Why in the USSR they sold red caviar under the guise of tulka in a tomato: Soviet trade mafia

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

In 1967, Andropov took over as chairman of the Soviet KGB. Together with a new position, he acquired a new enemy - the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Shchelokov. The rivalry between the security forces for zones of influence and control of financial flows turned out to be a positive consequence. Unable to resist the blow of Andropov, who demonstrated his own effectiveness, one after another, corrupt trading schemes were uncovered. For the first time in the Land of the Soviets, facts of bribery at the highest level have been established. The only questionable thing is who got the stolen Soviet millions.

80s merchant mobsters and mutual guarantee

There were cases of embezzlement of state funds in the USSR even under Stalin. The decree "On Bribery" was in effect since 1918. Bribes and scams have accompanied the work of trusts since the NEP times, and traditionally these crimes were covered by the authorities and officials. The concept of "trade mafia" was voiced in the Union later largely due to the massive "Andropov purges", which sent a whole line of trade leaders behind bars.

Of course, the members of the trade groups, like the classical mafia, did not have clear rules of work, did not fight for influence, littering their path with corpses, and the main goal was not at all power, but simply money. All fraudulent schemes were united by mutual responsibility, and the implementers of trade scams did not consider themselves to be criminals, but to entrepreneurs. Some savvy leader was groping for a way to get the "left" product and connected the salesman. Small parties went off the speculative hammer. Larger volumes were sold on a larger scale, with the involvement of directors of large stores and each actor receiving his own weighty share.

Gastronome number one scams and bribes higher than salaries

Tveretinov was the head of the main Soviet grocery store for 14 years. All this time, the director of the capital's GUM Gastronome was collecting tribute from his subordinates. The scheme worked out over the years was as follows. Each head of the department "thanked" his boss with bribes for the uninterrupted provision of his site with high-demand goods and the manager's non-interference in the system of fraudulent sales. According to the materials of the investigation, a one-time bribe on behalf of one manager varied in the range of 200-300 rubles. The amount in the USSR is more than substantial.

At that time, a novice engineer was estimated at 120 rubles, and a specialist in hazardous production managed to earn 300 rubles. It turns out that the director of the grocery store only from one of his many subordinates took a monthly bribe higher than his own salary. There was another source of unrecorded income. Employees bought themselves from their superiors positions, regular promotions, labor awards and even leadership in social competitions. Bribes were handed over directly to the office of the first head. During the period of managing the grocery store, Tveretinov received donations in the amount of over 58 thousand rubles, and this is only based on reliably established facts.

Fishing spots and the Ocean project

In 1976 in the Land of Soviets fish shops "Ocean" began to open. In conditions of meat shortage, fish products were dispersed in a matter of hours. And it never occurred to anyone that in the windows of the "Ocean" there was a swindle of the Union scale, the leading product of which turned out to be caviar. The equipment for the first "Oceans" came from Spain, and the interior was created according to foreign patterns. Customers came here as if on an excursion: carts, tall showcases, unusually prepackaged goods, refrigerated counters. Two years later, rumors spread around Moscow that red caviar was being sold in sprat cans. The Prosecutor General's Office got down to business. Andropov ordered the formation of a special team to investigate a corruption scheme of the highest level.

In the "fish business" the entire vertical has inherited, starting with the Minister of the Fish Farm, his deputy and ending with the employees of the Soyuzrybpromsbyt created for this scheme. The Ocean project existed for the benefit of officials. And the scheme was simple: even the best scales were wrong on the waves of the sea, due to which a few extra kilograms were formed in each fish box put into the trading network. Further, the unaccounted goods were sold, and the net profit settled in the pockets of the persons involved in the form of bribes, incentives and bribery. When the case was promoted, the Deputy Minister of Fish handed over all the attendance passwords. During his arrest, more than 300 thousand rubles were seized from him. There was enough information even for an arrest and a firing squad for the first head of the ministry, Alexander Ishkov, but the secretary general himself stood up for him.

Fur corruption and buried gold

In the early 70s, the attention of Moscow law enforcement officers was attracted by the emerging factory fur coats without information about the manufacturer. As it turned out, the "leftist" fur production was based on Kazakh factories. Moreover, the collected materials indicated that the local control bodies were at the same time with the entrepreneurs, stubbornly not noticing the underground activities. And this despite the fact that the annual turnover of the industrial conspiracy was estimated at hundreds of thousands of rubles. Kazakh KGB officers found out that the head of the fur dressing and dyeing shop Dunaev was the author of the idea of organizing the unrecorded production. In collusion with him consisted of the head of the department of the higher school of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the director of the Karaganda city industrial complex.

The supplies of stolen furs were arranged, and bribes, black payments, fake invoices, and product write-offs flourished at the factories controlled by the group. As for the distribution channels, products were sold past the cash registers in large clothing stores, sometimes wholesale sales were also carried out in production. All this was covered by the heads of the OBKHSS and the leaders of the Karaganda administration. When Andropov received the go-ahead to cover the Kazakh fur group, the operatives sent to Karaganda were shocked by the amount of funds seized. Law enforcers have never seen so much money and gold hidden in hiding places, buried in the territory of local plots and transferred to their mistresses for safekeeping.

In Japan, the traditions of the mafia have also created a whole class of people, with their own codes of honor and norms of behavior. Ordinary Japanese treat them this way today, and the Yakuza themselves today are engaged in these matters.