The black cat gang is a documentary story. The legendary gang “Black Cat. Where do plastic windows come from?

And now some details about - “And now hunchbacked!, I said hunchbacked!”

Gang " Black cat"is perhaps the most famous criminal association in the post-Soviet space. It became such thanks to the talent of the Weiner brothers, who wrote the book “The Era of Mercy,” as well as the skill of director Stanislav Govorukhin, who directed one of the best Soviet detective stories, “The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed.”

However, reality is very different from fiction.

In 1945-1946, rumors appeared in different cities of the Soviet Union about a gang of thieves who, before robbing an apartment, painted a kind of “mark” in the form of a black cat on its door.

The criminals liked this romantic story so much that “black cats” multiplied like mushrooms. As a rule, we were talking about small groups, the scope of whose activities did not come close to what the Weiner brothers described. Street punks often performed under the sign of the “Black Cat”.

The popular detective genre writer Eduard Khrutsky, whose scripts were used for such films as “According to the Criminal Investigation Data” and “Proceed with Liquidation,” recalled that in 1946 he himself found himself part of such a “gang.”

A group of teenagers decided to scare a certain citizen who lived comfortably during the war years, while the boys’ fathers fought at the front. The police, having caught the “avengers,” according to Khrutsky, treated them simply: “they hit them on the necks and let them go.”

The “bandits” from “Black Cat” were a group of teenagers in the third, fifth and seventh grades who decided to scare their neighbor and wrote him a note with a threatening content,” explains Lyudmila Kaminskaya, head of the Moscow Department of Internal Affairs History Museum of the CC of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in Moscow. “They made themselves tattoos with ink, and on the note they drew a black cat, after which this name was attached to the ‘gang’.”

The rumor about the mysterious “Black Cat” spread throughout Moscow very quickly, turning into a real “brand”. Taking advantage of the high-profile reputation of a non-existent gang, Moscow teenagers committed petty thefts, hooliganism, and intimidated townspeople. The so-called “guest performers” - visiting thieves - also used "Cat" as cover.

But the plot of the Weiner brothers is based not on the story of such would-be robbers, but on real criminals who took not only money and valuables, but also human lives. The gang in question was active in 1950-1953.

“As for the Weiner brothers and their novel, they simply took advantage of this big name. The prototype of the gang, whose affairs were described in the “Era of Mercy”, was the “Tall Blonde Gang”. However, here too there are discrepancies with reality: the leader of the gang Ivan Mitin was not hunchbacked at all, but on the contrary, he was different tall", said Lyudmila Kaminskaya.

Bloody "debut".

On February 1, 1950, in Khimki, senior detective Kochkin and local district police officer V. Filin were making a tour of the territory. Entering a grocery store, they noticed a young man arguing with a saleswoman. He introduced himself to the woman as a plainclothes police officer, but the man seemed suspicious. Two of the young man's friends were smoking on the porch.

When the police officers tried to check the documents, one of the unknown men pulled out a pistol and opened fire. Detective Kochkin became the first victim of the gang, which terrorized Moscow and the surrounding area for three years.

The murder of a policeman was an extraordinary event, and law enforcement officers were actively searching for the criminals. The bandits, however, reminded themselves: on March 26, 1950, three broke into a department store in the Timiryazevsky district, introducing themselves as... security officers.

“MGB officers,” taking advantage of the confusion of sellers and visitors, drove everyone into the back room and padlocked the store. The criminals' loot was 68 thousand rubles.

For six months, operatives searched for bandits, but in vain. Those, as it turned out later, having received a big jackpot, hid. In the fall, having spent the money, they went hunting again. On November 16, 1950, a department store of the Moscow Canal Shipping Company was robbed (more than 24 thousand rubles were stolen), and on December 10, a store on Kutuzovskaya Sloboda Street was robbed (62 thousand rubles were stolen).

A raid in the neighborhood of Comrade Stalin.

On March 11, 1951, criminals raided the Blue Danube restaurant. Being absolutely confident in their own invulnerability, the bandits first drank at the table and then moved towards the cashier with a pistol.

Junior police lieutenant Mikhail Biryukov was in a restaurant with his wife that day. Despite this, remembering his official duty, he entered into a battle with the bandits. The officer died from the bullets of criminals. Another victim was a worker sitting at one of the tables: he was hit by one of the bullets intended for the policeman. There was panic in the restaurant and the robbery was foiled. While escaping, the bandits wounded two more people.

The failure of the criminals only angered them. On March 27, 1951, they raided the Kuntsevsky market. The store director, Karp Antonov, entered into hand-to-hand combat with the gang leader and was killed.

The situation was extreme. The latest attack took place just a few kilometers from Stalin’s “Near Dacha”. The best forces of the police and the Ministry of State Security “shook” the criminals, demanding to hand over the completely insolent robbers, but the “authorities” swore that they knew nothing.

Rumors circulating around Moscow exaggerated the crimes of the bandits tenfold. The legend of the “Black Cat” was now firmly associated with them.

Restaurant "Blue Danube".

The powerlessness of Nikita Khrushchev.

The bandits behaved more and more defiantly. A reinforced police patrol came across them in the station buffet at Udelnaya station. One of the suspicious men was spotted holding a gun.

The police did not dare to detain the bandits in the hall: the area was full of strangers who could have died. The bandits, going out into the street and rushing to the forest, started a real shootout with the police. Victory remained with the raiders: they managed to escape again.

The head of the Moscow City Party Committee, Nikita Khrushchev, hurled thunder and lightning at law enforcement officers. He seriously feared for his career: Nikita Sergeevich could well be held accountable for rampant crime in the capital of “the world’s first state of workers and peasants.”

But nothing helped: neither threats, nor the attraction of new forces. In August 1952, during a raid on a teahouse at Snegiri station, bandits killed watchman Kraev, who tried to resist them. In September of the same year, criminals attacked the “Beer and Water” tent on the Leningradskaya platform. One of the visitors tried to defend the woman saleswoman. The man was shot.

On November 1, 1952, during a raid on a store in the Botanical Garden area, bandits wounded a saleswoman. When they had already left the crime scene, a police lieutenant drew attention to them. He knew nothing about the robbery, but decided to check the documents of suspicious citizens. A police officer was fatally wounded.

Mitin now rarely left Krasnogorsk without a pistol in his pocket, even when he went to visit his father, who worked in the forestry department in Kratovo. On this day, not finding him there, he got off at Udelnaya station along with Ageev and Averchenkov to buy a drink at the station buffet. Due to increased security on trains and to maintain law and order, police officers were now often seen at stations. However, the three bandits noticed them only when they had already settled down at the table. Ageev became nervous:

We have to leave. There are too many police around here!

