WEBVTT - 9: Crime Doesn’t Pay 0:00:02.840 --> 0:00:06.640 They were just the regular family with the child. If 0:00:06.680 --> 0:00:08.560 you see them in Serbia, you would think this is 0:00:08.640 --> 0:00:10.720 just another completely normal Serbian family. 0:00:11.200 --> 0:00:15.560 After the Dubai heist, Laden Lazarevich, the mastermind, and his 0:00:15.680 --> 0:00:20.480 co conspirator and girlfriend Buyana Mitch returned to Serbia. They 0:00:20.520 --> 0:00:24.919 had pulled off something truly spectacular. They had plenty of money, 0:00:25.239 --> 0:00:28.720 and they decided it was time to settle down. Here's 0:00:28.720 --> 0:00:32.479 a reporter, Ilena Zorich. We're hearing her through a translator. 0:00:32.840 --> 0:00:36.760 They prefer a more quiet life. They were buying their apartments, 0:00:36.800 --> 0:00:39.800 they cut their kids, They had their family life and 0:00:39.880 --> 0:00:41.240 that worked fine for them. 0:00:41.680 --> 0:00:45.440 They get married, have a son, and reportedly open a 0:00:45.440 --> 0:00:49.120 fitness club in Belgrade. As much as anyone could tell, 0:00:49.440 --> 0:00:52.080 they were in fact leading a quiet life. 0:00:52.240 --> 0:00:55.040 They could live very well in Serbia with the money 0:00:55.040 --> 0:00:58.360 that they got after each robbery, so they didn't want 0:00:58.360 --> 0:01:02.000 to complicate things more and go any further. They could 0:01:02.080 --> 0:01:06.760 feel pretty safe away from Dubai police, away from Interpol. 0:01:07.040 --> 0:01:10.919 It's a dream of domestic tranquility paid for by crimes 0:01:11.080 --> 0:01:15.600 that are firmly in the past. But in twenty thirteen, 0:01:16.160 --> 0:01:20.480 a bomb is discovered under Boyana Mitach's car. Luckily it 0:01:20.560 --> 0:01:24.040 falls to the ground without detonating. The police are called 0:01:24.560 --> 0:01:28.880 and when they questioned the couple laden Boyana express total shock. 0:01:29.560 --> 0:01:39.479 Who could possibly want to kill them? I'm Natalia Antalava. 0:01:39.720 --> 0:01:42.640 I'm a journalist based in Eastern Europe, and I'm going 0:01:42.680 --> 0:01:45.960 to take you into the world of Serbia's most brazen 0:01:46.160 --> 0:01:47.200 jewel thieves. 0:01:50.600 --> 0:01:53.720 The most daring and successful diamond things in the world. 0:01:54.000 --> 0:01:57.520 Thirty to forty seconds and help. 0:01:57.760 --> 0:02:00.880 They've stolen a half of billion dollars of the valuable. 0:02:01.040 --> 0:02:03.960 Two well dressed men strolled into an exclusive jewelry store 0:02:03.960 --> 0:02:07.560 in London and walked out with sixty six million dollars 0:02:07.560 --> 0:02:14.000 in jewels. They called the Pink Panthers, their loosely connected 0:02:14.080 --> 0:02:19.440 crew of over educated, underemployed ambitious young people who rose 0:02:19.480 --> 0:02:22.800 from the ashes of the Yugoslav Wars of the nineteen 0:02:22.880 --> 0:02:27.760 nineties to commit elaborate smash and grab heists all across 0:02:27.800 --> 0:02:34.239 the globe, often in broad daylight. This is infamous international 0:02:34.840 --> 0:02:40.560 The Pink Panther's Story, episode nine, Crime Doesn't Pay. 0:02:48.400 --> 0:02:51.880 He did a couple of hides, one of them pretty spectacular, 0:02:52.000 --> 0:02:54.880 but he didn't have the reason to believe that someone 0:02:54.960 --> 0:02:57.400 would want to kill him in Serbia. 