However, strict discipline was still enforced and thieves in law were not excluded from the group's activities.

Tattoos associated with the thieves in law include, but are not limited to:

This time the victim was a thief in law, Valeri Dlugatsj.

Thieves in law are drawn from many nationalities from a number of post-Soviet states.

Acceptance into the group is often marked by specific tattoos, allowing all members of the criminal world to instantly recognize a "thief in law".

They are often tattooed on the stomach of a thief in law, as a means of acquiring status in the criminal community.

After that, he is excessively insulted and spitted; During the offence, an attacker makes references to him being a thief in law.

The leadership of the organization is closely linked to Thieves in Law in Armenia and Russia.

However receiving tribute from smugglers and drug-dealers or robbing and extorting them is a legitimate activity for a 'thief in law'.

In the fourth video is shown youth detention center, where inmates were physically abused and forced to insult thief in laws otherwise they would be raped.

In 1992, Solonik assassinated Russian thief in law Viktor Nikiforov.

Their contacts go beyond narcotics, and Kaverin sets Kosmos up with Luka, a renowned Thief in law.

Vladislav Zakharov was one of the "Thieves in Law" in what is commonly referred to as the Russian Mafia.

At 46, he was a "thief in law," as the Russian phrase goes, a Godfather, one of the untouchables whom many Russians think are the country's real leaders.

Zakhar Kniazevich Kalashov is a notorious thief in law, and widely believed to be one of the most prominent leaders of the Russian Mafia.

He has never been recognized as a thief in law by notable thieves such as Aslan Usoyan and Vyacheslav Ivankov.

As interior minister, Merabishvili presided over police reform and a crackdown on criminal bosses, the so-called "thieves in law", winning praise from many international institutions and observers.

The term "thief in law" might be more closely translated as "thief who follows the law," figuratively referring to a criminal who obeys the Thieves' Code.

The headline on the front-page article, "In Law," was a thinly disguised allusion to the term "thieves in law," used to refer to Russia's criminal godfathers.

After five impressive victories, Vladimir earned himself a job as a bodyguard for a vor v zakone, "thief in law," the highest order of made men in the Mafiya.

The new criminal class of Russia took on a more Westernized and businesslike approach to organized crime as the more Thief in law based 'Vory' faded into extinction.

A 'thief in law' is a leadership position, so direct participation in arms smuggling and drug trafficking is incompatible with their high status since those crimes are a form of commerce.

After the death of Rysbek Akmatbayev in 2006, Kamchy was allegedly crowned a thief in law in a ceremony attended by Vyacheslav Ivankov.

This, along with the suki involvement in the Soviet military, started an internal prison war between the military veterans and the leaders of the Russian criminal underground, or "Thieves in Law."

The "thieves in law" formed as a society for ruling the criminal underworld within the prison camps, "who govern the dark gaps in Soviet life beyond the reach of the KGB".