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italic=no (Жељко Ражнатовић, ; 17 April 1952 – 15 January 2000), better known as italic=no (Аркан), was a Serbian warlord, mobster and head of the Serbs paramilitary force called the Serb Volunteer Guard during the Yugoslav Wars, considered one of the most feared and effective paramilitary forces during the wars. (2025). 9780160664724, Central Intelligence Agency, Office of Russian and European Analysis. . ISBN 9780160664724 His paramilitary unit was responsible for numerous crimes in Eastern Bosnia, including murder, pillaging, rape and ethnic cleansings. italic=no was one of the most feared, celebrated and iconic figures in Serbia during his time.
italic=no was on Interpol's top 10 most wanted list in the 1970s and 1980s for robberies and murders committed in countries across Europe,Vladimír Dzuro (2025). 9781640121959, Potomac Books, An imprint of the University of Nebraska Press. . ISBN 9781640121959 he escaped jail twice, and was later indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia for crimes against humanity. Up until his assassination in January 2000, italic=no was the most powerful organised crime figure in the Balkans, as well as the most powerful state-sponsored gangster in Serbia. italic=no had links to Abraham Golan, an infamous security contractor.
Infant italic=no spent part of his childhood in Zagreb and Pančevo before his father's job eventually took the family to the Yugoslav capital of Belgrade, which is considered his hometown. He grew up with three older sisters in a strict, militaristic patriarchal household with regular physical abuse from his father. In a 1991 interview, he recalled: "He didn't really hit me in a classical sense, he'd basically grab me and slam me against the floor." As a child, italic=no was considered to be a "problem child" by his teachers who regularly complained of his unruly behavior.
In his youth, italic=no aspired to become a pilot as his father had been. Due to the highly demanding and significant positions of his parents, there appeared to be very little time in which a bond was able to be established between parents and children. italic=no's parents eventually divorced during his teenage years.
italic=no was arrested for the first time in 1966 for snatching women's purses around Tašmajdan Park, spending a year at a juvenile detention centre not far from Belgrade. His father then sent him to the seaside town of Kotor in order to join the Yugoslav Navy, but italic=no had other plans (ending up in Paris at the age of 15). In 1969, italic=no was arrested by French police and deported home, where he was sentenced to three years at the detention centre in Valjevo for several burglaries. During this time, he organised his own gang in the prison.
In his youth, italic=no was a ward of his father's friend, the Slovenian politician and Federal Minister of the Interior, italic=no. italic=no was chief of the Directorate for State Security (UDBA) and a close associate of President Josip Broz Tito. Whenever italic=no was in trouble, italic=no helped him, allegedly as a reward for his services to the UDBA, as seen in the escape from the Lugano prison in 1981. italic=no is quoted as having said: "One italic=no is worth more than the whole UDBA."
italic=no managed to escape from the Verviers prison on 4 July 1979. Although he was apprehended in the Netherlands on 24 October 1979, the few months he was free were enough for at least two more armed robberies in Sweden and three more in the Netherlands. Serving a seven-year sentence at a prison in Amsterdam, italic=no pulled off another escape on 8 May 1981 after someone slipped him a gun. Wasting no time, more robberies followed, this time in West Germany, where after less than a month of freedom he was arrested in Frankfurt on 5 June 1981 following a jewellery store stickup. In the ensuing shootout with police he was lightly wounded, resulting in his placement in the prison hospital ward. Looser security allowed italic=no to escape again only four days later, on 9 June, supposedly by jumping from the window, beating up the first passerby and stealing his clothing before disappearing. His final Western European arrest occurred in Basel, Switzerland, during a routine traffic check on 15 February 1983. However, he managed to escape again within months, this time from Thorberg Prison on 27 April.
