0:03 Level one, the chestca. You're 16 in
0:05 Moscow. You dropped out of school, no
0:08 job, no future. A man approaches you
0:09 outside a metro station. You want to
0:12 make money? You nod. Be here tomorrow.
0:15 6:00 a.m. You show up. There's a van.
0:17 Inside are stolen car parts, engines, [music]
0:18 [music]
0:20 transmissions. Your job is to help
0:22 unload them at a chop shop. You work 14
0:25 hours. At the end, a man hands you 3,000
0:28 rubles. Cash. 3 days wages for most
0:29 people. You did good. Come back
0:32 tomorrow. You're a chest York now. The
0:34 six, the bottom rung. You don't know who
0:36 you're working for yet. You just know
0:38 the money is real. For 6 months, you
0:41 unload trucks. You move boxes. You never
0:43 ask what's inside. Sometimes it's
0:45 electronics. Sometimes it's bootleg
0:49 vodka. Once it's guns. One day, the van
0:51 doesn't show up. Instead, a black
0:53 Mercedes does. The black windows roll
0:55 down. A man in his 40s looks at you.
0:57 You're reliable. I need someone for a
0:59 different job. You're moving up. Level
1:02 two, the Boyik. You're 19 now. The man
1:05 in the Mercedes is a brigadier. He runs
1:07 operations in your district. He makes
1:09 you Boyovic, a soldier. Your job isn't
1:11 unloading trucks anymore. It's
1:13 enforcement. The Deptor owns the
1:15 organization 500,000 rubbles. He
1:18 borrowed money to open a cafe. The cafe
1:20 failed. He hasn't paid in 3 months. The
1:22 brigadier hands you an address. Go talk
1:25 to him. You and another boy drive to his
1:27 apartment. You knock. He opens the door.
1:29 His face goes white. I don't have it.
1:31 Please, two more weeks. You don't
1:33 negotiate. You grab him by the collar
1:35 and drag him into the hallway. You hold
1:37 him over the railing. It's a 70story
1:40 drop. You have 3 days. Or next time I
1:44 let go. 3 days later, he pays in full.
1:46 Sold his car. Borrowed from family. You
1:48 don't care how he got it. But not
1:51 everyone pays. A week later, another
1:53 debtor doesn't show up. He borrowed 300
1:56 bubbles 6 months ago. Now he's gone.
1:58 disappeared. The brigadier sends you to
2:00 find him. You track him to his cousin's
2:03 apartment in the suburbs. You knock. He
2:06 answers. He sees your face. He tries to
2:08 slam the door, but you force your way
2:11 in. This time, talking doesn't work. The
2:13 brigadier orders were clear. Make an
2:16 example. You break his arm. You hear the
2:19 bone crack. He screams. His cousin
2:22 watches in horror. Frozen. Tell everyone
2:25 what happens when you run. You leave him
2:27 on the floor. You walk out. You don't
2:30 feel guilt. You don't feel satisfaction.
2:32 This is just business. This is your life
2:35 now. Debt collection, intimidation,
2:37 occasionally violence. But you're also
2:39 learning the business. The brigadier
2:41 takes you to meetings. You see how deals
2:42 are made, how territories are
2:44 negotiated, how police are paid off.
2:46 You're not just muscle anymore. You're
2:48 being trained. Level three, the
2:51 brigadier. You're 26. You've been a boy
2:53 for 7 years. You've never failed a job.
2:55 You've never talked to police. The Pan
2:57 notices. He makes you a brigadier. You
2:59 run your own operation now. But you're
3:01 not managing streets. You're managing a
3:03 smuggler route. The organization imports
3:06 stolen luxury cars from Germany, BMWs,
3:08 Mercedes, Audi's. They come through
3:11 Poland into Bellarus, then into Russia.
3:13 Your job is to coordinate the drivers,
3:15 bribe the border guards, and deliver the
3:17 cards to buyers in Moscow. Each car is
3:19 worth 2 million rubles on the black
3:21 market. You move 20 cars a month. You
3:23 keep 5% for each sale. That's 2 million
3:25 rubles monthly just for you. But the
3:28 risks are real. The FSB monitors the
3:30 border. If a shipment gets seized, you
3:32 lose money. If a driver gets arrested
3:35 and talks, you're exposed. You manage it
3:37 carefully. You rotate drivers. You
3:38 change routes. You never use the same
3:40 border crossing twice in a row. One
3:42 month a driver panics at the border. He
3:44 tries to run. The guards arrest him. The
3:47 car is seized. 2 million rubles gone.
