Khurtsidze Allegedly On Video "Punching" Confidential Source
Things are getting more serious for WBO interim-middleweight champion Avtandil Khurtsidze.
As previously reported, Khurtsidze was arrested Wednesday as federal prosecutors unveiled charges against more than 30 people in a criminal enterprise blamed for extortion, gambling, narcotics trafficking and other crimes.
An order has come down to hold him without bail in New York to await trial in a Russian organized crime case.
Judge Katherine Forrest says allegations that Khurtsidze was caught on video punching a confidential source in a gang investigation were enough to convince her he's a danger to the public.
A defense lawyer called the charges "unsubstantiated allegations."
Khurtsidze uses the alias "The Kickboxer." He was scheduled to fight WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders on July 8 at Copper Box Arena in London. The match has been canceled.
According to the allegations in the Indictments and Complaint unsealed in Manhattan federal court:
The Shulaya Enterprise was an organized criminal group operating under the direction and protection of RAZHDEN SHULAYA a/k/a “Brother,” a/k/a “Roma,” a “vor v zakonei” or “vor,” which are Russian phrases translated roughly as “thief-in-law” or “thief,” and which refer to an order of elite criminals from the former Soviet Union who receive tribute from other criminals, offer protection, and use their recognized status as vor to adjudicate disputes among lower-level criminals. As a vor, SHULAYA had substantial influence in the criminal underworld and offered assistance to and protection of the members and associates of the Shulaya Enterprise. Those members and associates, and SHULAYA himself, engaged in widespread criminal activities, including acts of violence, extortion, the operation of illegal gambling businesses, fraud on various casinos, identity theft, credit card frauds, and trafficking of large quantities of stolen goods.
The Shulaya Enterprise comprised groups of individuals, often with overlapping members or associates, dedicated to particular criminal tasks. While many of these crews were based in New York City, the Shulaya Enterprise had operations in various locations throughout the United States (including in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Nevada) and abroad. Most members and associates of the Shulaya Enterprise were born in the former Soviet Union and many maintained substantial ties to Georgia, the Ukraine, and the Russian Federation, including regular travel to those countries, communication with associates in those countries, and the transfer of criminal proceeds to individuals in those countries.
The Shulaya Enterprise was led principally by SHULAYA and ZURAB DZHANASHVILI, a/k/a “Zura,” his lieutenant. Along with SHULAYA and DZHANASHVILI, AKAKI UBILAVA, a/k/a “Ako,” HAMLET UGLAVA, MAMUKA CHAGANAVA, MIKHEIL TORADZE, NAZO GAPRINDASHVILI, a/k/a “Anna,” ARTUR VINOKUROV, a/k/a “Rizhy,” EVGHENI MELMAN, TIMUR SUYUNOV, ZURAB BUZIASHVILI, GIORGI LOMISHVILI, AZER ARSLANOUK, IVAN AFANASYEV, a/k/a “Vanya,” DENIS SAVGIR, DIEGO GABISONIA, LEVAN MAKASHVILI, SEMYON SARAIDAROV, a/k/a “Sammy,” and VACHE HOVHANNISYAN are charged in Count One of the Shulaya Indictment with racketeering conspiracy.
The Enterprise’s criminal activities included:
The operation of illicit poker businesses in Brighton Beach;
The extortion of gamblers who became indebted to the Shulaya Enterprise;
Attempts to extort local business owners;
Efforts to defraud casinos in Atlantic City and Philadelphia by using electronic devices and computer servers to predict and exploit the behavior of electronic slot machines;
The theft of cargo shipments, including a shipment containing approximately 10,000 pounds of chocolate confections;
The use of a female member of the Shulaya Enterprise to seduce men, incapacitate them with gas, and then rob them;
Attempts to create an after-hours nightclub that would host, among other things, the sale of narcotics;
The transportation and sale of numerous cases of untaxed cigarettes;
Plans to pay bribes to local law enforcement; and
Creation and use of forged identification documents, checks, and invoices.
......either way you slice it, naming yourselves goodboys makes no sense. as little g only uses the word to refer to his opponents.
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