One of the most respected artists in Russia, Joseph Kobzon, died today at the age of 80. Perhaps Joseph Davydovich can be called a person who learned to resist cancer - the singer lived with cancer for more than 13 years and insisted that this disease can and should be fought. People's Artist of Russia has come a long way creative path, however, now few people remember that in order to earn a living, in his student years Joseph Kobzon wiped gas masks with alcohol in a bomb shelter.

Professor and deputy

In addition to artistic work, Kobzon led teaching and political activity. Since 1984, he taught vocals at the Institute. Gnessins, and since 1993 received the title of professor. By the way, among its graduates was the singer Valeria. Artist all the way last day was among the deputies State Duma and served as first deputy chairman of the culture committee.

However, in the life of Joseph Davydovich there was also a place for scandals that were not at all connected with show business. To this day there are rumors that Kobzon had authority among the criminal Russia of the 90s. However, there is no exact confirmation of this, but, as Interfax reports, in 1995 the singer was denied entry into the United States. According to the intelligence services, Kobzon was associated with representatives of the “Russian mafia,” including the famous crime bosses Yaponchik and Taiwanchik. The Washington Times in 1994 even called him the “king” of Russian organized crime. At the beginning of the 2000s, Kobzon was still allowed to enter the United States, but only as part of a delegation. Kobzon was never able to obtain a visa from the embassy in 2001, because the receiving party made assumptions, as the artist himself told MK, that he was involved in the drug trade. FBI investigator Lester McNulty claimed that in the winter of 1995, a “mafia summit” with Kobzon’s participation took place on the island of Puerto Rico. According to the investigator, FBI agents rummaged through the trash can of the hotel where the artist lived and found a box of matches with Jap's number written on it. There was also information that Kobzon called him twice from the city of San Juan. As the Latvian press wrote in 2004, the United States concluded that Joseph Kobzon visited Latin America to meet with Colombian barons.

“What kind of matches?!” - Kobzon then responded to the BBC Russian service. - I am the first collector of lighters in the Soviet Union, together with Vysotsky’s father Volodya! I’ve never used matches!”

Nord-Ost

In 2002, Joseph Kobzon independently negotiated with the terrorists who seized the Theater Center on Dubrovka. As the artist himself recalls, as soon as he learned about the terrorist attack, he “shaved and went to Dubrovka.” Without asking advice from either relatives or colleagues from the State Duma, Kobzon entered the captured hall alone and without a weapon. Seeing the famous artist on the doorstep, the terrorists immediately let him in. Then Kobzon persuaded the criminals to release Lyubov Kornilov with two little daughters; the woman took another girl with her at her own peril and risk, passing it off as her own. Joseph Kobzon managed to save five after the first visit, moreover, he exchanged phone numbers with one of the invaders. It was on this number that negotiations for the release of the hostages were then conducted.

“After the presentation of the awards, the president himself came up to me,” Joseph Davydovich said years later on Rossiya 24, “and said: “Now we can talk. When the decree on your award was brought for signature, one of the administration leaders said that it might make sense to abstain, after all, the highest award in the country, and there is so much talk about Kobzon...” And I told him: “There was more talk about Frank Sinatra in America than about Kobzon in the Soviet Union.”

Mikhail Kryzhanovsky, former KGB intelligence officer, CIA agent "Filament"
[email protected]
New York

Putin and Mossad agent Kobzon.

Let's start from the end, with the murder of Kobzon.

In 1996, at the request of the CIA, I wrote a simple instruction for them, here it is:
Regular murders
With the help of firearms and bladed weapons, poisons, explosives. The evidence points to premeditated murder and an investigation is imminent.
General scheme.
It is best if you have the opportunity to recruit someone from the security of the facility or introduce your own person there. As a result, you get access to information about the security system, the daily schedule of the object, a convenient location and method of its liquidation, and you can install listening and surveillance equipment.
Then a plan and 3 groups are prepared:
- surveillance (with optics, video and radio - group members do not interfere in anything),
- actions (snipers, specialists in explosives and “staged” murders, if so planned)
- security (these people eliminate guards, witnesses and other people who could interfere with the operation; they complete the operation if it fails due to the fault of the second group, cover the retreat of the second group and “cut off” the pursuit).
Hard Kills
Staged accidents, catastrophes, suicides, drownings, death as a result of careless handling of gas, electricity, weapons, as well as alcohol and drug abuse; “natural” death as a result of a heart attack, stroke, or other chronic disease.
If the subject suffers from high blood pressure, has problems with the arteries of the heart and is taking appropriate medications, it is possible to introduce into his body with food or drink a drug that would neutralize the effect of the medications. In this case, the person is deprived of the opportunity to call an ambulance and he will die from a heart attack or stroke.
The use of radioactive substances, for example, polonium or irradiating special equipment, is very effective - this will cause cancer.
In 2005, Kobzon, who constantly monitored his health in the world's best clinics and the best doctors, was diagnosed with the 4th (last) stage of prostate cancer and was given 2 weeks to prepare for death and die. It’s absurd that no one will ever develop stage 4 cancer.
Did you notice the last recommendation from my instructions to the CIA? Fine.
How this is practically done: a person sits in a chair and sits for about 5 minutes, having no idea that he is being irradiated by a device built into the chair. Here you have the 4th stage right away.

