Dressed to kill: Gaudy tombstones of Russian gangsters depict them wearing designer suits with flash cars



The gangsters are sculpted standing in designer suits and leather jackets

They used to spend their days collecting protection money, kneecapping those who would not pay up and planting explosives in the cars of their rivals.

But now the only reminders of the gangsters that made up the Russian mobs in the 1990s are their tombstones with gaudy sketches of them etched into the granite.



The men, who are casualties of the Russian business world and were relatively young when they were killed, are sculpted standing in designer suits and leather jackets.

Ostentatious: Now the only reminders of the brawn of the Russian mobs are their gravestones where gaudy sketches of them are etched into the granite of tombstones



Flashy: The cemeteries in the mafia city of Ekaterinburg are littered with brash, life-size memorials carved out of hugely expensive imported marble

Gangster: They stare back at the onlooker, smiling or stern, as proud in death as when they were alive

They stare back at the onlooker, smiling or stern, as proud in death as when they were alive.

Their graves are marked by life size headstones, where their images are expertly engraved into imported marble.

On the edge of the Russian city of Yekaterinburg lies the Shirokorechenskoye cemetery.



This is the final resting place for mobster, Miklhail Kuchin, boss of the notorious Centralnaya gang who was gunned down aged 35 as he left his home.



Work of art: Their graves are marked by life size headstones, where their images are expertly engraved into imported marble

Showing off from the grave: Many of the etchings feature cars as reminder to onlookers that the gangsters have enjoyed wealth when they were alive



His gravestone shows him as thick-necked, dressed in a double breasted suit. and he is depicted clutching the keys to his beloved Mercedes 600.



This, in a country where buying a Lada is beyond millions of people's pockets, working or not.

Nearby are the graves of father and son gangsters Nikolai and Andrei Kravtsov, shot by contract killers as they drove in their Volvo in 1996. They were cut down at the ages of 44 and 22.



Hefty gravestones commemorate the two men and between them a separate stone is dedicated to their precious car.



Money-making: Criminal gangs made fortunes following the collapse of communism by ruthlessly exploiting the newly-privatised heavy industries

Hard graft: The drawings are very detailed and intricate taking an engravers hours to put together



Fallen: The gangsters who fell in the 'metal wars' of the 1990s are sculpted standing in designer suits and leather jackets

On their tombs, some are depicted with their tattoos, or smoking cigarettes.



Others are buried with their mobile phones so they can be kept up to date with the daily round of gangland shootings and beatings.



In an enormous tomb-Oleg Vagin is buried alongside his three armed bodyguards, who couldn't draw their guns fast enough to save him when they were all massacred in 1992.

Engravings: On their tombs, some are depicted with their tattoos, or smoking cigarettes

Image: Most of the gangsters are depicted in smart suits and look formal - often with a cigarette in hand



Grand display: The burial ceremonies for those caught up in armed business disputes are magnificent occasions

Crowd drawer: At a funeral for a gangster it was usually packed with well-wishers

Shiny display: Many of the tombs are surrounded by black highly-polished stone



Vagin owned the lucrative local gravestone factory which had become embroiled in a dispute between rival gangs.



Next to the grave of Khakimzhan Burma, leader of the Viz mafia gang, a huge summerhouse has been thoughtfully erected for mourners.



Ekaterinburg has been long infamous for its slayings.



The burial ceremonies for those caught up in armed business disputes are magnificent occasions.

'There's always a lot of people,' gravedigger Alexei Yurkov told the BBC.

