Russian police have said one of the Mafia godfathers of organised crime in the country has been shot dead in Moscow.
Aslan Usoyan, also known as Ded (Grandpa) Khasan, came from a caste of professional criminals.
The 75-year-old ethnic Kurd was born in the former Soviet republic of Georgia.
Police said for the past two decades he led one of the region’s most powerful criminal groups, which trafficked in drugs and weapons and controlled underground casinos and legal businesses.
Police said an unidentified gunman fired a single shot at Usoyan near a restaurant in central Moscow.
This was not the first assassination attempt, the last one was attempted in September 2010 in the centre of Moscow.