Question: Kobzon was eliminated by the CIA, which, together with MI6, on my instructions, eliminated Litvinenko and Berezovsky, as well as miraculously surviving Skripal and his daughter?
Litvinenko and Berezovsky

Skripal and his daughter

Let the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation and the US Attorney General establish it if Trump decides to do so.

Question: Why was Kobzon killed with radiation, so as not to give evidence and to blame it on the consequences of his stay in Chernobyl, for example?
Answer: Kobzon knew too much - once, Kobzon, the richest man in the world did not want (could not) share the stolen billions of dollars - two. Kobzon not only held the common fund, but was also a Mossad agent - three. Documents and ironclad evidence appeared, so a decision was made to liquidate it in order to prevent a huge scandal in which not only politicians and oligarchs of Russia, but also the United States, are involved.

Now let's move on to his life.

Kobzon held the common fund. It had been an open secret in the KGB since about 1965, from the very beginning of his singing career. The agents began to report that during tours around the Union, a line of criminals, including thieves in law, constantly lined up at Kobzon’s hotel room. It is difficult to say exactly when and why the “authorities” paid attention to him - perhaps when he boxed professionally.
Why was he entrusted with the position of chief finance officer? Of course, he was tested in practice - he was entrusted first with the transportation of small and then serious amounts. He showed himself well and didn’t embezzle a penny. In addition, personal qualities - the ability to behave, personal courage (he was practically afraid of nothing and no one), plus a phenomenal memory, plus access to power, including the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which is very important.
In Moscow, Kobzon had incredible influence and power, surpassing even the capabilities of the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Brezhnev. For example, he commanded the distribution of apartments. The artist Kartsev was simply shocked when Kobzon came with him to the Chairman of the Moscow City Council Promyslov, took the waiting list for 3-room apartments, crossed out the first name on the list and wrote Kartsev there. Promyslov was speechless with fear - perhaps the first name was a relative of a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee? Kobzon didn't care.
Incomprehensibly, it was Kobzon who appointed Yuri Churbanov, Brezhnev’s son-in-law, as Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR at a drinking party in the “salon” of entertainer Emil Radov!
Not to mention the fact that he was at one time Galina Brezhneva’s fiancé and was preparing to become the successor to the Secretary General!

Now let's take a counterintelligence digression and talk about the Israeli intelligence service Mossad. Since the beginning of the 70s, “colleagues” launched a long-term operation to penetrate the families of the USSR leadership, senior military officers, and nuclear scientists. Andrei Sakharov was framed by agent Bonner, who became his wife and simply kicked the brilliant nuclear scientist out of science. He began to engage in the “struggle for human rights”, for the elimination of the Soviet nuclear potential, although he knew very well that American scientists would not stop for a second.
Suddenly, handsome Jewish guys appeared, from whom the daughters of party, state, scientific and military leaders became pregnant and married.
Andropov reported the situation to Brezhnev, but he did not take it seriously. But when the wonderful magician, intellectual, esthete, Jew Igor Kio got Galina Brezhneva to marry him, Brezhnev gave instructions to punch the Mossad in the face.

When the Jew Kobzon began circling Galini, the General Secretary became furious. The KGB closed down the Mossad shop in the end...
So our hero managed to work for the Mossad...

Thief in law Otar Kvantrishvili (far right) and Kobzon are partners worth $800 BILLION.
This is who completely robbed Russia.

