From a Lyubertsy killer to a fictitious marriage in Europe: thief in law Vyacheslav Shestakov was arrested in absentia for organizing the murder of Beslan Jonois
According to media reports, a Moscow court has decided to arrest in absentia «patriarch» of the criminal world, former leader of the Lyubertsy organized crime group «thief in law» Vyacheslav Shestakov (known as Sliva).
He is accused of organizing the murder of another influential mafioso, Beslan Jonois, back in 2007. Shestakov himself lives in Spain, but the European Union is now considering depriving him of a residence permit. Considering that a large group of Sliva’s accomplices are in custody and many of them are cooperating with the investigation, most likely this will not be the only «wet» episode that the lawyer «is charged with.
According to our project, testimony against Sliva was given by Yuri Usmyal, who knew «lawman» from childhood. His father was a crime boss, he was friends with Plum, the latter often visited them, they went to play billiards and sauna together. When Yuri grew up, according to him, his «was drawn into the crime romance» and he asked Sliva to take him as his assistant. At first, the «thief in law» entrusted the young man (he was only 18 years old) with petty orders: bring someone, take them, meet them from the airport, put them on a flight. Then the tasks are more serious. For example, pick up and hide weapons. And in January 2007, Sliva called Yuri and said that it would be necessary to eliminate «Besika» (Beslan Jonua).
Shestakov explained that he had a conference by phone with representatives of the criminal world and Besik was rude to him in the presence of two other «thieves in law». To begin with, he instructed Yuri to spy on Johnua in order to find out his daily routine and place of stay. He instructed to discuss all further issues regarding the operation with his «right hand» - «authority», which had been with Sliva since the time when he acted under the leadership of one of the founders of the Lyubertsy organized crime group Sergei Lazarev (Lazarus). He brought him together with the – performers brothers Andrei and Sergei Shitikov. Together they began to discuss the liquidation plan and it was decided to blow up Johnua. However, Sliva rejected this plan, saying that in the event of an explosion, the FSB of the Russian Federation would take over the case, and he did not need it at all. And he gave the go-ahead to shoot the authority with machine guns.
Just two AKs were kept in Usmyal’s hiding place. Besik was decided to be eliminated near the house on Denezhny Lane where his family lived. But a problem arose. The house was located next to the Italian Embassy and Yuri had concerns that security from a foreign mission might come running to the scene. As a result, two guards of the Lyubertsy organized crime group were allocated, who, if something happened, could cover the killers with weapons. On February 8, Yuri and the Shitikov brothers, armed with machine guns (one with a silencer), began to wait in the car for the go-ahead. At this time, other members of the organized crime group were watching Besik and told Usmyal that the object would arrive from the restaurant in about 20 minutes.
When Jonois drove up to the house, his older brother Andrei Shitikov jumped out of the car with a machine gun with silencers. Beslan noticed the killer and tried to run into the arch of the house, but the criminal fired a long line at him, threw a machine gun, and jumped into the car. After that, this car and the car with «cover» disappeared. Jonois died on the spot. For a successful operation, all participants received 5 million rubles.
In 2010, Usmyal was arrested in another criminal case and sentenced to a long term. In the colony, he met Sergei Shitikov, who was serving a 23-year sentence for other murders. His older brother Andrei, who shot Jonua, died in IK back in 2021. As a result, at one point Shitikov and Usmyal decided to write a confession.
Last year, Shitikov and Usmyal received 25 years in prison. And now it’s the turn of the alleged «customer» of Plum’s crime. Earlier, a court in Moscow arrested a whole group of members of Shestakov’s group.
The «thief in law» himself left Russia back in 2008. At first he lived in Latvia (he is now prohibited from entering this country). And then he received a residence permit in Germany and settled in Spain. However, at the end of 2025 in Germany, local authorities went to court demanding that the marriage with an EU citizen be declared fictitious in order to deprive Shestakov of a residence permit.
