Crimes "Tyap-Lyap", or How the Kazan group in the USSR was different from the rest of the bandits

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The outcome of the seventies of the last century turned out to be extremely violent for Kazan. This period was remembered for the brutal youth brawls and the Tyap-Lyap bandit group that thundered throughout the Soviet Union. In the conditions of measured Soviet reality, this phenomenon seemed so outlandish that it received the name "Kazan Phenomenon". It was the first criminal group to carry out contract killings in the USSR. From other bandits "Tyap-Lyap" was distinguished by a perverted ideology and a strict structure similar to the Komsomol squads.

The criminal Kazan of the 70s

At the dawn of the 1970s, Kazan was divided by local youth into zones of influence. The inhabitants of the Aviastroitelny, Moskovsky, Kirovsky districts and the New Tatar settlement recognized only their own. Strangers who wandered into neighboring estates, to put it mildly, were hostile. Sometimes strangers were beaten so that they remained disabled. There were also unfriendly raids, when daring thugs attacked foreign territories. The Teplocontrol area, named after the plant of the same name, was often subjected to similar attacks. The locals resisted as best they could, but they were clearly losing to the invaders. In 1973, 24-year-old Antipov returned from places of imprisonment to his native "heat-control" penates.

An amateur boxer once got behind bars for dozens of broken jaws of competing neighbors. Sergei, well aware of the Kazan youth realities, took the initiative and, with the support of the administration, built a sports club. Yesterday's prisoner presented his project to those in power with the prospects of engaging local youth in a healthy lifestyle. According to Antipov's convictions, sports will make the children forget about aimless wandering around the streets. Officials liked these promises, and the go-ahead for the gym was received. Antipov equipped the basement with handicraft tools: crowbars with welded-on batteries as rods, cast-iron irons instead of dumbbells, a water pipe served as a horizontal bar. Hence the name of the Tyap-Lyap group appeared, which subsequently put the capital's Ministry of Internal Affairs on the ears.

Activities and hundreds of active members

Yard gangs poured into the rocking chair, dreamed of taking revenge on their neighbors. From the visitors Antipov quickly singled out two confidants: Khantimirova and Skryabin. The first was in charge of the physical form of the "infantry" and was in charge of power operations. The second, a well-read young man with a higher education, became the "brain" of the group. It was he who came up with the idea to put all the local shadow commerce on tribute.

Mass carnages were raging across the city. After all, the merchants had to be intimidated first, after which they were more sympathetic to contact. The police reacted, but in the case with the teenagers, the powers of the security forces were limited. In the organized criminal group, finances flowed from businessmen who avoided problems. "Tyaplyapovtsy" began to pay directors of shops, meat cutters in the markets, managers of cafes, bottlers of beer and kvass, acceptors of glass containers, speculators and the cemetery caste of "entrepreneurs".

When in 1976 rumors of another bloody massacre reached the Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR Shchelokov, power in Kazan had long belonged to the bandits. He issued an order to regional subordinates to eliminate the unrest, but the Kazan police got off with ostentatious raids.

By 1978, Tyap-Lyap numbered hundreds of active members (according to unofficial information, up to 500 people). The owners of the Teplocontrol microdistrict boldly used firearms: Parabellum pistols, Schmeisers, hunting rifles, grenades and even Kalashnikov assault rifles. But the main weapon was absolute recklessness. "Tyaplyapovtsy" not only were not afraid of fights, but persistently looked for them. And the scars in the organized crime group were called "piggy banks", which they were proud of, as if they were military awards.

Komsomol bandit squads

At the same time, there was no anarchy inside the gang. The organizers took the system of the Komsomol squads as the basis of the code. Strict order and clear hierarchy kept the gang in a powerful fist. There were commanders, their deputies, specialization was maintained. One team was responsible for weapons, the second was responsible for financial matters. Still others controlled physical education, organized training camps. The guys united into lower divisions - fives, the interaction between which was kept in the strictest secrecy. The charter developed by Khantymirov was based on prohibitions and fines. There was a price to pay for abuse. And failure to appear by order was punished bodily at all. It was not free to leave the gang: if he changed his mind to participate, pay a thousand rubles. He reported death to his fellow policemen.

Last run

In the euphoria of power and impunity, the bandits came up with the so-called "runs". Gathering in an aggressive team in some place, they beat everyone who met on the way. City beaches, discos, parks fell into the meat grinder of the Tyaplyapovites. The most tragic incident was a similar incident on the last summer day of 1978. Fifty thugs armed with fittings, chains and sawn-off saws arrived in the Novaya Tatarskaya settlement, which was not under their control. Demonstrating their own strength, they began to destroy everything around them. The result - two killed and dozens of wounded local residents. The bandits threw a grenade at the arriving policemen.

The Kazan authorities telegraphed the incident to Moscow, and it was decided to liquidate the group. But it was necessary to act within the legal framework, so an investigation began. The case was progressing very slowly. All those involved in the organized crime group refused to speak, a mutual guarantee was triggered. And the victims and witnesses were simply afraid to testify. Somehow a year later, the first court hearing took place. Everyone understood that the accusations made were only part of what the Tyap-Lyap members had managed to do. But the evidence base was in short supply. Four members of the group were sentenced to capital punishment, although soon two were pardoned due to their young age. The rest of the defendants received long sentences. It is paradoxical that it was not possible to prove the involvement of Antipov and Scriabin in the gang. They received sentences for other crimes.