0:02:57.800 --> 0:03:01.200 It's been six years since the waffe heist in Dubai, 0:03:01.800 --> 0:03:05.520 and although Vladen Lazarevich planned and led that job, he 0:03:05.560 --> 0:03:08.720 has seemingly gotten out of the game. It was Milan 0:03:08.919 --> 0:03:11.840 Lipoya who had taken most of the spotlight in the 0:03:11.960 --> 0:03:16.040 years since Serbian investigative journalist Helena's rage. 0:03:16.240 --> 0:03:20.200 Milan in fact was the most important person after Maladen, 0:03:20.639 --> 0:03:24.520 but he was presented in the media as the main one, 0:03:24.600 --> 0:03:28.239 as the number one. Milan didn't mind having this reputation. 0:03:28.639 --> 0:03:32.359 He liked the role to be presented in the media 0:03:32.400 --> 0:03:34.280 as the main one. 0:03:34.720 --> 0:03:37.840 Milan also returned to Serbia, but he was less interested 0:03:37.880 --> 0:03:41.160 in settling down. He opened a nightclub. He had a 0:03:41.240 --> 0:03:45.200 yacht and would cruise the Mediterranean, inviting rich and beautiful 0:03:45.200 --> 0:03:47.720 people aboard for lavish parties. 0:03:48.640 --> 0:03:52.280 His favorite destination when he was sailing on his yacht 0:03:52.720 --> 0:03:57.520 was between the Italian and French coast, near French Riviera. 0:03:57.840 --> 0:04:02.000 And during these little crew this oneasyacht, he was spending 0:04:02.200 --> 0:04:05.960 tons of money hundreds of thousands of euros and his 0:04:06.160 --> 0:04:10.960 guests were usually the famous businessman and also the world 0:04:11.000 --> 0:04:13.000 famous models. 0:04:13.040 --> 0:04:16.440 Milan is hardly keeping a low profile despite the fact 0:04:16.520 --> 0:04:17.839 that he's a wanted man. 0:04:18.279 --> 0:04:20.880 So during this time there were people who were looking 0:04:20.920 --> 0:04:25.200 for him, but he was somewhere near frank Riviera having fun, 0:04:25.400 --> 0:04:27.760 so at that time they didn't find him. 0:04:28.200 --> 0:04:31.520 Milan would often videotape his escapades and share them with 0:04:31.600 --> 0:04:35.359 his friends back in Niche, and every video ends with 0:04:35.480 --> 0:04:36.640 the same sentence. 0:04:37.080 --> 0:04:41.120 The sentence was, well, two days after these parties, after 0:04:41.279 --> 0:04:43.919 all this fun that I used to have, I didn't 0:04:43.960 --> 0:04:46.200 have a penny in my pocket, so I had to 0:04:46.240 --> 0:04:49.480 go and steal again so that I have some money 0:04:49.560 --> 0:04:50.120 to live with. 0:04:51.480 --> 0:04:54.240 And Milan did go and steal again. He continued to 0:04:54.279 --> 0:04:57.920 pull heists around Europe until he was finally arrested, tried, 0:04:58.040 --> 0:05:01.800 and sent to prison. He spent nearly a decade behind bars. 0:05:02.400 --> 0:05:05.880 When he returned home, he didn't last long. The criminal 0:05:05.920 --> 0:05:09.440 world in Niche had changed become more dangerous As a 0:05:09.560 --> 0:05:14.159 rival gangs battled for turf. Milan chose a side, and 0:05:14.240 --> 0:05:19.000 it cost him his life. His violent and had a 0:05:19.040 --> 0:05:22.719 certain logic to it. But why would Boyana's car be 0:05:22.800 --> 0:05:25.800 targeted with a car bomb? Both she and her husband 0:05:25.839 --> 0:05:29.880 had left the life of crime. Police assume the bomb 0:05:30.320 --> 0:05:33.839 was actually intended for London, and the media is quick 0:05:34.080 --> 0:05:36.120 to start digging into his background. 0:05:36.560 --> 0:05:40.599 It's very interesting that in our country practically nobody was 0:05:40.680 --> 0:05:45.159 talking about him until the bomb attempt. That's when the 0:05:45.279 --> 0:05:48.440 media started talking about him, and that's when they said, okay, 0:05:48.480 --> 0:05:52.000 this person might be someone who is involved with the 0:05:52.080 --> 0:05:55.160 Pink Panthers, but they never mentioned it before. 0:05:55.440 --> 0:06:00.279 Journalists try to contact Boyana too, but she's not talking utter. 