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крыша среди крутых

English translation: protection from powerful people

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Russian term or phrase:крыша среди крутых
English translation:protection from powerful people
Entered by: Susan Welsh

18:23 Apr 24, 2014
Russian to English translations [PRO]
Slang / fiction
Russian term or phrase: крыша среди крутых
An informant has told a cop about someone who was making inquiries about a certain company, owned by a guy named Marino, who has now been murdered.

"И тот блатной хотел знать, стоит ли кто-нибудь за фирмой Марино. Есть у него крыша среди крутых или нет, понимаешь?"

I'm guessing that he's asking whether there's anyone with any brains at the company.

Thanks in advance!
Susan Welsh
United States
Local time: 09:00
protection in the right/strong circles (but p l e a s e see...)
Explanation:
1. To reduce the term krysha to "mafia protection" is patently wrong. In Russia today one can do very little without protection. It's like a patron-client scale: все у кого-то крышуются и все кого-то крышуют. Никого не крышует только последний бомж, и ни у кого не крышуется только царь (Путин).
The most thought-after krysha today is by no means the Mob but the FSB. But you may purchase your krysha from the police, the judiciary, from some ministry, even from the Gasprom, and so forth. Mafia, for krysha, is far from the most desirable.

2. "Cover" here would be also patently wrong. In this context in English, "cover" would be the right "legend", a well-constructed bona-fide background history. "Protection" is the right term. In the West, say the US, too, the Mob, the Police, the FBI etc., all sell or give protection; and reducing the term to the sexual protection is just a gratuitous onslaught of conversational cuteness.

3. "krutoj" is strong, awsome, potent, powerful, great, etc. Has nothing particularly afine to the Mob. One can be a "krutoj" (strong/great) or "otstojnyj" (weak, bad, lousy) mobster, judge, policeman, politician ... anyone.

Hope it helps

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Note added at 1 day12 hrs (2014-04-26 07:21:38 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

i guess you may also put "protection in cool circles"
Selected response from:

Michael Korovkin
Italy
Local time: 15:00
Grading comment
Thanks to all. Michael and Alexander were both equally helpful, but this one fine-tunes the concept. (But no, not "cool" in this context. These people are cold-blooded murderers.) Interesting discussion!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +5mafia / gang protection
Alexander Kayumov
4 +4protection in the right/strong circles (but p l e a s e see...)
Michael Korovkin
3crime sponsored cover
George Pavlov
3-----
Lilit Ghazaryan


Discussion entries: 2





  

Answers


8 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
crime sponsored cover


Explanation:
Most likely, but it could be a political backup depending on the other context.

George Pavlov
Canada
Local time: 09:00
Native speaker of: Native in RussianRussian
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39 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
-----


Explanation:
Крыша in this context means someone who is like authority, well respected among gangsters, that will protect him in gangster related issues.
Крутые are the gangsters in this context

Example sentence(s):
  • ------
Lilit Ghazaryan
Armenia
Local time: 17:00
Native speaker of: Native in ArmenianArmenian, Native in RussianRussian

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Michael Korovkin: "krysha"is simply a protection.You can get it from anyone, not necessarily, and today not even very often, from the Mob. The best krysha today is the FSB.Krutye are the strong/good in ANY context;in itself the term has no particular affinity to gangsters.
11 hrs
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11 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +5
mafia / gang protection


Explanation:
"Крыша" means "protection", the kind that mafia provides.

If you google "Abramovich krysha", you will find lots of references to how Roman Abramovich, a Russian oligarch, explained the concept to London's High Court in 2011. See e.g.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-29/abramovich-s-u-k-tr...
http://eurasian-law-breaking-news.blogspot.ru/2011/11/abramo...


"Крутые" is sort of a 1990s terms referring to members of organized crime, basically. So "mafia", or "gangs", or whatever slang term you want to choose for that - I am sure you are better placed to pick one as you probably know more terms for that than I do. :)

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 16 mins (2014-04-24 18:40:24 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

George Pavlov is right in saying that "крутой" does not necessarily refer to members of criminal organizations - it may also simply refer to somebody "powerful", in various senses of the word.