On April 5, 1994, at 5:30 p.m., near the Krasnopresnensky Baths in Moscow, Otari Kvantrishvili was shot from a German small-caliber Anschutz rifle. He died from gunshot wounds to the head and chest 20 minutes later in the Botkin hospital. He had with him a certificate in the name of the head of the Lev Yashin Foundation, 3 thousand dollars, 1.5 million rubles and a passport with the surname Ordiyaba, which was found to be fake. His brother Amiran was a crime boss.
In 1966 he was imprisoned for rape. He was released after 4 years with a diagnosis of low-grade schizophrenia.
In the early 80s, Otari and his brother Amiran joined Ivankov’s (Yaponchik) gang. They committed robberies and extorted money from wealthy citizens. In addition, Amiran, who was a professional gambler, led the gang to target rivals with large sums of money.
In 1982, the whole gang was called out. Both Kvantrishvili escaped punishment, although Yaponchik could have “turned in” Otari. While Ivankov was in the Tulun colony, Otari looked after his family. In 1991, he helped Yaponchik free himself. In the first half of the 80s, Otari worked as a wrestling coach in the Dynamo sports society. He trained famous athletes who, a couple of years later, became members of organized criminal groups: Bauman, Kuntsevo and Lyubertsy. At the same time, he was protecting the fraudulent currency traders at Berezok.
In the second half of the 80s - early 90s, Kvantrishvili went into business. Together with Kobzon, he co-founded the XXI Century association, which exported timber, oil and non-ferrous metals. Headed the Yashin Social Protection Fund for Athletes. The fund had the right to engage in commerce and received benefits on duties on the import of tobacco and alcohol. The document was approved by Boris Yeltsin himself. Kvantrishvili had his share in Moscow casinos, hotels and banks, and ran a business in precious metals.
At the instigation of Kvantrishvili, representatives of some organized crime groups began to infiltrate companies where they “laundered” black cash and withdrew money from businessmen. Those who did not want to pay Otari fighters were forced to do so. But to a large extent everyone agreed. The amount of these “donations” to athletes was measured in hundreds of millions of dollars.
In 1994 he created the party “Athletes of Russia”. According to the author, its goal was to restore legality in the state. The party was formed for a decisive push into power. Some people think that in this regard Otari overestimated his capabilities. Because of this, the competitors dealt a decisive blow at the Krasnopresnensky Baths, which became lethal.
Six months before his death, a document appeared labeled “for official use” signed by Yeltsin. It provided for the creation of a sports closed joint-stock company with enormous benefits on customs duties on imports and exports. It is likely that Kvantrishvili headed the company. A lot of strategic raw materials were exported through the company - oil, aluminum, ore, cement. It is clear that influential people were annoyed by this. They had to use the services of a monopolist CJSC, which acted only as an intermediary between the Russian seller and the foreign buyer. MUR operatives unearthed information about a loan worth $800 billion. In addition to Kvantrishvili, a relative of a high official claimed him. But Otari intercepted the amount thanks to his connections. Perhaps this is why he was killed. However, investigators came to the conclusion that Alexey Sherstobitov (“Lyosha Soldat”) shot Otari on the order of Sylvester and other leaders of the Orekhovo-Medvedkovskaya organized crime group. The killer was promised a foreign passport and 200 thousand dollars. The reason for the contract killing is a conflict between criminal authorities and Kvantrishvili.

On December 2, 1992, the birthday of thief in law Alexander Zakharov (Zakhar) was celebrated at the Solnechny motel. The celebration was attended by the “lawmakers” Petrik, Savoska, Rospis and Goga, as well as the “authorities” - Sergei Timofeev (Sylvester), Sliva (Ivankov’s emissary in Moscow). Of the 80 people present at the banquet, 18 were on the federal wanted list. In total, riot police arrested 68 people, two had drugs, one had weapons. Kobzon stood up for those arrested, especially they stood up for the thief in law Petrik.
As a people's deputy of the USSR, in 1990 Kobzon contributed to the release from custody of thief in law Viktor Nikiforov (Kalina).
In the criminal world, even the highest “authorities” do not dare to mention Kobzon - this is a taboo. And with the beginning of Gorbachev’s perestroika, a couple of incriminating articles and photos of Kobzon with thieves in law appeared. Kobzon was furious and muttered something about how he doesn’t ask “random” drinking buddies for their passports in a tavern. And suddenly everything became quiet. Why? The journalist who was “digging” under Kobzon disappeared and her body was found only when the snow began to melt in the forest near Moscow...

Kobzon and the "authority" Taiwanchik

Kobzon and the “authority” Mikhas

Jap

I was already living in the States when, in 1994, here in New York, on Russian Brighton Beach, the FBI arrested the famous thief in law “Yaponchik” (Ivankov), who was subsequently given 9 years for extortion.
Kobzon rushed to rescue “Jap”, hiding behind the urgent need to hold unnecessary concerts for the Russian-speaking emigration in Brighton Beach. While he was figuring out in New York who and how to give a couple of million for the release of “Jap”, his close friend, the “authority” Kvantrishvili, was killed in Moscow. Kobzon canceled the “concerts” and urgently went to Moscow for a showdown. He was no longer allowed back to the States - he was fed up. Honestly, I warned the guys from the FBI and CIA about Kobzon and the Americans sent him away to the embassy, ​​refusing a visa. He was furious and brought President Yeltsin to attention, demanding a visa. The Americans told Yeltsin that they had enough mafiosi of their own - and that was the end of the matter.

"McNulty Memorandum."
The author, FBI investigator Lester McNulty, of this 50-page document, which is still classified, sets out the incriminating evidence that the FBI had on Kobzon. The incriminating evidence is based on reports from secret informants and in some places supported by other operational data.
The document is of a working nature and is not evidence of the guilt of the persons mentioned in it, who were not brought to trial in the United States. As McNulty wrote, “Recently, Ivankov and his organization have come into close contact with a criminal group led by Anzor Kikalishvili and his partner Joseph Kobzon. Kikalishvili and Kobzon receive significant illegal payments from an American joint venture called Russian American, located in New York.” York." According to McNulty, one secret informant reported that an accomplice of the Kobzon-Kvantrishvili group was a Canadian resident, Joseph Sigalov, who helped the singer, in particular, transport from Germany to an Arab country a batch of weapons and equipment, including machine guns and air defense systems, worth from 18 to 20 million dollars."
Finally, an FBI investigator claimed that in early January 1995, a kind of “mafia summit” with Kobzon’s participation took place in San Juan, Puerto Rico...

