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General Zagorec and Balcan mafia
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| DrUg_Tit0 |
| quote: | Originally posted by TranceGiant
What's up with this General Zagorec story, Tito? Care to explain? |
Ugh..it's pretty complicated and really not much is known so far. I'll try to summarize it chronologically.
So, back in the early 90's during Croatian independence war, the newly created government needed a lot of money to buy weapons for defense. The business itself was illegal because of the UN embargo, so the money and weapons that were coming through mostly had a pretty shady history. For example, a big part of the money came in the form of donations from emigration, which was largely comprised of people who fled the country back in 1945 when the axis lost the war. Some of it was also in the form of jewels. Those jewels were rumored to be stolen from the Jews back when Adolf ruled the day, and then later stored by the local catholic church to be activated in the time of need.
Anyway, at that time Mr. Zagorec was just a guy driving a limo for his boss, General Cermak. Supposedly he showed himself to be pretty resourceful and managed to get a truck of ammo by himself, so he was rapidly promoted and became the head of a company called RH Alan. The purpose of the company was to buy and smuggle the weapons into the country, regardless of the embargo that was in place. Many allegations arose at that time, claiming that a lot of the money which came into that company was not used for purchasing weapons but was instead stored on various Switzerland and off-shore bank accounts. General Zagorec and most of the top state officials of the time were accused of being behind those accounts.
In the year 2000 when HDZ, Zagorec's party, lost the elections, he fled to Austria, probably fearing possible persecution. Not much was heard about him until 2004 when his son was kidnapped. Soon it turned out that the person behind the kidnapping was Novica Petrac, son of Hrvoje Petrac. It stayed relatively unclear whether it was Novica or Hrvoje who organized the kidnapping, but the purpose of it was to blackmail Zagorec into giving them a couple of million euros. Some say that it was Novica who did it just for the thrill of it and to get some money for his drug habbits. Others say it was something bigger going on between Petrac and Zagorec.
Hrvoje Petrac was actually a friend of Vladimir Zagorec, and one of the most important people associated with the weapon smuggling in the early 90's. He was also one of the richest businessmen here, as he gained ownership of a whole range of companies, usually in pretty suspicious ways. He was suspected of being behind several murders in the region, as well as having huge blackmailing and smuggling operations. During the trial, a notebook was discovered that showed he had connections with pretty much every important mobster and war criminal in this part of the world. It seems that he was the one of the few people who organized General Ante Gotovina's escape, and it was shown that he was closely associated with people who killed the Serbian prime minister Djindjic.
So anyway, to get back at Zagorec, Petrac accused him of stealing 5 million dollars worth of diamonds in the 90's, originally intended to pay for smuggling in a missile system from Russia. Zagorec, who came back for the trial, fled the country again and returned to Austria. President Mesic sent his envoy to meet with Zagorec and offer him a deal. He seemingly agreed to say everything he knows in exchange for freedom. But he secretly recorded the meeting and went to Austrian court claiming his life in Croatia is endangered because he knows too much and people at the top either want to get that from him or kill him.
Ultimately he failed in his demands and was returned to Croatia to stand trial for the diamonds. His attorney was Zvonimir Hodak, also a husband of Ljerka Mintas-Hodak, who was a minister in the government at the time of Zagorec's business ordeals. They had a daughter, Ivana Hodak, who was engaged with Ivor Vucelic until mid summer this year. As Zagorec fled the country, he tried to sell all his businesses, estimated at around 300 000 000 $, and Hodak was supposed to handle that job. On the other side, Vucelic knew some people who were willing to buy the businesses, and they got connected through Ivana Hodak. As the business was on the way, I. Hodak and Vucelic broke up their relationship and the transaction became questionable.
The reason for that was that I. Hodak dumped Vucelic for Ljubo Pavasovic-Viskovic, who is the current attorney of Hrvoje Petrac. Obviously, their relationship was a risk to both parties, as they were both deeply involved in the whole story and probably knew too much. Several days after Zagorec was returned to Zagreb, Ivana hodak was shot dead in the stairway of her house and the killer ran away. Later that day, the ministers of police, justice, and the chief of police were sacked and replaced with people who are not members of the ruling party and are generally considered to be among the best in the country at solving organized and war crime ordeals. Hodak today claimed that it was Petrac who was behind shooting his daughter, but it is so far really unclear whether that is really the case. Supposedly Hodak and Zagorec now agreed to talk and go all the way in saying everything they know, but that is yet to be seen.
Whatever the case, this became too big to stay at this level. The people involved here were at the top of the decision making chain in the 90's and when they start getting killed, you know that this is no longer child's play. I suspect there will be many arrests and inquiries of the former top level officials. Can't say I feel sorry for them, most deserve prison anyways...
