Trends in Post-Yugoslav Organized Crime

Vojno delo

his paper discusses the common heritage of the Western Balkans in connection with organized crime, which, it can be claimed, did not significantly manifest under socialism. The disintegration of the former Yugoslavia led to war, destruction, and overall increase in crime, including organized crime. The factors that especially contributed to that, besides the war, are: the transition process, the increase in the level of corruption, inefficient functioning of the state apparatus, economic decline, and trade sanctions imposed by the United Nations which resulted in a sort of semilegal cooperation between governmental authorities and organized criminal groups in the Western Balkans. Local wars in the former Yugoslavia enabled the expansion of illegal arms trafficking, theft and smuggling of motor vehicles, and smuggling of all kinds of excise goods, especially oil and cigarettes. The trafficking of narcotics became a very lucrative and widespread activity of criminal groups, with the geo-strategic position of the Western Balkans countries being one of the contributing factors. The beginning of democratic changes in Serbia marked the commencement of the fight against organized crime. It was also the start of the creation of the legal regulatory system to counter organized crime, which involves interstate cooperation at both the regional and global level, as well as the adoption of international conventions and standards. Consequently, a special police unit for combating organized crime was established within the Serbian Ministry of Interior. The Republic of Serbia, like most countries in the region, has adopted a series of legislative measures to combat organized crime, which come from experiences of other countries that have shown good results. Specific aspects of the investigative procedure and collecting evidence of organized crime cannot be achieved using conventional methods of investigation, such as home, other premises and persons' search warrants, temporary confiscation of items, questioning of the accused, witnesses' hearing, etc. In these efforts the basic dilemma is the level of proportionality between security and freedom, because the methods of an undercover investigation are special methods that are used to temporarily restrict the fundamental rights and freedoms of men, for the purposes of combating complex forms of crime.

Historically the Balkans served as a bridge between Europe and Asia. In this way, the Balkan Peninsula was also used by various criminal groups as a transit country for trafficking and smuggling various goods to Europe. Despite these activities having taken place for centuries, the phenomenon of organized crime in the Balkans has only become so alarming during the last decades of the twentieth century. Specifically, the great economic crisis of the early 80-ies of the XX century that gripped the former Yugoslavia and other countries of Eastern Europe, followed by economic sanctions and various political conflicts, provided optimal conditions for the emergence of organized crime in the Balkans. Meanwhile, social factors as well as legal and institutional vacuums, which developed during the transition period most of the countries in the region underwent, contributed to the rapid development of organized crime in the Balkans so that after a short time, the whole Balkan region had become one of the most important epicenters of the international organized crime.

This paper investigates the topic of organised crime in the region of Western Balkans. Significantly, it focuses on the types and illicit activities of organised crime groups and their connection with public administration. Ominously, Wester Balkans, a region which had been out of the spotlight of conflicts, after the Yugoslav and Kosovo wars, and considered to be on a path towards reconciliation and prosperity is once again at stake. This can be attributed in part to the deficiency of the region – and its allies – to counter organised crime and corruption. In that respect, new challenges of security emerge that necessitate a collective response from the international community.

A new report on organized crime in the Western Balkans and its impact on politics and stability. The report “Crooked Kaleidoscope – Organized Crime in the Balkans” by the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, urges countries and organizations that have invested so much economically and politically over the past 25 years to stay engaged in the region and help it avoid back-sliding. In particular, it calls for stronger measures to fight corruption, enhance justice, and go after the proceeds of crime rather than just focusing on police reform

Mediterranean Politics, 2007

European Journal of Social Sciences Education and Research, 2015

The profound changes within the Albanian society, including Albania, Kosovo and Macedonia, before and after they proclaimed independence (in exception of Albania), with the establishment of the parliamentary system resulted in mass spread social negative consequences such as crime, drugs, prostitution, child beggars on the street etc. As a result of these occurred circumstances emerged a substantial need for changes within the legal system in order to meet and achieve the European standards or behaviors and the need for adoption of many laws imported from abroad, but without actually reading the factual situation of the psycho-economic position of the citizens and the consequences of the peoples’ occupations without proper compensation, as a remedy for the victims of war or peace in these countries. The sad truth is that the perpetrators not only weren’t sanctioned, but these regions remained an untouched haven for further development of criminal activities, be it from the public st...