But Mitin didn’t bat an eye, calmly took off his jacket and continued drinking. The evening was hot. He was wearing trousers and a summer shirt, and the TT pistol was clearly visible in his pocket. Mitin's calmness was almost defiant. The police realized that the matter was taking a dangerous turn.

Ivan, let's leave! We saw a garbage trunk! - Ageev insisted. - I know.

The police did not want to endanger others and did not detain the suspicious group inside the restaurant. They watched as Mitin and Ageev calmly walked past. Coming out onto the platform, Mitin quickly jumped onto the railway track and turned towards the forest.

Stop! - the policemen rushed after him.

Mitin pulled out a pistol, and a real shootout unfolded. He was on the verge of death, but the bullets stubbornly flew past. All three managed to escape. MUR was defeated again.

Soon after these events, Ageev, with impeccable characteristics, entered the Naval Mine and Torpedo Aviation School in Nikolaev. The bandit vacancy was vacant. But not for long. Mitin brought twenty-four-year-old Nikolaenko, restless after serving time in prison, to the case.

The photo shows another crime scene - Susokolovskoye Highway (on the left is the territory of the Botanical Garden).

“Everyone on the floor!”

In August 1952, a gang broke into a tea shop at Snegiri station. The tea room just sounds innocent. In those days, the canteens did not serve strong drinks, and you could buy alcohol in the tea houses, so the cash register worked briskly. When the tall dark figure of Mitin blocked the entrance and a sharp cry was heard: “On the floor!”, everyone seemed numb from surprise and horror. Mitin drew his weapon and in a matter of seconds forced everyone to obey. But the watchman N. Kraev rushed into the back room and tore the gun off the wall. Mitin fired. Kraev died the same day in the hospital.

There were about four thousand in the box office. For many, it's a fortune. For the Mityans, the risk is wasted. A month later, Lukin and Mitin went by electric train to Moscow to choose a new point for the robbery. A suitable object soon appeared - the “Beer-Water” tent on the Leningradskaya platform.

Having met on a deserted platform, all three entered the tent building. Averchenkov locked with inside door and remained at the entrance, while Lukin demanded the cash from the cashier and, pulling her own leather suitcase towards him, threw the money into it. A customer at a nearby table stood up.

What are you doing, mother t... - The shot interrupted his indignation and life itself. Then another visitor rushed at Mitin and received a bullet in the head.

What are you doing there? - Lukin, an exemplary MAI student, shouted over his shoulder.

Mitin ran out to the platform with Lukin and at the last minute jumped onto the departing train. Getting off at the next station, they walked across the bridge over the Skhodnya. Swinging, Lukin threw the bag as far as possible into the dark river, and it swallowed the evidence.

In the photo is Vladimir Arapov. 1950 (from the archive of retired Major General V.P. Arapov).

Call.

In January 1953, bandits raided a savings bank in Mytishchi. Their loot was 30 thousand rubles. But at the moment of the robbery, something happened that allowed us to get the first clue leading to the elusive gang.

The savings bank employee managed to press the panic button, and the phone rang in the savings bank. The confused robber grabbed the phone.

- Is this a savings bank? - the caller asked.

“No, the stadium,” the raider answered, interrupting the call.

The officer on duty at the police station called the savings bank. MUR employee Vladimir Arapov drew attention to this short dialogue. This detective, a true legend of the capital's criminal investigation department, later became the prototype of Vladimir Sharapov.

And then Arapov became wary: why, exactly, did the bandit mention the stadium? He said the first thing that came to mind, but why did he remember the stadium?

After analyzing the locations of robberies on the map, the detective discovered that many of them were committed near sports arenas. The bandits were described as athletic-looking young men. It turns out that the criminals could have nothing to do with crime at all, but be athletes?

Vladimir Pavlovich Arapov

Fatal barrel of beer.

In the 1950s, this was unthinkable. Athletes in the USSR were considered role models, but here it is...

The operatives were ordered to begin checking sports societies and pay attention to everything unusual that happens near the stadiums.

Soon, an unusual emergency occurred near the stadium in Krasnogorsk. A certain young man bought a barrel of beer from the saleswoman and treated everyone to it. Among the lucky ones was Vladimir Arapov, who remembered the “rich man” and began checking.

At first glance, we were talking about exemplary Soviet citizens. Beer was served by a student of the Moscow Aviation Institute, Vyacheslav Lukin, an excellent student, athlete and Komsomol activist. The friends who accompanied him turned out to be workers from defense factories in Krasnogorsk, Komsomol members and labor shock workers.

But Arapov felt that this time he was on the right track. It turned out that on the eve of the robbery of the savings bank in Mytishchi, Lukin was actually at the local stadium.

The main problem for the detectives was that they were initially looking in the wrong place and with the wrong people. From the very beginning of the investigation, Moscow criminals as one “went into denial” and denied any connection with the “Mitinsky” group.

As it turned out, the sensational gang consisted entirely of leaders in production and people far from the criminal “raspberries” and the circle of thieves. In total, the gang consisted of 12 people.

Most of them lived in Krasnogorsk and worked at a local factory.

The leader of the gang, Ivan Mitin, was a shift foreman at defense plant No. 34. Interestingly, at the time of his capture, Mitin was nominated for a high government award - the Order of the Red Banner of Labor. 8 of the 11 gang members also worked at this plant, two were cadets at prestigious military schools.

Among the “Mitinets” there was also a Stakhanovite, an employee of the “500th” plant, a party member - Pyotr Bolotov. There was also a MAI student Vyacheslav Lukin, a Komsomol member and athlete.

In a sense, sport became the connecting link between the accomplices. After the war, Krasnogorsk was one of the best sports bases near Moscow; there were strong teams in volleyball, football, bandy and athletics. The first gathering place for the “Mitinites” was the Krasnogorsk Zenit stadium.

Mitin established the most severe discipline in the gang, prohibited any bravado, and rejected contacts with “classic” bandits. And yet, Mitin’s scheme failed: a barrel of beer near the stadium in Krasnogorsk led to the collapse of the raiders.

“Ideologically incorrect” criminals.

At dawn on February 14, 1953, operatives burst into Ivan Mitin’s house. The detained leader behaved calmly, during the investigation he gave detailed readings, without hoping for the preservation of life. The labor shock worker understood perfectly well: for what he did, there could only be one punishment.

When all members of the gang were arrested, and the investigation report was placed on the table of senior Soviet leaders, the leaders were horrified. Eight members of the gang were employees of a defense plant, all shock workers and athletes, the already mentioned Lukin studied at the Moscow Aviation Institute, and two more were cadets at military schools at the time of the defeat of the gang.

A cadet of the Nikolaev Naval Mine and Torpedo Aviation School, Ageev, who before enrolling was Mitin’s accomplice, a participant in robberies and murders, had to be arrested with a special warrant issued by the military prosecutor’s office.

