careful, because the practical implementation of this very bond is an extremely delicate area in which it is quite difficult to prove any malicious intent... And nevertheless, this conversation (even if unpleasant) must be had, one cannot turn a blind eye to the facts, which simply cannot but surprise - as, for example, the order issued in 1997 cannot but surprise, according to which the adviser on a voluntary basis to the governor Leningrad region a certain Oleg Semenovich Shuster was appointed - the same one who was already mentioned above in the subchapter “The authority of an assistant to a deputy.” Ruslan Kolyak said so directly about him - “... one of those who can be counted among the Tambov criminal community is a major businessman Oleg Shuster, who has something to do with APEC...”
Of course, the regional governor may have his own reasons for choosing advisers. Perhaps Mr. Gustov simply wanted to surround himself with people not only smart and with business acumen, but also, as they say, experienced, knowledgeable about life in all its manifestations. Shuster is undoubtedly an experienced man...
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The murder in Moscow of the shadow leader of St. Petersburg, Konstantin Yakovlev, nicknamed Kostya Mogila, had a great resonance in Northern capital. Moreover, this coincided with the stage of change of power in the city - his namesake, Governor of St. Petersburg Vladimir Yakovlev, has already announced his imminent resignation.
Millionaire
According to official information, Konstantin Yakovlev was the founder of JSC Sirius-S, the company Bit, trading company Okhta Center LLC, telecommunications company MSA, publishing agency RiM. He owned real estate in Petrogradsky and Central region, in the Resort area on the Karelian Isthmus, as well as a number of companies in Moscow. Konstantin Yakovlev controlled part of the food industry in St. Petersburg, including the alcohol market. After the murder of Pavel Kapysh (the owner of the Baltic Financial and Industrial Group) in 1999, Mogila began to control part of his property. According to various estimates, the total fortune of Mogila amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars. He is also the President of the Television Development Fund and international association to combat drug trafficking.
Among Yakovlev’s business partners they name Boris Berezovsky and Badri Patarkatsishvili. Not without reason, the grave was even considered a confidant of the disgraced oligarch in St. Petersburg, although Yakovlev himself never confirmed this information. One way or another, along with Vladimir Kumarin (Barsukov) and Mikhail Mirilashvili, Kostya Mogila was one of the shadow leaders of the city.
Yakovlev showed special attention to the media, including television. Many St. Petersburg television companies, advertising and publishing groups and magazines were influenced by Yakovlev in one way or another.
Law enforcement agencies have information that Mogila was a “positioner” of Moscow thieves in law, who offered him a position as a “lookout” for the city, which he managed to tactfully refuse.
Good reaction
Little is known about the Mogila conflicts in St. Petersburg. Yakovlev was one of the first authorities who sought to legalize his activities as much as possible. At the same time, everyone notes the extreme accuracy and caution with which he conducted his affairs. Nevertheless, in 1993, they tried to kill Mogila for the first time. The killers came straight to his office, but his good reaction saved him. As it turned out later, the killers were sent by one of Yakovlev’s henchmen - Igor Kuvalda, who was killed a few months later.
In 2000, Konstantin Yakovlev and Vladimir Kumarin allegedly had serious claims against each other. Let us remind you that long time Kumarin's name was associated with the activities of the Tambov organized crime group in St. Petersburg, although this was not confirmed in court.
As law enforcement officials say, it is quite possible that these contradictions were the result of a series of murders that swept through the city. In particular, in 1999, deputy of the Legislative Assembly Viktor Novoselov, who was close to the Tambovites, was killed. As GAZETA reported, the St. Petersburg City Court recently sentenced the perpetrators of this crime. However, the customers were never found. Among the people who benefited from this murder was Konstantin Yakovlev.
However, the disagreement with Kumarin eventually ended in a settlement agreement concluded by the two authorities on June 2, 2000 on the territory of the Peter and Paul Fortress in the Austeria restaurant.
Stabilizer
Former head of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate and deputy Legislative Assembly Petersburg, Arkady Kramarev, in a conversation with a Gazeta correspondent, rejected the connection between the murder of Mogila and the upcoming gubernatorial elections: “Yakovlev was, of course, a well-known figure, was involved in business and even a little in politics, but I don’t see any connection with the elections.”
“In our times, Konstantin Yakovlev played the role of a situation stabilizer in certain circles in the city on the Neva,” says Yuri Loskutov, head of the St. Petersburg City Internal Affairs Directorate from 1995 to 1997. “So that there would be no shooting. However, it is difficult for me to say what could have caused his murder now.”