Over the past two decades, following the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union, more than 20 newly independent and quasi-sovereign states were formed. During this period, headline-grabbing images of violence and a myriad of special crime reports have persuaded many that the Balkan region in particular is unstable, flourishing mainly on crime and endemic corruption. Very quickly the Balkans, often referred to as a ‘gangster paradise’, became known for its demagogues, secret police agents and thugs who profited from the regional wars, and for the smuggling of people, arms, cigarettes and drugs.However, do people from the Balkans regard organized crime as a real problem for the development of their countries? Do they understand what the EU means when it argues that organized crime poses a threat to their society? Or do they see organized crime as an ‘institution’ that fosters social mobility, capital accumula- tion, economic prosperity and nation building? A different reality to that of the EU may emerge if one looks at the organized crime phenomenon from a ‘Balkan perspective’.

The Third Conference on Baltic and Nordic Studies in Romania, May 2012

The last twenty years has seen an increasing presence of Balkan organized crime groups in security reports and newspapers' headlines. This does not mean that mafia groups did not exist during Socialist Yugoslavia -even if its collapse and the following war made criminals and smugglers useful for politicians and leaders to maintain their power; it rather means that Balkan organized crime came outside its traditional areas of action in Serbia, Montenegro and Albania: less territorial and nationalist than it was before, it is now gaining prominence in an international scenario, making agreements with Italian and South American mafias -the so-called Holy Alliance -to manage drug routes towards Western Europe. One of the most interesting factors concerning Balkan mafia groups today is their presence in countries which traditionally do not have a history of organized crime, such as the Scandinavian states. One of the reasons lies in the wide percentage of immigrants moving from Balkan countries to Sweden or Norway. Since the wars of the 1990s in the former Yugoslavia, war-crimes fugitives were able to become common criminals in these countries, such as the infamous Želiko Raznjatović ("Arkan"). However, year by year, these gangs grew larger, taking advantage of the "expertise" and the resources gained during the war. In particular, the most spectacular case -the Våstberga helicopter robbery in 2009showed how these groups operate with military-style precision, utilize a wide number of participants, and have at their disposal laerge amounts of weapons and money. This paper will draw on the importance of Scandinavian -Balkan mafia relations in relation to three main criminal areas: drug and weapon smuggling and human trafficking, in order to underline the role of diasporas in enforcing M Revista Română de Studii Baltice și Nordice / The Romanian Journal for Baltic and Nordic Studies 4 (2) 112 organized crime groups and the extent to which these mafias could be a threat for the stability in both Eastern and Western Europe.

Looking behind the chaotic facade of the atrocious Yugoslav conflict, this article examines the nexus between the organized crime in Serbia and its security apparatus. Path dependency in the mismanagement of violence, ethnopolitical mobilization and abrupt socioeconomic transformation during international isolation contributed to blurring the distinction between the state institutions and the criminal elements in Serbia during the reign of Slobodan Milošević. By showcasing the rise and the fall of a paradigmatic representative, Željko Ražnatović Arkan, the article examines the roots, dynamics and effects of this failed attempt toward sponsoring state mafia.

N/A, 2019

Following the collapse of communist rule, organised crime has become firmly embedded throughout societies in the Balkans, from local organised crime groups (OCGs) to the top of the state hierarchy. The region has become an “organised crime gateway to Europe,” a transit zone for drugs and illegal migrants. The first section explores the causes behind the long-lasting prevalence and embeddedness of organised crime in the region, including how organised crime has penetrated national politics and will show that instability is the major cause behind the prevalence of organised crime. The second section explores the relationship between instability and organised crime in the Balkans and will suggest that organised crime has provided a measure of stability and has not acted as a driver of conflict.