The gang had 28 robberies, 11 murders, and 18 wounded. During their criminal activities, the bandits stole more than 300 thousand rubles.

Not a drop of romance.

The case of Mitin’s gang did not fit into the ideological line of the party so much that it was immediately classified.

The court sentenced to death Ivan Mitin and one of his accomplices, Alexander Samarin, who, like the leader, was directly involved in the murders. The remaining gang members were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 10 to 25 years.

Student Lukin received 25 years, served them in full, and a year after his release he died of tuberculosis. His father could not bear the shame, went crazy and soon died in a psychiatric hospital. Members of Mitin's gang ruined the lives of not only the victims, but also their loved ones.

There is no romance in the history of Ivan Mitin’s gang: this is a story about “werewolves” who, in the light of day, were exemplary citizens, and in their second incarnation turned into ruthless murderers. This is a story about how low a person can fall.

There has always been crime throughout the entire globe. The actions of the bandits are seemingly simple - come to the appointed place, kill several people, rob and that’s it, the money is received, and the raiders are happy. Russia was also no exception in the criminal world, because it was here that some of the serious crimes were committed, such as Real story murderers. Gang "Black Cat".

How it all began

The news that someone is being killed somewhere is no secret. Residents Russia We are already accustomed to such messages and are not at all surprised. Robberies, assaults, murders, economic crimes are the main components of criminal activity on the territory of the Russian Federation.

Crime has always existed, and law enforcement agencies tried to fight it with all their might. People created gangs and communities united by one goal - earn money. But the income had to come not legal, but “black”, that is, illegal. It was then that thoughts of murder, violence and theft came to people’s minds.

Organized crime groups called organized crime group, how rabbits “breeded” in the Soviet Union. People began to be afraid to go out, because they knew that it rarely ends well. The day when a person reached home calmly and was not robbed was considered lucky.

Each group had its own name, which distinguished it from the others. There are a huge number of such names in the criminal world, so it’s definitely not possible to get confused in crimes committed by any organization. Criminals liked to leave various identifying marks at the crime scene, which could be used to identify a particular criminal sect.

New era of crime

A new era of criminals began in the post-war years. It was then that new sects and groups were formed that kept the entire country in fear. Throughout Soviet Union there were “our own” people who were capable of absolutely anything.

The real story of the Black Cat gang begins at this time. They acted in a very original way, which is what they are remembered for in the criminal world. Gang members first chose a house or apartment that would later be robbed. A certain symbol was drawn on the door that looked like a black cat. This is how the criminals warned their victims that the place would soon be robbed.

The entire criminal world of that time liked the actions of the group, they considered it some kind of criminal " romance" This was the reason why the gang was constantly growing, suppressing many other groups with its authority. Of course, there were also petty swindlers who pretended to belong to the sect and also drew black cats. As a rule, the real bandits then found them and intimidated them to such an extent that people were simply afraid to leave their own home.

The first "raids"

Two "operators", walking around the territory in Khimki area, went to a regular grocery store. The employees watched a young man who stood near the counter and brazenly swore with the cashier, and his two accomplices stood on the “nix” on the porch of the building. The employees did not tolerate such insolence of the young man and it was decided to check his identity documents. The guy refused, for which the police began interrogation. The young man, without thinking twice, took out a pistol and shot both of them. Two law enforcement officers became the first victims of the gang " Black cat».

Of course, police departments throughout the city began to take an interest in people who killed law enforcement officers. A search for the criminals was organized. But after some time the gang “surfaces” again. An industrial goods store was raided. Two young men introduced themselves as security officers, misleading employees and visitors point of sale. Everyone present was locked in the utility room, and the raiders simply stole all the money in the store. The amount was decent - almost seventy thousand rubles.

For more than six months, law enforcement officials tried to track down the criminals, but to no avail. It turns out that the gang received a lot of money, so they decided to “go to the bottom.” But when all financial reserves run out, criminal activity " Black cat"resumes. This time, the victims of the criminals were two similar stores of industrial goods, which in total enriched the group by almost ninety thousand rubles, which, of course, was a huge amount for that time.

Almost reached Stalin!

In early March 1951, a famous restaurant, famous for its wonderful cuisine, suffered losses from gang members. The bandits were confident that they were invulnerable. They arrived at the restaurant and, without attracting the attention of visitors or employees, ordered food and drinks for their table. Having had a hearty lunch, the criminals armed themselves with pistols and headed straight to the cash register table. At this time, one of the policemen was in the restaurant with his wife. Entering the fight with members of the group, was killed. Several other absolutely innocent people also died. People in the restaurant began to scream and panic, as a result of which the robbery was foiled.

One of the famous raids by criminals took place a couple of kilometers from Comrade Stalin’s dacha. All efforts were devoted to catching the criminals: law enforcement officers interrogated all the leaders of the criminal world, trying to extract at least some information about “ Black cat" But all to no avail.

Nikita Khrushchev finds no place for himself

Every day, members of an organized crime group, the name of which was on everyone's lips, attracted more and more attention. Patrolling the area led to the bandits meeting law enforcement officers at a metro station in a cafeteria. One of them had a weapon in his pocket, which the police noticed. They did not dare to detain the criminals here, since there were many people who could easily have been injured by inadequate bandits. On the street gang members rushed to run, starting a serious shootout with the police. Unfortunately, those who fled managed to escape.

Nikita Khrushchev was very angry with law enforcement agencies, because they could significantly “spoil” his career, since crime in the country of “working people” was increasing, and the head of the Moscow City Party Committee was sitting with folded hands.

But no threats or new forces could cope with the criminals’ obsession with the city. The year 1952 was fatal, because within a few months several raids were carried out, resulting in the death of more than twenty people.

First traces

In the winter of 1953, criminals decided to rob a savings bank located in Mytishchi. They, of course, succeeded in doing this. The revenue was within thirty thousand rubles.

Girl standing behind cash register, managed to press the so-called “panic button”. Immediately the phone rang throughout the room. One of the robbers picked up the phone and when asked, “Is this a savings bank?” answered “No, the stadium.” Then he hung up and the criminals fled.

Such a dialogue served as some kind of clue for the capture of especially dangerous criminals. Having carefully analyzed their activities, law enforcement officers found out that it was not without reason that the answer to the call was “Stadium”. It turns out that all the robberies and robberies took place near various sports facilities. Plus, the bandits were physically in shape. Therefore, they had nothing to do with the criminal world, but were ordinary athletes?

Alcohol is evil

The operational services signed an order stating that it was necessary to immediately check all facilities intended for sports, observing various oddities.

One of these happened in the town of Krasnogorsk, near the sports arena. The young guy persuaded the cashier to sell him a full barrel of beer, after which anyone could come up and take as much as they wanted. Vladimir Arapov, an investigator, was at that time next to a suspicious person. He started checking.

