Thieves by Law

Thieves by Law, or Ganavim Ba Hok is a documentary film charting the rise of Russian organized crime in the wake of the fall of the Soviet Union. In the film several noted crime figures are interviewed, a number of which are currently wanted by Interpol.

The term “thieves by law,” which refers to the uppermost echelon of the Russian criminal world, was born in the 30s. Some people say it might have something to do with “Chekists,” or the early Soviet secret service (what later became the KGB). At first, thieves by law followed a strict code: a thief by law had to serve time in jail, and had no right to have a family, a registered address, or belongings, surviving only by criminal means.

This is a look "inside" the Russian mafia at the men who call themselves "thieves by law". In theory those that call themselves "thieves by law" are to have no home, no property of their own, no wife, no family. They are to have nothing that will tie them down and divert their attention from the brotherhood or give them pause. The film focuses on three men who have survived the prisons, the wars and the other nastiness to become "respected" men of means, with money and families.

Watch the trailer below and the documentary on YouTube source one or two.