13 Members of Russian-Speaking Mafia Arrested in Greece

Police in Greece on Tuesday arrested 13 members of a Russian-speaking mafia group called Vor v Zakone (Thief in Law) during an operation in Athens.

Among the arrested are nationals of Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova. The members of the group, which is active throughout Europe, arrived in Athens for their so-called annual meeting.

Greek police were alerted to their presence by Russian and Spanish authorities. Some of those arrested had a criminal record in Greece for theft and other offenses.

How the Russian-speaking mafia group works

According to the US Department of Justice, the Vor v Zakone mafia group occupied places of great respect and authority in the former Soviet Union underworld. They were keepers of the thieves’ code which guided their behavior and that of their followers.

Rarely committing crimes, they were the organizers of criminal activities and ultimate arbiters of thieves’ justice, settling disputes among groups and fixing sanctions against code violators.

After the breakup of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, the vory (plural for thief) assumed a leading role within the Russian criminal hierarchy. The group was able to “infiltrate the top political and economic strata while taking command of the burgeoning crime network that spread murderously through the post-Soviet countries,” The New York Times reported.

Thieves In Law are given the title by other vory. To be accepted, they must demonstrate considerable leadership skills, personal ability, intellect, and charisma. Members must also have a well-documented criminal record.

Once accepted, they must live according to the thieves’ code. The penalty for violation of this code is often mutilation or death.

Mafia group spreads throughout the world

Reportedly, today, the Vory have spread around the world to Madrid, Berlin, and New York. They are involved in everything from petty theft to billion-dollar money-laundering. They also act as arbiters among conflicting Russian criminal factions.

The Vory consider prisons their true home and have a saying, “The home for angels is heaven, and the home for a Vor is prison.”

According to Aleksandr Gurov, an expert on the Vory who headed the organized crime units of the Soviet Interior Ministry and the GRU, “Unlike the Cosa Nostra the Vory have ‘less rules, but more severe rules’ [and the] members must have no ties to the government, meaning they cannot serve in the army or cooperate with officials while in prison. They must also have served several jail sentences before they can be considered. They also are not allowed to get married.”

Furthermore, according to Michael Schwirtz, “Ethnicity has rarely determined whether someone can join the club, and today many members, even those active inside Russia, are from other post-Soviet countries such as Armenia, Georgia, and are not ethnic Russians.”