So there, feels like a spy novel when I read it :) |
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| TranceGiant |
Thanks for the 'summary', Tito, though I got a bit confsued with all the names towards the end ;) Would definitely make a nice gangster flick, add some Karadciz and Milosevic as well as dubious Paritzan Belgrad owners and you've got an epic "Balcan Saga".
Such a shame about I. Hodak, looked pretty smoking for the photos. The typical Sofia Coppola faith :( |
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| DrUg_Tit0 |
| quote: | Originally posted by TranceGiant
Thanks for the 'summary', Tito, though I got a bit confsued with all the names towards the end ;) Would definitely make a nice gangster flick, add some Karadciz and Milosevic as well as dubious Paritzan Belgrad owners and you've got an epic "Balcan Saga". |
Yeah, and it realy is a Balcan criminal saga. As I said, Petrac was helping General Gotovina's escape and had contacts with Legija, the guy who shot Djindjic. And considering Legija was a good pal of Arkan, Karadzic, and Milosevic, you pretty much do have all the gangster/war criminal crew in one place.
| quote: | | Such a shame about I. Hodak, looked pretty smoking for the photos. The typical Sofia Coppola faith :( |
Yeah, poor girl. She unwillingly got herself involved in stuff that was way over her head. We're talking billions of dollars here, Vatican involvement, Jewish diamonds stolen by Nazis, premier assassinations..
Anyway, this is sort of off-topic, so I'll ask Lira or someone to take it away into a new thread.. |
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| DrUg_Tit0 |
It seems that the person who wanted to buy Zagorec's property was Sreten Jocic, also known as Joca Amsterdam. Supposedly he's one of the top European cocaine suppliers, having direct control over shipments from Latin America to Dutch ports. He was extradited from the Netherlands to Serbia for organizing a murder of a guy called Goran Marjanovic, aka. Goksi the Bomber. Goksi was on the other hand hired by the Montenegro mob and was trying to kill Joca. Goksi survived the murder attempt, but his girlfriend was killed. Jocic also has several indictments raised against him in the Netherlands, ranging from murder to drug smuggling. He was imprisoned in 2005, but bailed out a year ago having paid 300 000 euros for the bail. He is also the owner of Milosevic's former house in Belgrade and is currently living there. (for TranceGiant wanting Milosevic in the story :) )
Jocic also has connections with Hrvoje Petrac and it seems they have done some business together, as well as helped each other fleeing the Interpol (a couple of years ago, Petrac was arrested in Greece, a story not unlike Zagorec's). On the other hand, it seems that Jocic is at war with Milorad Lukovic Legija (who shot the premier Djindjic), because many of his men were shot dead by people who are considered to be Legija's sidekicks. Petrac, however, seems to be on good terms with Legija, sort of walking the middle ground between the two.
An interesting connection with the murder of Ivana Hodak is also the fact that some eyewitness reports claimed to have seen the murderer run away into a car with Bulgarian license plates. That is, however, conflicting information, because some also claim that he ran away on foot in the opposite direction (I wouldn't rule out false witnesses). Anyway, Jocic has been living in Bulgaria for a couple of years, after he fled the Netherlands and before he was extradited back. |
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| Magnetonium |
Tito, this story is so reminiscent of whats going on in Russia, especially in the 1990s. Most of today's hits and killings are mafia related or linked, no doubt - Politkovskaya too. People just fail to realize it, but thats the truth. Look at Croatia's situation:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7656000.stm
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Croatia's prime minister says he is sacking his interior and justice ministers following the "mafia killing" of a prominent lawyer's daughter.
Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said he had also fired the national police chief after the latest in a series of brutal daylight attacks in the capital Zagreb.
Ivana Hodak, 26, was shot dead in her Zagreb building on Monday morning.
Her father Zvonimir Hodak is defending an ex-general suspected of stealing $5m in diamonds used in wartime deals.
Mr Sanader said he was asking parliament to approve the sackings of the two ministers and the police chief.
Parliament is expected to endorse his proposal.
"I expect swift police action. It is high time we cracked down on the mafia," he told a news conference.
'Heinous crime'
Ms Hodak, a law intern, was shot twice in the head in the stairwell of her apartment block in central Zagreb.
President Stjepan Mesic called it a "heinous crime, all the more dangerous as it happened in broad daylight".
Local media have speculated that Ms Hodak's death may be linked to her father's work, although police have refused to confirm a link.
Zvonimir Hodak is representing former Gen Vladimir Zagorec, a defence ministry official who is accused of embezzling $5m in jewels for use in deals during Croatia's independence war.
