Search the Community

This thread will follow the development of Lukyan Tseitlin, a Russian mobster consumed by the glamour and promises of status found within Vinewood.

Michael Kelmendi.

With ties to the Russian Mob - the dangerous quartet developed an attitude that where they feel invincible and untouched.

This thread will follow the Greeks under Vaughn Karagiannis; A continuation of Hellenic Pride

Harvey Uritsky's mugshot in Las Venturas after getting charged with tax evasion and fraud.

Vinewood The Vinewood area of Los Santos has had a historically prominent Russian-speaking community since the late 1970s when ethnic minorities such as Jews, Armenians and Georgians, emigrated from the Soviet Union to the West Coast of the United States under the Jackson-Vanik Amendment to escape oppression and seek better fortunes. Much of the original denizens of the area would leave Vinewood over the years, making the Russian-speaking community there the majority by the late 2000s. The most notable uptick occurred following the collapse of the Soviet Union at the start of the 1990s when a large number of immigrants settled into the area. This resulted in a significant Eastern European sphere of influence following the establishment of many Russian-themed businesses such as grocery stores, diners and even legal firms. The diaspora of ‘Russian’ Mafia As much as the stereotype of Russian Mafia, being ‘Vory V Zakone’, lives on in today's various media, the reality is that contemporary gangs in the West no longer abide to the old laws and rules of the so-called ‘Thief in Law’. Additionally; modern Eurasian cliques in the American West are not dominated by Russians, but rather by Armenians, Georgians, Azerbaijanis and other ethnicities. The confusion comes from the fact that these are still largely Russian speaking communities in the greater Vinewood area however a larger part of the people in this community are not ethnically Russian themselves. ''The Russians we actually arrest here tend to be pretty unimpressive: pimps, smugglers, shoplifters. I don’t see this ‘Russian mafia’, honestly.’’ Police officer regarding the diaspora of ‘Russian’ Mafia. Although the term Russian Mafia is outdated for contemporary Eurasian criminal circles, Russians do still exist in them in very minor quantities. Even though most Armenian and Azerbaijani groups work in a clan-like way, criminal association in the Ingorokva Crime Ring particularly doesn't discriminate on ethnicities as the group is known to employ mostly Georgian and Armenian associates as well as Russian and Ukrainian in a small regard. Due to the difference of ethnicities and generations these ‘Russian-speaking communities’ will often simply resort to speaking English within their own ranks or during negotiations and dealings to prevent the language barrier. These groups of young, impressionable men on the West Coast, guided by a sense of materialism and power are more than often involved in various ‘white-collar crimes’, ranging from so-called ‘Get rich quick’ schemes to defrauding different credit-card unions, healthcare practitioners and even the federal government for thousands of dollars at a time through various scams, shell-companies and fraudulent documents and paperwork. They even dipped their fingers in the sales of untaxed gas acquired through fraudulent wholesale permits and sold on to a network of gas-stations and truck stops. Even though white-collar crimes are favored, these groups are no stranger to more classic crimes such as extortion, drug-dealing, arms trading, robbery, car theft and racketeering. The Crime Ring ''The lavrushniki (‘bay leaves’), as Slavic gangsters often call the Georgians, have long played an important role in the Eurasian underworld. However, their strength has rested not on violence and threat so much as entrepreneurialism and their talents for deal making.’’ excerpt from ‘Vory, Russia’s Super Mafia’ by Mark Galeotti. The Ingorokva Crime Ring, named after its leader Mikheil ‘‘Kalmarebi’’ Ingorokva now makes a rise in Vinewood, Los Santos. This proves the structureless and quickly rotating network most Eurasian OC gangs operate under with involvement of various (in some cases still unidentified) criminal figures. The organisations leader, Mikheil ‘‘Kalmarebi’’ Ingorokva, is no stranger to the law. Ingorokva has previously already been indicted following a sting-operation led by the LSPD after which search warrants for two of Ingorokva’s properties were issued. The Ingorokva Crime Ring, which operates under a largely unidentified hierarchy including members with varying amounts of involvement is best described as a criminal network in which various different members occupy themselves with different scams. These members rely on their ‘membership’ to this network for protection and opportunity in the criminal syndicate of Los Santos and subsequently volunteer themselves to protecting this network from outside forces. ((OOC: To portray a realistic modern-day ‘secret society’ conducting criminal business beneath a localized Eastern European community, a great deal of research has been conducted and is backed up by numerous news articles and sources on the real-life Russian-speaking community of West Hollywood, Los Angeles, as well as contemporary Eurasian transnational organized crime in the United States. This faction seeks to recruit a variety of characters of Eastern European descent, such as Georgian, Armenian, Russian and Ukrainian characters. Most characters connected to the faction are bilingual locals of second or third-generation Armenian or Georgian offspring mostly that found their way into the group by proving their worth and earning their trust with the ring in-character. If you expect to see the stereotypical, Hollywoodized depiction of Russian-speaking criminals straight out of Grand Theft Auto IV, then we can only emphasize that you won't find that in this faction. The faction is NOT a Vory v Zakone faction. It's a local group of people from former Soviet Bloc backgrounds working together to gain money and protection within the criminal world of Los Santos. After reaching out and showing interest in becoming associated as part of the faction with your character, you automatically agree that this faction reserves the right to CK said character if deemed necessary IC by leadership, with no exceptions. If you have any additional questions or simply wish to join our discord, which contains more in-depth guides, contact @gimmie. Huge thanks to @Bogatyr for his structuring, help, knowledge and a large part of the content in this thread.))