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Since World War II, Russian mobsters have traded prison cells for battlefields

In 2010, Russian mobster Sergey Tsapkov was responsible for 12 murders on a farm in southwest Russia. Although he died in prison in 2014, his accomplices received an early release for military service in the Russo-Ukrainian War. Aleksandra Larinzeva/Kommersant Photo/Sipa USA (Sipa via AP Images)
June 4, 2026

“I like watching historical films,” said the Wolf, a middle-aged ex-convict who wished to remain anonymous. “I don’t watch all those films where the hero shoots 100 people, because I've been shot—in the head, in the chest—so I know what it’s like.” “Stabbed, too,” he continued. “They wanted me under their banner, and I told them to f--- off, so they shot me in the head but didn't kill me. I came back and shot all those f---ers.” The ex-convict’s nickname comes from a wolf tattoo on one of his forearms. “A wolf is a wild animal; he doesn’t obey or answer ...

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Scarface retains cult status with Al Pacino’s ‘iconic’ performance

Scarface retains cult status with Al Pacino’s ‘iconic’ performance

The 1983 movie Scarface, featuring Al Pacino in the title role, continues to attract attention more than 40 years after…

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Jose Manuel Martinez booking photo

The life and crimes of a Sinaloa sicario

Ten years ago, the confessions of a California-based hitman revealed new information on decades-old unsolved cases and offered a glimpse…

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In the Oscar-winning 1954 movie On the Waterfront, Marlon Brando, right, starred as Terry Malloy, a dockworker who stands up to the Mob. Courtesy of Columbia Pictures

Oscar-winning ‘On the Waterfront’ premiered 70 years ago, with Marlon Brando as a dockworker confronting the Mob

On the Waterfront, which debuted 70 years ago this summer, is a ground-breaking tale about dockworkers standing up to a…

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Jimmy Coonan

In 1980s New York, the Mob had its hands in everything — even a museum

This is The Mob Museum, but it has never been a mobbed-up museum. As surprising as it may seem, that…

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Mobsters and their four-legged associates: The top 5 pets of organized crime

“You come into my house on the day my daughter is to be married and you ask me to do…

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Irish drug kingpin’s whereabouts revealed through Google reviews

The longtime head of an Irish drug and weapons cartel has been posting Google restaurant reviews and travel tidbits from…

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The press dubbed Jack “Legs” Diamond the “clay pigeon of the underworld” after he survived assassination attempts time and time again. NY Daily News via Getty Images

Jack ‘Legs’ Diamond: The clay pigeon of the underworld

A bootlegger, enforcer, dopeman and erstwhile folk hero, Jack “Legs” Diamond was like a charming archvillain in a lurid detective…

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