Interview · moment 10 of 23
Religious Tattoos as Middle Fingers to the Church
from Russia's Super Mafia · #98
Audio-only archive episode — no video to seek.
2 minGuest
Tim brings up Brighton Beach lore about the Russian mob's ruthlessness; Galeotti explains that Vory religious tattoos were mockery, not faith, part of a broader worldview where non-criminals aren't even considered people.
- 21:10Tim asks whether the Vory's lack of religious belief, unlike devoutly Catholic Italian mafia, made them more ruthless and willing to kill entire families.
- 21:59Vory tattoos depict religious imagery like Jesus on the cross specifically as a middle finger to the church, not as genuine faith.
- 22:23The Vory explicitly rejected everything mainstream society holds decent and dear, including spirituality and belief in any world beyond their own.
- 22:44Russian criminals developed their own separate language where the word for people only applies to other criminals—non-Vory aren't even considered people.
VORRussian MafiaBright Beach