Tariel Oniani, an ethnic Georgian who is considered among the most influential criminal bosses in the former detained

Russian police swooped in on a helicopter to detain more than 50 reputed crime bosses as they set off for a cruise on a rented boat near Moscow, authorities said Wednesday.
Those detained Tuesday included Tariel Oniani, an ethnic Georgian who is considered among the most influential criminal bosses in the former
Soviet Union, police said.
Angela Kostuyeva, a police spokeswoman, said those detained on a reservoir north of Moscow included 39 «thieves-in-law,» or top figures within the Russian criminal hierarchy.
«Thieves-in-law» respect a strict honor-based code that dates back at least to the Stalinist era, when they maintained order in the gulag.
Most were released later in the day due to lack of evidence, the spokeswoman said. She refused to say whether Oniani was among those freed.
Oniani had called the get-together to discuss a conflict with another crime group that was threatening to lead to a mafia war, the newspaper Kommersant reported.
It said Oniani has been wanted in Spain since 2005, when he escaped a sting operation called Wasp that resulted in the arrest of 28 alleged organized crime figures from former Soviet republics on money-laundering charges.
Oniani's daughter was among those arrested, Kommersant said.
Last month, Spanish police broke up a major Russian organized crime gang, arresting 20 people accused of laundering proceeds from crimes including contract killings and arms and drug trafficking.