Prior to his 1966 conviction for rape, Kvantrishvili was on his way to becoming a world-champion
wrestler. In the 1980s he then founded the
Dynamo Sports Club and later the 21st Century Association, an organisation ostensibly dedicated to funding sports but was widely regarded as a front for
racketeering. During the
chaotic transition to capitalism in the early 1990s, Kvantrishvili became something of a public face for the mafia, befriending politicians and celebrities such as
Joseph Kobzon while also acting as a mediator between various underworld factions, including the
thieves in law and
Slavic and
Chechen mobsters. The
Podolskaya OPG () were close to Kvantrishvili. In late 1993, Kvantrishvili publicly announced his intention to enter politics through a new party, the Party of Sportsmen, at a conference attended by many well-known athletes. At 5:45 pm on 5 April 1994, he was shot dead by a sniper while leaving a Krasnopresnensky
bathhouse in
Moscow. He was buried at
Vagankovskoye. Kvantrishvili was in open conflict with
Moscow City Police General
Vladimir Rushailo () in the Moscow
RUOP. On September 29, 2008, four members of the
Orekhovo-Medvedkovo gang were convicted, among other things, for organizing Kvantrishvili's murder. Oleg Pylev was sentenced to life in prison, Aleksei Sherstobitov received 23 years of imprisonment, Pavel Makarov – 13 years and Sergei Yelizarov – 11 years. Sherstobitov was the one who actually killed Kvantrishvili. He received a
Lada car as payment for Kvantrishvili's murder. ==References==