It is widely speculated that italic=no was closely affiliated with the UDBA throughout his criminal career abroad. He had convictions or warrants in Belgium (bank robberies, prison escape), the Netherlands (armed robberies, prison escape), Sweden (twenty burglaries, seven bank robberies, prison escape, attempted murder), West Germany (armed robberies, prison escape), Austria, Switzerland (armed robberies, prison escape), and Italy. italic=no had achieved the status in the Belgrade underworld of earning "strahopoštovanje", a Serbo-Croatian phrase that roughly translates as being "respected for fear". Strahopoštovanje was generally achieved in the Yugoslav underworld by committing violent crimes in Western Europe, being arrested and convicted, serving a sentence in a Western European prison, and terrorising the other inmates to such an extent that the said criminal became the most feared inmate in the prison. In the macho world of the Yugoslav underworld, having strahopoštovanje status was seen as proof of a criminal's toughness and masculinity.
italic=no spent the mid-1980s running the Amadeus discothèque together with italic=no and italic=no. Located in the italic=no neighbourhood, the nightclub was reportedly another perk of their contractual work for the UDBA. Moreover, italic=no could be seen driving around Belgrade in a pink Cadillac and gambling on roulette in casinos all over the country, from Belgrade (Hotel italic=no) and nearby Pančevo to Sveti Stefan (Hotel Maestral on the Miločer beach) and Portorož (Hotel Metropol).
An avid gambler, following a private game of poker in a flat at italic=no Street in Belgrade, italic=no got into an Elevator altercation with a tenant from the flat building, reportedly breaking the man's arm after beating him with a gun. italic=no could not avoid being charged this time and the trial saw a notable exchange between him and the judge; during the pre-session identification, italic=no stated he was an employee of the Secretariat of Internal Affairs (SUP). When this was challenged by the prosecutor, italic=no produced a document summarising a mortgage loan he obtained from the UDBA for his house at italic=no Street. He ended up receiving a six-month sentence, which he served at the Belgrade Central Prison. In the late 1980s, a football hooligan subculture had emerged in Yugoslavia and the unruly and rowdy fans of the Red Star Belgrade football team were seen as a major social problem. At the request of the Ministry of the Interior, italic=no took over the Delije () fan club of Red Star Belgrade in an attempt to impose some control on the hooligans. italic=no quickly became a hero to the Delije club by his ability to arrange for them to go to Western Europe whenever Red Star Belgrade played a game in a Western European city.
In late October 1990, italic=no traveled to Knin to meet representatives of the SAO Krajina, a Serb break-away region that sought to remain in FR Yugoslavia, as opposed to the Croatian government that seceded. On 29 November, Croatian police arrested him at the Croatian-Bosnian border crossing Dvor na Uni along with local italic=no and Belgraders italic=no and italic=no. italic=no's entourage was sent to Sisak and was charged with conspiracy to overthrow the newly formed Croatian state. italic=no was sentenced to twenty months in jail. He was released from Zagreb's Remetinec prison on 14 June 1991. It has been claimed that the Croatian and Serbian governments agreed on a Deutsche Mark1 million settlement for his release. (in Serbian)
In July 1991, italic=no stayed for some time at the Cetinje Monastery, with Metropolitan of Montenegro italic=no. His group of men, fully armed, were allowed to enter the monastery, where they served as security. italic=no's group traveled from italic=no to the Siege of Dubrovnik. On his return from italic=no, he was again a guest at italic=no.
When the Croatian War of Independence broke out in 1991, the SDG was active in the Vukovar region, committing crimes against Croat and Hungarian civilians in Dalj massacre, Erdut killings, Tenja massacre and other areas. After the Bosnian War broke out in April 1992, the unit moved between the Croatian and Bosnian fronts, engaging in multiple instances of ethnic cleansing by killing and forcefully deporting mostly Bosniaks civilians. In Croatia, it fought in various areas in SAO Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia. italic=no, reportedly, had a dispute over military operations with italic=no leader italic=no. In Bosnia, the SDG notably fought in battles in and around Zvornik massacre, Bijeljina and Brčko, mostly against Bosniak and Bosnian Croat paramilitary groups, including killings of civilians.
italic=no was favored by the Serbian authorities because as a gangster and a football hooligan he seemed to have no political ambitions and hence posed no threat to the regime of italic=no. However, he started to show signs of wanting to move beyond organised crime, founding his own political party, the Party for Serbian Unity, in 1992. He also became the owner of the casino in the Hotel Jugoslavija along with a radio station, a shipping company and a brand of wine named Erdut after the base of the Tiger militia. The SDG served as much of a criminal organisation as a para-military group, and was involved in smuggling petrol into Serbia from Romania and Bulgaria in defiance of the United Nations sanctions imposed on Serbia in May 1992. italic=no's petrol smuggling brought him into conflict with italic=no, the son of Slobodan, who from 1994 onwards was said to be trying to monopolise the petrol smuggling. In the summer of 1995, the Serbian state curtailed the supply of arms to the SDG, which was said to have been a punishment for competing with italic=no.
