Siberian Criminals in Moldova in the early 1990s

[Jacques Testard]

Dear Listserv users,

I'm currently trying to fact-check a piece for a magazine on Siberian
criminals living in
Moldova in the 1990s. It is proving extremely difficult and I would really
appreciate any
leads or any help in verifying these facts. Mainly I would like to get in
touch with
experts on Moldova and more particularly the city of Bender in the early
1990s, and on
Siberian criminal culture. Below is a list of the issues we are still
researching. Thanks
in advance for your help.

Best,

Jacques Testard

Are you able to confirm that a large group of Siberians was resettled in
(present)
Moldova, in the Transnistria region, in the 1930's? Can you think of any
sources that
might focus on this topic?

Are you able to think of any sources that could confirm certain Siberian
criminal
traditions and rituals:

The weapons in our house, as in all Siberian houses, were kept in particular
places. The
so-called personal guns?the ones Siberian criminals carry around with them
and use every
day are placed in the red corner, where the family icons hang on the walls,
along with
the photographs of relatives who have died or are serving prison sentences. (2)

Whenever a criminal enters the house he goes straight to the red corner,
pulls out his
gun and puts it on the shelf, then crosses himself and places a crucifix
over the gun.
This is an ancient tradition that ensures that weapons are never used in a
Siberian
house: if they were, the house could never be lived in again. (2)

They are not cult objects, in the way that the 'pike', the traditional
knife, is. The gun
is simply a tool of the trade. (2)

The weapons of Siberian criminals fall into two broad categories: honest
ones and sinful
ones. The honest weapons are those that are used only for hunting in the
woods. According to Siberian morality, hunting is a purification ritual,
which enables a person to return to the state of primal innocence in which
God created man. Siberians never hunt for
pleasure, but only to satisfy their hunger, and only when they go into the
dense woods of
their homeland, the Tayga. Never in places where food can be obtained
without killing
wild animals. (3)

The honest weapons used for hunting are kept in a special area of the house,
called the
altar, along with the decorated hunting belts of the masters of the house
and their
forefathers. (3)

The sinful weapons are those that are used for criminal purposes. These
weapons are
usually kept in the cellar and in various hiding places scattered around the
yard. Every
sinful weapon is engraved with the image of a cross or a patron saint, and
has been
'baptized' in a Siberian church. (3)

In criminal slang each model has a name; no one uses abbreviations or numbers to
indicate the model and caliber or the type of ammunition it requires. For
example, the
old 7.62 mm AK-47 is called a 'saw', and its ammunition 'heads'. The more
recent 5.45 mm AKS with the folding butt is called a 'telescope', and its
ammunition 'chips'. There are
also names for the different types of cartridge: the bottom-heavy ones with
black tips
are called 'fat ones'; the armor-piercing ones with white tips, 'nails'; the
explosive
ones with red and white tips, 'sparks'.

The same goes for the other weapons: precision rifles are called 'fishing
rods', or
'scythes'. If they have a built-in silencer on the barrel, they are called
'whips'.
Silencers are called 'boots', 'terminals' or 'woodcocks'. (3)

According to tradition, an honest weapon and a sinful one cannot remain in
the same room, otherwise the honest weapon is forever contaminated, and can
never be used again, because its use would bring bad luck on the whole
family. In this case the gun must be eliminated with a special ritual. It is
buried in the ground, wrapped in a sheet on which a mother has given birth.
According to Siberian beliefs, everything connected with childbirth is
charged with positive energy, because every newborn child is pure and does
not know sin. So the powers of purity are a kind of seal against misfortune.
On the spot
where a contaminated weapon has been buried it is usual to plant a tree, so
that if the
curse strikes, it will destroy the tree and not spread to anything else.(3/4)

Siberians respect children, and will talk freely about any subject in front
of them,
without creating an air of mystery or prohibition. (4)

According to the rules of criminal behavior, Siberian men cannot communicate
with
policemen. It is forbidden to address them, answer their questions or
establish any
relationship with them. The criminal must behave as if the police were not
there, and use
the mediation of a female relative, or friend of the family, provided she is
of Siberian
origin. The criminal tells the woman what he wants to say to the policeman
in the
criminal language, and she repeats his words in Russian, even though the
policeman can
hear what he says perfectly well, since he is standing there in front of
him. Then, when
the policeman replies, the woman turns round and translates his words into
the criminal
language. The criminal must not look the policeman in the face, and if he
refers to him
in the course of his speech he must use derogatory words like 'filth',
'dog', 'rabbit',
'rat', 'bastard', 'abortion', etc. (5)

That evening the oldest person in the room was my grandfather, so according
to the rules
of criminal behavior the right to communicate was his; the others had to
keep silent, and
if they wanted to say anything they would have to ask his permission. (5)

Is it part of Siberian criminal custom that juveniles can communicate with
the police?
(36)

Can you confirm that according to Siberian custom: "When someone is ill, and
especially
when he is suffering extreme pain, they put an open pike under his mattress,
with the
blade sticking out, so that, according to the beliefs, the blade cuts the
pain and
absorbs it like a sponge." And that: "When an enemy is struck by that blade,
the pain
collected inside it flows out into the wound, making him suffer even more."