Zagreb has been hit by a wave of mob-style violence in recent months.
A prominent crime reporter, a city administration official and a construction firm boss are among those who have been subject to assaults in various separate incidents.
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It's pretty obvious that Croatia's leaders arent targeting these people ;) But conveniently enough its quite the opposite if the topic shifted to another country in the region ... ;) how odd |
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| Moongoose |
| This is one of those stories that falls under "You cant make this up", if you made a script out of it, it would be a great movie. But then one remember this is not a movie and its happening basically right next door to us and well :nervous: |
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| DrUg_Tit0 |
| quote: | Originally posted by Magnetonium
It's pretty obvious that Croatia's leaders arent targeting these people ;) But conveniently enough its quite the opposite if the topic shifted to another country in the region ... ;) how odd |
Meh, our local mafias here are pretty intertwined. You really can't be a big player in just one country. Most Croatian kingpins also have Serbian passports and vice-versa. Many of the people who were in top positions during the war here are personal acquaintances of the ruling clique of the other side. |
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| Zild |
| For some reason I've always been fascinated with the eastern front and the war criminals/gangsters it spawned. Great read even if the names did start to confuse me there towards the end. |
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| DJ Shibby |
| quote: | Originally posted by DrUg_Tit0
Meh, our local mafias here are pretty intertwined. You really can't be a big player in just one country. Most Croatian kingpins also have Serbian passports and vice-versa. Many of the people who were in top positions during the war here are personal acquaintances of the ruling clique of the other side. |
But but but... what's
NORMAL?
Find the majority. |
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| Magnetonium |
| quote: | Originally posted by DrUg_Tit0
Meh, our local mafias here are pretty intertwined. You really can't be a big player in just one country. Most Croatian kingpins also have Serbian passports and vice-versa. Many of the people who were in top positions during the war here are personal acquaintances of the ruling clique of the other side. |
Meh, mafia in Russia was born after the collapse of the Soviet Union - many military professionals and officers lost their jobs so they decided to expand their skills and start up businesses followed up by the mafia turf war. It was brutal in the 1990s, very open. Many people lost their lives - from ordinary bystanders to police, government officials, journalists, lawyers, judges, etc. Putin sort of made them go underground, the lawlessness was curbed a bit.
Imagine what I've heard in my town back there when I lived there - police chief's car chased by AK-47 wielding gunmen during broad daylight, in the end bullet-riddled car with 3 gunshot wounds to the head. Many people in the area, no witnesses come forward. |
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| Magnetonium |
Poor Croatia, suffering the same fate as Russia. Independent journalists fighting to expose criminals, corruption and mafia, protect human rights and freedom of speech - get murdered by the dozens by the criminals (NOT the government people).
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7687532.stm
| quote: |
Zagreb car bomb kills journalist
A car bomb in the Croatian capital Zagreb has killed Ivo Pukanic, the owner of a leading weekly newspaper, and his colleague.
Mr Pukanic, 47, was killed with Nacional weekly newspaper's marketing executive, Niko Franic, in the blast outside the newspaper's premises.
There is no indication who was behind the attack, which occurred in central Zagreb at about 1820 (1620 GMT).
The city has been gripped by a wave of violence this year.
President Stipe Mesic said the bomb, which was reportedly planted underneath Mr Pukanic's Lexus, meant "terrorism has become a fact on the streets of our capital".
"The state is faced with an unprecedented challenge from the criminal circles," he said. "Now it is them or us... rule of law and safety of citizens against criminals, terrorists and mafia."
Nacional is an investigative paper that often exposes corruption and human rights abuses. Mr Pukanic, who was also the paper's editor-in-chief, had spoken out about a plot to assassinate him earlier this year.
Spiralling crime rates
Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader vehemently and resolutely condemned the attack, and told a news conference that he would not allow "Croatia to become Beirut".
"This is no longer merely a fight against organised crime," he said. "This is something all of us in Croatia will rise up against."
Mr Pukanic had spoken about a plot to assassinate him earlier this year
Thursday's car bomb followed a string of attacks in Zagreb that have been linked to organised crime, says the BBC's Balkans correspondent Helen Fawkes.
Earlier this month the daughter of a prominent Croatian lawyer was shot dead, sparking public outrage.
Shortly after that killing, Mr Sanader sacked his interior and justice ministers, as well as the head of the national police, in response to the spiralling crime rates.
The move came amid fears that rising violence could threaten Croatia's success during EU accession talks next year, correspondents say.
Croatia hopes to complete negotiations for entry in 2009 and to become the 28th EU member in 2011.
A crucial European Commission progress report is due to be released next month.
