The Russian Gangster Cemetery in Yekaterinburg

The Shirokorechenskoe Cemetery, located on the southwestern outskirts of Yekaterinburg, in Russia, is the final resting place of many famous locals including folk artists, scientists, and heroes of World War 2. Their graves are adorned with unusual funerary sculptures, including reliefs, gem-embedded headstones and laser engravings of the deceased on granite. In one section of the cemetery, among the pines, you’ll find some of the most elaborate tombstones. Huge granite headstones with large-than-life photo-realistic carvings depicting hardened men in expensive suits and leather jackets, with gold chains and tattoos, holding a cigarette or keys to a Mercedes in their hands. Often the cars themselves would be engraved in the background, sometimes accompanied by their girlfriends. These extravagant tombs belong to gangsters who died violent deaths during the gangland wars of the turbulent 90s. Photo credit: Denis Tarasov/The Guardian Following the break up of the Soviet Union in the 1990s, and the region’s rapid transition to free market economy, the entire Soviet Bloc, and Russia in particular, was thrown into anarchy, resulting in the sharp rise in organized crime. Power struggle between different Kremlin factions saw an increase in assassination, hostage-taking and other violent crimes. James Ruth explains Russia’s troubled transition to democracy and the rise of the mafia: Many of the opportunities for the growth of organized crime in Russia after 1991 can be attributed solely to the government’s feeble transition to a market economy. In this period, the government failed to make any structural changes to policies concerning transparency, accountability, and shareholders’ rights, leaving a vague line between legal and illegal (Webster, 2000, 32). The absence of transparency in business operations allowed organized crime to veil their illegal actions from prosecution.