Fw: Vor v zakone

[Andrew Jameson]

Dear Colleagues
Sorry I've been slow to reply, I have been away for a while.
Here is my original query, and then a summary of the replies.
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From: Andrew Jameson <a.jameson at dial.pipex.com>
To: Seelangs <seelangs at cunyvm.cuny.edu>
Subject: Vor v zakone
Date: 24 April 1998 10:01

Please can anyone tell me the best equivalent, in American
criminal slang, of the Russian expression "Vor v zakone"?
Or does this phenomenon not extend to America??
Many thanks, Andrew Jameson
ex-Russian Dept, Lancaster, UK

Bill Derbyshire  (wwd at u.washington.edu)
        I have come across this term before, and I believe that someone
suggested that it be translated as "thief in honor". Have you received
any better suggestion to your inquiry?

Tony Vanchu (tonyvan at realtime.com)
I've always heard it translated into American English as "made man."  That
usually refers to a man (don't know of this happening with women) who has
passed some test--usually murdering an enemy of the crime family--and is
now a "true" member of his respective mafia family.

Jim Davie (james.davie at portsmouth.ac.uk)
Lecturer in Russian Studies, University of Portsmouth, UK
As far as I am aware, "vor v zakone" often refers to a "godfather",
otherwise known in UK criminal argot as "the guvnor", "the boss", etc.
So, it often refers to a criminal big-shot of some kind, or to an
experienced criminal.
For a US variant, it might be worth consulting R. Chapman's
Dictionary of American Slang (London, Pan, 1987), or to Iu.P.
Dubiagin & E.A. Teplitskii's Kratkii anglo-russkii i russko-
angliiskii slovar' ugolovnogo zhargona (M., Terra, 1993). I have
personally come across the item in various places, which I think is
one of those argotic items which is not so secret as not to have hit
the streets.

Yuri I, Luryi  (yluryi at julian.uwo.ca)
Professor Emeritus, Law, UWO, Canada
>> Please can anyone tell me the best equivalent, in American criminal
>>slang, of >>the Russian expression "Vor v zakone"? Or does this
>>phenomenon not extend to >>America??
I am not sure about existnce of the EXACT equivalent, because social
conditions and traditions of American and Soviet/Russian criminal worlds
are not the same. Chieftain or Gang-leader are, in my opinion, the closest
ones. Well, at least within the scant English vocabulary of mine...

Bill Derbyshire again (wwd at u.washington.edu)
        Here are a couple of more possibilities:

        1.) "law-abiding thief"
        2.) (not a translation but an explanation):
            a thief who observes the thieves code of honor

James Gallant (cjgallant at ucdavis.edu)
Dept. of Russian, University of California, Davis
I too am looking for a good translation of 'vor v zakone' and am writing to
ask whether you have received any answers (I haven't seen any posted to
SEELANGS). If you do receive any suggestions, I'd appreciate your passing
them along or posting to the list. Thanks!