0:06:00.320 --> 0:06:02.880 Helenazorich reaches out to her repeatedly. 0:06:03.080 --> 0:06:05.560 She was not in the mood to give any statement. 0:06:05.800 --> 0:06:08.800 She refuses any way of communication with anyone. 0:06:09.000 --> 0:06:11.320 Buyanna even takes down her Twitter profile. 0:06:11.839 --> 0:06:16.240 She used a picture of a diamond as her profile picture, 0:06:16.800 --> 0:06:20.560 but when they tried to kill her husband, obviously it 0:06:20.680 --> 0:06:23.320 wasn't funny anymore, so she removed it. Than she she 0:06:23.480 --> 0:06:24.839 was not active there either. 0:06:25.440 --> 0:06:33.960 The case of the attempted bombing is never solved. Then 0:06:34.040 --> 0:06:37.440 two years after that failed car bomb, there is another 0:06:37.560 --> 0:06:42.159 attempt on Laden Lazarevich's life. He's waiting at a stoplight 0:06:42.240 --> 0:06:45.200 in his land robber when an audi pulls up next 0:06:45.240 --> 0:06:48.240 to him and then jumps out of the audi and 0:06:48.279 --> 0:06:52.080 approaches Laden's land robber. He Lena Zorich. Again. 0:06:52.400 --> 0:06:55.520 This all happened in the suburbs of Belgrade. He was 0:06:55.520 --> 0:06:58.960 in his car when they started shooting in him, and 0:06:59.200 --> 0:07:01.359 there were thirty shots. 0:07:02.000 --> 0:07:05.240 Somehow Bladin is able to pull away as bullets fly 0:07:05.360 --> 0:07:09.359 around him, blood pouring down his face, he manages to 0:07:09.440 --> 0:07:13.760 drive to the nearest hospital. Incredibly, he has suffered only 0:07:13.800 --> 0:07:17.520 superficial wounds cuts on his face and head from the 0:07:17.560 --> 0:07:21.880 shattered glass of the windshield. Again, he's questioned by the police, 0:07:22.240 --> 0:07:26.080 and again he claims he could not be more surprised. 0:07:26.840 --> 0:07:29.680 He even says in the hospital that he doesn't understand 0:07:29.680 --> 0:07:33.720 why it happened to him because he didn't have any enemies, 0:07:33.800 --> 0:07:38.800 so he wasn't sure who would want to kill him. 0:07:39.040 --> 0:07:42.080 Bladen is well aware that whoever is trying to kill 0:07:42.120 --> 0:07:45.680 him is still out there. The police assigned a guard 0:07:45.800 --> 0:07:47.800 to stay outside his hospital. 0:07:47.480 --> 0:07:51.360 Room, and of course he didn't feel safe, so his 0:07:51.560 --> 0:07:54.760 friends managed to take him from the hospital. They practically 0:07:54.800 --> 0:07:56.600 kidnapped him from the hospital. 0:07:56.840 --> 0:08:00.600 Even with the police officers stationed outside his room, London 0:08:00.760 --> 0:08:04.280 manages to leave with his friends as an extra precausion 0:08:04.920 --> 0:08:06.760 picked him up in an armored car. 0:08:07.200 --> 0:08:10.280 The person who provided this armored car. His name is 0:08:10.320 --> 0:08:11.200 the Dragon. 0:08:11.000 --> 0:08:15.480 Mikic, Dragon Mackage, a name we've heard before. I spoke 0:08:15.520 --> 0:08:21.920 to my colleague, reporter Elan Greenberg, who gave me some context. Elans, 0:08:22.120 --> 0:08:25.480 the last time we were talking about Dragon Mackage, that 0:08:25.640 --> 0:08:28.280 was when he broke out of a French prison and 0:08:28.320 --> 0:08:32.080 then he basically vanished, He disappeared, and because of that, 0:08:32.280 --> 0:08:35.760 I was a bit shocked when Helena Zorich suddenly mentioned 0:08:35.840 --> 0:08:36.280 him again. 0:08:36.679 --> 0:08:39.640 Well, look, if you think about it, Serbia's a small country, 0:08:39.960 --> 0:08:43.280 niche is a small city, and these guys, even if 0:08:43.320 --> 0:08:46.400 they're not part of a you know, a unified criminal syndicate, 0:08:46.640 --> 0:08:50.760 they're still all in the same business. They're like friendly associates. 