It turns out that this rich man who treated everyone to alcohol was Vyacheslav Lukin, who was a student at one of the capital’s universities. He was an excellent student and an activist, and his friends were Komsomol members.

Arapov had a gut feeling that these were exactly the people the police had been looking for for several years. Later it turns out that before the robbery of the savings bank Vyacheslav Lukin was at the stadium. This became the main clue.

Unraveling all the threads, law enforcement agencies were able to get to the leader of the Black Cat a few weeks later. He turned out to be a certain Ivan Mitin, who works at the enterprise.

The real story of the gang " Black cat" ended there. Looking at the photo, you cannot immediately say that these people are criminals. They look like ordinary, calm citizens.

We know the “Black Cat” gang from Govorukhin’s films and Weiner’s book. The real history of this group is even more shocking than the artistic interpretation of events. For several years in a row, robbers, robbers and murderers kept all of Moscow in fear. And the police for a long time found herself powerless in the face of their insolence.
Fact or fiction? Was there a black cat gang?

After watching a movie or reading a book, many people have a completely natural question. Did the “Black Cat” gang really exist, or was everything described just a figment of the imagination of writers and the director? The answer is this: Govorukhin and the Weiners, when describing the gang, took a real prototype as a basis. But their works also contain a lot of fiction. Even the name of the group is very far-fetched.
In fact, legends about the “Black Cat” gang began to circulate in the first post-war years, when Muscovites were cold and hungry, and large quantities of captured weapons were “walking” around the city. Crime in the capital of the USSR was off the charts, and people lived in constant fear for themselves, loved ones and their property.
And against this background, an event occurred from which the legends about the “Black Cat” gang began. . And the precedent was as follows. An image of a black cat began to regularly appear on the door of the apartment of the director of the Moscow Trade Department, which was publicly reported by the frightened official. He said he was being threatened by a gang. Having set up an ambush, the police managed to catch the “terrorists”. They turned out to be seventh-graders who considered the director a thief and wanted to intimidate him.
The boys confessed to their crime immediately and were released. But rumors about the Black Cat gang spread across Moscow. Residents considered every high-profile crime to be the work of its members, and thrill-seekers also fueled this gossip by calling their (mostly teenage) criminal organizations the famous phrase.
The history of the Black Cat gang
The real prototype of the group from works of fiction is a gang created and led by a certain Ivan Mitin. Most of its members were from Krasnogorsk near Moscow, but operated in the capital. It is their bloody organization that is commonly called today the Krasnogorsk gang “Black Cat”.
Ivan Mitin - gang leader
The first crime of Mitin and the company was the murder of a police officer on February 1, 1950. The law enforcement officer wanted to check the documents of a man who seemed suspicious to him and was shot dead.
On March 26 of the same year, Mitin’s gang “Black Cat” robbed a manufactured goods store, posing as employees of the Cheka. The production amounted to almost 70 thousand rubles. Similar crimes were committed by bandits in the fall and then in the winter of the same 50th.
In March 1951, another policeman, Mikhail Biryukov, became a victim of the raiders. A lieutenant, vacationing with his wife at the Blue Danube restaurant, tried to prevent the robbery of this establishment and paid for it with his life. And very soon the bandits went on the hunt again, committing a daring robbery of the Kuntsevsky Torg store and killing its director.
The last object was located next to Stalin's dacha. The crime caused a terrible commotion; The entire Moscow police were brought to their feet, but it was not possible to catch the bandits. And they behaved more and more boldly, engaging in open firefights with the capture groups, mercilessly killing people and plundering government facilities one after another.
The history of the Black Cat gang in Moscow ended in 1953. An accident helped crack the “tough nut.” One of the criminals, Vyacheslav Lukin, bought a whole barrel of beer and filled everyone’s glasses for free. Among the latter was detective Vladimir Arapov. Lukin seemed suspicious to him and the policeman decided to check him. By pulling a thread, Arapov unraveled the whole tangle. The gang was detained.
Gang "Black Cat": real facts
The facts related to the activities of the Krasnogorsk raiders are shocking and difficult to comprehend. For example, it is known that:
· “Mitya men” committed 28 robberies, killing eleven and wounding twelve people;
· the total amount of the loot was three hundred thousand rubles (at the time when a car could be bought for a couple of thousand, a huge amount of money);
· the group included leaders in the defense industry, masters of sports, military school cadets, Komsomol members, a MAI student and even a Stakhanovite;
· the “hunt” for the “cat” was personally controlled by Nikita Khrushchev, and the success of the operation helped him come to power.
Ivan Mitin, the leader of the Black Cat gang, as well as Alexander Samarin received capital punishment and were executed. The remaining members of the group were imprisoned for terms ranging from ten to twenty-five years. Since the gang included progressives and party members, the case was kept secret. The truth about the “Black Cat” gang (photos, names, documents, etc.) became public only many years later.

The most mysterious gang of the Stalin era, “Black Cat,” haunted Muscovites for 3 years with its daring raids. Taking advantage of the difficult post-war situation and the gullibility of citizens,

Mitin’s gang “ripped off” large sums of money and walked away unharmed.

A series of "Black cats" In post-war Moscow, the crime situation was alarming. This was facilitated by the lack of essential products among the population, hunger, a large number of

unaccounted for captured and Soviet weapons.

The situation was aggravated by the growing panic among the people; One loud precedent was enough for frightening rumors to appear. Such a precedent for the first post-war year

was a statement from the director of a Moscow trading center that he was threatened by the Black Cat gang.

Someone began to draw a black cat on the door of his apartment, and the director of the bridge store began to receive threatening notes written on notebook paper.

Even before this, there were rumors among people that before robbing an apartment, thieves draw a “black cat” on its door - an analogue of a pirate’s “black mark”.

Despite all the absurdity, this legend was enthusiastically taken up by the criminal world. In Moscow alone there were at least a dozen “Black Cats”; later similar gangs began to appear in other Soviet cities. These were mainly teenage groups who, firstly, were attracted by the romance of the image itself - the “black cat”, and secondly, they wanted to throw the detectives off their trail with such a simple technique. However by 1950, the activity of the “Black Koshkinites” had come to naught,

many were caught, many simply grew up and stopped playing around, flirting with fate.

“You can’t kill policemen” Agree, the story of “Black Cat” bears little resemblance to what we read in the book by the Weiner brothers and saw in the film by Stanislav Govorukhin.

Nevertheless,

the story about the gang that terrorized Moscow for several years was not invented.

The prototype of the book and film “Black Cat” was Ivan Mitin’s gang. Over the three years of its existence, the Mitino members committed 28 robberies, killed 11 people and wounded 12 more. The total income from their criminal activities amounted to more than 300 thousand rubles. The amount is substantial.

A car in those years cost about 2,000 rubles.

