The “order” of the founder of the St. Petersburg club “Griboedov” Oleg Kastelo was carried out by a killer who slaughtered a family of three generations in Israel

The school of the Fergana brigade brought Karlik to the top of murderers

The businessman was packing his bags for the resort when the homicide department of the police headquarters showed up to him. “I waited,” he sighed.

Just now, on the night of February 23, during interrogation at the Investigative Committee of St. Petersburg Oleg Castelo fundamentally explained the past presented to him: “They tried to kill me six times.”

Today, 54-year-old Oleg Kastelo is better known as one of the founders and co-owners of the Griboyedov nightclub near Ligovsky Prospekt, but in the past the premises were a cult dungeon in a bomb shelter. At the same time, he receives income from his company “Car Parking of St. Petersburg”. Castelo appeared on the Neva in the 90s, and with a fierce team.

He was born in Navoi, Uzbekistan. Three people arrived with him: Belyaev, thundering like “Hasan”; Sviridov, aka “Svirid”, and Zaitsev – now legendary “Miron”. The “Fergana” brigade was born. Many entrepreneurs fell under it. For example, at the Kushelevskaya vegetable warehouse. Even dry cargo ships moved under them, transporting goods abroad. Then, as expected, the friends were unable to divide power in the mafia hierarchy and money.

First, “Hasan” was killed, then “Svirid” fell, and according to Castelo himself, “Miron” was hunting him.

A few lines about “Miron”: he is now serving a huge sentence for a series of attacks on collectors. The raids were carried out from St. Petersburg to the Volga. When he was caught red-handed in Volgograd, he dragged a wounded comrade on himself and fired back at the employees.

In the late 90s, Oleg Kastelo was protected by a SOBR special forces soldier from the RUBOP – Sergey Maksimov. He was also one of the daring ones – he fought in Chechnya and Yugoslavia, but under his shoulder straps he was known as “Max”. Maksimov decided to go over to Miron’s side. So, based on the mores of that era, Castelo had nowhere to go.

Maksimov was put in prison at the beginning of 2000. That day, he stopped at a hostel on Sirenevy Boulevard, where a computer club was located, and two shooters were waiting for him at the elevator. He grabbed eight bullets, but managed to fight for his life while trying to knock down one of the perpetrators. But in that mess, a completely innocent person suffered.

Seeing what was happening – Maksimov being shot through, one of the women began to scream, and a bullet from Makarov’s pistol immediately flew at her. I was lucky, I escaped with only an operation at the Military Medical Academy.

As for Maksimov’s direct killers, they are known to the investigation and one has already said everything necessary.

So only Castelo survived. The author does not undertake to say, but perhaps thanks to the books. He was the only one of the “Fergana” ones who was educated. Graduated from a philological university. And the Griboedov club has already begun to make noise since 1999.

Dwarf and his six life sentences. Israel’s bloodiest criminal is behind the murder of a special forces soldier in St. Petersburg

The co-owner of the Griboedov nightclub Oleg Kastelo, who was recently charged with ordering the liquidation of the special forces soldier Maksimov in 2000, named the perpetrators, our publication learned on March 4. There are two of them. One is of little interest to the journalist – he is just another “torpedo” of the 90s. But the figure of Dmitry Karlik surprises with its horror. The journalist conveys what happened after the murder in St. Petersburg thanks to hundreds of detailed publications in Russian and foreign media. Especially from Tel Aviv.

The dwarf is from Chelyabinsk. He ended up in St. Petersburg in the late 90s and joined the “Fergana” group. Its leaders, Belyaev (Hasan) and Sviridov (Svirid), were killed by their own in the late 90s. In those years, he helped businessman Oleg Castelo, who was arrested the other day (February 23), whom, according to his own testimony, the killers were then looking for. The dwarf fled to Israel in 2004 – the security forces had serious questions for him.

It all happened on the night of Shabbat, October 17, 2009 in Rishon LeZion, a prestigious and quiet suburb of Tel Aviv. The dwarf was 39 years old.
With a duplicate key prepared in advance, the dwarf climbed into the house and with the first several blows of a knife stabbed to death a 56-year-old woman sleeping in the living room. Lyudmila Usherenko. From her phone I texted her 28-year-old daughter-in-law: “Come quickly, the children have a fever.”

