Leaders of the USSR described their environment as a "Socialist Paradise," claiming that it was entirely free of "decadent Western crimes" such as racketeering and serial murder.
Sadly, they were wrong. Dead wrong.
In fact, the Soviet Union had yet to be born on paper when its first known serial killer surfaced. He was Vasili Ivanovich Komaroff, dubbed "The Wolf of Moscow," a horse trader who, with wife Sophia, killed at least 33 victims between 1921 and 1923. The couple's efficient modus operandi involved luring male customers to their stable where Vasili plied them with vodka, slit their throats or bludgeoned them with hammers, robbed their corpses, and placed their bodies in trash bags for burial or dumping into the Moscow River.
Serial murder occurred in Russia's "Socialist Paradise” like it did everywhere else in the world and it continues unabated to the present day.
Iron Curtain Killers presents 26 cases of Russian serial killing, recorded from the 1960s into the 21st century. Law enforcement may no longer deny that such crimes occur in Russia, but as we shall see, sadly they fall short of solving many serial murder cases.
Iron Curtain Killers: Serial Murder in Soviet Russia (World Serial Killers 1)
A California native, Michael Newton has published 306 books under his own name and various pseudonyms since 1977. He began writing professionally as a "ghost" for author Don Pendleton on the best-selling Executioner series and continues his work on that series today. With 130 episodes published to date, Newton has more than tripled the number of Mack Bolan novels completed by creator Pendleton himself.
Newton's first book under his own name was Monsters, Mysteries and Man (1979), a survey of unexplained phenomena for younger readers. While 216 of Newton's published books have been novels--including westerns, political thrillers and psychological suspense--he is equally known for nonfiction, primarily true crime and reference books.
Newton's Encyclopedia of Serial Killers (Facts on File, 2000) is currently in its second edition. His history of the Florida Ku Klux Klan, The Invisible Empire (2001), won the Florida Historical Society's 2002 Rembert Patrick Award for Best Book in Florida History. His Encyclopedia of Cryptozoology was named as one of twelve books on the American Library Association's 2006 list of Outstanding Reference Sources. His western, Hanging Judge, was a finalist in the 2010 Western Writers of America's Spur Awards. His western, Manhunt, won the 2010 Peacemaker Award from the Western Fictioneers, and his novel, Avenging Angels, was a finalist in the same category, and was also a finalist for the 2011 Best Original Mass Market Paperback for the Western Writers of America's Spur Awards. His western, Blood Trails, was nominated for the 2011 WWA Spur Awards for Best Western Novel. His western West of the Big River: The Avenging Angel was a finalist in the 2014 Peacemaker Awards for Best Western Novel by the Western Fictioneers.
Michael Newton is a member of the Western Fictioneers and International Thriller Writers. He lives in Indiana.