Mitin's gang made itself known loudly - with the murder of a policeman.

On February 1, 1950, senior detective Kochkin and district police officer Filin were making their rounds when they caught Mitin and an accomplice preparing for a robbery at a store in Khimki. A shootout ensued. Kochkin was killed on the spot. The criminals managed to escape.

Even among experienced criminals there is an understanding that “policemen cannot be killed,” but here they are shot at point-blank range without warning. The MUR realized that they would have to deal with a new type of criminal, cold-blooded lawbreakers.

The murder of policeman Kochkin was committed by the Mitino members shortly before the elections to the Supreme Council. The rosy information agenda of those days, with assurances about economic growth, that life was getting better, that crime had been eradicated, ran counter to the robberies that took place.

MUR accepted everything necessary measures to ensure that these incidents do not become public knowledge.

Mitin’s gang announced itself just three months after Nikita Khrushchev, who arrived from Kyiv, became the head of the Moscow Regional Committee. At that time, information about all high-profile crimes was placed on the table of the highest officials of the state. Joseph Stalin and Lavrentiy Beria could not help but know about the “Mitytsy”. New arrival Nikita Khrushchev found himself in a delicate situation; he was personally interested in the “Mitinets” being found as soon as possible.

In March 1952, Khrushchev personally came to the MUR in order to carry out a “cleaning”.

As a result of the visit of the “high authorities,” two heads of regional departments were arrested, and a special operational headquarters was created at the MUR for the Mitin gang case.

Some historians believe that the Mitino case could have played a decisive role in the history of the confrontation between Khrushchev and Beria. If Mitin’s gang had not been exposed before Stalin’s death, then Beria could have taken the place of the head of state.

The head of the MUR Museum, Lyudmila Kaminskaya, said directly in the film about “Black Cat”: “It was like they were having this kind of struggle. Beria was removed from business, he was sent to head the nuclear energy industry, and Khrushchev oversaw all law enforcement agencies. And, of course, Beria needed Khrushchev to be untenable in this post. That is, he was preparing a platform for himself to remove Khrushchev.”

Production leaders

The main problem for the detectives was that they were initially looking in the wrong place and with the wrong people. From the very beginning of the investigation, Moscow criminals as one “went into denial” and denied any connection with the “Mitinsky” group.

As it turned out, the sensational gang consisted entirely of leaders in production and people far from the criminal “raspberries” and the circle of thieves.

In total, the gang consisted of 12 people.

Most of them lived in Krasnogorsk and worked at a local factory.

Exposure

Only in February 1953, MUR employees managed to get on the trail of the gang.“Mitintsev” was let down by banal indiscretion. One of them, Lukin, bought a whole barrel of beer from the Krasnogorsk stadium. This aroused legitimate suspicion among the police. Lukin was put under surveillance. Gradually, the number of suspects began to increase. Before the arrest, it was decided to conduct a confrontation. MUR officers in plain clothes brought several witnesses to the stadium and, in the crowd, led them to a group of suspects who were identified.

The Mityans were arrested differently than in the film. They detained us without any fuss - in apartments.

One member of the gang, Samarin, was not found in Moscow, but later he was detained. He was found in Ukraine, where he was in prison for fighting.

The court sentenced Ivan Mitin and Alexander Samarin to capital punishment - death by firing squad; the sentence was carried out in Butyrka prison. Lukin was sentenced to 25 years in prison. A day after his release, in 1977, he died mysteriously.

Georgy Weiner, author of the script for the film “The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed”:“Although Sharapov is a collective image, he has a prototype - Volodya Arapov, who later became the head of the MUR department. He participated in the capture of the famous Mitin gang, which we personified as “Black Cat”.

The most mysterious gang of the Stalin era did not step into Moscow from a smoky gambling “raspberry”. And not from the zone - the forge of bandit personnel. Ten guys - ten black cats - went hunting on the streets of Moscow straight from the red honor board of the defense plant of Krasnogorsk near Moscow. They were a gang by choice, not by lifestyle. They were seen in person, they were known by name. They did not instill fear in anyone.

Despite the mass production of the famous Zorkiy camera, the main production of the Krasnogorsk plant was special products: topographic and panoramic aerial cameras, infrared guidance systems, night sights for artillery, tanks and Kalashnikov assault rifles. The city has come a long way from its childhood – the small village of Krasnaya Gorka. The life of the city was closely connected with the defense industry, and its Zenit stadium was a sports base for the Moscow region, the heart of Krasnogorsk, with strong teams in hockey, football, volleyball, and athletics.

A young company often gathered in the wooden pavilion of the stadium: Ivan Mitin, a tall guy from aircraft factory No. 34, a blond engraver from KMZ Alexander Samarin and his friend Agafonov, a hockey player from the factory team Vyacheslav Lukin, Grigoriev and Korovin, also from KMZ. The stadium was a place of communication - here they discussed sports, talked about life in general. Dates were made here.

Russia did not survive long without the tower. The two-year moratorium on the death penalty was lifted in January 1950. And almost immediately, like a terrible challenge, the murder of a police officer occurred in the capital.

Shock workers of socialist labor

On that day, February 1, 1950, there was severe frost. Senior detective A. Kochkin and local district police officer V. Filin were walking around the territory in Khimki and decided to turn towards a grocery store. Meanwhile, there were three people there. Two went out to smoke, and the third entered the hall again. When questioned by the cashier, the young guy replied that he was a plainclothes police officer, but the vigilant saleswoman told the policemen who entered about her suspicions. A. Kochkin stopped two guys - tall, with an elongated face, and another, with flaxen hair and eyes almost like water. These were Mitin and Samarin.

Gang members (from left to right): Ivan Mitin, Alexander Samarin, Vyacheslav Lukin, Stepan Dudnik
- I'll ask for your documents.

Mitin sharply retorted:

- And who are you?

At that moment, Samarin pulled out a revolver from his bosom and fired at point-blank range. Detective Kochkin fell dead in the thick snow. The second policeman began to frantically take his weapon out of his holster. Mitin and Agafonov rushed to run across the deserted dark highway and a moment later heard another shot. But it was not the policeman who fired, but Samarin, who missed the second time. Everyone got to Krasnogorsk on their own, and only in the morning it became known that all three had survived. So on White snow their first blood tattoo was inked.

But there was tomorrow new day- and yesterday’s bandits joined ordinary Krasnogorsk life. This life between the factory and the stadium covered them more reliably than any “raspberry” from Tishinka or Vakhrushinka. Samarin worked as an engraver at KMZ, knew his specialty very well and even became the winner of a socialist competition. His girlfriend, Aurora N., a student at a factory school, was of Spanish origin. Then in Krasnogorsk there was a whole community of Spaniards who were evacuated to the USSR as children during the war with Franco.