The way Kobzon was received by the leaders of the republics and regions during his “tours” (in fact, it was collecting money for the “common fund”) defies description. Like God. And no one could understand why the hell?!
I'm not afraid that they will kill me for this article.
About the dead, in principle, it’s either good or nothing. But let's only say good things about Hitler then...
And if you want to be precise, then in the original it sounds like this: About the dead, either good, or nothing but the truth. Clear?

P.S. Kobzon's successor as "chief accountant" is unknown. By the way, I don’t advise anyone to “dig” for Kobzon’s businesses (trade in oil and weapons, including fighter jets) - he invested part of the “common fund” there and the money was laundered in this way.

Could I have prevented Kobzon's murder?
I liked this extraordinary, powerful, strong-willed and talented man, despite the fact that he was one of the leaders of the Russian underworld. I knew that he would not die by natural means - he behaved too brazenly in all senses and in all areas. He considered himself a celestial being.
It would be necessary to warn him, of course - I saved Putin’s life, warned him about the assassination attempt.

If Kobzon was killed by the CIA, he was a much more dangerous enemy for the United States than one of the leaders of the Russian mafia.

Gina Haspel, CIA Director

However, I am ready to cooperate with the Investigative Committee if they investigate Kobzon’s murder.

"October 2012, Moscow, Russia
I sent a letter to the Administration of the President of Russia. He warned that his murder was planned with the participation of the US Secret Service. A sniper will work or he will be poisoned, like Arafat, or treated with potent drugs. It's called camouflaged assassination, which I taught to the CIA and FBI.

I have reason to say this and I am not going to remain silent about the fact that the Secret Service made me a corresponding offer.
  

June 20, 2013, Moscow
In connection with my information on the planned assassination of Putin, CIA Director John Brennan flew to Moscow
Informed sources report that US CIA Director John Brennan came to the capital on an unofficial visit.
According to presumptive data, Brennan was in Moscow on June 19 and 20. Meanwhile, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service left no comment on whether the CIA director visited Moscow. However, earlier Russian Presidential Aide Yuri Ushakov stated that contact with the CIA director was planned.

Vladimir KozlovskyFor BBC, New York

There was a time when Joseph Kobzon regularly traveled to America, where I ran into him at the famous Russian Samovar restaurant on 52nd Street in Manhattan. IN last time he was in the USA on tour in 1994, but the following year they began to deny him an American visa, making only one exception in the late 1990s, when he entered with a State Duma delegation.

In December 1997, I went to Moscow to discuss with the singer the reasons why the Americans blocked his entry, after which a number of other countries followed their example. The US authorities did not officially explain the reason for the refusal, but it could be guessed from indirect signs.

This is an article by Bill Hertz in the Washington Times, where the author characterized the singer, with reference to the CIA, as the king (in the original “king”) of organized crime.

This is the document that in Russia was then called the “McNulty memorandum.”

This meant a petition for permission to wiretap the mobile phone of thief in law Vyacheslav Ivankov, who wrote his last name as Ivankov and was known as Yaponchik, Japanese, or Grandfather among his friends.

The petition was signed on March 31, 1995 by FBI investigator Lester McNulty, who developed Jap. Among other things, the author of this 50-page document, which is still classified, sets out the incriminating evidence that the FBI had on Kobzon. The incriminating evidence is based on reports from secret informants and in some places supported by other operational data.

The document is of a working nature and is not evidence of the guilt of the persons mentioned in it, who were not brought to trial in the United States. As McNulty wrote, “Recently, Ivankov and his organization have come into close contact with a criminal group led by Anzor Kikalishvili and his partner Joseph Kobzon. Kikalishvili and Kobzon receive significant illegal payments from an American joint venture called Russian American, located in New York.” York..."

It was further alleged that Kikalishvili, Kobzon and their partner Otari Kvantrishvili paid bribes to a certain Russian customs officer and in return received the opportunity to import duty-free alcoholic beverages and tobacco products into the country.

According to McNulty, one secret informant reported that an accomplice of the Kobzon-Kvantrishvili group was a Canadian resident, Joseph Sigalov, who helped the singer, in particular, transport from Germany to an Arab country a batch of weapons and equipment, including machine guns and air defense systems, worth from 18 to 20 million dollars."

Finally, an FBI investigator claimed that in early January 1995, a kind of “mafia summit” with Kobzon’s participation took place in San Juan, Puerto Rico. On January 12, 1995, FBI officers rummaged through a trash bin left in front of Kobzon's room and found there a piece of paper and a box of matches with phone number Ivankova. The phone company said he called Jap twice from San Juan.

