He was born in exile (due to the Deportation of the Chechens and Ingush), in Chuy Region, Kirghizia, into the Yalkhoi teip (clan) from the Geldagan village in Shalinsky District of Chechnya. He arrived in Moscow in 1974 and matriculated into Moscow State University, Faculty of Law. Along with Said-Khasan Abumuslimov (later Vice-President of Chechnya under Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev) he organized an underground committee for the liberation of Chechnya called Obshina. The committee studied books by Abdurakhman Avtorkhanov, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, and Andrei Sakharov. According to Noukhaev, Abumuslimov was responsible for politics and information while he took care of financial matters and weapons. In 1980 Nukhaev was sentenced to eight years for banditry, which he claimed were actually for political reasons. During this time he acquired the nickname “Khozha” and was considered a boss of the Chechen mafia along with Nikolay Suleimanov. By 1987 Chechen criminals had developed into a well-organized community under Nukhayev and Suleimanov, the group tried to force the most influential Russian Mafia gangs (the Lyubertsy, Solntsevo, and Balashikha) out of Moscow which allowed the Chechens to occupy the dominant position for some time.