The current police officers do not see the St. Petersburg trace in the incident either. The St. Petersburg RUBOP doubts that Mogila’s death can be directly related to his business interests. “Nobody needs this. Mogila was a system-forming man. Killing him means destroying the existing order.” However, operatives noted in informal conversations, “Mogila had a very big business with interests not only in St. Petersburg.”
Time will tell who will be Mogila's successor.
Reference
Konstantin Yakovlev was born on February 4, 1954 in Leningrad into an intelligent family. Konstantin has been seriously involved in freestyle wrestling since childhood and reached the level of candidate master of sports. He worked for some time at the Southern Cemetery, where he received his gloomy nickname. In the early 1980s, Kostya Mogila worked as a carrier of money for shop workers. Acquaintance with many authorities whom Mogila knew since childhood helped Yakovlev find his place in the criminal world of St. Petersburg. In the early 1990s, Mogila had problems with the Criminal Code. He was arrested on charges of extortion, but after being held in jail for 4 months, he was released. Many mistakenly called Mogila a “thief in law,” but, according to operational data, Mogila was never “crowned.” Since about 1995, Mogila has become an almost legal entrepreneur.
Recently convicted of organizing the murder of Galina Starovoytova, former special forces soldier and bandit from the dashing 90s, Yuri Kolchin, made a sensational statement for investigators. Boris Berezovsky and Konstantin Yakovlev were allegedly involved in the contract killing of Vlad Listyev. The latter is a curious person, one of the founders of such a concept as “gangster Petersburg”. Let's talk about him.
The future St. Petersburg authority Konstantin Karol'evich Yakovlev was born on February 4, 1954 in Leningrad into a family of St. Petersburg intellectuals. Like this. He became interested in sports, practiced freestyle wrestling and quickly became a master's champion. After school, he graduated from a physical and mechanical technical school and served in the army in a sports company.
With the beginning of perestroika, Yakovlev began to engage in various dubious and not so dubious activities, mostly in his native Moskovsky district of Leningrad. He became close friends with Pavel Kudryashov (Kudryash).
Until 1988, Konstantin Yakovlev worked as a digger and installer of monuments at the Southern Cemetery. This is how he received his famous nickname Kostya Mogila, as well as a huge number of useful connections. At the same time, Yakovlev formed his own team, which can also be called a “team”. They were mainly engaged in the so-called “protection protection”. Konstantin also hunted at the Vneshposyltorg currency store on Makarov Embankment, where people gathered who made money from citizens selling Vneshposyltorg checks. The option was a win-win: checks were not currency, so to attract the scammers who bought them from Soviet foreign workers criminal liability it was impossible.
First attempt
In Moscow, Konstantin met influential people in the world of crime. Seryozha Tashkent, well known in those years among Moscow swindlers, helped him establish connections in the capital. But Kostya Mogila did not forget Leningrad either. Since 1991, the Moskovsky district has been headed by Viktor Novoselov. He resorted to the help of the Bone of the Grave, which was able to resolve conflict situation without resorting to bloody showdowns. Moreover, Yakovlev more than once helped out Novoselov’s son, Vasily, who, due to his adventurous inclinations in business, found himself in critical situations.
Soon Yakovlev was accused of extortion and ended up in Kresty. This is his first and last move, which is typical. Konstantin always really wanted to stay away from banal bloodshed. And in general, he loved to be aesthetic, to wear white suits a la Mikhalkov in “Cruel Romance.”
Then Yakovlev’s lawyer managed to re-qualify this article as Article 147 (fraud) of the old Criminal Code, and in January 1992, the Kirovsky District Court of St. Petersburg sentenced Konstantin to three years in prison (suspended).
But a short prison term only increased Yakovlev’s authority. However, he gravitated toward almost legal business. And he headed his own company, Almaz OJSC, where he was commercial director. The company's office was located on Varshavskaya Street, where the first attempt on Mogila took place in 1993. Konstantin was saved by a lightning-fast reaction (thanks to sports): when the killer entered the office, pulled out a pistol and opened fire, Mogila managed to fall to the floor, hiding behind the table. Later, the investigation found out that the assassination attempt was organized by Igor Savin (Sledgehammer) from Yakovlev’s team, who stole a shipment of vodka, hiding behind the name of Mogila, and thus decided to evade responsibility. Quite a common case for those years.
Dividing the “Pie”
And Mogila’s business was booming, he was rapidly growing rich. But there were dissatisfied people in Yakovlev’s team, since Konstantin liked to invest public money in various, sometimes risky, projects. And it was at this time that Konstantin Yakovlev tried to get into the oil business. He negotiated a partnership with the head of the BFIG Pavel Kapysh. The negotiations were successful.