The figure is noticeable

I retold the above to Kobzon, although he, as it turned out, had already read these statements by McNulty in my article, which the Moscow Megapolis Express borrowed without permission from the Los Angeles Panorama. Our conversation took place at the top of the once luxurious Intourist Hotel, whose lobby was at that moment rather shabby. Kobzon's office made a completely different impression: antiques, antique furniture, a scattering of glossy photographs and letters on the walls, and from the windows a dizzying view of the main Moscow attractions opened.

“Kobzon keeps his word,” our mutual friend, local millionaire Mikhail Rudyak, told me before this, and the singer confirmed this description: he promised me an interview and, despite his obvious busyness, carved out time for him, and on a day off: it was December 12 - Russian Constitution Day, which ironically turned out to be the birthday of Frank Sinatra, which was mentioned several times - by various reasons- in our conversation.

Kobzon was also good because he was not offended by any questions.

- Is any of this true?- I asked, outlining the FBI’s claims against my interlocutor.

“I live in a country where I am a fairly prominent figure, my last name is not Ivanov, my last name is Kobzon,” Kobzon said. - If at least some of what was printed was true, would you be sitting in my office now, would I be talking to you?

Maybe they would have talked.

- How?

The Jap called me on the phone.

Oh, from prison, you mean. Maybe. Because for every accusation that was brought forward by the press, I would naturally have to be tried. Naturally, it would be a sensation. A person who sang Komsomol songs, a person who spoke quite widely at construction sites, at Komsomol congresses (I worked for seven Komsomol congresses in a row), at party congresses, suddenly he turns out to be so-and-so, the mafia, and so on. Sensation!

I want to understand where such fame came from about you.

It all started when I worked as the mayor's cultural adviser. The surname, even if it sounds immodest from my lips, is quite well known in the former Soviet Union and in the post-Soviet space. First, it was necessary to quarrel between Luzhkov and Yeltsin. Yeltsin's team tried very hard to do this. It is very difficult to kick our mayor, he is the foreman of perestroika... And when the attack on Yuri Mikhailovich began, it was necessary to create a case. There were publications about his entourage. That's who the mayor talks to! The mayor communicates with the mafia: Kobzon. Kobzon is a mafia... It turns out that he is with Otari Kvantrishvili. We created the Yashin Social Protection Fund for Athletes. Then Otari created the Russian Athletes Party. But he was a very careless person, due to thoughtlessness he did not clearly formulate and publicly express an idea that would have sounded like a threat to Mr. Rushailo, who headed the GUOP of Moscow. Otari has four children, and so does Rushailo. Otari said: “Let him think about his children...” We told him: “What did you say?!” He says: “I meant what we all need to do so that our children can live prosperously.” And this was perceived as a threat, and a few days later he was gone.”

- So it was the cops who killed him?

That's two hundred percent.

"Cool guy"

I asked the singer to talk about the "mafia summit" in San Juan. “We decided to have a family vacation,” Kobzon began and listed his companions, among whom were Alexander Donskoy and Leonid Sigalov.

The FBI documents say that Sigalov and Donskoy had criminal connections,” I noted.

Well, Donskoy lives in the United States; if there are claims against him, they could present them to him,” Kobzon said. - Sigalov is a citizen of Canada; they could present it to him. In San Juan, vacationers “beached” all day, relaxed in the evening, went to a restaurant - we had a routine, then to the casino, all in the same hotel, and so it lasted for several days in a row. Then Slava Fetisov came to us for two days. Then Anzor Kikalishvili called from Miami and said: “Guys, is it as boring here as it is there? Can I come up for a day?” "Come on over." He drove up for the day. These are all the people who were there.

- Did you have Jap’s phone number?

Certainly. I talked to him. I met him in America at the Arbat restaurant.

- How do you like him?

I found him to be an extremely interesting person.

- What did he say, do you remember?

He talked about what the Soviet correctional system was. He talked about how during his imprisonment there had been colossal changes in the criminal world associated with the invasion, so to speak, different nationalities Caucasian to Moscow... He condemned it. Moreover, this is why he left, because he began to struggle with it. They began to pursue him.

- The authorities or the Caucasians?

Both... When we met him in Arbat, he found it interesting to talk with me, I thought it was interesting to talk with him... And especially when he recited Yesenin by heart, I generally said: “Well, Overall a great guy!"

At the deceased wall of Kobzon

Kobzon agreed to spend 10-15 minutes with me, but we had been talking for the second hour, and everyone did not let up. The conversation took place in front of a wall hung with photographs, among which the largest belonged to Kvantrishvili. “This is my dead wall,” the singer smiled.

