The FSB detained seven people in Moscow on suspicion of extortion. Among them was Yury Yesin, going by nickname Samosval, who was named in the case of ‘Russian mafia’ in Italy in the 1990s.
In the morning of Thursday, August 9, investigators of the Investigation Department for the Eastern Administrative District of the ICR’s Main Investigative Directorate for Moscow and Moscow Criminal Intelligence officers with the support of the FSB operatives detained 67-year-old Yury Yesin, a source in the central office of the MIA told RBC, sources in the territorial police department and the ICR’s MID in Moscow confirmed the information. Earlier, Kommersantcalled Yesin "a crime lord nicknamed Samosval."
"Together with Yesin six more people were detained, it is known that they are suspected of committing crimes under Art. 159 of the Criminal Code (Swindling), Art. 163 (Extortion), Art. 222 (Illegal Possession of Firearms)," the RBC's interlocutor from the police told. According to him, searches and detentions began early in the morning and are still ongoing.
The Investigative Directorate of the ICR for the Eastern Administrative District declined to comment.
In 2010, employees of the Moscow Criminal Intelligence detained Yesina and 23 other people in metropolitan karaoke bar Zebra, MK reported. The meeting took place on September 16, the day a sniper committed an attempt on Aslan Usoyan (Ded Khasan) in the center of Moscow.
The report said that among the gathered were representatives of Solntsevskaya and Kuntsevskaya criminal communities. It also remarked that "the leaders of these groups have long ago become businessmen and do not identify themselves with crime." According to the operative data, they planned to discuss the issues of the division of spheres of influence in Moscow, as well as to resolve the "conflict situation", the report of Moskovsky Komsomolets read.
Yesin became known after his arrest in Italy, where he moved in 1995. In March 1997, he was detained in the resort town of Madonna di Campigli, along with 13 other Russian citizens during a special operation of the Italian police targeting the ‘Russian mafia.’ They were accused of belonging to organized crime and laundering millions of dollars through investments in tourism and real estate. As Yesin said in an interview with Kommersant in 2002, the case involved the laundering of $6 billion. He also claimed that one of the witnesses in the case had testified that in Moscow Yesin’s gang consisted of 900 people and had an arsenal of weapons, as well as a submarine for the transport of drugs.