Balkans were to play an important role in a birth of many crime groups in late nineties, but only few of them prevailed to this day. One of them is so called „Beogradski Klan“ or only the „Klan“, most notably operating in Northern America with headquarters in Los Angeles. Group earned a reputation of vicious, and power-hungry individuals with strict precept of avoiding all contact with media and law enforcement units. Name of the organization is derived through the phenomenon of naming criminal groups in Serbia. Beogradski Klan in translation means Belgrade Clan and it is evident that the founding members of the Klan come from Belgrade, which was in the end of the previous century heavily affected by the mobsters, thugs, and thieves with bribes flowing to the police chiefs and judges on a daily basis. Path of a criminal offered many Serbs a way out of an economic disaster, and poverty that struck the country with an implementation of internationally imposed sanctions against Serbia during the Yugoslav Wars.
Some of these gangsters searched paparazzi attention on a regular basis, and became well known through-out the nation, but most of them rather played at being criminals than actually functioning like ones compared to their counterparts from other countries like Italy, Russia, and USA, where organized crime was addressed on a high level. Quite many young men were influenced by the fashionable criminal lifestyle, which was promoted to society by music, and media, describing these mobsters as unfearing and defying rebels with their own set of rules. Police showed to be rather incompetent, and corrupted back then, evidently unable to fight the crime effectively, and stop the violent gang shootings, resulting in deaths of many of these bold mobsters. One of the victims was Aleksandar Knežević, who became a symbol for a youth criminal life in Serbia. He was murdered on October 28, 1992 in his room at the Hyatt hotel in Belgrade.
Yet the most infamous person Serbia ever had was Željko „Arkan“ Ražnatović. After emigrating to Western Europe, he stayed in contact with many other well-known criminals, including Ljuba Zemunac, Ranko Rubežić, Đorđe "Giška" Božović, Goran Vuković, Rade "Ćenta" Ćaldović, all of whom, like him, were occasionally contracted by the Yugoslav secret service. He had convictions for 20 burglaries, 7 bank robberies, outsider assistance to prison escape, and an attempted murder. He often found himself in prison, but he always managed to get out.
Afterwards he became a leader of Delije, football fan club of the Red Star Belgrade. Situation in the country was becoming more and more tense, eventually resulting in a war, in which Arkan partook with a paramilitary force he created called Serb Volunteer Guard (SDG), and nicknamed Arkan’s Tigers. This unit’s core consisted mostly of his old criminal contacts from all across the Europe, and friends from the fan club, core counting 200 men and not more than 1000 men in total as a whole squad. He was glorified by the Serbian public, and became a subject to many war songs as a hero defender of the Serbian people, and also a target of hatred from the enemies. Although his deep connections in the government infrastructure, he was assassinated in the lobby of Belgrade's elite InterContinental Hotel. A 23-year-old police junior member Dobroslav Gavrić made his way up to Arkan and shot him in the left eye. Ražnatović died in a car on a way to hospital with his bodyguard. Some speculators claim Milošević's regime had hands in the murder, and wanted to get rid of a loose end Arkan presented.
Vojislav Šešelj, a political rival of his, described the power Arkan wielded as early as 1987 during his testimony at the Milošević trial in 2005.
Arkan became an untouchable criminal figure in Belgrade and all of the former Yugoslavia. He was really so powerful, so strong financially that no one could do anything about him. In 1993, I learned that Željko Ražnatović, Arkan, had in Belgrade kidnapped and taken to Erdut and there killed Isa Lero. Also a man from the criminal underground who had come into conflict with Arkan. I even found a witness to the murder. I publicly accused Arkan. I submitted a report to the police. The police inspectors came to see me. We talked about it. I gave them all the information I had, but then the police inspector told me that they were aware of it but that they were unable to prove it because of the fear among the potential witnesses. So the police were quite well-informed about his criminal activities, but it was very hard to prove anything or to bring charges because his support network was so widespread, and this can be shown through various newspaper articles and so on. In one television statement, I told him when we were debating on TV, that he had pulled a sock over his head more often than I had pulled one on my feet.
Klan's founder is said to be Milorad "Knele" Knežević, an ex-member of SDG, not related to already mentioned Aleksandar Knežević. While on active duty, he was able to provide Belgrade gangsters with weaponry during the war. People that met him described him as a careful, intelligent, and an ambitious figure from within the criminal scene. He was often seen with Dimitrije "Mitar" Djukić, his subordinate, also an ex-SDG, which worked as his right hand. Djukić's brother Zoran, and a child-hood friend Miloš "Gulash" Urošević, both with SDG back then, took care of moving the arsenal to the clientele. When the war ended, they organized themselves as a mob in the streets of Belgrade. With already established connections in the underground from the war period, they managed to incorporate weak and petty gangs from the surrounding area under their authority.