“Here is Otari Kvantrishvili,” he began a tour of the wall. “And here he is, and here he is. I regret that he is not alive. This is a wonderful businessman Evgeniy Aleksandrovich Shcherban, my fellow countryman from Donetsk, from Ukraine. He came with my wife for my silver wedding last year, on November 3. On November 3, he was returning to Donetsk on a charter flight Yak-40, and both he and his wife were shot right at the Donetsk airport. This is his son, died in a car accident... Here is Leonid. Iosifovich Utesov, Boris Sergeevich Brunov, unfortunately, Robert Rozhdestvensky, Andrey Mironov, Dean Reed, American singer, Yuri Gagarin. This is the deceased first secretary of the regional committee from Poltava. That’s all.

There were living ones on the other wall. “These are various artistic photographs,” said Kobzon. “Muslim Magomayev, Oleg Gazmanov, Sasha Morozov, composer... This is in the Taman division. This is our famous Juna. This is us at the trade union congress. This is Ivankov in Atlantic City, at the Taj -Mahale"; my biography is my biography..."

People's Artist of the Soviet Union - “Tsar of the Russian Mafia”

God, save me from my friends, and I can handle my enemies myself...

The era has passed when People's Artist of the Soviet Union Joseph Kobzon sang with feeling: “ The Chekist was born in the struggle, matured in hot battles...“The famous singer did a lot to create the image of courageous, noble, devoted to the high revolutionary idea of ​​the security officers. And now, in modern times, Joseph Davydovich Kobzon accused the Russian special services, that is, the new generation of security officers, of killing his close friend, businessman Otari Vitalievich Kvantrishvili, whose life was cut short by a sniper’s shot on April 5, 1994. Soon after Kvantrishvili’s death, Kobzon said: “I am convinced that Otarik was removed by the special services. He was a very cautious person and never got into conflict with anyone. What kind of gang wars are there? Otari was just uncomfortable.”

Who are these words about? Joseph Kobzon talks about a man who was sentenced to nine years for participating in a gang rape in 1966, but four years later he was sent to a psychiatric hospital with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Otari allegedly bit off his cellmate's ear in a fit. If he had remained free, the path to the Olympic team would have been opened for him, as a young and talented athlete-wrestler, a native of the Georgian city of Zestafoni. In the future, it was sport that helped Otari Kvantrishvili reach the public.

During the Brezhnev stagnation, Kvantrishvili was part of the criminal group of Vyacheslav Ivankov, and after his arrest, Otari took care of his two sons. Vyacheslav Kirillovich Ivankov, who went down in Russian criminal history under the nickname Yaponchik, began his career as a thief in the late sixties and was crowned thief in law in 1974 in Butyrka prison. According to some reports, many cultural and sports figures, including Joseph Davydovich Kobzon, petitioned for his early release. According to the American journalist Paul Klebnikov, law enforcement agencies of the late USSR decided to release Yaponchik so that this authority would oust the gangs that came to Russian cities from the Caucasus, in particular, from troubled Chechnya. And Yaponchik had to carry out the tasks of “cleaning up the Caucasians” together with his friend Otari Kvantrishvili. Quite a lot was said and written in the press about the possible closeness of Kobzon and Yaponchik. When Moscow journalist, ITAR-TASS columnist Larisa Kislinskaya published in the newspaper “ Soviet Russia” article, which talked about Kobzon’s personal participation in the early release of Ivankov, Joseph Davydovich sued and won the case. However, later Joseph Davydovich himself admitted in an interview: “The Jap is not one of my close friends. However, he is an extraordinary person, and I do not refuse to get to know him... I am not friends with a profession, but with a person.” Larisa Kislinskaya recalls episodes of that information war: “I once wrote a whole series of articles about organized crime. And next to the names of such criminal personalities as Otari Kvantrishvili and Yaponchik, Joseph Davydovich Kobzon appeared there. He was offended and filed a lawsuit to protect his honor and dignity. It was a huge lawsuit - we sued him for six years! And in one interview Kobzon said the following phrase: “ Kislinskaya is wrong, because she drinks, smokes and combines two ancient professions" For fun, I went to the deputy head of the Moscow City Internal Affairs Directorate and asked for such a certificate. He turned out to have a sense of humor and gave me a document confirming that I had nothing to do with the first ancient profession. I won my counterclaim against Kobzon. As a result, Kobzon himself decided to make peace, and even gave me a gorgeous bouquet of orchids. And then I told him: “ The most offensive thing is that I do not smoke and have never smoked”».

If Joseph Kobzon never acknowledged his friendship with Yaponchik, he spoke more than once about his close relationship with Kvantrishvili and even warmly called him Otarik. Journalists dubbed the strange, at first glance, friendship between Kobzon and Kvantrishvili “the union of culture and crime.”

Officially working as a coach for the Dynamo society, Otari, together with his brother Amiran, became the leader of a gang that included Moscow “jocks” - wrestlers, boxers, weightlifters. It was probably then that Kvantrishvili acquired the witty nickname “Leader of Organized Sports.” Otari gradually moved into legal business, but he never broke ties with the criminal world, until his murder. Since 1985, Kvantrishvili has been engaged in entrepreneurial activities, and in addition, using his many years of connections in the criminal world, he began to “protect” the emerging cooperatives. Kvantrishvili took Moscow businessmen under his protection for ten percent of their income. According to some reports, in the early nineties, Kvantrishvili controlled the capital’s gambling business.