However, judging by the language of your example sentences (here and in a previous questions) - words such as "блатной", for example - it looks like what you are translating is related to criminal circles, so if I had to guess I would pick the first sense of the word "крутой"...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2014-04-24 19:28:07 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

You are welcome! :)

Alexander Kayumov
Russian Federation
Local time: 18:00
Native speaker of: Native in RussianRussian
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thanks for the interesting background - it's what makes Kudoz fun! And yes, it is a novel about criminal gangs.


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  The Misha: Apparently, the British judge learned to call it krisha, because the word is all over the final write-up that followed the actual ruling in the case. Except I'd call it cover. Protection has a... ahem.. slightly different ring to it.
1 hr
  -> Yep, that's what's so funny here! Finally we Russians found something we could teach to the Brits. :) // I don't know about that... Abramovich, UK lawyers, and the media covering the case use "protection".
agree  Mikhail Kropotov: I disagree with The Misha. Protection has just the right ring to it.
3 hrs
  -> Thanks! "Protection money", "protection racket" - that's exactly what they call it, I believe...
agree  rtransr: "protection" - backup, защита (makes sense, IMHO)
4 hrs
  -> Thanks!
agree  Sofia Gutkin: Protection is fine, but I do believe The Misha is making a reference to condoms? The joys of the English language!
8 hrs
  -> :)) Thanks!
agree  Natalia Volkova
13 hrs
  -> Thanks!
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12 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +4
protection in the right/strong circles (but p l e a s e see...)


Explanation:
1. To reduce the term krysha to "mafia protection" is patently wrong. In Russia today one can do very little without protection. It's like a patron-client scale: все у кого-то крышуются и все кого-то крышуют. Никого не крышует только последний бомж, и ни у кого не крышуется только царь (Путин).
The most thought-after krysha today is by no means the Mob but the FSB. But you may purchase your krysha from the police, the judiciary, from some ministry, even from the Gasprom, and so forth. Mafia, for krysha, is far from the most desirable.

2. "Cover" here would be also patently wrong. In this context in English, "cover" would be the right "legend", a well-constructed bona-fide background history. "Protection" is the right term. In the West, say the US, too, the Mob, the Police, the FBI etc., all sell or give protection; and reducing the term to the sexual protection is just a gratuitous onslaught of conversational cuteness.

3. "krutoj" is strong, awsome, potent, powerful, great, etc. Has nothing particularly afine to the Mob. One can be a "krutoj" (strong/great) or "otstojnyj" (weak, bad, lousy) mobster, judge, policeman, politician ... anyone.

Hope it helps

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 day12 hrs (2014-04-26 07:21:38 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

i guess you may also put "protection in cool circles"

Michael Korovkin
Italy
Local time: 15:00
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in RussianRussian
PRO pts in category: 28
Grading comment
Thanks to all. Michael and Alexander were both equally helpful, but this one fine-tunes the concept. (But no, not "cool" in this context. These people are cold-blooded murderers.) Interesting discussion!

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Alexander Kayumov: Excellent analysis. I think if the novel is set in the 1990s - early 2000s, it's the mob and various other types of criminals; if it's set in the Putin era, it's the FSB and other agencies you mention.
58 mins
  -> thanks Alexander. Yeah, Google still can't beat study and experience! :) It was also about "krutoj", which in other suggestions is simply omitted
agree  The Misha: I may be a sucker for "gratuitous conversational cuteness" but go tell all this to my regular fellow Americans. Whether we like it or not, established usage rule and we disregard it totally at our peril. See my comment above.
3 hrs
  -> thanks, M. C'mon though, gimmi a break: "mob protection", "police protection", "protection racket","weapons for personal protection",etc.Don't tell me that every time you mention protection,all Americans do is think of rubbers!You're being cute alright!:)
agree  Oleksiy Markunin
9 hrs
  -> thanks Oleksiy
agree  rtransr: Excellet. Your version is my favorite!
11 hrs
  -> thanks!
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