The Neverov gang, however, maintains that Sirota did want to eliminate their leaders, and they give his plan its due. Because if the killers had managed to implement their plot, the Neverov organized criminal group would have ceased to exist. Since, as the “victims” themselves admit, no one else except them could lead the group and keep it under control during hostilities. This is how the responsibilities are distributed in the Neverov group: Neverov handles general supervision, Petrovsky monitors commercial activities, while Zujkov, who has done time in prison and enjoys the respect of the criminal world, is responsible for contacts with thieves and is in charge of security and operations involving force. If Sirota had destroyed the trio, ordinary “torpedoes” and controlled merchants would have disbanded on their own. But the planned operation fell through.

According to our intelligence, as a result a counter-order was placed for Sirotenko himself and his closest aids, even though one cannot rule out a possibility that the order had been placed much earlier than Sirota’s operation fell through. And according to some information, Igor Sirotenko even left the city limits of Togliatti for a short period of time in order to secure his personal safety. As the owner of one of the major companies controlled by Neverov told us, “Sirota may not be too clever, but he is extremely smart. He can smell danger from a hundred miles away. Trouble is imminent now.”

Will There Be More Work For the Police Than They Can Handle?

This sentence may prove to be a sad prophecy. Now the enemies, being well informed about each other’s plans, will be extremely concerned about their personal safety. This will certainly make it more difficult to resolve the conflict “with one blow.” And as we know from the history of the previous gangster wars in Togliatti, when a conflict between gangs is not resolved through liquidation of group leaders, widescale bloodshed begins. And in their attempt to deprive each other of the economic foundation, organized criminal groups move on to mutual elimination of controlled merchants. The latter are turned into sacrificial lambs.

Whether and how many “lambs” will be killed depends on the ability of the local law enforcement agencies to bring the situation under control. So far the local wardens of order have managed to do this. Even now they are motivated to avert the slaughter. No one needs war: neither the recently appointed chief of the department of internal affairs nor the city prosecutor, who according to our information has a nice opportunity to advance in his career due to a number of achievements by his subordinates.

However, rumor has it that the conflict was resolved without the participation of law enforcement agencies. They say that a month and a half ago Sirota and his adversaries had a few meetings, and a peace treaty was negotiated. The parties agreed that each group would keep the part of Mironov’s legacy it had secured before the start of the “hostilities.” In case of future disputes the gangs will resolve those through negotiations, and not through use of weapons. All orders placed mutually for members of both gangs are canceled, and the hit men who the orders were assigned to return to peaceful occupations. The Neverov gang, with its powerful connections in the law enforcement agencies, will stop helping the criminal investigation against Sirota’s organized criminal group. And Igor Sirotenko in his turn brings the investigation into a deadlock using his own means. Some facts that we are aware of confirm these rumors. For example, according to our information, some evidence is already missing from the case materials, in particular the wigs seized from the detained killers. They got “lost” during the transfer of the case from one investigator to another. As we have already said, the prosecution’s main witness, Rozov, who testified that the detained gangsters were connected with Sirotenko, has also been “lost.” So it is possible that the prosecutor’s office will have nothing to send to the court.