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  3. Law (general)

воры в законе

English translation: vory v zakone (criminal bosses)

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Russian term or phrase:воры в законе
English translation:vory v zakone (criminal bosses)
Entered by: Dylan Edwards

17:07 Dec 21, 2011
Russian to English translations [PRO]
Law (general)
Russian term or phrase: воры в законе
Сейчас "авторитет" Б. в союзе с "ворами в законе" и при поддержке местных силовых структур уже контролирует значительную часть экономики края и стремится к полному контролю за ней.

Any good ideas for a succinct way of putting this across to the English reader? "Thieves in law" sounds a little odd because of the association with "in-laws".

It also looks as if the word "авторитет" has special connotations here - perhaps I should ask this as a separate question.
Dylan Edwards
United Kingdom
Local time: 18:35
vory v zakone (criminal bosses)
Explanation:
Has been discussed before, more than once actually. I'm in Cheeter's camp from the following link:

http://www.proz.com/kudoz/russian_to_english/law:_contracts/...
Selected response from:

Mark Berelekhis
United States
Local time: 13:35
Grading comment
Thank you, Mark.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +4vory v zakone (criminal bosses)
Mark Berelekhis
4 +2made men
Alex Marshall
5 +1thieves in law
Olga Bodnar
4criminal or crime lord (acknowledged by the rest of the gangsters) or:
Ellen Kraus
4career criminals
Andrew Stefanovsky
4professional thieves
Deborah Hoffman
3kingpins
Sam Pinson
3real gangsta
Vaddy Peters


Discussion entries: 2





  

Answers


1 min   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
made men


Explanation:
...

Alex Marshall
United States
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 159

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Alexander Ryshow
0 min
agree  The Misha: Two schools of thought on this - go native, or not. I'd go native most of the time.
6 hrs
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4 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +4
vory v zakone (criminal bosses)


Explanation:
Has been discussed before, more than once actually. I'm in Cheeter's camp from the following link:

http://www.proz.com/kudoz/russian_to_english/law:_contracts/...

Mark Berelekhis
United States
Local time: 13:35
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in RussianRussian, Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 395
Grading comment
Thank you, Mark.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Anna Rubtsova: this is the best way to keep the meaning
1 hr
  -> Thank you.
agree  The Misha: See my note to Alex. This is a legitimate route too.
6 hrs
  -> Thank you.
agree  cyhul
16 hrs
  -> Thank you.
agree  Igor Popov
17 hrs
  -> Thank you.
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6 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
kingpins


Explanation:
..

Sam Pinson
United States
Local time: 11:35
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 231
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21 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +1
thieves in law


Explanation:
thief in law (Used specifically for Russian thieves or criminal element. If referring to Italians, "a made man" or "a wise guy" is best

Olga Bodnar
Canada
Local time: 13:35
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in UkrainianUkrainian, Native in RussianRussian

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Jurate Kazlauskaite: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thief_in_law
2 hrs
neutral  The Misha: Definitelt, positively not.
6 hrs
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32 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
real gangsta


Explanation:
You could try this one, too.

Vaddy Peters
PRO pts in category: 39

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  The Misha: Now, why would you want to bring the ghetto element into it too?
6 hrs
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29 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
criminal or crime lord (acknowledged by the rest of the gangsters) or:


Explanation:
there are at least 10 different variants, such as e.g. thief within the law, thief in law, gang leader, mafia boss to name but a few. Have a look at multitran.ru; it explains when and where these terms are used.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 34 Min. (2011-12-21 17:42:15 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Вор_в_законеIm Cache - Ähnliche Seiten - Воры в законе — это специфическое для СССР (в дальнейшем для России и стран СНГ) преступное объединение, не имеющее аналогов в мировой ...


Ellen Kraus
Austria
Local time: 19:35
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman
PRO pts in category: 216
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2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
career criminals


Explanation:
as opposed to "crime bosses," "crime lords," etc. like, in this context, "B."

Andrew Stefanovsky
United States
Local time: 13:35
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in RussianRussian
PRO pts in category: 36
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
professional thieves


Explanation:
Something I've used in the past depending on the context. Career criminals or crime bosses can work too, depending on context - in some situations I might avoid them because the associations are slightly different.

Ivan Osipov, then a well-known professional thief (also known by his alias Van'ka Kain became an example of such efficiency in practice.
http://books.google.com/books?id=ZBa1Hu7-H-cC&pg=PA25&lpg=PA...


The Thief [Vor, 1997] tells the story of the relationship between the boy Sania and the professional thief Tolian. ...

http://books.google.com/books?id=yRouaOxGBzMC&pg=PA113&lpg=P...

Deborah Hoffman
Local time: 13:35
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 75
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