LLCU 214 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Russian Mafia, Argot, Isaac Babel

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Languages, Literatures and Cultures
• Course: LLCU 214
• Professor: Donato Santeramo

Document Summary

Thieves with the code = vory v zakone: analogy with mafia and other italian base organizations, occupied a place of great respect and authority in former soviet union underworld, more new and aggressive organization. History of how vory v zakone came to be: country was swarming with thieves during time of peter the great, but there was no cooperation among them (so this is normal since no organization) Indoctrination into criminal groups: membership fee, use of nicknames, use of argot (fenia) (slang to communicate) In 19th century: creation of structured organization, division of tasks, first signs of criminal boss, russian revolution, political enemies of the new state recruited members from traditional and professional criminals. political vs traditional criminals (conflict among thieves: political criminals became heads of juvenile criminal groups called zhigani Zhigani: as the ideological opposition to the new communist state, they created new laws: Forbidden to work or take part in society.