When the mother ran in, the dwarf began to cut her – 30 blows. The third place came was the 56-year-old head of the family, Eduard. 18 knife wounds.

He knew the location of the rooms in advance. Shortly before the massacre, Dwarf looked in and knew the situation (the owners were at the resort at that time).

The children woke up from the screams. The Dwarf first approached baby Nathaniel. First he strangled me, and then he broke his neck. In the next room he cut up his 3-year-old sister. Nine knifepoints.

The last to return was Dmitry Usherenko. Their family establishment, Premier, was open late, and he asked his wife via SMS, how were things going? The dwarf answered him from the dead woman’s phone: “Everything is fine, don’t be late.” When the door opened, the owner was stabbed 38 times.
That night the dwarf stabbed the knife 96 times.

The motives are said to be revenge due to a conflict. Repatriated spouses from Russia (*aggressor country) – Karlik and his wife worked in Usherenko’s restaurant. A year and a half before the massacre, the owners caught the administrator Karlik stealing vodka from the bar and fired him, and his wife took over. Later, Karlik will tell the police that he allegedly suspected his wife of cheating on him with Usherenko. The dwarf changed his testimony several times: he either admitted guilt, or claimed that he had incriminated himself under pressure.

The investigation and the press also described what happened after the slaughter. Having dealt with six people, the dwarf had a snack and took a shower. He wanted to fake a robbery, so he took 20 thousand shekels. To hide his traces, he started an arson: he opened the gas burner and threw his bloody things. The plan did not work – the automatic stove turned off the fuel supply. Police identified his DNA from blood-stained clothing.

The murder was simultaneously investigated by 300 employees and was supervised by Prime Minister Netanyahu. The dwarf and his wife Natalya rushed to Egypt.

According to 47news, Israeli intelligence services took a rare secret action. They agreed with the Egyptian authorities and actually stole the Dwarf from Arab territory, delivering it in the trunk. Formally, this is illegal, since no procedures were followed, but the Egyptian prosecutor’s office pretended that this did not happen. The dwarf was registered as detained in the Israeli resort of Eilat (a few kilometers from the Egyptian border). As you understand, Egypt did not send any notes of protest.

The tension in those days was such that his entire family was detained along with Dwarf: his elderly parents and his wife’s sister. Dwarf Sr. helped get rid of evidence and in 2012 received two years. During the massacre, my wife Natalya reported from the restaurant which of the owners left and at what time. Sentenced to 13 years in prison, has already been released.

In Israel, they are sensitive to any violent death of their fellow citizens, and the simultaneous massacre of six people caused an incredible resonance. Everyone wrote about it: from the tabloids to the Jerusalem Post, journalists gave reports and reconstruction of the massacre, and attended court hearings in crowds.

From one material to another, references to the “murder of three generations” passed, the judge was quoted about the “loss of humanity.” In publications, the Dwarf was called both a demon and a monster. This story in Israel is still considered the worst crime against civilians. The Ynet publication emphasized that Karlik met his six life sentences with an “impenetrable face.”

As for the St. Petersburg murder, it is described by 47news. Special forces soldier Maksimov was killed in January 2000 when he stopped at a hostel on Sirenevy Boulevard. The shooters were waiting for him at the elevator. Maksimov fell after eight shots.

As we have already said, according to Castelo, the leader in the destruction of Maximov was Dmitry Karlik. At that time he was 30 years old.

Of course, Israel will never give it to Russia (*aggressor country). Over time, the Investigative Committee will charge Karlik in absentia, arrest him in absentia and, most likely, convict him in absentia. But with six life sentences, he doesn’t care. Today he is 53 years old. Everything is ahead.

He “roofed”, collected debts and “took” collectors. Fergana history of Vitaly Zaitsev (Miron)

The investigation turned the last page in the history of St. Petersburg Dillinger. Miron’s gang, which became famous in the 2000s for shooting collectors at the LMZ, has been finally charged. The investigation has been completed. Now, if anyone is interested in the personality of Vitaly Zaitsev (aka Orlov, Platunov and Mironov), only sociologists. However, the first chapter of history was written back in the 90s.