Despite the lack of information about the criminals, the MUR immediately sensed the presence of a dangerous, strong beast and tried to follow its trail day and night. The investigation took place in secrecy: the murder of a policeman happened a few weeks before the elections to the Supreme Council. The newspapers were full of pre-election commitments and economic achievements: electric factory workers unanimously demonstrated their selfless love for the great Stalin, and at the Zarya factory they found a way to use old film for the production of ladies' combs, powder compacts and pins. In this situation, the tragic death of a policeman right in front of people would reveal a too grim reality. Measures were taken to prevent rumors of a bloody attack from invading the campaign bustle of Moscow. MUR accepted the challenge.

On March 26, Samarin, Mitin and his old friend Grigoriev entered a department store in the Timiryazevsky district.

- Everyone stand! We are from the MGB!

Psychologically, they calculated accurately. The visitors were rooted to the floor. The general confusion allowed all three to quickly gain control of the crowd. Grigoriev, who remained at the entrance to the store, in a military overcoat without shoulder straps, aroused trust among passers-by and, if something happened, could divert attention without suspicion. After the robbery, the criminals forced the customers into the back room and padlocked the store. The loot turned out to be a fortune - 63 thousand rubles.

In the fall of 1950, the gang, together with a new member - a leading worker at the Tushinsky plant, Bolotov, flew into a department store of the Moscow Canal Shipping Company. Visitors were dumbfounded by the sight of the monster with bulging eyes - fearing to be recognized, Bolotov cut a mask out of a gas mask. In his hands he had a training grenade, which Mitin armed him with, and at the sight of it the cashier fainted. Having taken the money, Mitin threw away the small bills.

- In ten minutes, call where you are supposed to.

Still on edge from the November case, three weeks later the gang robbed a store on Kutuzovskaya Sloboda Street. The unfortunate cashier was in shock, she looked at them as if spellbound and repeated: “I’m afraid, I’m afraid...” Mitin ordered irritably:

- Look away! Get into the stove with your head!

The stove was not lit.

The gang was heard from again on March 11, 1951. Hoping for easy prey, Mitin, Averchenkov and Ageev, armed with two guns, entered the Blue Danube on Leningradskoye Shosse (the pub was so called for its bold blue coloring) - they entered as visitors, hiding their pistols in their pockets. After spending time talking over vodka and beer, Mitin leaned back in his chair and surrendered to the heavy drunken melancholy. Finally, almost forcing himself to wake up, he pulled out a pistol and approached the cashier with threats. He was like a train that had lost control, flying downhill and destroying everything in its path. Shedding someone else's blood seemed as easy as spilling vodka.

Junior police lieutenant Mikhail Biryukov was sitting at one of the tables with his wife. According to some sources, he had a weapon with him, according to others, he handed it over to the duty officer. One way or another, his brave rebuff cost him his life - two shots were fired and the young policeman was killed. The second bullet killed a factory worker at the next table. The rising scream and panic prevented the robbery from taking place. Mitin rushed out of the room. Noticing a man and woman moving towards him in the darkness, he fired again - fortunately, both were only wounded. The woman barely had time to jump into the entrance of the nearest house when the last bullet lodged in the door.

Before the Murovites had time to develop search versions, on March 27, 1951, Averchenkov and Mitin, armed with ViS-35, TT pistols and a revolver, crashed into a crowd of buyers at the Kuntsevo auction. Ageev was left at the entrance. And he calmly explained that the store would re-register. Mitin approached the glass box of the cash register and demanded money, but the cashier still did not understand what was happening:

- What about the director?

“It’s been agreed with the director,” Mitin answered and tore open the door to the cash register.

The cashier screamed and her hair turned gray in front of everyone. Having taken the money, Mitin entered the director’s office and led the three men there into the trading floor. One of them, director Karp Antonov, jumped out the next door. Mitin burst in after him, with his pistol cocked. A brutal, desperate struggle ensued. The table overturned with a roar, but the director held the pistol's drum tightly. Mitin hit him with his head in the face and shot him point blank.

MGB networks

The MGB was shaking. The Kuntsevo store was located just a few kilometers from Stalin’s Near Dacha. Abakumov created an intelligence network in the capital, in which, it seemed, even small fish could not slip through unnoticed. But just a large unknown fish avoided his nets. Reports about the next raid were flying onto his desk. The reports of agents and MGB employees did not miss another thing: Muscovites are in a panic, rumors about an elusive gang of raiders are flying out of control. In Moscow, many believe that the “Black Cat” has returned. State Security Commissioner of the third rank Makariev considered it necessary to convey this information to Abakumov in a memo. He did not hide the fact that the MGB was hesitating about what line to take in the current situation. But the minister knew how to rid people of the weakness of doubt: “Don’t know what to do? Put everyone in jail for spreading anti-Soviet rumors!”

In the spring of 1951, Professor J. Etinger died in Lefortovo. He died in prison after interrogation by the senior investigator for particularly important cases, Ryumin. In a panic, Ryumin writes a denunciation letter to Stalin, in which he accused the Minister of State Security Abakumov of the deliberate murder of a prisoner. They say that in this way Abakumov sabotages the investigation of the anti-state conspiracy and dissociates himself from the course of the great Stalin.

Abakumov’s case was started in the spring of 1951, but he still did not suspect anything and read the reports about the elusive gang. Her impunity and anonymity undermined the authority of the detective department.

In the photo is Vladimir Arapov. 1950 (from the archive of retired Major General V.P. Arapov). Meanwhile, Mitin now rarely left Krasnogorsk without a pistol in his pocket, even when he went to visit his father, who worked in the forestry department in Kratovo. On this day, not finding him there, he got off at Udelnaya station along with Ageev and Averchenkov to buy a drink at the station buffet. Due to increased security on trains and to maintain law and order, police officers were now often seen at stations. However, the three bandits noticed them only when they had already settled down at the table. Ageev became nervous:

- We have to leave. There are too many police around here!

- Ivan, let's leave! We saw a garbage trunk! - Ageev insisted. - I know.

- Stop! – the policemen rushed after him.

Mitin pulled out a pistol, and a real shootout unfolded. He was on the verge of death, but the bullets stubbornly flew past. All three managed to escape. MUR was defeated again.

The head of the Moscow city party committee, Nikita Khrushchev, demanded information from the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department and the MGB about the elusive gang. He gathered the heads of all police departments for a special meeting and threatened them with demotion and arrest. The threat was not unfounded. The MGB actually arrested the heads of two police departments on whose territory the robberies took place.

However, acting through arrests and intimidation was like firing blank cartridges. Khrushchev knew that Beria liked to tread on sore spots: in the capital they rob, as in the Civil War, they kill, as in war, the police have been unable to catch the insolent raiders for three years, and the first secretary is unable to ensure the safety of Muscovites. Khrushchev was catastrophically losing in the struggle for Moscow positions. It is unknown whether Beria described the criminal situation in his reports to Stalin.

