Written By: Rachel G. Kaufman:

Thief in law (Russian: ??? ? ??????, “vor v zakone”; plural thieves in law “vory v zakone”) is an authoritative individual within the Russian criminal world. Thieves in law are the elite of the Russian world of organized crime.

Before 1917 armed gangs proliferated until they were a very significant factor in society. This became known as the vorovskoy mir or “thieves’ world”.

As the Soviet Union was brought back to order in the years after the 1917 revolution, the NKVD nearly destroyed the criminal underworld in the Soviet Union. However, it was in the prison camps (or Gulag) of Stalin that a new system arose, the vory v zakone, or “thieves in law.”, aka the Mafiya.

Unlike the Cosa Nostra, the Vory has “less rules, but more severe rules.” 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 claim the distinction. They should not marry.

This intimacy with imprisonment has spawned a pop culture particular to Russia, in which the Vory and other criminal elements have taken center stage. They were portrayed in the Canadian film “Eastern Promises.” (2008)

Russia’s interior minister, said las year that fewer than 100 remained active on Russian territory, but this is just funny and does not correspond to reality. As it happens in La Cosa Nostra in Sicily, no one knows how many there are, not even the Mafiya.

Who would like to iterview some of the high level Mafuya´s Bosses, could do that. Surely, he will request from you anonymity because of the sensitive nature of his work. The authorities monitor the activities of the Mafiya using a website, VorVZakone.ru