In 1988, the Kvantrishvili brothers created the XXI Century Association, which was engaged in the export of oil, timber, non-ferrous metals, as well as banking business.

IN recent years Otari was engaged in life social activities, became president of the Fund for Social Protection of Athletes named after L.I. Yashina. Together with Kobzon, he founded the Shield and Lyre charity foundation, focused on social support for police officers and their families, and in those troubled times no one was surprised that one of the leaders of the criminal world decided to sponsor the police. Yesterday's criminal became a participant in the social life of the capital, began to make acquaintances with politicians, show business stars, and the country's intellectual elite. Kvantrishvili managed to become famous in Moscow as a philanthropist who spared no money for support physical culture and sports. Journalist Paul Klebnikov wrote: “Otarik claimed that profits from his business operations were used to build stadiums and training complexes. “We have a lot of pederasts and drug addicts who have divorced,” he said. - And sport is the only way to save the nation. Here I am building nurseries sports schools and instill a love for sports...” But Otari was not Robin Hood. After all, a person who has been attacked is completely indifferent to where the money taken from him will go - for noble or not so noble purposes.

Joseph Kobzon began doing business in 1990, heading the Moskovit joint-stock company. Later, together with Shabtai Kalmanovich, he organized several joint-stock companies with the name “Liat-Natalie”. By the way, Kalmanovich, who died as a result of an assassination attempt at the end of 2009, was also a man with a controversial reputation: at one time he served time in an Israeli prison for spying for the Soviet Union. After Kalmanovich’s death, Joseph Davydovich said that their paths in business had long diverged.

Joseph Kobzon himself writes: “Once my son asked me a question that, as I think, is on the tip of many people’s tongues: “Dad, what kind of strange environment do you have: ministers, generals, people’s artists and people suspected of crimes? I answered him: “Andryusha, I’m not friends with positions, but with people. And for me it doesn’t matter who they are - drivers, Afghans, ministers, and so on. If I like someone and I’m interested in communicating with them, I communicate with them.” Also, Anatoly Kucherena, who repeatedly represented Kobzon’s interests in court, described one of his conversations with Joseph Davydovich - on the same sensitive topic. The lawyer carefully told his client that “among his friends there are people with dubious reputations and this probably interferes with him both in business and in political activities.

“I’m already fifty-nine years old,” Kobzon answered, “at my age they don’t look for new friends.” You see (he pointed to photographs on the walls) - these are the faces of those who are dear to me, but with whom I can only meet in heaven...

On the wall hung photographs of Dean Reed, Leonid Utesov, Yuri Gagarin, Andrei Mironov and Otari Kvantrishvili.

At the wake of Otari Vitalievich Kvantrishvili,” Kobzon continued, “I said that I was happy to be among the people disliked by the regime and, perhaps, I will continue this sad list. I’m a Luzhkovite and I’ve never hidden it. Luzhkov was the only person who did not turn his back on me.”

The friendship between Kobzon and the mayor of the capital, Yuri Luzhkov, has stood the test of both time and life's difficulties. They say that Boris Yeltsin once suggested that Yuri Luzhkov renounce his friendship with the disgraced “mafioso” Kobzon, to which the mayor allegedly replied: “Today I will hand over Kobzon, tomorrow they will demand that I hand over my wife, like Molotov, and the day after tomorrow they will wait, that I will hand over the president himself!” Presumably, Luzhkov's witty answer satisfied Boris Nikolaevich.

And yet, what can connect People’s Artist Kobzon with such shady personalities as Yaponchik and Kvantrishvili?.. After all, Joseph Davydovich could not help but understand that by being friends with them he was compromising himself. You need to understand that the most people were drawn to such large-scale personalities as Kobzon. different people- both honest citizens and criminal authorities. Joseph Davydovich is a man of a broad soul, open and welcoming, he is used to sharing his talent with others. Therefore, it is not surprising that a circle of people always formed around the energetic, life-loving Kobzon. Unfortunately, one cannot say about Kobzon: “ Had no connections discrediting him" Alas, such connections existed. In general, the story of Kobzon’s “criminal connections” is surprisingly reminiscent of the unpleasant situation in which Frank Sinatra, who was friends with the Chicago mafiosi, once found himself. During his lifetime, the singer was accused either of laundering mafia money or of secretly assisting drug trafficking, but Sinatra himself categorically denied any connections with the mafia. Many years after Sinatra’s death, his daughter Tina admitted that it was her father who became the prototype for singer Johnny Fontane in Coppola’s famous “The Godfather.” It is possible that the American press, publishing revealing materials about the “Russian mafioso” Kobzon, took advantage of the fact of Sinatra’s biography as a kind of model to which modern “criminal material” was drawn. The American public was told the old story in a new way, only the name of Sinatra was replaced with the name of Kobzon.

