Episode 27: The Tsar of Thieves. The Tale of Van’ka Kain

Abandoning his job as a domestic servant in 1735, Ivan Osipov, AKA Van'ka Kain, became one of imperial Russia's most legendary criminals, performing an array of daring heists and audacious gambits over the course of six years. However, in 1741, Kain turned coat, ratting out most of his former accomplices and establishing himself as Moscow's preeminent criminal investigator. In this episode, we follow not only Kain's story from criminal to policeman and back again, but also those of the men and women he betrayed, their testimonies to the police offering us an unparallled glimpse into crime in mid-eighteenth century Moscow.  Sources E. Akel’ev, Povsednevnaia zhizn’ vorovskogo mira Moskvy vo vremena Van’ki Kaina (Moscow: Molodaia gvardiia, 2012) E. Prikazchikova, ‘Van’ka Kain v kul’turnom prostranstve Rossii: semiotika povedeniia’, Quaestio Rossica, vol. 10, no. 1 (2022), 275-289 M. Komarov, 'Zhizn' i prokhozhdeniia Rossiiskogo Kartusha, imenuemogo Kaina, izvestnogo moshennika i togo remesla liudei syshchika. Za raskaianie v zlodeistve poluchivshego otkazni svobody; no za obrashchenie v prezhnii promysel soslannogo vechno na katorzhnuiu rabotu, prezhde v Rogervik, a potom v Sibir'. Pisannaia im samim pri Baltiiskom porte v 1764 godu' in M. Komarov, Van'ka Kain. Milord Georg, ed. V. D. Rak (Moscow: Nauka, 2019): 315-345.