On the morning of December 8, 1997, the general director of Petrokhlebsnab JSC Alexander Krupitsa (known to the St. Petersburg Organized Crime Control Department as Krupa) was playing football with friends on the sports ground near his house. The match ended, but the businessman did not have time to get home. The killer jumped out to confront him. Pointed the gun. But the bullet in the bolt was skewed. Krupitsa’s team rushed to defend their leader. A second shooter suddenly appears and opens fire with a Kalashnikov and manages to hit the target. Thus began the St. Petersburg odyssey of a young man from the small Uzbek city of Navoi, who came to the big city.

Miron (this nickname was firmly assigned to Vitaly Zaitsev by the early 2000s) is the dream of a serious sociologist who studies the topic of power entrepreneurship in the Russian bourgeois revolution of the late 20th – early 21st centuries. The passionary, who came from the deep provinces at the most difficult time for Russia (*aggressor country), could not help but unite with people like him – provincials, athletes, orthodox in their approach to life. The leader of this group, which is small due to its harsh attitude to life (I work in vain – their slogan) is a native of Kazan Arthur Kzhizhevich played an important role in the fact that Miron and his comrades did not assimilate into the big city.

They continue to speak with an accent, never read anything, have never seen The Godfather. They made money mainly from raids. It is not surprising that soon an intraspecific struggle begins in the group that Miron joined. Krupa will be the first to fall. Then Hassan and his “right hand” Arthur the Little. Khasan was killed in 1998, his body was thrown into Lake Lembolovskoye. The little one was shot at point-blank range in the front door of his house.

While other communities – Tambov, Pskov, Velikiye Luki regenerated from bulls for the roof to co-owners, and then large businessmen suing every journalist who called them an authority, Zaitsev (Miron) continues to live by the principle of find and tear. In the late 90s, when the history of racketeering came to its logical end, the still living remnants of Kzhizhevich’s gang chose the path of Dillinger. They continued their life according to the principle: first shoot, then aim. And the main one among them was Miron. Together with his team, he collected debts for former “colleagues”, now businessmen, and “took” collectors. All this was accompanied by blood.

A banal example for Miron’s gang. One day in 2000, he suggested that his accomplices, Bibikov and Tsoi, steal the “nine”. The work was dust-free and paid – $500 “for seeds.” Both young men went out into the street, where they spotted the required model with a driver.

They didn’t look any further. They approached the car, Tsoi shot the driver, and the car was stolen.

This story continued… There was a witness to the crime who described one of the criminals: they say he looks like the actor Khabensky.

A year later, the crime was solved: law enforcement officers detained the hijacker, who was presented to a witness for identification.

The identification took place. The case was sent to court, where the prosecutor’s office could not prove the charge of murder of the driver of the “Nine”. However, the court considered the theft proven. The accused received 9 years and 2 months in prison for the totality of crimes. He served 4 years and was released on parole.

August-September 2000 for Miron’s gang, according to the investigation, generally turned out to be “fruitful” for corpses: they killed 5 people.
In 2000, the raiders set off from Moscow to St. Petersburg, deciding to take a detour to Tver along the way. Here they found a wholesale base located on the outskirts of the city and found a warehouse located on the outskirts. And they offered entrepreneurs to buy a carload of sugar from them at half price. Naturally, the businessmen did not refuse such an offer, and agreed to meet the next day – it was necessary to prepare the money.

The next day, the attackers came to the warehouse, threatened the cashier with a gun and took the money. Unfortunately, a random buyer happened to be in the warehouse at that time and tried to resist the arbitrariness, for which he was shot dead without hesitation.

In general, based on the case materials, the alleged members of Orlov’s gang were distinguished by their toughness of character. During raids, their orders had to be carried out accurately and with lightning speed. In case of a hitch or an attempt to resist, a shot followed.

