Some of us might choose a simple stone cross. Others might prefer a carving of an angel.
But if you're a Russian gangster shot down in your prime, the last thing you want is an understated gravestone.
Instead, the cemeteries in the mafia city of Ekaterinburg are littered with brash, life-size memorials carved out of hugely expensive imported marble.
The gangsters who fell in the "metal wars" of the 1990s are sculpted standing in designer suits and leather jackets.
One mobster, Miklhail Kuchin, boss of the notorious Centralnaya gang and gunned down at 35, is depicted clutching the keys to his beloved Mercedes 600.
Nearby are the graves of father and son gangsters Nikolai and Andrei Kravtsov, shot by contract killers as they drove in their Volvo in 1996. They were cut down at the ages of 44 and 22.
Hefty gravestones commemorate the two men and between them a separate stone is dedicated to their precious car.
The huge Urals city, which is 1,000 miles east of Moscow, has long been regarded as Russia's most mafia-ridden. Criminal gangs made fortunes following the collapse of communism by ruthlessly exploiting the newly-privatised heavy industries.
Official sources believe there are at least 400 organised crime groups in Russia whose 10,000 members control companies and politicians all over the country.
On their tombs, some are depicted with their tattoos, or smoking cigarettes. Others are buried with their mobile phones so they can be kept up to date with the daily round of gangland shootings and beatings.
In an enormous tomb in Ekaterinburg-Oleg Vagin is buried alongside his three armed bodyguards, who couldn't draw their guns fast enough to save him when they were all massacred in 1992.
Vagin owned the lucrative local gravestone factory which had become embroiled in a dispute between rival gangs.
Next to the grave of Khakimzhan Burma, leader of the Viz mafia gang, a huge summerhouse has been thoughtfully erected for mourners.
Ekaterinburg has been long infamous for its slayings.
Just three miles from here is the spot where in 1918 the last tsar of Russia, Nicholas II, his wife, Alexandra, and their five children were executed by Bolsheviks on the orders of Lenin.
But there is no memorial to them. Their bodies were soaked in acid and burned before being disposed in a mineshaft.
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Photoes of ridiculously sized stones here.
Note on each of those stones there is an Ortodox Chuch Cross - the scumbags they are (both) - murderers of people (both), they would still carry cross and priests would suck up to them because of big money donations.
But if you're a Russian gangster shot down in your prime, the last thing you want is an understated gravestone.
Instead, the cemeteries in the mafia city of Ekaterinburg are littered with brash, life-size memorials carved out of hugely expensive imported marble.
The gangsters who fell in the "metal wars" of the 1990s are sculpted standing in designer suits and leather jackets.
One mobster, Miklhail Kuchin, boss of the notorious Centralnaya gang and gunned down at 35, is depicted clutching the keys to his beloved Mercedes 600.
Nearby are the graves of father and son gangsters Nikolai and Andrei Kravtsov, shot by contract killers as they drove in their Volvo in 1996. They were cut down at the ages of 44 and 22.
Hefty gravestones commemorate the two men and between them a separate stone is dedicated to their precious car.
The huge Urals city, which is 1,000 miles east of Moscow, has long been regarded as Russia's most mafia-ridden. Criminal gangs made fortunes following the collapse of communism by ruthlessly exploiting the newly-privatised heavy industries.
Official sources believe there are at least 400 organised crime groups in Russia whose 10,000 members control companies and politicians all over the country.
On their tombs, some are depicted with their tattoos, or smoking cigarettes. Others are buried with their mobile phones so they can be kept up to date with the daily round of gangland shootings and beatings.
In an enormous tomb in Ekaterinburg-Oleg Vagin is buried alongside his three armed bodyguards, who couldn't draw their guns fast enough to save him when they were all massacred in 1992.
Vagin owned the lucrative local gravestone factory which had become embroiled in a dispute between rival gangs.
Next to the grave of Khakimzhan Burma, leader of the Viz mafia gang, a huge summerhouse has been thoughtfully erected for mourners.
Ekaterinburg has been long infamous for its slayings.
Just three miles from here is the spot where in 1918 the last tsar of Russia, Nicholas II, his wife, Alexandra, and their five children were executed by Bolsheviks on the orders of Lenin.
But there is no memorial to them. Their bodies were soaked in acid and burned before being disposed in a mineshaft.
--------
Photoes of ridiculously sized stones here.
Note on each of those stones there is an Ortodox Chuch Cross - the scumbags they are (both) - murderers of people (both), they would still carry cross and priests would suck up to them because of big money donations.
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