Yesterday it became known that a thief in law Janashia Vladimir (Lado) was killed in France; he was a close supporter of one of the most influential criminal bosses in the Former Soviet Union -Tariel Oniani (Taro, Tariko). According to police, Lado was disposed of by his "colleagues" from the rival clan of the criminal thief in law - Aslan Usoyan (Grandpa Hassan) to revenge for the death of the legendary Slava Ivankov (Jap) murdered last year in Moscow. There are fears that the murder of Lado may cause new series of bloody shootouts.

Four times convicted native of Zugdidi Vladimir Janashia was shot by an unknown killer on March, 18 in a suburb of Marseilles. He was brought to the hospital with seven gunshot wounds by the two of his countrymen guarding him. The injuries of Mr. Janashia turned out to be severe. In an hour later he died without regaining consciousness on the operating table. Police detained the guards of the kingpin to investigate the circumstances of the incident. During the attack on Mr Janashia a 12-year-old French girl was shot with a gun also, who had been accidentally passing by; that has aroused a great public interest.

In the French police believe that Mr. Janashia happened to be a victim in an internecine war of the rival criminal clans’ leaders in the criminal world of Former Soviet Union - Tariel Oniani and Aslan Usoyan. Such a conclusion was based on telephone conversations monitoring –of Kakha Shushanashvili (Kakha Rustavi); recently he was arrested in Spain during a massive joint law enforcement operation in European countries under the code name Java.

Thanks to those calls the police learned that the clan of Usoyan Aslan (supported by Kakha Rustavi) blamed Tariel Oniani and his closest associates -Vladimir Janashia and Merab Jangveladze (Merab Sukhumi) for the murder of the legendary leader of the Russian criminal world Vyacheslav Ivankov (Jap), which was committed in 2009 in Moscow. According to operational data, there was a thieves' meeting held in Barcelona, Spain immediately after the assassination of Vyacheslav Ivankov; then all three had been sentenced to death.

Then in the Moscow detention center "Salor’s rest” (“Matrosskaya Tishina") where Tariel Oniani is detained on a charge of kidnapping and extortion (the Khamovnichesky court in Moscow passed the first preliminary hearing in the criminal case yesterday), the guards intercepted a letter, the so-called "thievish scan" that called for elimination of Tariko. It was signed by 36 leaders of the criminal world of Russia. To prevent the massacre, Mr. Oniani has been transferred to a special unit of an isolation ward, in the cell for two people.

Vladimir Janashia and Merab Jangveladze escaped from the enemies in France. But the clan of Aslan Usoyan took them there. However, the first attempt at the kingpins was prevented by the French police. On January, 15 in Nice two hired killers were detained; they arrived from Georgia to eliminate Mr. Janashia and Mr. Jangveladze. But it soon became clear that the detainees had not been the only liquidators.

In late February in Nice an unknown burst into the house of Vladimir Janashia, armed with a Kalashnikov assault rifle. He opened fire on the thief in law, but Vladimir Janashia escaped by jumping out the window. The killer fled the scene.

Fearing for his life, Lado moved to the suburbs of Marseille, where he settled in a small rented house under an assumed name, and stayed inside almost all the time. But he was tracked down.

Merab Sukhumi’s location is currently unknown. The French police have fears that he would not wait for the next attack and he will probably try to retaliate upon the rivals, which would entail new series of bloody shootouts.