Alleged Crime Boss Dies after Attack in Moscow Parking Lot

MOSCOW, January 13. KAZINFORM - A man considered to be a notorious Georgian-born crime boss died Jan 12 in hospital, a day after he was attacked in a parking lot near Moscow, Rossiya 24 TV channel has reported.

photo: QAZINFORM

Unidentified gunmen fired several shots at Dato Melkadze Saturday near the entrance to the Leroy Merlin shopping mall in Krasnogorsk, in the Moscow Region, the report said citing police sources. Melkadze was hospitalized with gunshot wounds to the shoulder and stomach. His wife and two children who were together with him were uninjured in the attack which police suspect was a contract killing, RIA Novosti informs. Melkadze, known as Dato Poti, was born in Georgia in 1964. He was convicted four times, including for heroin possession in 2011. Media reports said Melkadze was wanted by mafia for killing another crime boss in 1994.