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| DJ Shibby |
| quote: | Originally posted by DrUg_Tit0
Ugh..it's pretty complicated and really not much is known so far. I'll try to summarize it chronologically.
So, back in the early 90's during Croatian independence war, the newly created government needed a lot of money to buy weapons for defense. The business itself was illegal because of the UN embargo, so the money and weapons that were coming through mostly had a pretty shady history. For example, a big part of the money came in the form of donations from emigration, which was largely comprised of people who fled the country back in 1945 when the axis lost the war. Some of it was also in the form of jewels. Those jewels were rumored to be stolen from the Jews back when Adolf ruled the day, and then later stored by the local catholic church to be activated in the time of need.
Anyway, at that time Mr. Zagorec was just a guy driving a limo for his boss, General Cermak. Supposedly he showed himself to be pretty resourceful and managed to get a truck of ammo by himself, so he was rapidly promoted and became the head of a company called RH Alan. The purpose of the company was to buy and smuggle the weapons into the country, regardless of the embargo that was in place. Many allegations arose at that time, claiming that a lot of the money which came into that company was not used for purchasing weapons but was instead stored on various Switzerland and off-shore bank accounts. General Zagorec and most of the top state officials of the time were accused of being behind those accounts.
In the year 2000 when HDZ, Zagorec's party, lost the elections, he fled to Austria, probably fearing possible persecution. Not much was heard about him until 2004 when his son was kidnapped. Soon it turned out that the person behind the kidnapping was Novica Petrac, son of Hrvoje Petrac. It stayed relatively unclear whether it was Novica or Hrvoje who organized the kidnapping, but the purpose of it was to blackmail Zagorec into giving them a couple of million euros. Some say that it was Novica who did it just for the thrill of it and to get some money for his drug habbits. Others say it was something bigger going on between Petrac and Zagorec.
Hrvoje Petrac was actually a friend of Vladimir Zagorec, and one of the most important people associated with the weapon smuggling in the early 90's. He was also one of the richest businessmen here, as he gained ownership of a whole range of companies, usually in pretty suspicious ways. He was suspected of being behind several murders in the region, as well as having huge blackmailing and smuggling operations. During the trial, a notebook was discovered that showed he had connections with pretty much every important mobster and war criminal in this part of the world. It seems that he was the one of the few people who organized General Ante Gotovina's escape, and it was shown that he was closely associated with people who killed the Serbian prime minister Djindjic.
So anyway, to get back at Zagorec, Petrac accused him of stealing 5 million dollars worth of diamonds in the 90's, originally intended to pay for smuggling in a missile system from Russia. Zagorec, who came back for the trial, fled the country again and returned to Austria. President Mesic sent his envoy to meet with Zagorec and offer him a deal. He seemingly agreed to say everything he knows in exchange for freedom. But he secretly recorded the meeting and went to Austrian court claiming his life in Croatia is endangered because he knows too much and people at the top either want to get that from him or kill him.
Ultimately he failed in his demands and was returned to Croatia to stand trial for the diamonds. His attorney was Zvonimir Hodak, also a husband of Ljerka Mintas-Hodak, who was a minister in the government at the time of Zagorec's business ordeals. They had a daughter, Ivana Hodak, who was engaged with Ivor Vucelic until mid summer this year. As Zagorec fled the country, he tried to sell all his businesses, estimated at around 300 000 000 $, and Hodak was supposed to handle that job. On the other side, Vucelic knew some people who were willing to buy the businesses, and they got connected through Ivana Hodak. As the business was on the way, I. Hodak and Vucelic broke up their relationship and the transaction became questionable.
The reason for that was that I. Hodak dumped Vucelic for Ljubo Pavasovic-Viskovic, who is the current attorney of Hrvoje Petrac. Obviously, their relationship was a risk to both parties, as they were both deeply involved in the whole story and probably knew too much. Several days after Zagorec was returned to Zagreb, Ivana hodak was shot dead in the stairway of her house and the killer ran away. Later that day, the ministers of police, justice, and the chief of police were sacked and replaced with people who are not members of the ruling party and are generally considered to be among the best in the country at solving organized and war crime ordeals. Hodak today claimed that it was Petrac who was behind shooting his daughter, but it is so far really unclear whether that is really the case. Supposedly Hodak and Zagorec now agreed to talk and go all the way in saying everything they know, but that is yet to be seen.
Whatever the case, this became too big to stay at this level. The people involved here were at the top of the decision making chain in the 90's and when they start getting killed, you know that this is no longer child's play. I suspect there will be many arrests and inquiries of the former top level officials. Can't say I feel sorry for them, most deserve prison anyways...
So there, feels like a spy novel when I read it :) |
great story :disbelief |
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