The beginning of the end was the loudest attack by Miron’s gang – on the Central Bank collectors who came to LMZ. Then, in November 2000, on the Sverdlovskaya embankment, near the entrance of the Leningrad Metal Plant, the group met the collectors with point-blank fire. Zaitsev fired from a PPSh machine gun, Petukhov from an Agram, Bibikov covered the retreat with a Kalashnikov in his hands, and Tsoi guided them through the radio station. The guard died, two were saved by doctors. Kush – 300 thousand dollars.

The raiders who became millionaires did not know one thing – at that moment they were already “listened to.” It is clear that the technique was such that the operative heard the recording of the conversation on the territory of the LMZ simultaneously with the first report about the shelling of the collectors. The hunt for Myron began. And he moved with the team to Central Russia (*aggressor country). In 2002, they were caught in a raid on a jewelry store in Volgograd. They were condemned. According to the fake passports that were found on them, and no one checked them. St. Petersburg operatives had to manually review the files of prisoners in the colony in order to find those involved.

In 2009, at that time Orlov (Zaitsev took his wife’s surname), Tsoi and Bibikov were taken to St. Petersburg from the Volgograd colony.

None of them admitted guilt and everyone tried their best to slow down the investigation. For example, Tsoi, a Korean by nationality, but born and raised in the USSR, requested a translator. However, at that time, according to the translator, Tsoi did not understand when Korean was spoken in front of him.

Old cases were brought up in which the Orlovites could have been exposed. Petukhov, the first of the defendants in the case to be sentenced to 25 years in a maximum security colony for an attack on LMZ collectors, began to think. In light of the new charges, the court could, taking into account the first sentence, impose capital punishment on him and replace it with life imprisonment. At this time, the practice of plea bargaining already existed, which Ptitsa took advantage of, giving a breakdown of 10 episodes.

While Petukhov cooperated with the investigation, in 2011 two episodes were brought to court – an attack on the general director of the tannery named after. Radishchev Golikov and against Rossinkas collectors who transported LMZ money, charges for which were brought against Orlov, Tsoi and Bibikov. And by the beginning of the trial, Tsoi had radically changed his position: a pre-trial agreement was concluded with him. He actually confirmed Petukhov’s testimony. Following his comrades-in-arms, Orlov decided to agree to cooperate with the investigation. By that time, the trial was over, he was sentenced to 23 years in a maximum security colony. A pre-trial agreement could help him avoid life imprisonment. After the plea deal, Orlov spoke about 30 episodes of his criminal activities. And the last one to “surrender” was Bibikov, who wrote a bunch of confessions, and a pre-trial agreement was also concluded with him.

The investigation proved to Miron’s gang 16 murders, 5 attempted murders and 1 preparation for murder, 14 robberies committed in St. Petersburg, Ufa, Tver, and Yekaterinburg. Criminal prosecution of another 7 murders and 7 robberies has been discontinued. Some in connection with the death of the performers, some due to statutes of limitations.

“Business should not be done, business should be taken away.” Vitaly Zaitsev (Miron) took everything from life and commerce

Zaitsev began his gangster path many years before the events at LMZ. He was born in 1973 in Uzbekistan, into a typical Soviet family. From early childhood, he disappeared into the sports section of the city of Navoi at the famous uranium mining and metallurgical plant in the USSR. He was engaged in hammer throwing.

Unlike future members of the brigade, the police were not interested in him. Years will pass when Tsoi will join him – a guy who served a juvenile term, advocating an orthodox life of thieves, promoting the so-called “black”, thieves’ way of life.
At the age of 16, Zaitsev began boxing and was predicted to have a future as a champion. Tall, powerful, he has no rivals in the ring even among heavyweights yet.

Meanwhile, perestroika reaches Central Asia. The same bourgeois processes as throughout the country are beginning in Navoi. Zaitsev by nature is an absolute leader, he cannot yield to the criminal authorities who are gaining power, conflicts arise between them, and then enmity. In addition, nationalists are raising their heads in the republics of Central Asia, and he understands that he will not be able to clear a place in the sun for himself in Uzbekistan.

In 1994 he comes to St. Petersburg. Zaitsev by this point is far from just a sporty young man: he has already been tested in feuds between criminal groups. He joins his fellow countrymen – Alexander Belyaev, nicknamed Khasan, and Sviridov. These, in turn, practically broke away from the most unyielding brand of “Gangster Petersburg” Arthur Kzhizhevich. For this period, Zaitsev calls himself “Kazan”.

