In Moscow, Kazakhstani kingpin Aitkali Maimushev (Lyokha Maimysh) was arrested for drug possession, who may be connected to recent protests in his homeland. What is he known for and what threatens him?
– In the underworld they call me Lyokha Semipalatinsk. My name is thief in law, – this is how 63-year-old thief in law Aitkali Maimushev, also known as Lyokha Maimysh or Titanic, usually answers questions from law enforcement officers from different countries.
A few days ago, in the Izmailovo Alfa hotel in Moscow, operatives from the Main Directorate of Criminal Investigation of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs and the MUR conducted a special operation to detain the influential patriarch of the criminal world of Kazakhstan. Maimushev did not hide his high criminal status.
The authority was just on a spree and went down to the lobby to “drink vodka”, where he met the operatives. Maimushev explained to them that he had recently visited Gorny Altai, from where he was asked to leave by local security forces. According to Life, the authority often visits the resorts of Altai, arranging a detox from hard drugs there. His connection with this region is long-standing – earlier his close friend, thief in law Nurakhman Mamyrov (Mutai) watched the territory. He also suffered from drug addiction and died in 2013 from cirrhosis of the liver.
In Moscow, the thief was in transit. During the arrest, a significant amount of opioid group drugs was found in Maymysh – the investigator of the Ministry of Internal Affairs department for the Izmailovo district has already opened a criminal case against the authority under Article 228 of the Criminal Code (drug trafficking). Maimushev in Russia faces up to three years in prison. However, something else is more terrible for him – if a case is still brought against him under the “anti-theft article” 210 of the Criminal Code “Occupation of the highest position in the criminal hierarchy”, and this is a completely different term. Moreover, he does not hide his status.
Who is Lyokha Maimysh?
Maimushev is considered the oldest thief in law of Kazakhstan. The authority was born in 1958 in Semipalatinsk, brought up in an orphanage. Started on a criminal path from adolescence. We judge six times for hooliganism, extortion, theft, illegal circulation of weapons and drugs. He was accepted into a family of thieves in 1997 in Moscow and put looking over the whole of Kazakhstan. Also, the thief was closely connected with the criminal affairs of Siberia and the Far East. His friend was the late leader of the Far Eastern organized crime group “Obshchak” Yevgeny Vasin (Jem).
In the middle of Lyokha Maymysh is in an embrace with Jem. Photo © “Prime Crime”
There is a story in the criminal world that once in Nefteyugansk, during a drinking bout, friends allegedly quarreled – and Jem wanted to hit Maymysh with a fork, but then jumped on him from the table, throwing himself with his whole body. Despite the difference in weight, Semipalatinsk managed to pin Jem to the floor. In the morning, having sobered up, they reconciled.
In 2004, the authority loudly declared itself in the republic, when the prisoners of several colonies opened their veins on his orders. After Maymysh was released from prison for the last time, he prudently left Kazakhstan and lived quietly in Turkish Antalya, only occasionally visiting his homeland. It is believed that Maimushev believed in Christ in Turkey and even created his own website, where he promotes his version of Christianity with elements of esotericism and Islam. Maimysh even hints that he may be the messiah, since it is written in the scripture that the day of the Lord comes like a thief (thief) in the night. Maimushev also found several moles on his back, which, according to authorities, indicates his messianic vocation.
Screenshot © x3alsen.ru
Also in Turkey, the authority has become close to the notorious criminal and boxer Arman Dzhumageldiev (Arman Dikiy), who is now accused of organizing riots in Kazakhstan. Wild was a loyal friend to another criminal leader from Azerbaijan, Nadir Salifov (Lot Guli), who claimed to be the number one thief in law.
From left to right: Nasyrov Abdurashit – Abram, Arman Dikiy and Lyokha Semipalatinsk. Photo © Instagram / arman_dikiy
Guli allegedly promised Kazakh thieves that the era of the Turks is coming in the criminal world and soon they will dominate the entire post-Soviet space together. But Guli’s nationalistic claims were interrupted by the killer’s shots, and after the death of his friend, Dikiy allegedly “went from hand to hand”, getting mixed up with local criminals and Turkish special services.
It is possible that the interest of the Russian security forces in the elderly lawyer was aroused solely in the context of his friendship with Diky. Interestingly, a day later, as it became known about the detention of Maymysh in Moscow, Diky’s lawyers in Kazakhstan spread a message that the authority had allegedly mysteriously evaporated somewhere from the Alma-Ata pre-trial detention center.