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Željko Ražnatović (Serbian Cyrillic: Жељко Ражнатовић), widely known as Arkan, (April 17, 1952 - January 15, 2000), was a Slovenian-born Serbian mobster and paramilitary leader during the Yugoslav Wars.

Early life and problematic start

Ražnatović was born in Brežice, a small town in the Styrian region of southern Slovenia. His father Veljko was a Montenegrin Serb, serving as a high ranking officer in the Yugoslavian air force. Arkan had lived with his mother Slavka, a communist activist, and three older sisters. His parents divorced in his youth. Arkan's father often beat him when he was young, and treated his family harshly as with his army subordinates. As a child Arkan often ran away from home to cause mischief, eventually ending up in a delinquents' institution. He became a petty criminal already in his early teenage years, before graduating to more serious offences as an adult.

In 1972, at the age of twenty, he illegally emigrated to Western Europe, hoping to find respect and fortune through a criminal career. Abroad he met many well-known criminals from Yugoslavia who were later killed. He took his nickname Arkan after a comic strip character. However, the word arcanus in Latin means 'mysterious'. As an armed robber, assailant and murderer he had convictions or warrants in Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Italy. He was imprisoned in Belgium in 1974, escaped in 1977, rearrested in the Netherlands in 1979 but escaped again in 1981. At one point, he was wounded in a clash with police. He fled from dozens of European prisons, including the compound which today is a high security prison for war criminals in the Scheveningen suburb of the Hague. Ražnatović was even on Interpol's ten most wanted list.

In his youth Arkan was a ward of the Slovenian politician Stane Dolanc, his father's friend. Dolanc was chief of the secret police and a close associate of the Yugoslav strongman Josip Broz Tito. Whenever Arkan was in trouble Dolanc helped him as a reward for his services to the Yugoslav secret state police (UDBA). Arkan worked as an undercover agent from 1973, whose job was to carry out assassinations of various terrorists, political emigrants and opponents of the ruling regime.

Arkan was forced to learn the main European languages because of his undercover work in Europe. He spoke fluent English, French and Italian, and was also familiar with German, Swedish and Dutch.

He returned to Serbia in 1981 and continued his criminal career, opening a number of illegal businesses. In November 1983, two federal policemen ambushed Arkan at his house in order to have him arrested and interrogated over some of his activities. He resisted, pulled out his gun and shot and wounded both of them. An intervention from Stane Dolanc effected his release from prison only two days later. This incident increased Arkan's criminal reputation in Belgrade.

Role in Yugoslav wars

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As the political, ethnic and religious situation in the former Yugoslavia in the early nineties became tense, on October 11 1990 Arkan created a paramilitary group named the Serb Volunteer Guard under the auspices of the Yugoslav Peoples Army (JNA) general staff. Arkan was chosen as the leader of this newly founded unit, which was primarily made up of Red Star Belgrade (Crvena Zvezda) soccer club supporters (Source:Ivan Čolovič, "Football Hooligans, and War" Central European University Press, 2000).

In November of 1990, Arkan traveled to Knin for a meeting of the council of war of the Krajina uprising. On the way back to Belgrade after the meeting he was arrested for gun-running by Croatian police at the border crossing between Croatia and Bosnia Dvor na Uni with five other Serbians on November 29, 1990. His group was charged with conspiracy to overthrow the newly formed Croatian state and the attempted assassination of the then newly elected Croatian president Franjo Tuđman. He was released from prison on June 14, 1991 under unclear circumstances, after a sensational political trial in Zagreb, the Croatian capital. Some former state officials later claimed that his release was set up by a secret agreement between the Serbian and Croatian leaderships .

Arkan's Tigers, a paramilitary force he created, set up their headquarters and training camp in a former military facility in Erdut. His volunteer army saw action from mid 1991 to late 1995, initially in Vukovar region of eastern Slavonia, in current Croatia. It is reported that his irregular army consisted of 10,000 well-trained fighters equipped with modern weapons, including a few tanks and helicopters. Casualties of his militia were estimated to be one thousand men. His units were supplied and equipped by the reserves of the Serbian police force during the war in Croatia and Bosnia.

When war began in Bosnia in April 1992, he and his units first moved to Bijeljina, Zvornik and Brčko. They were engaged in fierce combat against armed Bosniaks culminating in the infamous Siege of Sarajevo. His forces were linked with the Vukovar hospital slaughter, Srebrenica massacre and other acts of Ethnic cleansing . In autumn 1995 his troops fought in the area of Banja Luka, Sanski Most and Prijedor where they were routed. Arkan personally lead most of war actions. He is also said to have been associated with looting, plunder and smuggling operations . Arkan rewarded his bravest officers and soldiers with ranks and medals. Whilst his units were known to be highly disciplined, they nevertheless committed acts of unseen brutality against non-Serbian population in Bosnia . "Tigers" were known for executing any captured prisoners .

