Have the gloomy nineties gone into the past forever? Outwardly, they seem to have gone, but the shootout on Rochdelskaya Street in 2015 or the events of the forcible seizure of the Wildberries head office and the shots fired in the center of Moscow in the fall of 2024 show that the echoes of the 90s are still audible and it is too early to complete the chronicle of the history of the Russian mafia. Perhaps many events are still ahead.…

The updated and expanded 10th reissue of the Encyclopedia raises a serious question: is a new round of brutal, boundless criminal wars possible, which, as many people think, have forever remained in the past. Will the days come again when the streets of our cities will be filled with the sounds of gunfire and explosions?

The unique history of thieves in law and bandit groups in Russia has been updated with new little-known facts, authoritative forecasts and conclusions.


The author of the Encyclopedia, Valery Karyshev, is one of the most experienced and knowledgeable lawyers in the Russian criminal underworld. His new book contains the most complete and competent information about crime and has no analogues in the book market.