Tour of St. Petersburg's criminal spots

The Northern capital has always had a shadow side - the one not visible from the grand avenues.

St. Petersburg's courtyards hold many secrets, and the darkest of them are concentrated on Ligovsky Prospekt.

Ligovka is the artery through which the city's criminal blood flowed. Here, in the labyrinth of tenement houses and courtyard wells, the legendary robber Lenka Panteleev operated. And in the wild 90s, this area became the stronghold of the first organized crime groups: the 'elephants', the 'tambov', and the 'malyshev' divided the asphalt, while the 'watchers' controlled every entrance.

We will drive through the sites of famous 'meetings' where the fate of entire districts was decided. On the horizon, we will see the silhouette of the 'Kresty' - that very point of no return, where any road led if the meeting went against the code. Then - the monument to Anna Akhmatova, because even poetry in this city grew through the prison fence.

Why were the best gangster series filmed here? Because the architecture of Ligovka presses down, and the courtyards echo with real gunshots. Bloody crimes and shameful pleasures - this is not only about the slum dwellers, but also about a city that always lived a double life.

This tour is not for the faint-hearted. A dive into the real, living Petersburg that wakes up when the lights of Nevsky go out.