"Black Avengers": the gang that kept the whole of Moscow at bay

Saban (as the leader of the Black Avengers gang called himself) hated policemen and rich people. He blamed the former for his years behind bars. The latter were hunted objects to be despised. For three years, Nikolai Safonov's gang kept Moscow at bay. During this time, the criminals managed to enrich themselves to the amount of more than 4 million rubles, and killed more than 30 people. The "avengers" were especially fond of performing ostentatious, mass executions. This has become their hallmark, a kind of business card. We remember about the most violent group in history.

(Attention! Photos of the gang members and their victims have not been preserved, so the illustrations used in the material are related to this story only by the era.)

Saban and his pack

In 1917, Nikolai Safonov came to the conclusion that now is the best time to implement a long — standing idea-the creation of a gang. Saban had six previous convictions and was considered a dangerous recidivist. In the creation of the gang, he was actively helped by a criminal named Captain. Both bandits had a lot of experience in thefts and armed robberies. Therefore, the Captain became Safonov's chief assistant.

The gang grew rapidly, adding new repeat offenders. Soon, more than three dozen people "worked" under Saban, which made Safonov the leader of almost the largest criminal organization in Moscow. He also managed to recruit a former officer who helped the leader with advice. He built up tactical schemes for armed raids for the bandits. By the way, the gang was distinguished by a good organization with a clear distribution of roles. Some were responsible for scouting, some for capturing, some for covering, and some for retreating. For any disobedience to the order, Nikolai Safonov shot a person personally in front of his accomplices.

The bandits began with a robbery of the mansion. Production amounted to about 200 thousand rubles. This was followed by an attack on a certain manufacturer Ivanov. Here the bandits were waiting for a richer catch — 1.5 million rubles. After the robbery, the criminals killed Ivanov and his entire family. They shared the loot in a dacha located in Sokolniki.

Of course, law enforcement agencies began an active search for the gang, but for a long time their attempts to trace the criminals ended in failure. Moreover, one day Safonov decided to show the Murovites who is the real master of Moscow. Together with one of the accomplices, he showed up at the police station. After introducing himself, he started shooting at the police with pistols, and then demonstrated the bomb. The terrified guards scattered, and the satisfied criminal went to his lair.

Nikolai often told his colleagues that he hated the police, because they had made him spend his best years behind bars and in hard labor.

In 1919, Saban decided to take a "vacation" and stop robbing for a while. Instead, he and his accomplices began hunting for law enforcement officials. In January, they killed 16 guards. The scheme was simple. By car, the criminals drove up to the police officer and asked him something. When the guard approached, they fired. After the death of several policemen in Moscow, rumors about some "black avengers"began to spread. The guards, fearing for their lives, began to refuse to go on duty one by one. Once Murovtsy were close to catching Safonov. They organized an ambush, in which the criminal fell. But he managed to escape, wounding one policeman.

On April 26, 1919, the guards managed to arrest the Captain. The criminal, fleeing from prosecution, tried to hide in the building of the Bolshoi Theater. But he didn't succeed.

Saban was deeply affected by the arrest of his accomplice and friend, and decided to escape from Moscow for a while. He went to the small town of Lebedyan, Lipetsk region, to visit relatives, hoping to sit out there. One day, a quarrel broke out between Saban and his relatives, which turned into a scuffle. Saban killed the entire family of his own sister, consisting of eight people, including children. The neighbors, who heard the screams from the house, managed to grab the leader of the gang and, despite the demands of the authorities to do everything according to the law, killed Safonov. Saban was literally trampled underfoot.

Liquidation of the gang

After the arrest of the Captain and the death of Safonov, Pavel Morozov, better known as Pasha Novoderevensky, seized power in the gang. He continued the Saban case. Morozov, in order to improve the financial situation of the gang, decided to rob the cash register of the Bogatyr factory. For several days, the criminals were engaged in reconnaissance, after which they committed an attack. Their production amounted to 660 thousand rubles.

After that, they attacked the artel worker and the policeman who was guarding him. After killing people, the criminals seized 150 thousand rubles. Then there was a raid on Isaev's house. The bandits were enriched by 100 thousand rubles. During the robbery, they killed a man and his family.

The gang even managed to attack Vladimir Ilyich Lenin himself. Here is the report of the criminal section of the Moscow Emergency Committee:

At the Yaroslavsky railway station, Purses, examining the selected items, established from the documents that the victim he had robbed was Lenin, and immediately ordered him to go back in order to kill the chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, but t. Lenin at this time was already out of danger, in the building of the Sokolniki Soviet."

The geography of the raids under Morozov expanded. The criminals were operating not only in the capital itself. For example, in the village of Globovo, Bogorodsky district, which belonged to the Moscow province, they attacked the house of a well-to-do man. Having finished with him and his family, Morozov gave the command to return to the city.

Gradually, things got worse for the gang. One by one, the police began to arrest the criminals. One of them told the Murovites about the existence of a new leader — Morozov. From those arrested, the guards also learned about his cohabitant. There was an ambush at her apartment. However, it was possible to arrest another bandit-Sergey Kapustin, who told the police about the location of the leader. But they couldn't catch him. But in a short time, almost all the bandits from the old, still Safonovsky "draft" were arrested.

Morozov had to urgently patch up the holes. That's what let him down. In the gang, he took everyone indiscriminately, with which the "veterans"who were still at large did not agree. And once, during the division of the loot, Ivan Barabanov killed him. But soon the Murovtsy came out on the weakened gang and managed to arrest everyone. Later, the criminals were sentenced to death by firing squad.