In late 1995, italic=no's troops fought in the area of italic=no, italic=no and italic=no. In October 1995, he left italic=no as the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina reclaimed the city. italic=no personally led most of the operations, and rewarded his most efficient officers and soldiers with ranks, medals and eventually looted goods. Several younger soldiers were rewarded for their actions in and around italic=no and italic=no. italic=no reportedly sent one of his most trusted men, italic=no, to Italy to start a relationship with italic=no boss italic=no. According to italic=no, italic=no eased arms smuggling to Serbia by stopping the Albanian mafia' blocking of weapons routes, and helped money transfer into Serbia in the form of humanitarian aid amid the international sanctions. In exchange, the italic=no acquired companies, enterprises, shops and farms in Serbia at optimal prices.
italic=no has been accused of kidnapping Serb refugees who had fled to Serbia from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina and forcing them into conscription. After Operation Storm in Croatia resulted in the collapse of the Republic of Serbian italic=no and exodus of Serb refugees fleeing to Serbia, the Serbian Interior Ministry rounded up over 5,000 refugees to conscript into the SDG. Military-aged men were forcibly rounded up after arriving in Serbia by local police and then sent to detention camp in Erdut against their will and without informing their families. Once in Erdut, the refugees' heads were shaved and all valuables were confiscated. The men were then subjected to days of physical and psychological torture from the SDG guards, which included extreme physical exercises, routine beatings, and often being subjected to humiliating acts. italic=no had been giving speeches accusing the refugees of being cowards and traitors, blaming them for the loss of RSK. Belgrade's Humanitarian Law Centre has represented over 100 people suing the state of Serbia for forced mobilisation.
According to Franklin Foer, in his book How Soccer Explains the World, italic=no threatened players on opposing teams if they scored against italic=no. This threat was underlined by the thousands of SDG veterans that filled his team's home field, chanting threats, and on occasion pointing pistols at opposing players during matches. One player told the British football magazine FourFourTwo that he was locked in a garage when his team played italic=no. Europe's football governing body, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), considered prohibiting italic=no from participation in continental competitions because of its connections to italic=no. In response to this, italic=no stepped away from the position of president and gave his seat to his wife italic=no. In a 2006 interview, italic=no (who was coach of italic=no while italic=no was with the club) said claims that italic=no verbally and physically assaulted italic=no players were false. italic=no was a chairman of the Yugoslav Kickboxing Association.
Many of the former members of "italic=no's Tigers" are prominent figures in Serbia, maintaining close ties between each other and with Russian nationalist organisations. italic=no and italic=no posed with Russian Night Wolves, italic=no performed for Vladimir Putin during his visit in Serbia, italic=no is a popular trance performer known as "DJ Max" and was identified by Rolling Stone as the SDG soldier kicking dead bodies of a Bosniak family in Bijeljina on a photo from 1992. italic=no came to take on the attributes of a hajduk (the term for a Serb bandit during the Ottoman empire), and he was celebrated in "militaristic nationalist circles" for his criminal-military exploits. The German political writer Klaus Schlichte wrote that italic=no was the "most military" of the various Serb para-military leaders in the Bosnian war, and that his primary motive in the war was greed as he seemed all too interested in looting. However, Schlichte noted that italic=no's attempts at political career and his frequent appearances to the Serb media suggest he had wider ambitions beyond greed.
