A thief in law (or thief with code, ) in the Soviet Union, the post-Soviet states, and their respective diasporas is a formal and special status of "criminal authority", a professional criminal who follows certain criminal traditions and enjoys an elite position among other members within organized crime and correctional facility environments and who has informal authority over lower-status members.

The phrase "thief in law" is a calque of the Russian slang phrase , literally translated as 'thief in [a position of] the law'. The phrase has two distinct meanings in Russian: 'legalized thief' and 'thief who is the Law'. () came to mean 'thief' no earlier than the 18th century, before which it meant 'criminal'. The word retains this meaning in the professional criminal argot.

History

Although Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia had groups of criminals and bandits for a long time, during the disorder of the Russian Revolution of 1917, armed gangs proliferated until they became a very significant factor that controlled society. The criminal culture with its own slang, culture and laws became known as ().

As the police and court system were re-established in the Soviet Union shortly after the 1917 revolution, the NKVD secret police nearly exterminated the criminal underworld completely. Under Stalin, the forced labor camps overflowed with political prisoners and criminals, and a new organized group of top criminals arose, the , or "thieves in law."

For example, while incarcerated, a Vor must refuse all work, and is not allowed to assist the warden/correction officers in any way. The thieves' code states: "Your own prison you shall not make." If an inmate walks past a guard, and the guard asks him to ring the dinner bell, the convict must refuse or he will be judged by his fellow inmates and found guilty of assisting his jailers. The Vory organized their own courts and held trials governed by the code of 'thieves' honor and tradition'.

Ethics and code of conduct

(, 'concepts' or 'understandings') are the rules of conduct (or even the customary laws or code of honor) among prison inmates, with Vory being respectful leaders and judges according to these rules.

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."

Vory tattoos

The Vory subculture (more exactly: the prison inmate subculture where Vory are the leaders) is well known for having symbolic tattoos. The tattoos are usually done in the prison with primitive tools.

Tattoos associated with the thieves in law include, but are not limited to:

  • The eight-pointed star is the main tattoo in and usually appears on the shoulders.
  • Madonna and Child indicates a criminal lifestyle from a young age.
  • A spider tattoo, when facing up, denotes an active criminal; facing down, it denotes one who has left the lifestyle.
  • A circled A (done in the style of a finger ring) indicates an anarchist.
  • A circle with a dot inside (as finger ring) known as "The Roundstone" indicates an orphan or the saying "Rely only upon yourself" ().
  • A skull inside a square (as finger ring) indicates a conviction for aggravated robbery.
  • A lozenge with an Orthodox cross inside (as finger ring) indicates a thief-in-law.
  • A circle with the left half black, right half white (as finger ring) indicates one who moves around thieves-in-law, but is not one himself ().
  • The letters (, ) indicate a native-born prison inmate (). Cats are very respected among the Russian prisoners, unlike dogs, considered to be a "cops animals". If inmates are lucky to domesticate the cat, it gets the best treatment it can get.
  • The letters (, ) on the back of the hand indicate "It's hard to get away from me" ().
  • The letters (, ) on the back of the hand denote one who will never be rehabilitated or re-educated ().
  • The word (; ) on the back of the hand indicates having served a prison sentence in a northern prison (Siberia or Magadan).
  • A cat in a hat (from Puss in Boots) on the back of the hand is the symbol of thieves in law and, as such, denotes one.
  • The head of the Devil (Fenya: ; ) on the back of the hand denotes one who harbours anger towards the government.
  • The quincunx on the wrist indicates one who has served extensive prison sentences, from the saying "four guard towers and me" ().

Notable thieves in law

While there still are many ethnic Russian vory, many also are drawn from other ethnic groups from the former Soviet Union.

{| class="wikitable"

|-

! Name

! Nickname

! Place of birth

! Ethnicity

! Status

|-

| Aslan Usoyan

| Ded Khasan

|Tbilisi, Georgian SSR

| Georgian/Yezidi

| Dead

|-

| Zakhariy Kalashov

|Shakro Molodoi

|Tbilisi, Georgian SSR

| Georgian/Yezidi

| Released

|-

| Tariel Oniani

| Taro

|Tkibuli, Georgian SSR

| Georgian

| Detained

|-

| Nadir Salifov

| Lotu Guli

|Dmanisi, Georgian SSR

| Azerbaijani

| Dead

|-

| Evsei Agron

| Evsei Leningradsky

|Leningrad, Russian SFSR

| Russian/Jewish

| Dead

|-

| Rovshan Janiyev

| Rovshan Lankaransky

|Lankaran, Azerbaijani SSR

| Azerbaijani/Talysh

| Dead

|-

| Jaba Ioseliani

| Duba

|Khashuri, Georgian SSR

| Georgian

| Dead

|-

|Dzambo Dzambidze

|Djumbo Molodoi

|Rustavi, Georgian SSR

|Georgian

|Released

|-

|Vyacheslav Ivankov

| Yaponchik

|Moscow, Russian SFSR

| Russian

| Dead

|-

|

| Svo Raf

| Yerevan, Armenian SSR

| Armenian

| Dead

|-

|

|Globus

|Buda-Kashalyova, Byelorussian SSR

|Belarusian/Jewish

|Dead

|-

|

| Roma, Brother

|Leningrad, Russian SFSR

| Georgian

| Imprisoned

|-

| Luka Gabadadze

| Gubaza

|Gori, Georgian SSR

| Georgian

| imprisoned

|}

See also

  • State capture
  • Armenian mafia
  • Crime boss
  • Criminal tattoos
  • Kazan phenomenon
  • Made man
  • Prison gang
  • Azeri mafia
  • Thieves by Law (2010 documentary by Alexander Gentelev)

Further reading

  • Sketches of the Criminal World : Further Kolyma Stories, by Varlam Shalamov

Notes

References

  • Museum history of thieves (in law) world