Arkan was feared and hated from neighboring nations as a butcher and maniac. He was regarded from Western nations as a terrorist and extremist and was proclaimed a notorious Warlord for committing alleged atrocities against civilians . Arkan was considered a dangerous man by many despite his innocent appearance. He was known for his rough behavior toward his soldiers during wartime. In Bosnia, Arkan worked under the supervision of Radovan Karadžić and Biljana Plavšić. His troops were stationed in the Serb rebel republic of Krajina to fight against the Croatian army, and he had a dispute over military operations with the Serbian regional leader of Milan Martić . Arkan was a confidante of Zoran Đinđić and occasionally met with him during the war. During the NATO bombing campaign, Arkan warned Đinđić to leave the country because his life was in danger from Milosevic's secret police . Arkan also had friendly contacts and political plans with Russian ultra-nationalist politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky .

Power and influence in Yugoslavia

Arkan was a very controversial person and a powerful man with high-level connections in the state apparatus. He had significant influence over public spheres of Serbian society. For his public image Arkan presented himself as a defender of Serbs and fighter for freedom and justice. He was known for his multiple personalities, being a strong, often brutal leader in public and more caring and reserved in private. Arkan also organized and financed humanitarian aid for poor families and war orphans. He gave pensions to his crippled volunteers and the families of slain soldiers.

Arkan was glorified by part of the Serb population as a war hero, and was the subject of war songs. Others despised him because of his playboy lifestyle and enormous wealth gained through shady means. There were all kinds of rumors and gossip about his life. He owned a voluminous mansion in the elite Belgrade neighborhood of Dedinje where high-ranking politicians and foreign diplomats reside. Despite being raised an atheist in a family of communists, Arkan made a point of showing public respects to the Serbian Orthodox Church, especially its head Patriarch Pavle. Additionaly, he observed and celebrated various religious holidays, frequently in a very public manner. Many questioned the motives behind these public displays of his newfound religious spirituality and saw it as shameless self-promotion ploy in an attempt at ingratiation with the Serbian public.

On November 3, 1993 Arkan and his followers founded the Party of Serbian Unity, and became its president, but the party lost parliamentary elections and failed to win seats despite an energetic promotional campaign, because of Arkan's notoriety among the masses, rag-tag organized political program, and electoral fraud. Before his assassination, Arkan planned to become a candidate in the presidential elections scheduled for autumn 2000. Despite his murder, the party he founded got 200,000 votes and won 14 seats in the Serbian parliament. After Arkan's death his party no longer followed his ideology.

In the postwar period after the Dayton agreement was signed, Arkan returned to sport and private business. The Serb Volunteer Guard was officially disbanded in April 1996 with the threat to be reactivated in case of war emergency. In June of that year he took over a second class soccer team Obilić which later under his tutorship advanced and became national champion for one season. UEFA under American pressure prohibited Obilić from participation in Europe because of its connections with his alleged war crimes. But Arkan stepped away from the position of president of the club and gave that seat to his wife Ceca, and his club played matches against FC Bayern München and Atletico de Madrid. Arkan was also a chairman of the Yugoslav kick-boxing association.

Arkan's "business" was initially based on controlling protection rackets, money extortion, and the smuggling of oil and luxury items. Later he pursued more legitimate business, and had about four hundred people working for him. He owned casinos, discos, gas stations, pastry shops, stores, bakeries, restaurants, gyms, as well as a private security agency.

Arkan had fathered nine children by five different women and was a great womanizer. His eldest son Mihajlo was born in 1975 from a relationship with a Swedish woman, Agneta. Mihajlo went to war with his father. Then followed two daughters, one from relations with a Belgian woman and other with a Belgrade actress – all three with his acknowledged paternity. Arkan's first wife was Natalija Martinović, professor of Spanish, with whom he had four children. Arkan later divorced her and married the much younger Svetlana Veličković 'Ceca', a popular and attractive folk singer ("turbofolk"), on February 19, 1995. They functioned as a prestigious and glamorous couple often appearing in public. Their children are son Veljko and daughter Anastasija.

