RUSSIA'S MURDERER, INC!

Putin's personal hit squad runs just like the Mafia

LIKE a paranoid mob boss terrified he'll be rubbed out by an underling, Russian kingpin Vladimir Putin is killing off his ring of second-banana oligarchs and officials - with the hit list now reaching a whopping 39 and counting!

But U.S. intelligence sources tell GLOBE the bloodthirsty 70-year-old tyrant has reason to worry he told his cronies and his nation he'd conquer Ukraine in days, but the war's now gone on for more than a year and Russian soldiers are getting butchered like cows in a slaughterhouse.

With his blunder also cutting Russia off from billions in trade due to the anti-war boycott by Europe and the U.S., Putin obviously feels nervous because the wealthy, powerful men who used to be his staunchest supporters are starting to bail in public and in private.

But they're paying a terrible price.