By the end of the 1990s, Zaitsev already had his own, albeit small, but friendly group. They are not very interested in systemic racketeering. They do everything from collecting debts to robberies and intimidating those who disagree with them with torture. For Zaitsev there are no longer any authorities.

But he had his own shooters, who, as they say in a certain environment, could train anyone. His group does not intersect with serious leaders who have already entered serious business, talk about multimillion-dollar assets with major officials, and try to lead a secular, almost public lifestyle. Nevertheless, his reputation as a man of word and deed is growing. In 1999, even the all-powerful chairman of the board of directors of the Baltic Financial and Industrial Group, Pavel Kapysh (shot that same year on Vasilyevsky Island with a grenade launcher), asks him to deal with debts. Zaitsev and his colleagues travel to Pyatigorsk, and the debtors cannot refuse under the pressure of their persuasion.

As Zaitsev’s militants themselves told the operatives of the homicide department of the St. Petersburg headquarters, years after the arrests: “We can hardly remember how many murders we had, but how many raids there were, even if you torture us, it’s unrealistic.”

So, in November 2000, Zaitsev took hundreds of thousands of dollars from LMZ. A real jackpot. Money is not wasted; accomplices chip in to buy a small woodworking enterprise in the city of Belozersk, Vologda Region.

However, they were not destined to survive until legalization. The operatives of the custom homicide department are on their trail. They take Petukhov, after a couple of years he is sentenced to 25 years of isolation from his comrades.

Meanwhile, Zaitsev and the company are “touring” around the country. Nothing new: shooting, raids. And, of course, envy invades their environment. Rumors begin among the guys, saying that Zaitsev is buying mansions for himself, it is not clear where the common fund is being spent. This is what let me down.

In the summer of 2002, in Volgograd, a shootout was heard between traffic police officers, private security guards and robbers of a jewelry store. Zaitsev, Bibikov and Tsoi flew into the room, knocked down the saleswomen and began collecting the loot. Oddly enough, the girls managed to run out into the street unnoticed. The fact is that the trio were more busy watching each other – who stuffed how much into their bags, as trust evaporated.

The saleswomen managed to shout to the traffic cops, who gave the signal to the UVO and rushed into the pavilion. Zaitsev and Tsoi met the police with shooting. During the retreat, Tsoi was wounded. Zaitsev turns the car around, picks up a comrade, and Bibikov covers them with automatic weapons.

Still, they lost the battle – they did not take into account the peculiarity of Volgograd – the city is located along the Volga. They were surrounded and out of ammunition.

The Volgograd police did not know for six months who was in their hands. All three had absolutely real passports of citizens of Kazakhstan with different surnames. Zaitsev was Sergei Platunov. For shooting at their colleagues in the detention center, they were given a “happy life.” They jumped from one press hut to another. Zaitsev not only remained silent, but also managed to appear in the exercise yards for money, where they “stuck” friends and beat up offenders.

Only six months later our operatives flew from St. Petersburg to Volgograd and proved who they were.

They were convicted in Volgograd. Zaitsev received 14 years.

Next came the stage to St. Petersburg, long, sometimes meaningless, conversations with Zaitsev. According to FSIN employees, Zaitsev took care of his accomplices here too, while not forgetting to remind them that if they loosened their tongues, trouble would begin in their families.

Already during the court hearings, Zaitsev insisted that it was correct to call him Orlov – after the surname of his second wife. In the city court, Zaitsev partially and cunningly admits his guilt. According to his version, the raid on LMZ was organized by the leader of the Malyshevsky criminal community, Vitaly Savinov, nicknamed Evil. It is not possible to ask Evil One due to the fact that he was killed in internecine wars at the beginning of the 2000s.

Many who met Zaitsev in one way or another remembered him under the nickname Miron. One lady remembered him this way: “Women like him terribly, but he’s terribly dangerous.”

I will forever remember his style, best captured in his own aphorism: “Business should not be done, business should be taken away” (end of quote).