Alexander Solonik

Status and outcome

In February 1997, Greek newspapers published articles that claimed 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. Authorities nonetheless identified the body as Solonik Alexander Viktorovich Solonik (Russian: Алекса́ндр Ви́кторович Соло́ник , b. 1960 – d. January 31, 1997), also known as Sasha the Macedonian, and Superkiller.

Rumors continued to circulate that he orchestrated his own assassination in order to spend the rest of his life living under an assumed name. Other people also insisted that Solonik was still alive and that the body was merely a double. Greek and Moscow authorities had difficulty identifying the fingerprints because the fingerprints on record for Solonik were fake, as he had obtained a false passport before relocating to Greece. The circumstances were therefore described with ongoing dispute.

Background

Alexander Solonik was born in 1960 in the Russian city of Kurgan.

As a child, Solonik showed great interest in martial arts and firearms.

When he finished school, he enlisted the Soviet Armoured Forces and was deployed to Tank Regiment, a part ot the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany.

Soon after his tour of duty ended, Solonik joined the OMON, an elite special security unit, and eventually received militia training at the Gorkovskiy Institute. After 6 months he was expelled for extreme violence towards suspects.

After returning home, Solonik obtained a job as a 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 had a son.

Solonik was charged with rape in 1987 and sentenced to 8 years in prison.

During a farewell meeting with his wife before he was deported, Solonik escaped by jumping from the second floor of a building. After several months he was apprehended 120 miles north of Kurgan and taken to the prison.

The offence

Solonik was described as an infamous Russian hitman in the early 1990s, thought to have the ability to shoot ambidextrously. He was said to have carried out numerous murders for the Orekhovskaya group and other criminal associations in the early 1990s.

He was also described as having been hired to carry out a “hit” in Italy.

Investigation

After Greek authorities raided the villas of Solonik’s organization in the weeks after his body was found, Greek authorities found an arsenal of weapons. They also discovered that Solonik had been hired to carry out a “hit” in Italy.

Moscow and Greek authorities had difficulty identifying the fingerprints because the fingerprints on record for Solonik were fake. It was described that he had obtained a false passport before relocating to Greece.

Arrest

Solonik and a fellow criminal were apprehended by Moscow police when they were having a drink at a Moscow marketplace. The police failed to check Solonik thoroughly.

The run-in with police

Solonik opened fire in the police station with a small automatic weapon which he concealed under a raincoat. He hit 3 policemen and ran outside. As he fled the station, he shot 2 more police officers. Solonik was also shot, and it was said that the bullet hit him in the kidney.

He was cornered but managed to keep the officers at bay. Eventually he was overpowered and surrendered.

Solonik was sent to a Moscow prison and underwent an operation to remove the bullet in his kidney. In his spare time at the prison, he studied foreign languages.

Trial

Sentencing and incarceration

Solonik was jailed again in 1994, only to escape in July 1995 from the Moscow maximum security prison Matrosskaya Tishina.

Escape attempts

Solonik escaped again after 2 years of imprisonment.

In July 1995, Solonik escaped from Matrosskaya Tishina. It was described that his jailer Sergey Menshikov, rumored to be a mob sleeper agent, provided him with a pistol and climbing equipment. The men placed a mannequin under the blanket of Solonik’s bed to delay pursuit, then escaped using climbing equipment to grappnel down from the prison roof. This time Solonik had few hiding places in Russia because his name and face were known, but he disappeared without a trace.

Hitman activity

Solonik went back home to Kurgan, joined the local criminal organization and started work as a hitman.

His first target, the leader of a rival organization, was eliminated in 1990 in the city of Tyumen.

After this hit, Solonik travelled to Moscow with other members of the Kurgan organization to seek for work.

In 1992, Solonik assassinated Russian thief in law Viktor Nikiforov.

Six months later he murdered another important Russian mob boss, described as a thief in law named Valeri Dlugatsj. Dlugatsj was shot in a crowded disco despite the fact that he was surrounded by bodyguards.

In 1994 Solonik eliminated Vladislav Vinner, described as a boss of a rival organization, who came in charge after Dlugatsj’s death.

It was reported that in 1994 Solonik tried to extort money from another Russian mobster. The mobster made a speaker phonecall to settle the extortion, and Solonik immediately identified him as Otari Kvantrishvili, described as one of the most powerful Russian mobsters in history.

It was described that Solonik was unable to extort money from Kvantrishvili and several weeks later murdered him in an act of revenge. It was also described that the story was doubtful because other people from a gang unrelated to Solonik were convicted in 2008 for Kvantrishvili’s murder.

Rumors spread that he was supported by the Chechnian groups.

By this time, Solonik had become famous among the criminal underworld and law enforcement figures.

Organization and operations in Greece

Eventually Solonik surfaced in Greece with a fake passport, which he secured 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.

He made Russia’s top ten “Most Wanted” list.

Prison life notes

Because Solonik served active duty and had some police training, he was entitled to solitary confinement, but later was transferred to serve his jailtime among other prison inmates.

When it became known to other inmates that Solonik had been a soldier and had worked for the police, he was marked for death. In the absence of rules or police protection in the prison, Solonik was described as being on his own, but he survived.

According to rumor, Solonik sometimes took on as many as 12 hardened inmates at a time, eventually earning respect of his fellow prisoners.

Death and immediate aftermath

Authorities nevertheless identified the body as Solonik.

In the weeks after the body was found, Greek authorities raided the villas of Solonik’s organization and found an arsenal of weapons.

According to rumors, Solonik was finally put to rest by a Moscow Organized Crime group. However, others insisted that he was still alive and that the body was merely a double.

Rumors

Rumors included claims about Alexander Solonik’s ability to shoot with both hands and his roles in some high-profile assassinations he was allegedly involved in.

According to Solonik’s boss at the time of his organized crime activities in Russia, Solonik wasn’t actually a good shooter and did not like to handle firearms.

Other rumors included Solonik being of Greek origin and still being alive.

Other details

Also mentioned were the aliases Sasha the Macedonian and Superkiller for Solonik Alexander Viktorovich Solonik.

Matrosskaya Tishina was described as the Moscow maximum security prison from which he escaped in July 1995.

The jailer during the 1995 escape was named Sergey Menshikov and was described as rumored to be a mob sleeper agent.