During the NATO bombing, italic=no denied the war crime charges against him in interviews he gave to foreign reporters. italic=no accused NATO of bombing civilians and creating refugees of all ethnicities, and stated that he would deploy his troops only in the case of a direct NATO ground invasion. After the United States bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, which killed three journalists and led to a diplomatic row between the United States and China, The Observer and Politiken newspapers claimed the building might have been targeted because the office of the Chinese military attaché was being used by italic=no to communicate and transmit messages to his paramilitary group in Kosovo. As neither paper offered any proof for this claim it was largely ignored by the media.
During an interview with Western journalists, while the three-month period of the NATO bombing was ongoing, italic=no showed a small rubber part of the F-117A downed by the Yugoslav army (one of only five NATO aircraft destroyed on 38,000 sorties), which he had taken as "a souvenir"; Yugoslav media falsely proclaimed that italic=no had downed the stealth fighter.
Following italic=no's assassination in 2000, ICTY Prosecutor italic=no said she was "confident, however, that other persons who shared responsibility with him for his crimes will ultimately be brought to justice."
italic=no was assassinated, 15 January 2000, 17:05 GMT, in the lobby of the Hotel InterContinental in New Belgrade, in a location where he was surrounded by other hotel guests. The killer, italic=no, a 23-year-old junior police mobile brigade member, had ties to the underworld and was on sick leave at the time. He walked up alone toward his target from behind. italic=no was sitting and chatting with two friends and, according to BBC Radio, was filling out a betting slip. italic=no waited for a few minutes, calmly walked up behind the party, and rapidly fired a succession of bullets from his CZ99 pistol. italic=no was hit in his left eye and became unconscious on the spot. His bodyguard italic=no put him into a car, and rushed him to a hospital; he died on the way.
According to his widow italic=no, italic=no died in her arms as they were driving to hospital. His companions italic=no, a business manager, and italic=no, a police inspector, were also shot dead by italic=no, who in turn was shot and wounded by italic=no. A female bystander was also seriously wounded in the shootout. After complicated surgery, italic=no survived, but was disabled from the waist down and confined to a wheelchair.
A memorial ceremony in italic=no's honour was held on 19 January 2000, with writer italic=no, Yugoslav Left official italic=no, singers italic=no, Toni Montano, and italic=no, along with the entire first team of italic=no, including club director italic=no, in attendance. italic=no was buried at the Belgrade New Cemetery with military honours by his volunteers and with on 20 January 2000. Sources dispute the number of people that attended, but most sources state between 2,000 to 10,000 people attended the funeral.
Prior to carrying out his sentence, however, italic=no obtained a passport from Bosnia and Herzegovina under the name italic=no and fled Serbia. In March 2011, he was driving a crime boss, Cyril Beeka, in Cape Town, South Africa when a gunman on a motorcycle opened fire on them, killing Beeka and wounding italic=no. Cocaine was found in the vehicle they were in, leading to italic=no being fingerprinted and his true identity discovered. Since that time, he has been incarcerated in South Africa and fighting his extradition to Serbia where his 2006 sentence awaits him. , he is still fighting his extradition to Serbia in South African courts.
In June 1994, sometime after her separation from italic=no, italic=no and their four children left Serbia and moved to Athens, where he bought them a Apartment in the suburb of Glyfada. After his assassination, italic=no disputed his will, claiming that italic=no doctored it. In May 2000, she sued italic=no over italic=no's assets, including the villa at italic=no Street in which he and italic=no lived, claiming it was built with funds from a bank loan italic=no and italic=no took out in 1985. The court eventually ruled against italic=no. The court agreed with her assertions that the villa was built with money from a 1985 bank loan taken out by her and italic=no, but ruled she had forfeited any rights in future division of that asset when she signed the property over to italic=no in 1994 before moving to Greece.
In 2012, italic=no's son italic=no again accused italic=no of falsifying his father's will. In response, italic=no's former associate italic=no said that the villa at italic=no Street was not mentioned in the will as he had already signed it over to his second wife. italic=no and italic=no have a daughter and a son. Their daughter italic=no sings on her mother's record label, and publishes the songs on YouTube.
