Powerful Russian (ethnic Kurd) mob boss killed by sniper in Moscow

CBS ^ | January 17, 2013 | CBS

[klpt]

One of Russia's top crime lords was gunned down Wednesday in Moscow in what police described as a war between two powerful mobs over lucrative construction projects, allegedly including ones for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

Police said an unidentified gunman fired seven shots from a sniper gun at Aslan Usoyan near a restaurant in central Moscow — the third assassination attempt on him since the late 1990s.

Usoyan, also known as Grandpa Khasan, was a 75-year-old ethnic Kurd born in the former Soviet republic of Georgia. Police say for the past two decades he headed one of the region's most powerful criminal groups, which trafficked in drugs and weapons and controlled underground casinos as well as many legal businesses, including those in the construction industry.

Police said Usoyan was hit in the jaw, hospitalized in a coma and then died. Police said the gunman, who used a state-of-the-art automatic rifle issued to Russian special forces, also injured a passerby, who was hospitalized.

Undercover Look Inside The Russian Mob

Usoyan came from a caste of professional criminals who sport elaborate tattoos, follow unwritten prison laws codified in Stalinist-era Gulags and have been romanticized in countless popular songs.

He was first convicted in 1956 in Georgia and soon became a professional criminal. Like other members of his caste, he was strictly forbidden from befriending men in uniform, avoided luxurious lifestyles, never got married and considered prison his only true home.

[klpt]

[Kickass Conservative]

Thank God it only took SEVEN shots.

Maybe Governor Cuomo was really on to something after all.

Representative Nadler probably thought the Sniper was a bit excessive, using almost twice as many bullets as he thought were required to do the deed.

[Spktyr]

Ah, when you offend someone so much that they care enough to send the very best available.

[SJSAMPLE]

According to Drunk Uncle Joe Biden, the assassin should’ve just stopped and called it a day.

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

Gee, if the assassin had a 10 shot clip, he would be arrested by Gov. Cuomo. Lucky guy!

[Cronos]

Interesting — a Kurd in Georgia. Kurds are descendents of Medes, but I doubt this guy’s ancestry goes back that far. I wonder how his family got there? Via turkey?

[muawiyah]

There are Kurds all over the MIddle East. Although many folks imagine them to be limited to Turkey, Iraq and Iran, there have always been Kurds in upland areas ~ their traditional lifestyle depended on herding mostly goats, but also other animals, for milk, milk byproducts AND, most importantly, wool for weaving rugs.

That has resulted in a patchwork of settlement where you have agrarian Turks, Arabs, Persians, etc. living in the lowlands and the Kurds grazing in the adjacent highland plateaus ~ which, of course, has led to thousands of years of conflict.

[Domangart]

This gang was described in the Gulag Acapulco..

[cunning_fish]

In Russia, 10 shot mags are legal.

[Gene Eric]

What’s the weight and center of balance on that?

[spetznaz]

A VSS Vintorez. Interesting. A rifle that fires 9mm subsonic bullets that have a steel core for penetration. Nicknamed the ‘thread cutter.’ Not sure why the shooter needed 7 shots, or maybe he was told to ensure the guy was dead considering he has survived prior assassination attempts.

[cunning_fish]

It weight some 6 pounds. “Sniper rifle” is not that correct definition. It is technically a tactical rifle to penetrate defended perimeters.

[Dusty Road]

Back in the mid 70’s I was a Deputy in West TX and my brother was a Captain with the Marshalls Office in San Diego Calif. While visiting I had the chance to go out to the SO’s range and put a couple of hundred rounds through a suppressed H&K MP5. It would cut one ragged hole at 15 yards on full auto.

[Farmer Dean]

We have a suppressed MP5 in our collection.Very quiet,the brass hitting the ground make as much noise as the weapon discharge.

[Dutch Boy]

It’s hard to control my NY envy. I shot MP5s in the army 30+ years ago and have dreamed of owning one ever since. You get to own a suppressed MP5 when they just basically outlawed semi-auto rifles and mags over 7 rounds. NY Sucks in more ways every day.

BTW - I leaving the People’s Republic of New York as soon as I find a job out of state in a free state. Sending out more resumes today.

[GBA]

Good luck with your escape! I was once told that "the strong give up and leave, while the weak give up and stay."

Maybe, maybe not, but some things can't be changed or aren't worth the fight, not while life is short and there are better places to be.

[SunkenCiv]

So much for gun control, eh? :’) Thanks Cronos. Three Kurdish activists were assassinated in Paris as well. No reason to look far afield for the perps.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/62607/World/Region/Turkish-jets-pound—Kurd-rebel-targets-in-Iraq-mil.aspx

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/16/opinion/how-turkey-can-make-peace-with-the-kurds.html

http://www.omniglot.com/writing/kurdish.htm

[rmlew]

The bloodshed will not end with one less knyaz.