Arkan definitely was from a family of warriors. His father Veljko was in charge of the liberation of Priština as army colonel during the Second World War. Arkan's paternal uncle Vojislav was executed as a notable partisan by Italian soldiers. Arkan's grandfather Jokelja reputedly fought against the Turks in the Balkan wars. There is a true story of one distant ancestor of Arkan who killed a Turkish pasha by cutting his head off in revenge for the massive slaughter of Serbian dukes by the Turks in the First Serbian Uprising. That historical event entered all Serbian libraries of resistance and heroism against Turkish tyranny.

Arkan was unofficially allied with Slobodan Milošević, and moved under his control, although he was completely independent in front's actions and decisions. Contacts between them were done through the mediator Radovan Stojičić "Badža", police chief and Milošević's close associate, who was killed in the restaurant "Mamma Mia" in April 1997. Arkan and Badza together organized the territorial defense of Eastern Slavonia, and were friends. From Stojičić's state funeral there exists a famous photograph where Arkan after brief conversation with war weary Milošević stands right behind him and watches him rather discerning. It was used for proving their close relations. But both Milošević and Arkan were very careful to distance from each other in public.

In August 1998, when tensions over Kosovo had already began, Arkan tried to get close to the West. He wrote a letter of support to U.S. president Bill Clinton over the bombings of U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. In the letter he expressed condolences for the victims that died in the attack, and warned Clinton on the dangers of Islamic fundamentalism. An excerpt from his letter reads: "Mr President… do not allow that terrorism continues in this part of Balkan in the Serbian state, which is forever a friend of your state." Clinton ignored him and never responded to the letter.

Role in the Kosovo war

When war broke out in the unstable Serbian province of Kosovo in the summer of 1998, Arkan ordered his officers and soldiers to join the army and police in the fight against the Albanian rebel army UCK, but he personally did not go there to supervise the front situation. Before the worst unrests began, Arkan visited Kosovo on several occasions as a government official, trying to pacify Albanians and to give a sense of security and hope to local Serbs. He also played an important role in the Kosovo war. His center of operations for Kosovo was in the Priština hotel "Grand" where he also owned a bakery "Kruna". After Serbian forces withdrew, his hotel was confiscated by NATO troops in June 1999.

He was indicted on a secret list for the tribunal's chief judge Richard May by ICTY, branch of Hague Tribunal of international justice on September 30, 1997 for war crimes of genocide, killing civilians, crimes against humanity and grave breaches of the Geneva convention of 1949 for customs and traditions of war. The warrant was kept sealed and was not made public until March 31, 1999, when a joint NATO operation against Yugoslavia had already started week earlier. Arkan's indictment was made public by Louise Arbour, then U.N. court's chief prosecutor. The publication of Arkan's indictment was interpreted as a maneuver aimed at preventing him from deploying his "Tigers" paramilitary unit in the escalating conflict in Kosovo. He decisively denied all war crime charges against him in interviews he gave to CNN, BBC stations and other foreign reporters during bombing of Serbia. Arkan blamed NATO for bombing of civilians and creating refugees of all ethnicities, and stated that he would deploy his troops only in the case of NATO direct ground invasion.

During the time of the NATO airstrikes on Yugoslavia, Arkan made a number of appearances via satellite link as a guest on news networks across the nations involved in the attacks. In the U.K he was interviewed by both BBC and Sky and other groups, and in one of them he famously quoted a rather biblical response to the question "Why did Milošević cancel the autonomy of the Kosovar Albanians a few years ago when tensions were high?" when he stated (fluently in English), "The president giveth, and the president taketh, Blessed be the name!"

There are claims that the bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade in which three journalists were killed, and which led to a diplomatic row between the U.S.A. and China, is alleged to have been a result of precise and deliberate targeting because the office of the Chinese military attaché was being used by Arkan to communicate and transmit messages to his `Tigers' in Kosmet. NATO also bombed the Hotel Yugoslavia where Arkan had a casino because of information that it served as his staff for military operations in Kosovo. There were reports that NATO commandos planned to kidnap and kill Arkan. No objective evidence existsto substantiate these rumours.

Murder and post-mortem fame

The process of eliminating men close to Arkan in order to weaken him and his movement began immediately after the end of the Bosnian war. Secret state police organized or allowed dozens of murders of his most devoted and trusted people. His war buddies, long-standing friends, and business partners were all killed professionally within a short period of time. Arkan was angry and touched with these acts against him and felt sorrow for his fallen comrades. This circle of killings of specific types of people who collaborated with him continued even after Arkan's murder.

