MOSCOW, July 29 (RIA Novosti) - A Russian crime boss who has kept a low profile since his 2005 acquittal by the Russian Supreme Court over a 1992 murder has been wounded in a shooting in Moscow.
Police said Vyacheslav Ivankov, known as "Yaponchik" or "Little Japanese," was shot in the abdomen from two sniper rifles when he was coming out of a cafe in northern Moscow on Tuesday.
"The assassins were hidden in a stolen Gazel van with Moscow Region plates that was parked nearby," a city law enforcement source said. "Ivankov received wounds in the stomach and was immediately taken to a hospital."
He is reported to be in serious condition.
A source in Russian security structures said Ivankov recently arrived in Russia to settle a dispute between two criminal groups controlling Moscow's gambling business.
"Vyacheslav Ivankov has been in Russia for several days holding meetings with a number of crime bosses who controlled the gambling business in the capital. In all likelihood, one of the groups decided to get rid of Yaponchik after the talks failed," the source said.
Ivankov was accused along with a deceased criminal boss nicknamed "Sliva" or "Plum," of killing two Turkish citizens at a Moscow restaurant in 1992.
In June 2004, the General Prosecutor's Office filed a request asking the United States to extradite Ivankov to Russia. The request was granted, and Ivankov was freed from a U.S. jail on July 11, 2004, and handed over to immigration authorities.
Ivankov served almost 10 years in the Allenwood high-security prison in Pennsylvania for organizing a fake marriage to gain citizenship and extorting $3.5 million from two Russian immigrants.