However, in the summer of 1999, Pavel Kapysh was killed. Kostya Mogila attended his funeral service in the church, held onto the coffin and in every possible way emphasized his good attitude towards the late tycoon. But it seems that he then tried to take over the business of the deceased. Raider schemes that were fashionable in subsequent years were used.
The more successfully Yakovlev’s business developed, the more they began to talk about his confrontation with Vladimir Barsukov (Kumarin), the head (according to law enforcement agencies) of the so-called “Tambov” organized crime group. This rivalry was even called a “criminal war,” which peaked at the end of 1999 - beginning of 2000. Within a short time, Georgy Pozdnyakov was killed and Vyacheslav Eneev was wounded - far from last people in the Tambov team.
In particular, they called the response move the attempt to liquidate Kostya Mogila by Novgorod killers, who were promptly tied up by operatives of the then 15th department of the Criminal Investigation Department of the NUVD of St. Petersburg. It was reported that Yakov-lev was ordered by someone Bob Kemerovo, a man of Misha Khokhla ( former deputy State Duma with a different last name, of course), once the second person in the “Tambov” hierarchy.
However, Konstantin Yakovlev did not have long to live. Kostya Mogila was killed on May 25, 2003 in Moscow. Two motorcyclists shot up the Nissan Maxima car in which Mogila was located and fled the scene of the crime. The police then noted the exotic method of murder. Still, hitting the target from a moving motorcycle is not so easy. But the killers turned out to be skillful guys.
Leave from the “crosses”
We must pay tribute to the police: law enforcement agencies uncovered the contract murder of the vice-president of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy (Mogila became very devout) Konstantin Yakovlev. A month after the murder of Mogila in St. Petersburg, he was shot business partner- founder of Tatinvestneftegazstroy CJSC Rustam Ravilov, nicknamed Roma Marshal. According to law enforcement agencies, at Mogila’s funeral, Marshall vowed to take revenge for him. Law enforcement agencies managed to solve the murders of Mogila and Marshal while investigating another crime. On October 14, 2009, in St. Petersburg, an attempt was made on the life of Oleg Makovoz, the founder of the Strong security agency and Marshal’s business partner. During the investigation, several people were detained, including an employee of the Strong agency, who turned out to be the mastermind of the assassination attempt. He informed law enforcement agencies that the main occupation of Oleg Makovoz, who came to St. Petersburg from Bratsk in the mid-90s, was contract killings. It was established that it was Oleg Makovoz’s group that committed the murder of Kostya Mogila and Roma Marshal.
The reason for the murder of Mogila was his conflict with thieves in law. As investigators established, Konstantin Yakovlev patronized commercial structures participating in one of the largest projects in St. Petersburg - the construction of a protective dam. As for Oleg Makovoz, he was sentenced to long term, however, recently he could be seen peacefully walking in the center of St. Petersburg, say, on Nevsky Prospekt. The fact is that he made a deal with the investigation, which is investigating high-profile raider cases, including those committed by Vladimir Barsukov. Makovoz turned out to be such a valuable witness that he was sent from Kresty to walk around the city and was even given the opportunity for intimate meetings with his lawyer. Because of this it broke out loud scandal between the St. Petersburg Central Internal Affairs Directorate and the SKP.
And Kostya Mogila was buried in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. His grave is one of the most magnificent among the representatives of the “gangster Petersburg” that has sunk into oblivion.
Evgeniy Solomonov
Based on newspaper materials
"Behind Bars" (No. 12 2010)
Every Leningrader (St. Petersburger) probably knows who Kostya “Mogila” is. I won’t go into details, but will simply send it to Google or Yandex so that people understand that Konstantin Karolievich Yakovlev for St. Petersburg was about the same significant figure as Vyacheslav (Yaponchik) Ivankov for Moscow.
There is a persistent legend that during the time Kostya worked at the Southern Cemetery of St. Petersburg, he, working as a gravedigger with his accomplices, dug a grave a little deeper, where the gang brought the corpse at night. The corpse was supposedly buried and covered with earth, and the very next morning the respectable coffin of a good St. Petersburg Samaritan was lowered into the hole, and accordingly, as they say, “the loose ends” were hidden so reliably that no one could dig under.
Although this is nothing more than a legend. At least I know that they checked it and even several dead people from the 90s were even exhumed to dig a little further - but it all ended in nothing.
Despite this, even without being the so-called. “thief in law” - Kostya was an absolute authority in the criminal community. And his authority was even greater than that of a thief. Being a great fighter and athlete. A person, in principle, who knows no fear and does not retreat in any fight, which for the Soviet mentality, brought up not only by the party and the Komsomol but also by the courtyard, criminal romance, was something like heroism that did not require confirmation.