On April 5, 1994, Kvantrishvili was wounded near the Krasnopresnensky Baths and died in an ambulance on the way to the Botkin hospital. Armed with a small-caliber German-made Anschutz rifle, the sniper fired three bullets at Kvantrishvili from the attic of a neighboring house. Kvantrishvili’s funeral at the Vagankovskoye cemetery was attended by such famous personalities as Yuri Luzhkov, Vladimir Gusinsky, Shamil Tarpishchev, Bogdan Titomir, Alexander Rosenbaum and, of course, Joseph Kobzon. The first version was expressed that Kvantrishvili was removed by representatives of a Chechen organized crime group, then there was an assumption that the Solntsevo lads were involved in the murder, who tried to take control of the Yashin Social Protection Fund for Athletes headed by the deceased. The high-profile murder was solved only in February 2006, when MUR operatives captured a certain Alexey Sherstobitov, a killer of the Medvedkov group nicknamed Lesha Soldat, in a rented apartment. During interrogations, the Soldier confessed not only to the murder of Kvantrishvili, but to twelve other contract killings. The customer, according to investigators, was crime boss Sergei Timofeev, known in the capital as Sylvester. At the trial, Sherstobitov said that the order to liquidate Kvantrishvili was given to him by the authority Grigory Gusyatinsky, who explained that Otari “mortally threatens the interests” of the leader of the Orekhovo-Medvedkov group, Sergei Timofeev. For a successfully completed task, Sherstobitov received a new Lada from Timofeev.

Scandals related to Kobzon's alleged criminal connections have hit his reputation hard. In 1994, the Washington Times published an article entitled “Tsar of the Russian Mafia Number One - Singer Iosif Kobzon,” after which Iosif Davydovich was not allowed into the United States, denied a visa, and then he had serious problems entering Israel. On January 2, 1996, Kobzon was detained at Tel Aviv airport by order of the Israeli Minister of Internal Security, and only after the intervention of the Russian Embassy was permission to enter personally given by the country's Prime Minister Shimon Peres. The Russian Mafia is a horror movie that has been scaring American people for many years. The myth needs constant support; it must be fueled by new versions and rumors. Joseph Kobzon became the hero of the myth about the Russian mafia. The CIA officially announced that Jap's phone number, written on a matchbox, was found in the trash can of one of the hotels in Puerto Rico where Kobzon stayed. At the same time, the intelligence services made the assumption that Kobzon was in Latin America to meet with the Colombian barons. The singer himself called these accusations delusional and said that he does not use matches at all.

The hype around his name irritated and depressed Kobzon. “If someone has reason to spread these rumors, then let our law enforcement agencies finally deal with me, let them figure out whether I run nightclubs, casinos, brothels, whether I am an Afghan drug courier - let them deal with everything that concerns me accused,” the singer said on October 4, 2002. Kobzon complains: “...every time I, so to speak, enter any country, I am subjected to a search in front of everyone that is more like a “shmon.” I already know that. Therefore, in order not to gather onlookers, I always become the last one in the queue to exit. Disgusting. Humiliating. Disgusting. What can you do? So I become the last one so that no one sees this shame.”

In 2010, Joseph Kobzon wrote a letter to the newly elected US President Barack Obama, in which he asked him to restore justice. “I know who I owe for my tarnished reputation! - Kobzon said. - Disinformation that I allegedly sell weapons to African countries and deal in drugs was sent to Washington in 1994 by Alexander Korzhakov, who was then the head of the presidential security service, and Rushailo, at that time the head of the Regional Department for Combating Organized Crime of the Moscow Main Internal Affairs Directorate " Perhaps such heavyweights as Alexander Korzhakov had a hand in the persecution of Kobzon, but first of all we must admit that Joseph Davydovich himself did a lot to ensure that his reputation was tarnished, because no one has yet refuted the validity of the aphorism “Tell me who is your friend, and I will tell you who you are!

In November 2010, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov asked the American side to reconsider the issue of opening visas to enter the United States for Joseph Kobzon and businessman Oleg Deripaska, whose visa was revoked due to doubts about the reliability of the information he provided to the FBI.

As you know, young Russian business has grown by criminal leaps. To make a fortune without getting involved in crime was as incredible as maintaining one’s virginity while working in a brothel. Joseph Kobzon came into business at the very beginning of the nineties - at a time when the country lived according to the concepts of “wild capitalism”. He managed to convert his fame into capital. For the vast majority of Russian businessmen whose business careers took off in those years, no one now reminds them of those dark and bloody years when business and crime existed like Siamese twins. But businessman Joseph Kobzon had a very serious “disadvantage” - his national fame. Therefore, Kobzon was not forgiven anything. Not only on stage, but also in business, they expected crystal honesty, moral height, and knightly integrity from him. And how bitter the disappointment of the public was when revealing articles about their idol’s connections with the mafia, criminals and racketeers began to appear in the press. Kobzon became a businessman - and thus he was already guilty in the eyes of his former fans.