Tariel Oniani

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Tariel Oniani ( Georgian ტარიელ ონიანი; born June 2, 1952 in Tqibuli , Georgian SSR , Soviet Union ) is a Georgian boss of the Russian mafia and a well-known thief in law . He is also known by his nickname "Taro".

Origin and family

Oniani belongs to the Swanen ethnic group . He was born in 1952 in the Georgian SSR (now Georgia) in the mining town of Tqibuli. His father Guram Oniani was a miner and was killed in a mine accident. After the father's death, the family moved to Kutaisi .

Criminal career

Oniani was tried for the first time for robbery and theft at the age of 17. Seven other convictions for robbery, gun possession, drug trafficking and extortion followed over the next few years. In 1989 Oniani moved to Moscow, where he led the so-called Kutaisi group. As early as the 1980s, Oniani was considered a prominent thief in the law in Moscow .

In 1992 Oniani moved to Paris , where he was introduced to Alimschan Tochtachunow . After he was charged with various crimes, he moved on to Spain and entered the construction industry there. In March 2003, an important meeting of the "thieves in the law" took place in Spain, at which, in addition to Oniani, Zacharij Kalaschow (Schakro molodoj), Aslan Usojan (Grandpa Hassan), Vladimir Tyurin (Tyurik), Vitali Izgilow (Zwer, Vitalik Makhachkalinsky) , Merab Gogija (Merab, Melija), Jamal Chatschidze (Jamal, representative of the Solnzewo Brotherhood ), Vahtang Kardava (Wacho), Mamuka Mikeladze (Mamuka), Armen Arutjunow and Leonid Kaplan (Leon Lann) took part. It was decided to set up a company network for money laundering purposes in Spain, with the help of which the criminally acquired capital was to be invested in real estate on the Costa del Sol . For this purpose, the companies Suninvest 2000 , Elviria Invest , Megrisa, Megabetta V & N and Inmobiliarios Estepona were founded. In June 2005, the Spanish police carried out a large-scale sting operation under the code name "Operation Avispa" . Oniani was among the 28 suspects arrested, 22 of whom were suspected Russian mafia bosses. He was charged with money laundering , smuggling and forming criminal organizations , but escaped the police operation while 28 members of his gang and even his 12-year-old daughter Gwantsa were arrested by the police for a few days.

Oniani returned to Moscow after the events in Spain, changed his name to Tariel Mulukhov and took Russian citizenship instead of Georgian, which led to tensions between him and his rival Aslan Usoyan ("Grandpa Hassan"). In an unsuccessful attempt to resolve these tensions, representatives from both sides met in July 2008 on a yacht on the Moscow River . The Spetsna Special Forces received notice of this meeting, and Oniani was arrested on the yacht with dozens of other gangsters. The gangsters asked the underworld godfather Vyacheslav Ivankov "Japontschik" to mediate between the two sides, whereupon the latter sided with the more experienced Usoyan. In July 2009, Ivankov was shot by a killer while leaving a restaurant and died almost three months later of his injuries, which was linked to his partisanship for Usoyan. For his part, Usoyan, who had survived a first assassination attempt in September 2010, was shot dead in January 2013.

In March 2009 Oniani had the Moscow businessman Johnny Manadze kidnapped and demanded a ransom of $ 500,000 from his family. After three days and a payment of $ 218,000, Manadze was released. In July 2010, Oniani and men around him were sentenced to ten years in prison for the kidnapping of Manadze. In March 2011 Oniani was extradited to Spain at short notice to serve a sentence imposed there. On April 9, 2019, he was released from prison in Orenburg Oblast . On leaving the detention center, he was arrested again on the same day because Spain had put him out for an international manhunt. Russian law enforcement agencies believe that Oniani was illegally obtained Russian citizenship in the early 2000s and are planning to revoke his Russian citizenship after serving his sentence in Spain.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g Kommersant: Чем известен криминальный авторитет Таро , from April 9, 2019, accessed on June 21, 2020.
  2. ↑ a b Walter Kegö, Alexandru Molcean: Russian Speaking Organized Crime Groups in the EU ff 2011, p 32, Institute for Security and Development Policy, March, ISBN 978-91-86635-05-3 , accessed on May 26, 2020 .
  3. ↑ a b Reputed Georgian mafia boss Jailed for 10 Years Moscow News, July 20th of 2010.
  4. ↑ In a River Raid, a Glimpse of Russia's Criminal Elite Michael Schwirtz in: The New York Times , July 30, 2008.
  5. ↑ "Grandpa Hassan" was once considered dead Julia Smirnova in: Die Welt, January 18, 2013.
  6. ↑ Россия временно передала Испании криминального авторитета Ониани Gazeta.ru, March 31, 2011.
  7. ^ So called thief-in-law Tariel Oniani released from Russian prison Interpress News, April 9, 2019.

literature

  • Louise Shelley , Erik Scott, Anthony Latta: Organized Crime and Corruption in Georgia. Routledge, 2007.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Oniani, Tariel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES ტარიელ ონიანი (Georgian)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Georgian boss of the Russian mafia
DATE OF BIRTH June 2, 1952
PLACE OF BIRTH Tqibuli , Georgia