In 1991 four men stormed a notoriously recognized Belgrade club Majestic with automatic weapons, leaving the place wrecked without an intention to hurt anyone. Top animals of the mafia food-chain regularly visited the place, and that means this act must have been strongly devoted to demonstrate the power of a new group in town, right to the strongest. Blame for this incident falls to the feet of Knežević's Klan, which could not be compared at all to some very prominent and influential groups, which had their members visit the place regularly. Media didn't cover the shooting at all at that time, probably letting the criminals get their payback intentionally without unnecessary attention from the law, but the whole incident eventually served as a material for a document in 2003 "Majestic - rise of the Klan", showing the happenings, which followed several weeks after, resulting in a street war between the Klan, and another group from the town led by Goran "The Scar" Solevic. Ultimately Klan came out on top, claiming their place among the most respected groups in the country. Solevic's body was found two weeks later in the county with his throat slit.
Mitar Djukić and Miloš Urošević were later seen in 1996 in Frankfurt, Germany, on the same week as an infamous jewelry store heist occurred. No solid evidence was put forth against the two, due to a bulletproof alibi, and a professional performance during the heist. They also appeared in Holland, and were blamed for a robbery of a small bank, but the same thing from the Frankfurt repeated, and they were dismissed due to lack of evidence. They most probably used unknown accomplices to do the dirty job for them, while they were performing something else. Djukić and Urošević reunited with the rest of the growing mob on the same year.
Knežević visited New York in 1998. There he met Kiril "The Macedon" Belevski, a Macedonian immigrant with his own criminal organization. He owned a strip club Forbidden Babylon. No one knew back then, that his son Kliment will make the branch Forbidden Babylon a trademark known across the whole country. Belevski and Knežević made an agreement on cooperation, and Knežević's people were monthly seen as Belevski's company, perhaps smuggling weapons for the Macedon's use. In 2000 the inner circle departed to the States for good after the socialist regime in Serbia fell, leaving only Urošević and a handful of men in the old country, to keep a steady supply of weapons coming every month. A major incident happened in 2006, when FBI managed to track down the trafficking route to USA, and shut down a large batch of arms headed East coast. Two Serbian males were brought to trial, and each sentenced to 15 years, yet non of them said a word, in any desperate attempt to ease their sentences.
Organization's modus operandi slightly shaped to a different direction, due to a strong and successful attempt of centralization by Kiril Belevski, which moved all of the former rackets and business activities belonging to Knežević's klan under his own command. Smuggling rings made two thirds of the mob's activities in the past, but they came to a complete halt in 1995, because of effort by joint act with the Los Angeles Attorney General's office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and work of an undercover agent known as Melvin Johnson. Kiril's son as a head of the smuggling operations cut all ties with the remnants of the smuggling ring, and shifted the organization's interest toward the strip clubs' potential, using the money invested from his father.
Although the Klan didn't maintain sovereignty, they obeyed Kiril Belevski's order to expand the business to West coast, specifically L.A, dispatching together with boss' elder son, which would stand as an acting-leader in his stead. A fifteen minutes long conversation between Kiril Belevski, his two sons (Kliment, and Slobodan), Milorad Knežević, and Dimitrije Djukić was caught on tape, but didn't contain any significant evidence that could bring down the Macedon's enterprise. As a base of the operations for the West coast group they picked Downtown, a location that was already inhabited by considerable East Slavic community, especially Russians, and Ukrainians.
Early years of the crew marked a further expansion to other cities on the West coast, such as San Diego, San Francisco, Phoenix, and taking over the East L.A. Young Belevski was generally on good terms with other organizations such as LCN operating from Inglewood, Japanese mafia, and Russian mafia. Although they avoided any open-wide conflicts with other criminal groups, Belevski was described as an unpredictable goon with a bad temper, and addiction to cocaine, showing his true nature at concealed meetings with other high ranked representatives, making rash, and unexpected decisions, which would sometimes rouse the people he dealt with.
A surveillance attempt confirmed good relations between Belevski and the Japanese, when Belevski got into a fight with a hotel owner Alejandro Herrera near 'Little Tokyo' - an area inhabited by Japanese-American community. Herrera was found decapitated and thrown off the top floor of an abandoned parking lot by unknown individuals, most presumably Belevski's associates, in a remote part of Las Vegas, while the transportation to the parking lot was handled by people connected to those from Japanese mafia.
Remnants of the Russian mafia found their way under the protection of the mob aswell due to Vladimir Morozov's demise, and weakened position among the underground factions. Morozov was a respected, and feared patsan (boss) of bratva with a host of operations in California, which would be hardly replaced by anyone else. He disappeared under unknown circumstances. From that point onwards the group was led by Yaakov 'Zhid' (The Jew) Chernovzky, his ex-advisor. Russians managed to maintain some sort of independence due to cultural differences, and only had to occasionally answer to Belevski, paying him monthly cuts from their profits.
Situation among the Balkans and the Russians stirred up when Radovan Belevski, Kliment's cousin, and reputed soldier in Macedon's crew, arrived to the city. Two months from his arrival Yaakov Chernovzky was stabbed into his left eye. Rumors say it was Radovan himself who did it, since the two argued a lot, and Radovan took over his rackets after his disappearance. Chernovzky was found by a patroling cruiser, and immediately taken to hospital, and stabilized. He was presumed dead by the rest of the mob, and his associate Mikhail "Vulf" Vulfovich was made a new leader of the Russian crew.