3:50 The con calls you. Fix this. You find
3:52 the driver's family, his mother, his
3:54 sister. You don't hurt them. You just
3:55 visit. You sit in their kitchen. You
3:58 drink tea. Your son made a mistake, you
4:00 say calmly. If he cooperates with
4:02 police, you'll never see him again. Make
4:05 sure he understands. The driver doesn't
4:08 talk. He takes a plea deal. 2 years, no
4:11 names given. Problem solved. Level four,
4:14 the pecan strategist. You're 32. You've
4:16 been running smuggling operations for 6
4:18 years. You've made the organization tens
4:20 of millions. The pan brings you in his
4:22 inner circle. You're not just a
4:24 brigadier anymore. You're a strategist,
4:26 a fixer. The organization is expanding
4:29 into cyber crime. Russian hackers are
4:31 the best in the world. The pan wants a
4:33 piece of it. Your job is to recruit
4:35 them. You find a hacker collective in
4:38 St. Petersburg. Young guys, early 20s.
4:40 They run ransomware attacks on European
4:42 companies. They've made millions. You
4:44 approach their leader in a cafe. You
4:46 don't threaten. You offer partnership.
4:48 You keep doing what you're doing, but
4:51 you pay 30% of every job. In exchange,
4:53 we protect you. If Europole comes after
4:55 you, we have people in the government
4:58 who can make problems disappear. If a
5:00 rival tries to steal your operation, we
5:01 handle it. He thinks [music] about it.
5:04 He agrees. Within a year, the cyber
5:06 crime division generates 50 million
5:08 rubles monthly. The PCAN is impressed.
5:10 You're no longer in the streets. You're
5:12 [music] in boardrooms negotiating,
5:15 planning, building. But the boardrooms
5:17 aren't always clean. The pan is
5:20 expanding into real estate. The 1990s
5:22 are chaos in Russia. The Soviet Union
5:24 collapsed. State-owned apartments are
5:27 being privatized. Elderly residents
5:29 don't understand the new system. They're
5:31 vulnerable. Your job is to convince them
5:34 to sell. You target a building, 20
5:36 apartments. Mostly pensioners who've
5:38 lived there since Soviet times. They
5:40 don't want to sell, so you start small.
5:43 Cut the heat in winter. Pay someone to
5:44 vandalize the lobby. Make life
5:48 unbearable. One by one they sell. For
5:51 50,000 rubles, 100,000 rubbles, a
5:53 fraction of what the apartments are
5:55 worth. [music] The organization buys
5:58 them all. 6 months later, they renovate.
6:00 They sell each unit for 2 million
6:04 rubles. Profit 35 million rubles. Your
6:06 cut 2 million. You're not just a
6:09 criminal anymore. You're a businessman.
6:12 A predator in a suit. Level five, the
6:15 Vor v. Zakone. You're 38. You spent 20
6:16 years in the life. You've been arrested
6:19 twice. Served a total of 6 years in
6:21 prison. You never cooperated. You never
6:24 broke. The Vory vote. You're crowned.
6:26 The ceremony happens in a prison outside
6:30 Moscow. 15 other Vori visa are present.
6:32 They confirm your status. You're one of
6:34 them now. Your body is covered in
6:36 tattoos, stars on your shoulders,
6:38 cathedrals on your chest. Each one tells
6:41 a story. Each one was earned. You don't
6:43 run operations anymore. You're above
6:45 that. You mediate disputes. You set
6:47 policy. You represent the Bratva
6:50 internationally. A Bakan in Yedinberg is
6:52 at war with Pakan and Chelabinsk.
6:54 They're both brought. This is bad for
6:56 business. They call you to mediate. You
6:59 fly to Yakettenburg. You sit with both
7:01 men. You listen to their grievances.
7:03 Territory. Money. Respect. You make a
7:05 decision. You draw a new line on the
7:07 map. You divide the territory fairly.