“I think Stalin knew,” says Vladimir Arapov. – When I was investigating the murder of a major military engineer, I accompanied Beria several times in his Buick to the Near Dacha. High-profile crimes were always reported.

“Everyone on the floor!”

The photo shows another crime scene - Susokolovskoye Highway (on the left is the territory of the Botanical Garden). In August 1952, a gang broke into a tea shop at Snegiri station. The tea room just sounds innocent. In those days, the canteens did not serve strong drinks, and you could buy alcohol in the tea houses, so the cash register worked briskly. When the tall dark figure of Mitin blocked the entrance and a sharp cry was heard: “On the floor!”, everyone seemed numb from surprise and horror. Mitin drew his weapon and in a matter of seconds forced everyone to obey. But the watchman N. Kraev rushed into the back room and tore the gun off the wall. Mitin fired. Kraev died the same day in the hospital.

There were about four thousand in the box office. For many, it’s a fortune. For the Mityans, the risk is wasted. A month later, Lukin and Mitin went by electric train to Moscow to choose a new point for the robbery. A suitable object soon appeared - the “Beer-Water” tent on the Leningradskaya platform.

Having met on a deserted platform, all three entered the tent building. Averchenkov locked the door from the inside and remained at the entrance, and Lukin demanded the proceeds from the cashier and, pulling her own leather suitcase towards him, threw the money into it. A customer at a nearby table stood up.

“What are you doing, mother t...” The shot interrupted his indignation and life itself. Then another visitor rushed at Mitin and received a bullet in the head.

– Why are you messing around there? - Lukin, an exemplary MAI student, shouted over his shoulder.

The photo shows a store in Kutuzovskaya Sloboda where the raid took place. 1953 The bandit madness continued. Late in the evening of November 1, 1952, Mitin, Lukin, Bolotov and Averchenkov approached a store near the Botanical Garden. Another shadow from the Krasnogorsk plant fell onto the area illuminated by an electric lantern - Korovin, “an excellent student in combat and political training with good prospects.” It must be said that in October 1952, the USSR Council of Ministers decided to entrust the police with the protection of trade and industrial enterprises. But no one was guarding the Timiryazevsky store.

There was a short line at the cash register. Mitin loudly ordered everyone to lie down on the floor. The cashier was indignant and fearlessly refused to give money. Bolotov shot her in the shoulder. Having robbed the cash register of twenty-four thousand rubles, the bandits went out into the street and quickly moved along the deserted Susokolovskoye Highway. Two, one of whom was Lukin, fell behind. A police lieutenant passing nearby called out to them and asked them to light a cigarette. Suspecting something was wrong - from the looks, from the vodka, from snatches of conversation - he demanded to see documents. Turning towards the noise, Mitin decided that the lieutenant was making an arrest and interrupted the conversation with a shot. Mortally wounded, the lieutenant fell prone, and Mitin disappeared in the direction of the Botanical Garden.

Detective Arapov's intuition

In January 1953, Lukin and Bazaev performed at hockey competitions in Mytishchi and noticed a savings bank there on Dzerzhinsky Square. The entire “team” arrived at the appointed place a day later, around noon.

Entering the savings bank, Mitin blocked the door with a heavy radiator with one jerk and walked up to the cash register. One of the cashiers screamed, and he hit her twice in the face with the pistol with such force that the clip fell out and flew to the side. Mitin stood in the center of the hall and held everyone at gunpoint with a second pistol. Lukin jumped over the counter and grabbed the money into his bag - 30 thousand rubles.

The silence was broken by a ringing bell. After a short moment of confusion, Lukin picked up the phone.

There was a police department duty officer at the other end of the line - the cashier still managed to press the alarm button.

- No, the stadium.

Vladimir Arapov immediately drew attention to the robber’s strange slip. Why stadium? Why not a store, a restaurant, a bathhouse, after all? He compared the raid points on the operational map, and he was struck by a circumstance that he had not paid attention to before. Many robberies occurred near local stadiums - Dynamo, Mytishchi, Tushino, the stadium in the Stalinsky district and other sports centers.

Arapov immediately put this version into motion. All the pieces of the puzzle came together in his head at once. There are always a lot of people around the stadiums - and no one pays attention to the groups of young guys. But, according to the descriptions of witnesses, the robbers were athletic-looking young men. Could it be that all these years the MUR has been chasing a ghost? Behind a gang of criminals that never existed? Could it be that these are not criminals, but athletes or fans?

Orders were again sent to all police departments to pay attention to any unusual events among young people, especially during sporting events. This time the wait was short.

Out of excess energy and money, Lukin decided to show off. Having had a drink with friends near the Krasnogorsk stadium, he, laughing, rolled away from the outlet with a barrel of beer, and when the saleswoman threatened to call the police, Lukin bought the entire barrel and immediately began treating everyone.

Among those who readily surrounded the guy was Vladimir Arapov. He drank the offered mug with pleasure - cold beer in the cold - and took note of the lively young man who parted with his money so easily.

In the morning the detective arrived in Krasnogorsk again. At first he didn’t find any incriminating evidence; there seemed to be nothing to grab onto. Lukin and his friends work at defense factories, are respected, and play sports. In general, young guys live in the spirit of the times. Two of them are inseparable - Lukin and Mitin. A hockey player and turner from KMZ Bazaev is often with them. It seems they have money, they sometimes go to restaurants in Krasnogorsk and Moscow... But they drink little, are unmarried, and at defense factories they pay normally. Why shouldn't there be money? Their life is no different from the life of others.

The only circumstance aroused suspicion: Lukin went to the Mytishchi stadium on the eve of the savings bank robbery. The Krasnogorsk stadium began to be grazed by operatives and police agents. They were especially interested in Ivan Mitin. Everything about him aroused suspicion in Vladimir Arapov. His look, his habits, his brown leather coat. Based on a clear imprint in the snow, it was determined that the shoes of one of the company members left a relief pattern similar to the prints inside the overshoes abandoned in the Mytishchi savings bank.

“When Lukin went to Murmansk, to Nikolaenko’s camp,” says Vladimir Arapov, “our employee sat down with him in his compartment. Taking advantage of the moment when Lukin and Bazaev went out to the restaurant, he opened the suitcase and found twenty thousand rubles in a bank package. After checking the banknote numbers, it was found out that this was money from the robbery of the Podlipkovsky savings bank. The operative asked for further instructions. Moscow has instructed that the money reach the recipient without hindrance. It turned out to be Nikolaenko.”

Having found other connections of Mitin, the police found Samarin, a prisoner of the Sverdlovsk camp (he was accidentally caught for possessing a pistol). His description coincided with information about the blond guy who shot A. Kochkin in February 1950.