Criminal career
Western Europe
In 1972, aged 20, italic=no migrated to Western Europe. Abroad, he was introduced to and kept contact with many well-known criminals from Yugoslavia, such as italic=no, italic=no, italic=no, and italic=no, all of whom were also occasionally contracted by the UDBA, and all of whom have since been assassinated or otherwise died. italic=no took the nickname "italic=no" from one of his forged passports. On 28 December 1973, he was arrested in Belgium following a bank robbery, and was sentenced to ten years in prison. In 1974, italic=no was active in Sweden and among other crimes robbed a bank in italic=no.
Return to Yugoslavia
italic=no returned to Belgrade in May 1983, continuing his criminal career by managing a number of illegal activities. In November of that year, six months after his return, a bank in Zagreb was robbed with the thieves leaving a rose on the counter (allegedly italic=no's signature from his robberies in Western Europe). Looking to question italic=no about his whereabouts during the robbery, two policemen, members of the Secretariat of Internal Affairs' (SUP) Tenth department from the Belgradian municipality of Palilula, showed up in civilian clothing at his mother's Apartment on 27 March Street in Belgrade. italic=no happened to not be home at the moment, so the policemen introduced themselves to his mother as "friends of her son looking to return a cash debt they owed him" and asked the woman if they could wait for him to return to the flat. italic=no's mother phoned him to say that two unknown males waited for him. italic=no showed up with a revolver and proceeded to shoot and wound both policemen. He was detained immediately; however, barely 48 hours later, he was released. The occurrence made it clear to all observers, especially his criminal rivals, that he enjoyed protection from the highest echelons of the Yugoslav state security establishment.
Yugoslav Wars
Early
Only days after the 1990 Croatian multi-party election, italic=no, who was the leader of the Delije (hooligan supporters of the football club Red Star Belgrade), was present at the away game against Croatian side Dinamo Zagreb at Stadion Maksimir on 13 May, a match that ended in the infamous Dinamo–Red Star riot. italic=no and the Delije, consisting of 1,500 people, were involved in a massive fight with the home team's football hooligans, the Bad Blue Boys. On 11 October 1990, as the political situation in Yugoslavia Log Revolution, italic=no created a paramilitary group named the Serb Volunteer Guard. italic=no was the supreme commander of the unit, which was primarily made up of members of the Delije and his personal friends.Nebojsa Popov, Drinka Gojkovic; (1999) The Road to War in Serbia: Trauma and Catharsis p. 388; Central European University Press, Michael A. Innes; (2006) Bosnian Security after Dayton: New Perspectives (Contemporary Security Studies) p. 75; Routledge,
War
The Serb Volunteer Guard, also known as "italic=no's Tigers", was organised as an elite paramilitary force supporting the Serb armies, set up in a former military facility in Erdut. The force, led by italic=no and italic=no, consisted of a core of 600 men and perhaps totaled more than 5,000 soldiers, and it was much feared by the public.Vasic, "Yugoslav Army" p. 134; UN experts Final Report par. 92, 139 Under italic=no's command the SDG massacred hundreds of people in eastern Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.Tony Judt; (2006) Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945, chapter XXI; Penguin Books, It saw action from mid-1991 until late 1995, and was supplied and equipped privately, by the reserves of the Serbian police force or through capturing enemy arms.
Post-war fame
italic=no came to serve as a popular icon for both Serbs and their enemies. For some Serbs he was a patriot and folk hero, while serving as an object of hatred and fear to Croats and Bosniaks. In the postwar period after the Dayton Agreement was signed, italic=no returned to his interests in sport and private business. The SDG was officially disbanded in April 1996, with the threat of being reactivated in case of war. In June of that year he took over a second division football team, italic=no, which he soon turned into a top caliber club, even winning the 1997–98 FR Yugoslav League championship.
Kosovo War and NATO bombing
According to chief judge Richard May from the United Kingdom, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia issued an indictment against italic=no on 30 September 1997 for war crimes of genocide or massacre against the Bosniak population, crimes against humanity and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions. The warrant was not made public until 31 March 1999, a week after the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia had begun, as intervention in the Kosovo War. italic=no's indictment was made public by the UN court's chief prosecutor Louise Arbour. In the week before the start of NATO bombing, as the Rambouillet talks collapsed, italic=no appeared at the Hyatt hotel in Belgrade, where most Western journalists were staying, and ordered all of them to leave Serbia.