7:09 You set new rules. This is over. If
7:11 either of you violates disagreement, you
7:14 answer to all D'vori. Not just me, all
7:17 of us. They agree. The war ends. But
7:18 meditation isn't your only
7:20 responsibility. You're also a judge
7:23 within the Bratva itself. A brigadier in
7:25 Kaison is accused of stealing. He
7:27 skimmed 2 million rubbles from a
7:28 shipment and thought no one would
7:31 notice, but the Pan found out. The Pan
7:33 brings the case to you. He wants
7:36 permission to kill the brigadier, but
7:38 you need to verify the accusation first.
7:40 You call the brigadier to Moscow. He
7:43 comes willingly. He knows refusing means
7:45 guilt. You sit with him for 3 hours. You
7:48 ask questions. You review the evidence.
7:51 Bank transfers, witness statements. The
7:53 numbers don't lie. He stole. You broke
7:56 the code. You stole from your own
7:58 family. He begs for mercy. He offers to
8:01 pay it double. He swears it will never
8:03 happen again. But theft from the
8:06 organization has only one punishment.
8:08 You have 24 hours to say goodbye to your
8:10 family. He's found dead 2 days later. A
8:14 single bullet, clean, professional. This
8:16 is the weight of being of war. You don't
8:18 just give orders. You decide who lives
8:21 and who dies. And you live with those
8:23 decisions every single day. This is your
8:25 power now. Not violence, not money,
8:28 authority, respect, finality. But you're
8:30 also bound by the code. You can't own
8:32 properly legally. You can't have a bank
8:34 account in your name. You live in the
8:36 shadows and you're always a target.
8:39 Level six, the international operator.
8:41 You're 45. You're too high profile to
8:44 stay in Russia safely. The FSB is
8:46 cracking down. Putin wants control. You
8:49 relocate to Cyprus, a small island
8:51 nation, a banking hub, a haven for
8:53 Russian money. You're not retired,
8:54 you're expanding. You coordinate
8:56 operations across Europe. Money
8:58 laundering, arms trafficking, cyber
9:00 crime. You meet with Italian Najoretta
9:02 bosses in Milan. You negotiate cocaine
9:04 routes through the Balkans. You sit with
9:06 the Albanian gang leaders in [music]
9:08 Tana. You coordinate heroin shipments
9:10 from Afghanistan through Central Asia
9:12 into Europe. You're a global operator
9:15 now. Your wealth is in the hundreds of
9:17 millions. Offshore accounts, shell
9:19 companies, real estate across three
9:21 countries, but you can never go home.
9:23 Your daughter is getting married in
9:25 Moscow. You can't attend. If you enter
9:27 Russia, you'll be arrested. You watch
9:30 the wedding on a video call. Alone in a
9:33 villa in Lima. You have everything and
9:36 nothing. Level seven, the hunted. You're
9:38 50. The EU is cracking down on Russia
9:41 organized crime, sanctions, asset
9:44 freezes, extradition requests, Interpol
9:46 issues a red notice for your arrest. The
9:49 charges: moneyaundering, racketeering,
9:51 conspiracy to commit murder. You move to
9:54 Dubai. No extradition treaty with Russia
9:56 or the EU. You're safe here for now. But
9:59 the isolation is suffocating. You can't
10:01 travel. You can't visit family. You live
10:03 in a penthouse with armed security.
10:05 Other Vorian exile have been killed,
10:08 poisoned, shot. Car bombs. The FSB
10:10 doesn't forget. You know it's only a
10:13 matter of time. Level eight. The end. It
10:14 happens on a Thursday. You're having
10:16 lunch at a beachfront restaurant in
10:18 Dubai. Your bodyguards are outside.
10:20 You're eating alone. A waiter brings you
10:23 tea. You take a sip. 20 minutes later,
10:26 you feel sick. Your vision blurs. Your
10:29 hands go numb. Poison. You collapse.
10:31 Your bodyguards rush you to a hospital,
10:33 but it's too late. The toxin is already
10:35 in your bloodstream. You die 3 hours
10:37 later. The official cause of death,
10:39 heart failure. But everyone knows the
10:42 FSB got you. Or maybe it was arrival.
10:44 Maybe it was someone in your [music] own
10:46 organization who wanted your position.
10:49 It doesn't matter. You're gone. This is
10:51 the Bratva. You don't retire. You don't
10:53 escape. You just survive as long as you
10:55 can. And when your time comes, no one
10:58 mourns. They just move on because the
