A "sadistic killer gangster" who has been on the run for 17 years by using multiple false identities and undergoing plastic surgery has been finally captured.
Igor Kuzmenko, also identified as Vladimir Kishko, Viktor Kuzmenko, and Roman Marchuk, used fake passports and surgery to evade capture in Russia.
According to law enforcement, he also burned his fingerprints with acid claiming it was an “accident at work”.
Kuzmenko's gang, known as "Les," is responsible for the deaths of over 50 individuals during a 10-year period.
He is now awaiting trial.
According to allegations, the gang’s first victim included Boris Terpugov, 30, chairman of Rodnik bank in 1999.
He was shot near the headquarters of the Russian government, as well as a vodka plant boss was killed near St Petersburg.
Kuzmenko was previously detained for 17 years ago in Rostov-on-Don for an axe attack, but he escaped from the court and went into hiding, where he allegedly continued his attacks.
One alleged victim was a Sochi businessman Alexander Raznikov who was battered with a crowbar.
Other murders were disguised as domestic killings.
Kuzmenko’s fellow gangsters were gradually arrested and jailed - one being extradited from Spain - receiving sentences of up to 23 years.
He lived abroad in several countries including Ukraine, where he had a passport under a fake name, but was snared on a trip back to Rostov using a false identity, says law enforcement.
“Kuzmenko underwent plastic surgery, radically changing his appearance, and at the same time destroyed the papillary patterns on his fingers," said Yulia Ivanova, senior assistant to the head of the Investigative Committee in Moscow.
“He repeatedly forged documents, constantly moved from one country to another, and had expensive plastic surgery, changing his face,” reported Ren TV.
When he was eventually caught “he behaved like a professional spy from the movies”.
Kuzmenko is on trial with two men who allegedly ordered his gang to intimidate and kill as a way of “solving” business disputes.
He faces charges of murder, attempted murder, gangsterism, robbery, and trafficking in weapons.
He faces a life sentence if convicted, say reports.
The story comes as last week, a notorious 'serial killer Pedrinho Matador, claimed he killed over 100 people has been shot dead.
Matador had his throat cut and was fatally shot while outside a family member's residence in Brazil.
The 68-year-old was attacked on the pavement in Mogi das Cruzes, located in the Sao Paulo State, on Sunday morning.
In a 2003 interview, Matador confessed to killing more than 100 people, including during his time in prison.
He carried out his first murder in the municipality of Santa Rita do Sapucai in Minas Gerais State.