Arkan was assassinated, on January 15, 2000, at 17:05 GMT in lobby of the elite and fancy Intercontinental Hotel, Belgrade full of hotel guests. The Assassin, Dobrosav Gavrić, was a 23 year old junior member of police mobile brigade. Gavric had ties to underworld and at the time was on sick leave. Gavric walked up alone toward his target from behind. Arkan was seated and chatting with two of his friends. Gavrić waited for a few minutes and used calm and surprise to sneak unnoticed to them and rapidly fired bullets from his duty pistol "CZ 99". Arkan was shot from behind three times in back of the head and lapsed into a coma on the spot, fatally wounded from close range. His companions Milenko Mandić, a business manager, and Dragan Garić, police inspector, were also shot to death by Gavrić. Gavrić was shot and wounded immediately after by Arkan's bodyguard Zvonko Mateović and fell unconscious while one woman was seriously wounded in a further shoot out between them. After complicated surgery Gavrić survived but remained disabled in a wheelchair as result of a spinal wound. Gavrić pleaded innocent and never admitted that he committed the crime. He was convicted guilty and sentenced to 19 years of jail. His accomplices received from 15 to 3 years each, after a one year trial. However the original court verdict was overturned recently because of a lack of evidence and the vagueness of the first trial process. A new trial is being conducted.

Arkan was still alive, despite having been shot in the head. His bodyguard put him into a car whose driver took him to a hospital. Doctors tried resuscitation for over one hour in vain, although they managed to revive him for a moment. Death was officially concluded at 18:50. Arkan was declared dead on arrival having died in his wife's arms on the way to hospital. Police officers refused to drive him on the basis that they were not authorized to do so until an emergency truck arrived.

According to some reliable sources, Arkan's termination was a well-prepared and thought-out plan that was carefully planned for several months. The killing was carried out in mob-style to give the appearance that he was a victim of gang war, but it was actually complex assassination of political nature. The group of conspirators numbered many people. The conspiracy against him involved criminals, businessmen, policemen, and politicians. They all gathered together to get rid of him, each for their own reasons and interests. Some of Arkan's close associates began making ambitious plans for their own path to ascension without him, and joined in plotting as inside spies for a secret project. A huge amount of money was promised for his head, about 5 million DM which after the bloody job was done they would split among themselves. When later the terrible truth about his slaying was revealed to public it became clear that Arkan was not killed by foreign enemies but by his countrymen.

Slobodan Milošević gave a top secret order for urgent removal of Arkan in June 1999 to his henchman, former chief of secret state security Radomir 'Rade' Marković. Milošević's son Marko financed the secret operation of Arkan's assassination codenamed as "Commander's liquidation". Marko Milošević was said to have a harsh quarrel with Arkan himself over oil-smuggling control. Rade Marković ordered his outside operative Andrija Drašković a "businessman", to find killers and coordinate the rest of the mission. Drašković hired his fellow gangsters Dragan Nikolić nicknamed Gagi, and Zoran Uskoković called Skole. Dragan Nikolić mixed his friend Dobrosav Gavrić and relative Milan Đuričić, in the secret mission. They were people in whom Gagi had full confidence. Đuričić was his first cousin while Gavrić was his best man. Together with Skole and his gang they secretly planned and organized Arkan's murder in his apartment. There is also information that Borislav Pelević served as inside man for the plot against Arkan. Security services also wiretapped Arkan shortly before his murder. For four months this group of criminals followed Arkan's movements and whereabouts, learning his habits.

Arkan gained too much power and become dangerous for the regime, especially after publication of Milošević's indictment in May that year. After the capitulation of Serbia to NATO forces in Kosovo, Arkan did not needed them for wars any longer and now became an unpleasant witness to Milošević's secret sponsorship and state involvement in wars. In fact Arkan knew a lot about the state's internal functions and they were afraid they could not control him any more. But a hidden motive why they wanted him dead is the hatred and envy they felt toward him.

After Arkan's brutal and violent death many concluded that he "got what he deserved" and "died in the same manner as he lived". Some stated that they preferred to see him on trial in The Hague. One part of Serbs were shocked while others felt relief. Pro-west oriented Serbs consider Arkan a shame for their nation. For them he reflects an insane bandit and erratic warlord. For peasants, Arkan represents a ultimate patriot and heroic legend.

In the last years of his life up to moment of his death Arkan calmed himself turning to family, friends and business, abandoning politics and contacts in the underworld. He began living a normal life and believed he get over all obstacles and worries in life. Arkan even thought to write a self biography with memoirs. The title of that book would be as he once said to journalists "I, Arkan". His enemies did not allow him to grow old in peace, have remorse for his sins nor to defend himself on trial by rights of law.

Željko Ražnatović Arkan was buried with military honors by his volunteers and with a Serbian orthodox mourning ceremonial on January 20, 2000. Around 20,000 people attended his funeral. There are still speculations and doubts among Serbian public concerning his fascinating life and the shady legacy he left.