At a time when Moscow was looking for bandits from the “Black Cat” category, fiends of hell, morally completely poor and deaf, the leak of information about the real carriers of evil could have the effect of a bomb exploding. After all, these Krasnogorsk guys did everything that the country demanded: they worked for the defense industry, responded to Stalin’s call to lead in sports, were good comrades... And they robbed openly - quickly, brazenly, cruelly. The Murovites were shocked.

Maybe then it occurred to the MGB to cover up the true state of affairs with the myth of the thugs from the “returning” Black Cat? After all, the gangster underground continued to swarm with criminals who were much more “typical” in the minds of ordinary citizens. Ideological interests required a “leak” of information about the discovery by employees of the MUR and the MGB of a dangerous gang of repeat offenders, and not young Komsomol workers from a defense plant.

Punishment

At one time, Ivan Mitin learned and remembered well that people end up behind bars either because of drunken spending, or because of the denunciation of a gang of thieves. And then he decided that when big money appeared in the hands of his gang, the first thing he would do was prohibit his extravagant antics and any contacts with criminals. This is what kept them afloat for so long.

Mitin turned out to be right: violation of these two rules led to the collapse of the gang.

In those years, the future football hero Lev Yashin worked in the tool shop of the plant. He entered the “five hundredth” as a young man, returning from evacuation (L. Yashin’s father worked at a defense plant), and soon began playing for the factory football team. Similar Lives, such different destinies.

Before the fatal arrest, Mitin did not spend the night at home for two days. His accomplice Averchenkov came to see him in Gubaylovo several times and could not find him. He came again and waited again. Finally, Mitin appeared late at night on February 13th. After talking a little, they both went to bed in his room. At six o'clock in the morning police officers burst into the house.

Compared to the criminals with whom Vladimir Arapov had to deal, Mitin stood out for his self-control and directness, lack of fear and even sense of humor. From the very beginning he knew that he would be shot, and yet, without any tricks or hope of salvation, he testified and helped restore the picture of crimes in investigative experiments.

At an investigative experiment in Rublevo. In the center is the accused V. Lukin
“It’s a pity that they did this to themselves and to others,” Arapov says thoughtfully. “I had to interrogate Lukin’s fiancée. So good beautiful girl. And Lukin himself was not a stupid guy, he behaved calmly, you can’t say that he was twenty-one years old... When I saw Mitin, I thought - I would have shot him myself, with these very hands. And when I started talking to him, it was as if there was another person in front of me. I flew to Odessa for Ageev, a cadet at the Naval Mine and Torpedo Aviation School, he was among the pilots patrolling the sea border. I presented an arrest warrant, but there was a problem. At the time the crimes were committed, the accused was a civilian, but now he was at the disposal of the military district. Therefore, the head of the unit demanded a warrant from the military prosecutor's office. I had to fly back to Moscow, get my own hands on a new warrant and fly back. The arrested man was handcuffed and flown to Moscow.”

The Nikolaev School trained pilots and mechanic specialists for bomber and mine-torpedo aircraft. Already in the first year, cadets mastered the Ut-2 and Il-4 aircraft, and graduates flew the Il-28 jet aircraft. An arrest for armed banditry in the ranks of a military school of this rank was an unprecedented event. Ageev, who flew higher than everyone else, fell from a greater height than the rest.

For another member of the Mitino group, Bolotov, banditry became a kind of second front - Bolotov did not fight, since the plant provided reservations. Attack, risk, weapons added spice to his settled life. This is one of the inaccuracies in the NTV program about “Black Cat”. Bolotov was not a front-line soldier, and he was a coward by nature. Having acquired a taste for leftist money, Bolotov became bolder and opened up to his friend Averchenkov:

- Why do you work two shifts? You can take a store and have money.

It never occurred to Averchenkov to break the law. But he trusted Bolotov, a senior comrade and communist: in fact, I found a pistol when I was still a kid...

Lukin's father, a police officer and communist, fell into prison due to the shock and shame that befell him. mental asylum, where he soon died. At the trial, Lukin Jr. will declare with vengeful frankness: “If father had lived with us in the last year, nothing would have happened. He was very strict and would not allow me to take the path of crime.”

Vladimir Arapov has been hunting for Mitin for more than one year. He knew his bloody deeds. And yet he told me without explanation:

- He was an unusual guy. Calm. The gaze is intense, but friendly. It was easy to talk to him.

Mitin admitted that he had committed terrible, serious crimes, but avoided words about repentance or mercy. The only charge he opposed was the charge of terror against the Soviet regime. This was to be expected. As Vysotsky sang with irony, “How can I look people in the eye with such a wording?!”

The arrest of eleven members of the Krasnogorsk gang coincided with the death of Stalin. In Krasnogorsk, in the darkness of houses, barracks and communal apartments, relatives and friends struggled to overcome the losses that had befallen them. Personal grief mixed with national shock.

– Prayer filled with Christian love reaches God. We believe that our prayer for the deceased will be heard by the Lord. And to our beloved and unforgettable... - the words of Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy I reached the people’s ears on the day of Stalin’s funeral.

Confession of a thief in law

In the cold summer of 1953, a criminal amnesty took place, and streams of former criminals moved from east to west, filling cities and towns. But detectives and thieves called Mitin’s gang “the last” for a long time. Perhaps because it was the last gang of Stalin's time.

Unexpectedly, the sinister glory of the Mitino gang found additional confirmation in 1959. While in the city of Stalino (Donetsk), the writer Eduard Khrutsky visited the thief in law Andrei Klimov, known in the criminal world under the nickname Cross, in the camp. He had been serving a sentence with no end in sight since 1947. Klimov, who survived the penal battalion, the gang and the “bitch” war, was distinguished by his composure and observation.

– Bloody “Black Cat” – is this your group? – asked Eduard Khrutsky.

- No. There were about ten such “Black Cats” in Moscow alone, and two thousand throughout the Union. “This is how myths die,” thought Khrutsky.

- So there was no “Black Cat”?

“No,” Klimov grinned. – If you are interested in a real gang, then talk to the trash, let them tell you about Mitina.

- Who is this?

– The last Moscow bandit. He was tied up just before Stalin's death.

Thief in law Klimov recognized that the “real gang” was the one that had never been connected with the criminal world.

At the end of 1978, Vladimir Vysotsky performed at the Winter Club of Krasnogorsk (now the Salyut Palace of Culture). But even he did not know the whole truth then. And he could not foresee what kind of impetus the upcoming film “The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed”, the power of its realism and generalization, would give to the audience’s imagination. The film took the story in reverse. Fictional characters caused associations and searches for similar criminal authorities of the 1940s. So the case of the Mitino gang was buried long years under the paws of the “Black Cat” - a myth that has become reality...