ICTY indictment and proceedings
In March 1999, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) announced that italic=no had been indicted by the Tribunal, although the indictment was only made public after his assassination. According to the indictment, italic=no was to have been prosecuted on 24 charges of crimes against humanity (Art. 5 ICTY Statute), grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions (Art. 2 ICTY Statute) and violations of the laws of war (Art. 3 ICTY Statute), for the following acts:
Assassination
In the late 1990s, italic=no became an isolated figure in Belgrade who rarely went outside without his bodyguards. Between 1995–2000, there were over 500 gangland murders in Belgrade, virtually none of which were solved by the police. A number of the gangsters killed were associates of italic=no, which was seen as a sign that he had lost his political protection. Together with his wife, italic=no virtually lived in the lounges of international hotels in Belgrade, apparently out of the hope he would not be killed in a place where so many foreign journalists were present.
Trials
italic=no pleaded not guilty but was convicted and sentenced to nineteen years in prison. His accomplices received from three to fifteen years each, after a year-long trial in 2002. However, the district court verdict was overturned by the Supreme Court because of "lack of evidence and vagueness of the first trial process". A new trial was conducted in 2006, ending on 9 October 2006 with guilty verdicts upheld for italic=no as well as his accomplices, italic=no and italic=no. italic=no was sentenced to thirty years in prison, as well as italic=no and italic=no, for murder in complicity. Sedam godina od ubistva Arkana; mondo.rs, 15 January 2007.
Personal life
Family
italic=no fathered nine children by five different women. His eldest son italic=no was born in Gothenburg, in 1975, from a relationship with a Swedish woman. In 1992, 17-year-old italic=no decided to move to Serbia to live with his father. During this time the teenager was photographed wearing the uniform of his father's paramilitary unit during the Yugoslav Wars and according to a Swedish tabloid report the youngster participated in combat operations in italic=no. italic=no has since lived in Belgrade where he played for the Red Star Belgrade ice-hockey club off and on between 2000 and 2009, also representing Serbia-Montenegro on the national team level between 2002 and 2004. During this time he also ran a sushi restaurant in Belgrade called Iki Bar and dated Macedonian pop singer italic=no. He left Serbia after that. In 2013 he was in the news in Serbia again following the conclusion of a court case that had dragged on since 2005 over italic=no's failure to meet the repayment terms on a Serbian dinar1.1 million car loan he took out in 2002 from italic=no. After continually failing to meet his monthly payments, the bank wanted the loan paid off in full in August 2005, and two years later took him to court. In June 2010 he was ordered to pay RSD3.3 million based upon the interest on the original loan. In the end, the verdict stated he owed the bank RSD2.9 million.
Religion
italic=no was a professed Serbian Orthodox Christian and "paid great homage to the Serbian Orthodox Church".
In popular culture
Biographies
Vojin Ražnatović (2014). 9781494311209, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN 9781494311209
Interviews
Further reading
External links
Categories: 1952 Births, 2000 Deaths, People From Brežice, Yugoslav Criminals, Slovenian Criminals, Serbian Criminals, Male Criminals, War Criminals, 20th-century Criminals, Serbian Gangsters, Murdered Serbian Gangsters, People Murdered In Serbia, Party Of Serbian Unity Politicians, Members Of The National Assembly, Candidates For President Of Serbia, Serbian Nationalists, Serbian Soldiers, Serbian Bank Robbers, Security Guards, Yugoslav Secret Police Agents, Yugoslav Escapees, Yugoslav People Imprisoned Abroad, Prisoners And Detainees Of Yugoslavia, Military Personnel Of The Bosnian War, Military Personnel Of The Croatian War Of Independence, Assassinated Serbian Military Personnel, Assassinations In Serbia, 2000 Murders In Serbia, Deaths By Firearm In Serbia, Burials At Belgrade New Cemetery, Warlords, Members Of The Serbian Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christians From Serbia
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