Personal Quotes

• "It's better to live one day as a lion, than one hundred years as a worm."

• "I am going to become a Serb Wiesenthal."

• "If only Russia were stronger, this chaos for Serbia would have never happened."

• "It is obvious the political platform of my party is much more in the spirit of Dayton Agreement than any of leading national parties in Bosnia; and because of this, my party deserves to be subsidized by the OSCE."

• "Milošević is a true Serb leader."

• "I never hated Croats, I just shot at them."

• "I was first for democracy after communism fell, but the America must realize democracy is not imposed with bombs."

• "As a proud Serb I would be happier if those people bravely died on the battlefield, so we can remember them as heroes who defended their land rather than men who disgracefully escaped as refugees."

• "Serbia isn't Somalia."

• "We are tigers and we will certainly not allow the Serbian people to be taken to the slaughterhouse again. If they don't comprehend this, we have no choice but to march on Zagreb and completely annihilate the Croats."

• "Security doesn't exist here because our enemies draw in, among us."

• "I am watching all of you idlers."

• "I don't like intellectuals, they represent a closed circle."

• "My only supreme commander is my partriarch."

• "Serbia is in deterrent enemy encirclement."

• "There is no front line here, this is a hellish war."

• "Yes I was on the other side of law, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. It's not a way to solve any problems, it was just for a decent life and recreation."

• "Did I ever say I was a good boy in my childhood or that I finished high school with success? No, I was a mischievous little devil."

• "They don't have to rape anybody. Serbian women adore my 'Tigers.'"

• "We are sanctioned and in isolation. The reason why? We lost the media war."

• "If we have managed to survive 500 years under the Turks we can endure at least 100 more under sanctions."

• "As a warrior I am sending a message to Croats and their former masters, Nazi Germany, and all Catholic mafia who bring these problems upon us: distance yourselves from any Serb Volunteer Guard soldiers and the Serbian people."

• "We can defeat anyone, even the whole world."

• "They slaughtered my brothers, what do you expect me to do, set their prisoners free?"

• "I am not a rich man, I have borrowed money in bad times, so I am in debt now."

• "I've loved only two women in my life, I've never been a womanizer."

• "If somebody wants to kill me, he will - no matter what stands in his way."

• "Tuđman has no chance."

• "We shall manure Kosovo soil with Albanian terrorists."

• "Muslims are like wild dogs. You can't deal with them, you can only kill them."

• "We came here to help these people."

• "I have nine children. I would be crazy if I wanted a war."

• "Brother Serbs, what cattle you are!"

• "I attacked in the wedge of the enemy like Caesar. When we defeat the foreign enemies, we shall turn to Serbian traitors. We will not kill or pursue them, we are going to whip their backsides fifty times to set them straight."

• "First let the Hague Tribunal summon those who destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, those who killed civilians in those two towns, those who attacked Panama and Grenada, and afterwards they may summon me, for I was only defending the Serbian men and women, and I was defending myself."

• "The Hague to judge me? That is funny. I don't give a damn about them. I can sooner judge them."

• "To threaten me with murder...I've risked my life a thousand times, I've gotten threats from everyone. It is silly, simple threats don't disturb me at all."

• "If you have followed my entire life story way I have, you would see I am man of my own, not someone else's man."

• "They have been waiting for eight years to tell me that I am a war criminal and now they do it."

• "People are simply running away from the bombing. People are simply running away because you (NATO) are bombing them 24 hours a day. As well as bombing Yugoslavia, you're bombing Pristina and all parts of Kosovo. Not only Albanians are running away. Serbs are running away. Turks are running away. Gypsies are running away. Everybody is running away."

• "I'm not going to hide, I'm not going to surrender. I will go on with my normal life."

• "You have no proof that any of my volunteers have been in Kosovo. Secondly I have no private troops, they do not exist. I have only volunteers and we are all under the command of the Yugoslav army."

• "If NATO troops will come with ground forces, I will be the first volunteer in the Yugoslav army to defend my country, my family, my children."

• "I fought in the war in 1991 and 1992. Muslim soldiers were killed, but my soldiers were killed too. I only killed enemy soldiers in a fair fight."

• "I am proud to have NATO as my enemy, it means I am a good Serb."

• "I am not afraid of anything or anyone."

External links

• BBC News | Arkan: "I'm not going to hide."

• 1952 births
• 2000 deaths
• Deaths by firearm
• Serbian bank robbers
• Serbian criminals
• Serbian mobsters
• Serbian soldiers
• Murdered military people
• War criminals