«Taganskiye» organized crime group and the murder of "Ded Hasan"
In the Moscow City Court, the jury unanimously found it proved that no later than January 1, 1991, a criminal group called «Taganskaya» was created in Moscow, consisting mainly of strong young men who had athletic achievements.
The jury found all the defendants guilty of leading and participating in the «Tagansky» organized criminal group and not serving with the descent, including Grigory Rabinovich, who died at the age of 68 in his sleep on the night of July 25, 2024 in the «Matrosskaya Tishina» prison cell.
After the death of the defendant, the prosecution filed a motion to terminate the criminal prosecution of Rabinovich in connection with the death. But his daughter, who lives in Riga and specially flew to Moscow, insisted on continuing the trial of her father by a jury. She promised that she would come to all the meetings, but she never showed up at the Moscow City Court again.
Consideration of the criminal case began on September 3 last year. Initially, the panel consisted of 8 main and 7 reserve jurors. By the time the verdict was delivered, 5 reserve jurors had dropped out, mostly due to health problems, unable to withstand the tedious trial marathon.
For almost 7 months, 67 court sessions were held, during which dozens of witnesses, experts, specialists, victims were interrogated and expert examinations and material evidence were examined, including the arsenal of weapons, part of which was delivered to the court session on February 27, 2025-explosives – flamethrowers, grenade launchers, dozens of pistols and submachine guns, thousands of weapons. ammunition seized from the «Tagansky» secretcache in March 2019.
On March 25, 280 questions were put to the jury, and the panel retired to the deliberation room. It took 3 days to make the final decision. The foreman of the jury read out the three-hundred-page verdict for almost 4 hours, and only the first three questions about proof, guilt, and whether or not leniency for leading and participating in a criminal community affected all the defendants.
The defendants were charged with aggravated murder committed as part of an organized group with mercenary motives: kidnapping, theft, robbery and extortion of other people's property, fraud in receiving payments, as well as illegal trafficking of weapons, ammunition, explosive devices and explosives.
On some issues, as it turned out during the announcement of the verdict, there was no unanimity among the jury. For example, the jury found unproven the participation of defendants Rabinovich and Tretyak in the preparation, organization and murder of lawyer Natalia Vavilina on April 26, 2017. The votes were divided: four considered it proved, four did not.
The jury found the involvement of Shcherbakov, Lukyanov, and Balashov in the preparation and organization of the February 2009 assassination attempt on the lawyer of the «Moscow» department store Andrey Bralyuk unproven. At the same time, the jury found it proved that the direct perpetrator of this crime was Sergey Shchukarev.
The jury member's question about the attack on Aslan Usoyan, better known in the criminal world by the nickname "Ded Hasan", on January 16, 2013, at the entrance to the «Old Phaeton» restaurant, was quite different. Only Igor Zhirnokleev's name was mentioned in this question. The jury found it proved that it was the «Tagansky» leader who gave the organizers of the crime a silent «Val» submachine gun and special SP-5 and SP-6 nine-millimeter cartridges.
Let me remind you how events unfolded. By 2013, the clan of "Ded Hasan" had been in a state of hostility for 7 years with the clan of another influential criminal authority, Tariel Oniani, nicknamed "Taro".
On September 16, 2010, an attempt was already made on Aslan Usoyan's life. He was shot in the stomach, and his security guard was shot in the shoulder and chest. The killer fired a silenced weapon from the window of an apartment on the third floor of a building located opposite the house where Usoyan lived. The head of the Moscow police department went to the crime scene. In 2010, this position was held by Vladimir Kolokoltsev, the future Minister of Internal Affairs of Russia.
When Usoyan recovered and was discharged from the hospital, he spent more than a year traveling exclusively in an armored car surrounded by a large group of bodyguards, the backbone of which was made up of fellow countrymen and relatives of " Ded Hasan". And in October 2011, this security was replaced by Chopovtsy.
In the materials of the criminal case, on which a verdict was rendered on March 27, 2025, there is an FSB certificate dated March 22, 2013.
This document states:
"at the end of 2012, at the so-called "thieves ' meeting" in Dubai, the leaders of" Georgian "organized criminal communities" crowned "16" thieves in law", mainly of Georgian nationality, in order to expand their influence on the territory of Russia.
In order to prevent the strengthening of the positions of the" Georgian "OPS by the" thief in law "A. R. Usoyan (criminal nickname "Ded Hasan"), it was planned to hold a" meeting " in order to cancel the status of new thieves. However, on January 16, 2013, Usoyan was shot dead."
Details of the murder of Aslan Usoyan can be found in the program "Murder of Ded Hasan. Tagansky FSB", which can be viewed at the link below this video. I will only remind you about the investigation of Usoyan's murder. And it was very strange.
On March 22, 2013, Colonel Denis Stroitelev, head of the 8th department of the K Department of the FSB, addressed the head of the Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of Russia for the Central Administrative District of Moscow, who was investigating the murder of Aslan Usoyan:
"According to the operational data obtained, the murder was ordered by" thieves in law "members of the Georgian OPS Mikeladze Dzhemal Dzhemalovich (criminal nickname "Djemo"), Dzhangviladze Merab Georgievich (criminal nickname"Merab"), Aliev Rovshan Rafik Oglu, criminal nickname "Rovshan" and the leader of the criminal world Dzhangviladze Levan Georgievich."
In the same document, I repeat, on March 22, 2013, Igor Zhirnokleev was also mentioned:
"Information has been received regarding the close ties of Mikeladze-an unidentified person named Khamzat and Liu Ji-Ming (criminal nickname Dima Kitayets), who may be related to the murder of Usoyan. These individuals are part of the «Taganskaya» organized criminal group, the leader of which is Igor Anatolyevich Zhirnokleev."
