The friction between the Kutaisi clan (led by Taro) and the Tbilisi clan (led by Usoyan) ignited over the redistribution of assets left behind by captured mobsters, as well as lucrative construction contracts linked to major infrastructure projects like the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.
were named, many analysts viewed this as the culmination of the war with Taro.
In the 1990s, after the fall of the USSR, Oniani relocated his base of operations to Western Europe, first settling in . From there, he expanded to the Costa del Sol in Spain , a region that became a hub for Russian organized crime. In Spain, Oniani didn't just run a gang; he built an empire. He owned stock in an airline and ran a legitimate-looking construction business that employed hundreds of illegal immigrants, many of whom he had trafficked in himself. tariel oniani prime crime top
: Taro organized a massive meeting on a boat in the Pirogovskoye Reservoir to consolidate his authority, which was promptly raided by Russian special forces.
Tariel Oniani, a Georgian-born crime boss often associated with the so-called “thieves’ world” of post-Soviet organized crime, exemplifies the adaptability and persistence of criminal enterprises that emerged after the Soviet Union’s collapse. His trajectory—from local racketeer to an influential figure in transnational organized crime—reveals how political upheaval, weak institutions, and globalization combined to create fertile ground for sophisticated criminal networks. This essay examines Oniani’s rise, the structures and tactics of his organization, his role in transnational crime, and the broader implications for law enforcement and policy. The friction between the Kutaisi clan (led by
The war continued. The Vory brought in , the most famous thief-in-law of all, to mediate. Instead, Ivankov sided with the older Usoyan against Oniani, whom he saw as a younger upstart. In July 2009, a sniper shot and killed Ivankov as he left a Moscow restaurant, a murder widely attributed to Oniani’s faction. In January 2013, after several previous attempts, Aslan Usoyan himself was finally gunned down by a sniper in Moscow, a killing that prosecutors believe was the final act in Oniani’s war for the top spot.
Born in 1952 in Georgia, he was initiated as a thief-in-law while in prison at age 17. By the 1980s, he had become a dominant figure in Moscow's underworld. International Operations: From there, he expanded to the Costa del
While serving time in a maximum-security prison, he was initiated into the elite and secretive criminal brotherhood known as the Vory v Zakone (Thieves-in-Law). The Vory adhere to a strict penal code:
Tariel Oniani: The Rise and Resilience of a Prime Crime Kingpin