Investigators believe that Sirotenko ordered the murder of these nice boys surrounding singer Villi Tokarev. But members of Sirotenko’s organized criminal group refer to this theory as “incoherent.” “Cops simply want money,” they say.

It was due to the fact that at the moment Sirota was under “pressure” from law enforcement. The wardens of order were not interested in him because of the events in Togliatti. Sirota drew their attention in connection with a criminal war that broke out in the city of Tambov and the Tambov region. In 1999-2000 over 30 murders for hire were committed in the relatively small Tambov (far smaller in population than Togliatti). Among those gunned down were deputy chief of the department of internal affairs of the Tambov region, police colonel Mikhail Biriukov, and former chief of the regional organized crime department colonel, Valery Dzhurayev, who later became chief of one of Tambov’s district departments of internal affairs.

The interests of two criminal clans were at stake in the “Tambov” criminal war, which was waged with no less violence than the gangsters’ wars of Togliatti. Each of the groups had a “roof” provided by high ranking police bosses, and it was this “protective roof” that the murders of the two important police officers were linked to.

In order to solve the “Tambov” case a special group of investigators was put together which included representatives of the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation and the main department of criminal investigations of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia. According to our information, in the course of the investigation the police obtained data indicating that the murders for hire for one of the parties at war in Tambov were carried out by a “team of killers” from Togliatti. And according to the police information, the hit men were members of the Sirotenko organized criminal group.

Let us note that Igor Sirotenko is indeed on warm and friendly terms with Svistunov (Svist), a Tambov criminal boss who took an active part in the re-appropriation of property in the city of Tambov. They come to visit with one another quite often and were once even detained by the organized crime unit while celebrating Sirotenko’s birthday at the Dubki (a suburban Togliatti recreation center).

To make a long story short, based on the information obtained by the investigation team on the “Tambov case” the General Prosecutor’s Office issued special instructions to our wardens of order to conduct surveillance and investigatory operations vis-*-vis Sirota’s organized criminal group. Officers of the main department of criminal investigations of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation became frequent visitors to our city. By all appearances their visits were fruitful.

And in 2001 Sirotenko’s gang started suffering “non-combat losses” so to speak. In accordance with the instructions from the General Prosecutor’s Office the local wardens of order stepped up surveillance over merchants controlled by Sirota, began to detain his subordinates, summon all known organized criminal group members for interrogations, and put the heads of the group on the wanted list. In other words, they started a regular “pressing.”

Let us note that the leaders of Sirota’s organized criminal group do not dispute the fact of pressure coming from law enforcement agencies. But in their view it is not related at all to the “Tambov” case, and the motives behind the actions of the wardens of order are explained by their mercantile interests. They explain it by saying that the “people in uniform” decided to appropriate a number of enterprises controlled by Sirota and Miron. Provide them with what they call a “red roof.” That is how the special instructions from the General Prosecutor’s Office came about.

But it was only issued after heads of a number of companies financially linked with Igor Sirotenko were approached by big police bosses with an offer of “cooperation,” saying something like this: time to stop working with organized crime and to start improving the well-being of law enforcement agencies. If not, there will be “mask shows” and other unpleasant events in your companies.

We’ll Bravely Go to Fight

Under the circumstances any gang is better off lying low. In other words, group leaders under such circumstances usually leave town while rank-and-file members start living an “honest” life, spending their savings on food. Everyone waits for the fuss raised by the wardens of order to subside. If however a group being closely watched by the police starts active combat operations, the probability of making mistakes potentially providing investigators with new evidence increases.

Following this logic, Sirotenko’s gang tried to lie low as well, a fact that the Neverov group was quick to take advantage of. They started bringing Mironov’s enterprises under their control.

Igor Sirotenko, indignant over Neverov’s actions but realizing that under the circumstances war would be to his disadvantage, attempted to solve the problem through negotiations. Initially, though, neither side would agree to a compromise. The Neverov gang said they would absolutely not give up their material claims, while Sirota assured them that there was no way he would allow anyone to take the companies he had invested in.