This from the wikipedia page, the early life of the head of Wagner:
[Yevgeny] Prigozhin was born and raised in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) in the Soviet Union on 1 June 1961, to Violetta Prigozhina (Russian: Виолетта Пригожина). His father died early, and so his mother supported him and his sick grandmother by working at a local hospital. His father and stepfather were of Jewish descent.
In November 1979, 18-year-old Prigozhin was caught stealing and given a suspended sentence. Two years later, in 1981, he was again caught stealing, and sentenced to twelve years imprisonment for robbery, fraud, and involving teenagers in crime. He and several accomplices were convicted of robbing apartments in upscale neighborhoods. He was pardoned in 1988, and was released in 1990. In total, he spent nine years in detention.