Can you confirm that in Siberian criminal circles: a 'chat' involves the
males of the
family sitting together drinking and eating all night long to the point of
exhaustion,
till they collapse in a heap, one after another. When the males are having a
chat, no one
disturbs them; everyone goes about their own business, pretending the
meeting doesn't
exist. (9)

Can you confirm the following Siberian criminal custom: "To seal important
pacts between
two people -- truces, friendships or brotherhoods -- both criminals cut
their hands with
the same pike, which is then kept by a third person, who is a kind of
witness to their
pact: if either of them betrays the agreement he will be killed with that
knife."

Can you confirm that according to Siberian criminal beliefs: "A pike keeps
its powers
only if it is in the hands of a Siberian criminal who uses it respecting the
rules of the
criminal community. If an unworthy person takes possession of a knife that
does not
belong to him, it will bring him bad luck ? hence our idiom, ?to ruin
something as a pike
ruins a bad master?."

Can you confirm that according to Siberian criminal tradition: "The
umbilical cord of
newborn babies is cut with a pike [knife], which must first have been left
open overnight
in a place where cats sleep."

Can you confirm the following Siberian criminal tradition: "When a criminal
dies, his
pike is broken by one of his friends. One part, the blade, is put in his
grave, usually
under the dead man's head, while the haft is preserved by his closest
relatives. When it
is necessary to communicate with the dead man, to ask for advice or a
miracle, the
relatives take out the haft and put it in the red corner, below the icons.
In this way
the dead man becomes a kind of bridge between the living and God."

Can you confirm the following Siberian criminal belief: "When a criminal is
in danger,
his pike can warn him in many ways: the blade may suddenly open of its own
accord, or
become hot, or vibrate. Some think it can even emit a whistle."

Can you confirm that in Siberian criminal families: "When [a boy] is about
ten years old,
a boy can become a full member of the clan of the youths, which actively
cooperates with
the criminals of the Siberian community."

Can you confirm that according to Siberian criminal tradition: "If a pike is
broken, it
means that somewhere there is a dead person who cannot find peace, so
offerings are made to the icon, or dead relatives and friends are remembered
in prayers, visits are made to graveyards, and the dead are remembered by
talking about them in the family and telling stories about them, especially
to children."

Can you confirm the existence of a neighborhood called Low River in Bender,
Transnistria?
(6, 8)

Is there a sect of the Russian Orthodox church called the "Siberian Orthodox
Mother
Church"? (6)

Is the following a usual greeting amongst Siberian criminals: ?As he did so
he kissed
them on the cheeks and gave the typical Siberian greeting: 'Peace and health
to all
brothers and honest men!? They gave the reply that is prescribed by
tradition: 'Death and
damnation to all cops and informers!"' (7)

Can you confirm that in: 'In the Siberian community you learn to kill when
you're very
small. Our philosophy of life has a close relation to death; children are
taught that
taking someone else's life or dying are perfectly acceptable things, if
there is a good
reason. (8)

Can you confirm that: 'From a very early age children are shown by their
fathers how
animals are killed in the yard? (9)

It is the custom among Siberians that the first people who go to visit a
newly released
prisoner should take children with them?

Is the following a Russian idiom: He was 'hewn with the same axe' as me"?

Is it accurate to say that "by age thirteen or fourteen, Siberian boys often
have a
criminal record, and therefore some experience of juvenile prison"?

"By that age [thirteen or fourteen] many Siberians have some black-market
experience and one murder, or at least attempted murder, to their name."

"The Ukrainians of the Balka district, on the other hand, dressed in the
American style,
or more often like African-Americans."

"'Our ancestors took refuge in the woods, in Siberia - they didn't go to
America.'"

Is it accurate to say that the quilted fufaika (jacket/coat) was worn by
half the
population in the days of the USSR because it was given to workers. (31)

Does the tulup (sheepskin coat) have an enormous fur collar that you can
pull right up to
your eyes to protect yourself against the harshest cold? (31)

Is it Siberian tradition to wear a belt? Is the belt connected with the
tradition of the
hunters, for whom it was much more than a lucky charm: it was a request for
help. If a
hunter got lost in the woods, or had an accident, he would tie his belt
round the neck of
his dog and send it home. When the others saw the dog return, they would
know he was in trouble. (31)

Is it custom amongst Siberian criminals to wear a hat known as 'eight
triangles',' which
consists of 'eight triangular segments of cloth sewn together to form a
domed cap with a
button on top and a short peak'?

In Transnistria, Moldova, could the following be sentences passed down by a
judge:
threats in a public place, attempted murder with serious consequences, and
resistance to
a representative of power in the pursuance of his duties of defending the
public order?
Do these sentences seem to comply with Moldovan judicial sentences during
the early
nineties? (32)

In Moldova, in the early nineties, could a sentence for a juvenile offender
include:
staying at home from eight in the evening till eight in the morning,
reporting to the
juvenile office ever week, and attending school? (32)

Is there a second-hand market in Tiraspol in which one could exchange
stamps? (33)

Is there a park on the outskirts of Tiraspol that is referred to as the
Polygon? (34)

Has it been reported that in Moldova police often try to crush the hands of
young
offenders as a 'preventative measure' to give irregular features which
usually heal badly
so that the offenders would never be able to close their fist or tightly
hold a weapon?
(37)

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