In common parlance, it has come to be used to describe any petty pseudo-anarchist criminal group, of the variety that read "The Anarchist Cookbook" and daub anti-capitalist graffiti.

Originally from the Russian "vorovskoi mir" desribing an underground philosophy which decried the existence of the state. A reaction to the authoritarian Communist regimé that dictated against recognition of the police, army, judiciary or any other manifestation of the state.