Russia's 'Gangster Graveyards'
- By Amos Chapple
In Yekaterinburg, a gangland tradition of tombstones featuring bling, booze, and food has gone mainstream. Our photographer took a walk through some of the Russian city's most colorful cemeteries.
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A bejeweled apparent member of the Uralmash gang depicted on a tombstone in the north of Yekaterinburg.
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Two apparent members of the Uralmash gang who died in a shoot-out in the early '90s.
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The graveyard is in a section of Yekaterinburg that was largely controlled by Uralmash, one of two gangs that gained notoriety in the Urals region city in the 1990s. Uralmash is also the name of a major factory in Yekaterinburg.
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At the other end of town, the gravestone of Mikhail Kuchin, reputed former leader of the Central Mafia gang, with Mercedes keys in hand.
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Local photographer Denis Saratov says the tradition of flaunting wealth in full-length tombstone portraits began with the Roma community in the city.
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Owned by very few in the Soviet Union, foreign cars of almost any kind became status symbols after its collapse in 1991. This man is pictured with his Toyota.
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A young man and his Audi in the Roma section of a Yekaterinburg cemetery.
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Expensive leather jackets were another status symbol in the early '90s in Russia.
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Some of the life-size tombstones show a devotion to the church.
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But more frequently, they emphasize the deceased's wealth and taste for the "good life."
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Most are artists' impressions based on photographs of the deceased.
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The etchings are made with lasers.
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The strikingly detailed tombstones can cost upwards of $15,000.
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Although the shoot-outs of the '90s are a distant memory for many in Yekaterinburg, the style favored by gangsters of the era is echoed by more recent markers for the graves of people from different walks of life.
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Saratov says the spectacular tombstones are "like a competition, who has the best and the biggest.... Just like in life."
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Frozen roses alongside a gravestone.
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A young woman immortalized with golden jewels and a Lada.
