About Me
Zelko Raznjatovic, the Serbian paramilitary leader better known as Arkan, died on January 23, 2000 much the way he lived, with bullets flying. A lifetime criminal well-known to European police agencies,Arkan became a modern folk hero among Serbs for championing Serbian nationalism.
Arkan took up the nationalist cause in 1990 with the formation of a paramilitary group called the Tigers. With connections among the police and the army, Arkan built a formidable fighting force that used mass executions to drive Muslims, Albanians, and other ethnic groups out of regions OF Serbia it was well known, Arkan operated without fear of reprisal. UN occupation forces in the Balkans often found themselves waiting at Tiger checkpoints while his men smuggled in goods banned by UN sanctions against Yugoslavia. Ironically, Arkan built much of his considerable wealth trading in such things as cigarettes, oil, and currency, all of which were made scarce by the sanctionsArkan rode his military exploits into politics, winning election to the Serbian parliament in 1992 and again in 1993. His Serbian Unity Party never turned into an important body, however. By 1995, he saw the last of the battlefield and retired the military attire in favor of a suit. His legend grew when he married Serbian pop star Ceca in a wedding attended by the who's who in the Yugoslav mafia. Later he bought the Obilic soccer club, a perennial loser, and turned it into league champions, Combined with his wealth and charm, such flamboyant exploits continued to win over Serbians, and many foreign journalistsDespite his transparent innocence, something from Arkan's past caught up with him in 2000. The former hitman for the communist Yugoslav government of the late 1980s was shot in the head in the lobby of a Belgrade hotel. While the police arrested three men a week later, rumor and mystery still surrounded his killers. The police said rival mafia groups, but most like it was the police themselves, acting for Milosevic. or the CIA
