Alert neighbors spotted him and called the police. Boris tried to get away over the balcony, slipped, fell, and broke his arm badly. The officers found him on the pavement below.
The trial was quick and unforgiving. He got three years in a juvenile colony. On the transport there, Boris sat thinking his life was over before it had really begun.
He was only seventeen. He knew nothing about real prison life. He had heard stories, of course—grim ones, full of fear and cruelty.
The colony met him with cold air and hard rules. During his first week behind bars, Boris hardly slept. He lay on a creaking bunk listening to snoring, cursing, and the sounds of boys trying not to break.
Around him were other young offenders, anywhere from fourteen to twenty. Some were already crushed. Some were angry. Some just looked lost. Boris had no intention of folding under the system.
He kept quiet, watched everything, and learned fast. He understood soon enough what mattered there. The place ran on its own harsh unwritten code.
People respected strength—but not mindless aggression. They respected a man who kept his word. They respected those who didn’t crack and who lived by the inmate code.
He made friends with older boys who had already done time in adult facilities. They taught him the rules. They explained the hierarchy, the hidden meetings, the way the whole closed world worked.
Boris listened closely and missed very little. He absorbed every word. After three years, his sentence ended and he was released.
It was 1973, and he was twenty years old. He returned to his city a different man. His father had died by then; his heart had given out after years of worry.
His mother was living alone and had aged badly. Boris brought her some money and lied, saying he had found steady factory work. She didn’t believe him, but she was too afraid to ask questions.
Boris went back into the criminal world, but no longer as a reckless kid. Prison had taught him the one lesson that mattered most—patience and cold judgment. He stopped chasing every easy score.
He worked carefully, picking only clean jobs. He looked for low risk and reliable payoff. His old friend Vitka Kosoy was serving time in an adult prison by then…
