- Vitali Dyomochka
Vitali Dyomochka, also known as "Bondar", is a Russian mobster and crime boss in the
Vladivostok area. He is notable for writing, directing, producing and starring in a shortTV series calledSpets , which aimed to show viewers the reality of the Russian underworld.Biography
Although Dyomochka was an A-grade student, he was expelled from school and later college. As the Soviet era drew to a close, he started his criminal career collecting protection money from local clothing stores as capitalism started to take off.
Vitali got convicted of several crimes including extortion and shooting a rival gangster, and after his release from prison in
1997 became the head of thePodstava criminal group. The gang specialized in blackmailing money from passing drivers by setting up car accidents.pets TV show
Unsatisfied with the way organized crime was depicted in
film andtelevision , Vitali set about creating his ownTV series . Largely financed by his own money, the seven-part series finished production in2003 and became a huge success, getting close to 100% ratings on a local television station. The series drew a lot upon Vitali's own experiences, such as when a driver he had attempted to blackmail turned out to be a judge.Over the course of the series ten members of his gang were arrested and one was murdered by rivals.References
* [http://www.americanmafia.com/Feature_Articles_296.html AmericanMafia.com article about Spets and Vitali]
* [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/08/22/wmob22.xml Telegraph - Mobster turns from gunning down rivals to shooting TV series]
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