But even the scope of Petrov’s enterprises did not prepare Spanish investigators for what they heard when they began to listen in on his telephone calls. Tall and powerfully built, with a flattened nose and graying, short-cropped hair, he looked more like an aging boxer than an international businessman.

“They wanted to know, to participate, but we didn’t let them because we couldn’t trust them.”. “With money,” Petrov once told his son, “you can fix anything.”. Like the 1957 Apalachin summit in upstate New York, a gathering of mafia dons that revealed the coordination among seemingly rival crime families from around the United States, the birthday party made it strikingly clear to the Spaniards that they were up against formidable enemies who were willing to work together. The first wave of criminal expatriates arrived in the Spain in the 1990s. According to a confidential Spanish report of the conversation, the Russian official promised to go see the shipbuilder with some of “his boys,” and show him “a lot of affection.” Days later, another Spanish wiretap caught two of Petrov’s associates laughing about how agents of the Russian security forces had left the shipbuilder terrified. The club is run by the son of big shot businesswoman Olivia Valere and is believed to have been done as a warning shot by a mafia or cartel who are owned money. The Spanish government says there are 113 organised crime gangs currently operating in the Malaga province - which includes the Costa del Sol. Law-enforcement officials in Georgia told him that Oniani was threatening to kill Spanish investigators. Among the first investigators to grasp the Russian threat in the 1990s was Rueda, a low-key commander in the small organized-crime unit of the national police. newspaper archive.

Still, the investigators said they are gratified to have disrupted the mafias, even if the bosses remain beyond reach. The visible presence of Russian mobsters in Spain has begun to wane, although some remain notably dangerous. The coronavirus lockdown forced British gangsters to take a break from violence and intimidation in Spain, but now the country has reopened they're reportedly back in business. Beyond his island refuge, he was said to control a global network of legitimate and illicit activities, ranging from jewelry stores and extortion rings to the gray-market sale of Soviet MiG-29 fighter jets.

Petrov’s faction of the gang also clashed with Kumarin around that time, but did not prevail. The Businessman, 39, was killed in the drive-by after seven bullets pierced his heart.

On one call, Petrov said he and Reznik would meet to discuss having Petrov’s enemies “put in jail” in Russia, according to prosecution documents.