The ethnic Tatar[3] family of wealthy local farmer Server Ametov was targeted and stabbed to death, together with visiting friends and a bystander.
[4] The mass murder shocked Russia and highlighted links between criminals and corrupt officials, as the perpetrators were members of a gang who had received protection from the authorities and operated with impunity for years.
[5] Sergei Tsapok, the convicted gang leader and mastermind of the murders, died in prison following a stroke on July 6, 2014.
It also inspired the 2013 TV series Станица (Stanitsa, The Village), a fictitious story loosely based on the events leading to the murder in Kushchyovskaya.
[citation needed] In an article for OpenDemocracy, Grigorii Golosov wrote that the massacre ran contradictory to a perceived propaganda program led by Vladimir Putin to portray Yeltsin's government as allowing crime to run rampant through the country in contrary to Putin's leadership.