Alexander Solonik

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[1] Alexander Solonik (1960-1997), also known as Alexander the Great, and Superkiller, was a prominent Russian hitman in the early 1990s and was thought to have the ability to shoot ambidextrously. He carried out numerous murders for the Orekhovskaya criminal group in the early 1990s. He was jailed again in 1994, only to escape in July 1995 from the Matrosskaya Tishina (a Moscow Jail). He was found dead in Greece in 1997.

[edit] Biography

Aleksandr Solonik was born in 1960 in the Russian city of Kurgan in a family of Greek origin. In his childhood, Solonik showed great interest in martial arts and guns. When he finished school, he decided to join the Russian military. After his tour of duty ended, Solonik decided to join the OMON (a security unit that is used for special commando missions). Solonik signed up and eventually received militia training at the Gorkovskaja Institute. However, after 6 months he was expelled for unknown reasons. Upon returning home, Solonik got a job as gravedigger at the Kurgan cemetery. He was soon married and his wife gave birth to a daughter. After some time they divorced and Solonik remarried another woman with whom he has a son. But Solonik was charged with rape in 1987 and convicted to 8 years in the Gulag. At the day that he was leaving for the Gulag Solonik was allowed to say goodbye to his wife. But Solonik had other ideas and during this meeting he escaped. He jumped from the second floor of a building and fled. After several months Solonik was apprehended 120 miles north of Kurgan. Now Solonik was heavily guarded and on his way to the Gulag, as an extra precaution.

Because Solonik had worked for the army and had training with the militia he was entitled to separate jail away from the normal population, but for some reason (probably Solonik's month long run) Solonik was placed among normal prison population. When it became known to the other inmates that Solonik had been a soldier and had done work for the militia he was marked for death. Since there are no real rules in the Gulag, Solonik was on his own, but he survived. According to legend after fights where Solonik sometimes took on as many as 12 hardened inmates a time, he remained victorious. After this the other inmates left him alone, out of fear and because he had proven himself. Solonik kept to himself in prison and after 2 years escaped again.

Solonik again went back home to Kurgan and there he joined the local criminal organization where he started work as a hitman. Solonik's first target, the leader of a rival organization, stood little chance and was eliminated in 1990 in the city of Tjumen. After this hit Solonik and some fellow gangsters from the Kurgan organization decided to go to Moscow. In Moscow there were jobs enough for a qualified killer such as Solonik. In 1992 Solonik killed Russian vor Viktor Nikiforov, 6 months later another important Russian mob boss was whacked by Solonik. This time the victim was vor y zakone Valeri Dlugatsj. Dlugatsj was shot in a crowded disco even though he was surrounded by bodyguards. In 1994 Vladislav Vinner was eliminated by Solonik. Vinner had become boss of a rival organization after Dlugatsj's death. These were all big hits but Solonik's biggest kill was yet to come. In 1994 Solonik tried to extort a Russian mobster and was told by that mobster that he didn't have to pay anything. The mobster made a phonecall and put the speaker on, Solonik knew the man on the speaker-it was Otari Kvantrishvili one of the most powerful Russian mobsters in history. Solonik went home without the money he was sent to collect. Several weeks later, Kvantrishvilli was killed, and Solonik got his revenge. He apparently had powerful backing, allegedly from Chechnian groups.

Solonik had by this time become a famous person among criminal underworld and law enforcement figures. Law enforcement especially had a special interest since Solonik was supposed to be in prison. When Solonik and a fellow criminal were having a drink at a Moscow marketplace they were apprehended by the Moscow militia. The militia failed check Solonik, which was an obvious mistake. Solonik was said to be carrying a raincoat, under which he had a small automatic weapon concealed. When Solonik and the militia members were inside the police office Solonik opened fire. He hit 3 police men and ran outside. Running, he shot 2 more police. While running Solonik was hit by a bullet (it is said that the bullet hit him in the kidney, which is an incredibly painful though not nessicarily lethal wound) but kept running. He was cornered, and managed to hold off several police force members by himself for quite some time. During this time he again showed his impeccable marksmanship. One story, told by a police officer on the scene, reports that three shots fired by Solonik at the officer's hiding place behind a pillar all hit in the exact same spot. Eventually he was overpowered and gave up. Solonik was back in prison, this time in Moscow. In prison, he underwent an operation to remove the bullet. In his spare time at the prison, he studied foreign languages. In 1995 he escaped yet again. This time Solonik had few hiding places in Russia, for his name and face were known and he was wanted by government and organized crime groups. Nobody knew where he was.

After his escape Solonik went to Greece using a passport with a false identity which he got from the Greek consulate in Moscow. In Greece Solonik set up his own organization of around 50 men which dealt in narcotic shipments and contract killings. Solonik's organization bought several villas in an Athens suburb. All this was done in secret, while the Russian media and government had no idea about what had happened to Solonik. Among the public Solonik's legend grew. Solonik already had the status of 'superkiller' and now had escaped law enforcement and organized crime. But in February 1997 the legend was over. Greek newspapers published articles that said a Russian mob boss had been found dead 15 miles from Athens. The body was found strangled to death and had no identification documents on him. However, the face on the body was recognized all across Russia by that time, as Solonik had reached the top of the government's most wanted list. In the weeks after Solonik's body was found Greek authorities raided the villas of Solonik's organization and found an arsenal of weapons. Soon after, it also became clear that within a week Solonik was expected in Italy for a hit. According to the rumors Solonik was finally put to rest by a Moscow Organized Crime group. However, other rumors exist that Solonik is still alive, and that the body that was found by police was his double. These rumors are given merit by the possibility that the fingerprints on record for Solonik were fake, thereby discrediting the prints of the body as proof. Solonik had certainly amassed enough power by the time of his death to have orchestrated a fake death. Solonik remains to this day a legend for the Russian public and is known as a 'superkiller', which is the name for the best contract killers in Russia.