KARAGANDA

Set in 1994, Vladimir is a Moldovan gangster in New York and member of the Vory v Zakonye, an elite criminal group going back to the time of the czars. When a problem emerges with Vladimir’s arms smuggling business, he travels to a Russian airbase with a suitcase full of fake cash. His attempt to dupe the local mafia fails, however, and the airbase is destroyed in a violent shootout. Though he escapes, Vladimir’s business and family are threatened in the ensuing mafia war. Later the conflict reunites him with an old friend from the Soviet prison camps, Aleksei. But something about Aleksei’s past doesn’t add up, however.