In Greece, May 10, 46-year-old thief in law Malkhaz Kitiya (Mahonia), an active supporter of the thievish clan by Tariel Oniani (Taro) was killed by unknown person. In criminal environment Oniani is considered to be an organizer of the famous murder of Vyacheslav Ivankov (Jap). Experts in the field of organized crime combating believe that "the full-scale gang war they predicted after the death of Jap has already begun."
Greek law enforcement authorities have not yet provided any more information about the circumstances of Malkhaz Kitiya's murder. The only information available is that the kingpin was shot from a pistol at a resort in Greece.
Malkhaz Kitiya left Russia in June 2009, immediately after the arrest of the leader of his criminal clan Tariel Oniani, accused by Russian law enforcement authorities of kidnapping and extortion. The Russian police had claims against Mr.Kitiya himself as well. On March 5, 2009 he was arrested for possession of drugs in Moscow, on the 10-letiye Octobrya street next to the restaurant "Arena". Lawyers of the kingpin then managed to secure his release on parole in connection with his ill health. But having crossed the boarders of Russia, Malkhaz Kitiya violated the conditions of release, thus he was put on the wanted list.
According to a senior officer of the Russian Interior Ministry, which specializes in combating organized crime, "Makhonia had to flee from Russia to save his life, like the majority of supporters of the clan by Tariel Oniani did”. The latter was believed to be an organizer of the murder of the criminal leader Vyacheslav Ivankov (Jap) in the criminal world. Mr. Oniani allegedly removed Jap for the fact he had taken the side of Taro's enemy, the kingpin Aslan Usoyan (Ded Hassan) in a conflict of criminal clans for the spheres of influence. However, Mr. Oniani denies the accusation. Nevertheless, according to the MIA official, «the war against Taro's clan has already been announced and his supporters are dying one after another. "
It will be recalled that in 2008, at the beginning of the conflict between the clans of Taro and Ded Hassan, Tariel Oniani gathered members of his criminal community at the famous meeting of thieves on a ship in the middle of Klyazmenskoe reservoir in order to demonstrate his power; however, it was overclocked by special forces operatives and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Malkhaz Kitiya is the second member of that meeting who was killed in Europe in recent times. Earlier, as reported by Kommersant, March 8 of this year a thief in law Vladimir Danashiya (Lado) was gunned down in France. According to the French police version, based on the moderated telephone conversation of the Russian criminal world leaders (it was conducted as part of the Europe-wide police operation, codenamed "Java") thieves in law Kakha Shushanashvili (Kakha Rustavsky) and his brother Lasha Shushanashvili (Lasha Rustavsky) - supporters of Ded Hassan - ordered the elimination of Mr. Janashia. Immediately after the killing Kaha was arrested by the police of Spain; and his brother Lasha moved to Greece, where he took refuge with one of his most active supporters - Lavrenty Cholakidis (Leva Grekh). The Greek police assumes that those were his militants who could have been involved in the elimination of Malkhaz Kitiya.