Still the mob was too far from being stabilized, since an open shooting occurred between Vladimir Mikhailov, and his associates, with Dragan Nikolajević, Belevski's lieutenant, outside Forbidden Babylon in 2009. Nikolajević managed to wound Mikhailov in his arm, and kill one of his associates, while running away through alleys, but eventually it was him who disappeared several days after. Knežević called for a sit-down with the two, and most probably decided to get rid of Nikolajević. He wasn't seen after that ever again.
There are other men who contributed to shape the newer image of the organization, and one of them is Marko Bukvić, a highly positioned associate in the organization. He parted with the Belevski mob in L.A. under Jasmin Jović right after his release on parole in October 2010. As an owner of plenty petty places, he got deeper into the organization to create a legal front for the mob's associates. He is considered to be a very dangerous individual, currently residing in Serbia.
On the 3rd of January, 2011 Kiril Belevski passed away due to a failing kidney at the Los Angeles Saints Hospital, and eight months after that, his nephew Radovan got into a car crash , barely surviving with major injuries, and in coma. This allowed other reputed men in line to grasp upon the positions, which were held until that moment only by Belevski family relatives. While Kliment inherited his father's empire, his younger brother was asked to control the East coast crew. Knežević was made his advisor, and Djukić with Bukvić were made lieutenants with their own people below.
As business thrived for the Balkans, an unsuspected Irish-American mob led by Francis O'Reilly, also called 'Long Beach Mob' by the media, moved in the East L.A. Belevski's men were sent to establish contact with them, requiring a protection racket, a standard procedure back in time, applied on anyone who tried to run their own independent businesses in the East. They refused, and Balkans met their match in an open, and a bloody street war, which lasted for several weeks. While Belevski's associates were occupied elsewhere, the Irish organized ruthless hit-squads, and were successful with killing at least three dozens of Balkan inhabitants of East L.A, but not all of them were necessarily connected to the OC. The Irish won recognition and parts of territories in the East, successfully casting the Balkans away completely for some time. This embarrassing loss launched nervousness in the remnants of the Balkans' ranks, allowing thoughts of coup d'état to form.
Mikhail Vulfovich was the first one to come up with a serious plan of taking Belevski out, but his intentions were discovered before he could act, thus he was eliminated by Belevski's associates. After Vulfovich's attempt to seize power, Belevski fell into a deep paranoia, suspecting anyone around him of betrayal. He ordered his brother in a recorded call to send his men to the L.A. Before a full force could arrive, another attempt on his life was made, but a fruitful one. A sniper pierced through his torso with a hollow point bullet, while he was on a way out of his apartment. Dead on the spot, the snake's head was cut off. The mob fell into chaos and disorganization, some decided to stay, others like Jasmin Jović, Josip Petrović, and even Milorad Knežević left the city (allegedly, because of increasing health issues). Four days after Kliment's death an anonymous male approached Radovan Belevski in All Saints hospital, still in comatose, and disconnected him from the machine controlling his life-signs.
Apparently Dimitrije Djukić was declared a new boss day after, supported by Marko Bukvić and re-appeared Yaakov Chernovzky. Arguably all three were part of the plot to kill Belevski. East coast crew returned back to NY, and only Djukić with his men participated at the funeral, carrying the coffin, with his most trusted men. Kliment's contacts from the underground came to pay their last respects to him, and even Francis O'Reilly made an appearance there. Although the two wanted to murder each other several weeks ago, the day carried on smoothly. Djukić eventually had to go to a meeting with O'Reilly, taking place in Carson city, at one of the rented apartments.
Conflict between the Klan and the Long Beach Mob erupted again. Irish managed to defeat the Balkans, after a couple of weeks, as a clearly dominating factor in East L.A. Weakened Klan decided to let go of East, and fully focused themselves in Downtown. Djukić called his brother to city , to serve as his right hand. Until then Zoran didn't have many chances to show his true potential, which he finally did by his brother's side, proving to be a capable street boss, and an advisor. Once the Klan regained its lost power they took over the East L.A again, fighting a new war with Irish in several phases, in which they had an upper hand due to an element of surprise, and a stronger organization, while carrying out the hits. The 54th street was back in their hands, and they potently rebuilt what they lost.
In late 2012, Kliment's younger brother emerged on the streets of L.A with his men, in order to haunt his brother's killers. A bounty was put on his head by Djukić. Within a month he was found dead at his dance club near the Mall, shot twice in the chest, once in the head. Slobodan's death marked the definitive end to the Belevski era. The ultimate power over the Balkan CO's belongs to Dimitrije now, and in presence their ever-growing influence on the West coast is unmatched. In October Yaakov Chernovzky left for Greece with his sub-crew, where he's supposed to control one of the checkpoints for a trafficking path to Brazil and North America from Russia and surrounding countries. Crime specialists predict an upcoming, ambitious law operation to bring the organization down in the following years.
Excerpt from: Criminal State of America
Author: Frank Biermann
Release date: 2013