But not being a thief, Kostya, like any Soviet person who received unimaginable incomes in the late 80s and early 90s, was a noble dude, no stranger to cheap, by thieves’ standards, show-offs. In the early 90s, he was just over 30, and he was caught in extortion (in those years - in banal racketeering - if anyone remembers such a word). And the St. Petersburg opera was determined to close down the young and daring fighter who was not afraid of anything and no one.
The USSR collapsed in August, but the courts and law enforcement system still worked according to Soviet standards. And this influenced Kostya’s fate in the most opportune way.
There is probably no need to tell those who were born in the 50s and 60s what the early 90s were like. A sort of transition from communism to victorious democracy. Any person from iron curtain- was almost a god. The fucking fucking German journalist, who was hired as an intern in Germany, upon arrival in the USSR, really felt like a man among the natives. These kind of servile monkeys, for whom the word “foreigner” sounded almost like “Jesus Christ, only with bucks in his pocket.”
The first influx of foreigners, namely Finns, thanks to the proximity of St. Petersburg and the Germans in Kaliningrad, will perfectly paint a picture of why yesterday's Soviets today hate Europeans so much and their false tolerance. A luxury bus with tourists (no match for the low-assed Ikarus) was approaching a parking spot that had already been occupied by impoverished Soviet children (now they are already a little over 30). The door opened and a generous handful of chewing gum in bright candy wrappers flew onto the asphalt.
And while the Russian “sparrows” on all fours, clumsily swearing and pushing each other aside, collected a generous handout, the foreigners laughed and filmed it on their Polaroids and “boxes”. For them it was exotic. In former Soviet restaurants, which were still operating by inertia, and where foreigners ate, the best tip for the waiter was a “Cricket” lighter, which was given out with an important air.
In general, I got carried away. I turn to Kostya Mogila, to whom his old acquaintance brought the correspondent of the magazine "Der Spiegel" (Germany) with the words - "This guy will get you out of any zone."
The guy really turned out to be lively. He took some pictures in the kitchen, which was quickly improvised as a prison cell. And literally a week later an article was published in Der Spiegel loudly entitled “The First Soviet Mafioso.”
Of course, there was no talk about “mafiosi”. There was a photo of Yakovlev on the supposed “shkonka” in the cell. And a huge enormous text about how the Soviet regime imprisons ordinary athletes who also happen to be businessmen. And the fact that Konstantin Yakovleff is now in post-Soviet Russia faces a serious prison sentence.
And so it began! “Radio Liberty” and “Voice of America” squealed - A simple businessman fell under repression and was destined for “GULAG”.
So what would you think?
It seems even Sobchak called the prosecutor's office. Like, there’s no way to plant it! We need to get out by any means necessary! You can’t offend foreigners, you can’t allow a scandal!
And under the weight of democracy, an ordinary bandit and racketeer, instead real time, for about eight years, they gave several months to “Khimiya” in the city of Lodeynoye Pole, Leningrad region. Where Konstantin Karolievich arrived personally in a red Ford Mustang.
If anyone doesn’t know what “Chemistry” is, I’ll briefly explain. This is a suspended sentence. There was such a concept in the USSR. When a person is not sentenced to a zone, as it were, but is considered conditionally free, but with relocation to some complex production ("Chemistry" is where it takes its name). For example, in an asbestos workshop, or for the production of batteries in a workshop with sulfuric acid.
The convict lives in a special dormitory during his term and goes to work from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. After which, until 22.00, he has the right to a normal life with access to the city, and then there is an evening check in the hostel, lights out and before the start of the working day.
Kostya-Mogila worked normally in Lodeynoye Pole. For a couple of ten bucks, some local guy went to work in his place at the silicalcite products plant. And Kostya drove around in his mustang, exciting local girls in chintz sundresses and endlessly dined in local restaurants, omitting, by the way, the “local gopota”, who then began to serve him.
Well, of course, he bought local cops and rented a hall that was registered with the Ministry of Internal Affairs for his classes. An athlete.
In general, I spent several months on vacation in Karelia and was released with a clear conscience. To be shot dead in Moscow 12 years later.
PS: By the way, such famous “criminals” as Sasha Boyarsky underwent chemistry in Lodeynoye Pole ( brother Mikhail Boyarsky), Arkady Gernstein (the actual manager of the most popular Leningrad bohemian restaurant, the Russian Troika, a close friend of Alla Pugacheva and Makhmud Esanbaev) and many other elite “criminals”.