FSB Colonel Denis Stroitelev concluded his message with a request. Literally:
"Taking into account the above, we ask you to consider the inclusion of employees of the 8th Department of the department in the investigative task force to investigate the murder of A. R. Usoyan."
But this request was ignored. Apparently, «Tagansky» had very serious patrons. So serious that then, in 2013, they could still ignore the request of the FSB colonel. Today it is already obvious that if the FSB had been involved in the investigation of the murder of " Ded Hasan " back in 2013, this crime would have been solved even then.
Igor Zhirnokleev would have ended up in a prison cell 10 years ago, and other members of the «Tagansky» organized criminal group would have been arrested after him. And lawyer Natalia Vavilina would still be alive, because there would be no one to order the liquidation of the woman. And there would be no one to carry out this order. But the FSB joined the investigation of the murder of "Ded Hasan" only in April 2017, after the murder of Vavilina. The arrests began in January 2019.
«Tagansky» leaders Igor Zhirnokleev and Grigory Rabinovich were the first in prison cells. On January 23, 2019, the Basmanny Court of Moscow considered the investigation's request for the arrest of Zhirnokleev and Rabinovich.
I happened to be present at this meeting. And then, six years ago, Zhirnokleev and Rabinovich were sure that they were accidentally handcuffed, that the court was obliged to release them. But the court ordered the arrest of both detainees. And after the arrest of the «Tagansky» leaders, many witnesses who had previously been silent spoke up, because they did not believe that the «Tagansky» leaders could be called to account for their crimes. And they were afraid not only of «Tagansky», but also of their patrons. First of all, in the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
On December 16, 2024, in the Moscow City Court, the jury viewed video recordings that one of the witnesses provided after Zhirnokleev's arrest. And before that, this witness was questioned. And he said that on February 27, 2013, a month and a half after the murder of Aslan Usoyan, he witnessed a meeting between Zhirnokleev and Miro Amadyan, one of Usoyan's closeassociates, known in the criminal world by the nickname "Miro". And at this meeting, Zhirnokleev said that he handed over the «Val» machine gun to Levan Dzhangveladze. But he allegedly did not know that this weapon would be used to kill "Ded Hasan".
The witness explained to the jury that he and Miro discussed why Zhirnokleev told about this, that is, about providing weapons to the organizers of the murder of "Ded Hasan". And they came to the conclusion that Zhirnokleev decided to work ahead of time, because the criminal world already knew very well about Zhirnokleev's friendship with Levan Dzhangveladze.
The «Tagansky» leader most likely assumed that sooner or later he would be under suspicion. Zhirnokleev actually handed over his friend Levan Dzhangveladze as the organizer of the murder of "Ded Hasan". Obviously, if Zhirnokleev handed over the Val assault rifle and ammunition to Levan Dzhangveladze, it means that it was Levan who gave the weapon to the killer.
A small digression. On January 27, 2025, during the court session, the jury was shown photos that Zhirnokleev carefully kept and which were seized from him during a search on January 22, 2019.
- Igor Anatolyevich, can youtell me who it is in the photo with you? - state prosecutor Galina Karpova turned to Zhirnokleev.
"This is Merab Dzhangveladze," the defendant replied.
Merab Dzhangveladze, better known in the criminal world by the nickname "Merab Sukhumsky", has been living outside of Russia for more than a decade. It is Merab Dzhangveladze or "Merab Sukhumsky" that law enforcement agencies consider one of the customers of the murder of "Ded Hasan".
Merab Jangveladze's own brother is Levan Jangveladze. «Tagansky's» leader Igor Zhirnokleev" was friends with Levan Dzhangveladze for many years. They spent their families on vacation in Thailand and Mexico. Zhirnokleev and Levan Dzhangveladze's wives were co-founders of several commercial firms.
But back to the trial. The aforementioned Miro Amadyan confirmed the information about the meeting with Igor Zhirnokleev on February 27, 2013, a month and a half after the murder of Aslan Usoyan. As confirmed by the content of the conversation that it was the «Tagansky» leader who gave Levan Dzhangveladze nine-millimeter armor-piercing cartridges SP-6 and a special forces silent machine gun "Val", from which Aslan Usoyan was killed.
On March 26, 2025, the jury announced the verdict. And when asked whether it was proved that Zhirnokleev handed over the «Val» assault rifle and ammunition to Levan Dzhangveladze, they unanimously answered:: "Yes, proven."
Thus, the jury recognized Zhirnokleev's involvement in the murder of Aslan Usoyan as proven. I know that the murder of Aslan Usoyan has been fully solved. Not only the customers and organizers are identified, but also those who were on the lookout, as is the name of the performer.
But the FSB is in no hurry to give names because of fears that members of the Usoyan clan will get to them sooner. Because all of them are not in Russia today. And these concerns are not in vain.
Three weeks ago, on March 14, Levan Dzhangveladze was shot dead in Tbilisi. It happened when he left the restaurant and went to the car. The killer fired 9 bullets at Levan Dzhangveladze and left the victim no chance.
But back to the trial in the Moscow City Court. The trial of the leaders and participants of the «Taganskie» organized criminal group will continue without a jury. A review of the consequences of the jury's verdict is scheduled for April 9.
The prosecution will announce what terms of imprisonment are required for each of the defendants. There will be a debate, after which the chairman of the trial, Andrey Suvorov, will retire to the conference room. The verdict is expected not earlier than the end of April, and possibly in May.
Igor Zhirnokleev is not facing life imprisonment. On December 29, 2024, he turned 67 years old. And part 2 of Article 57 of the Criminal Code of Russia states that persons over 65 years of age are not sentenced to life imprisonment.