0:08:50.960 --> 0:08:53.720 Sure, sure that all makes sense, but can you just 0:08:53.720 --> 0:08:56.440 bring us up to speed on who this guy, Dragon 0:08:56.480 --> 0:08:57.040 Mickage is. 0:08:57.280 --> 0:08:59.720 Yeah, his name comes up all the time and stories 0:08:59.720 --> 0:09:02.840 about Pink Panthers. People say he's one of the leaders 0:09:02.840 --> 0:09:04.760 of the gang. And you know, he's a big guy. 0:09:04.880 --> 0:09:07.800 He's like six foot six with muscles and top of muscles. 0:09:08.440 --> 0:09:11.560 Remember that the Paris police detective Ever Kannan said that 0:09:11.600 --> 0:09:13.880 Mikish did two thousand push ups a day in prison, 0:09:14.520 --> 0:09:17.920 so he's an intimidating presence and pretty clearly he's someone 0:09:17.960 --> 0:09:21.640 with influence. A couple of fellow panthers Building Ak forty 0:09:21.640 --> 0:09:23.720 seven's broke him out of that French jail and he 0:09:23.800 --> 0:09:25.600 ended up back in Serbia. 0:09:25.080 --> 0:09:27.800 Where apparently he has access to an armored car he 0:09:27.840 --> 0:09:31.600 can leand to his friendly associate Laden Lazarvich when he 0:09:31.640 --> 0:09:32.079 needs one. 0:09:32.160 --> 0:09:35.720 Right, Yeah, and more than that, because don't forget Milanin 0:09:35.840 --> 0:09:38.240 is in the hospital, he's recovering from his injuries. He 0:09:38.280 --> 0:09:41.360 has a police guard sitting right outside his room. Dragon 0:09:41.400 --> 0:09:45.400 Mekish also helps with that, does he now, Yes, Mikish 0:09:45.520 --> 0:09:48.880 was arrested for making fouriged documents. He had a partner 0:09:49.400 --> 0:09:51.720 woman who turned out to be a member of the police, 0:09:51.960 --> 0:09:54.160 so it appears that Mikish may have had connections on 0:09:54.240 --> 0:09:57.120 the police force who could get that officer outside his 0:09:57.200 --> 0:09:59.960 hospital room to stand down or at least not getting 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:02.960 and the way when Miki shows up with that armored car. 0:10:07.120 --> 0:10:09.720 So with the help of his friends, Laden is safe 0:10:09.760 --> 0:10:12.960 again and now he's not taking any chances. 0:10:13.480 --> 0:10:18.559 Madame Lazareg has his own security and these are actually 0:10:18.559 --> 0:10:23.199 the ex members of the special police Units against terrorism. 0:10:23.679 --> 0:10:27.439 Some of them actually are working like a private security 0:10:27.480 --> 0:10:29.320 and that's what he has at this moment. 0:10:31.520 --> 0:10:34.280 But why would anyone want to kill Vladen the former 0:10:34.360 --> 0:10:38.679 jewel thief turned family man. Based on her reporting and sources, 0:10:39.040 --> 0:10:40.720 Yelena Zorich has an idea. 0:10:41.120 --> 0:10:46.400 So all those stories about his family life with Buena, 0:10:46.520 --> 0:10:50.880 with his wife, that's actually not happening anymore and he's 0:10:50.960 --> 0:10:55.480 doing something completely different. Maladen Lazarevich's life is much more 0:10:55.559 --> 0:10:58.680 dangerous today than what it used to be when he 0:10:58.880 --> 0:11:03.640 was in Pink Panther because he is the most powerful 0:11:04.240 --> 0:11:06.600 cocaine a dealer in our country. 0:11:09.640 --> 0:11:14.320 Yeladasorig believes that Ladon Lazarevich is in all likelihood a 0:11:14.360 --> 0:11:18.160 powerful crime boss. Based on recent reporting, we think that 0:11:18.240 --> 0:11:22.520 he's likely working for Klan America, a Balkan gang with 0:11:22.679 --> 0:11:29.800 connections to the South American drug trade. So this image 0:11:29.920 --> 0:11:34.160 of the quiet family life with Boyana, it's a front. 0:11:38.440 --> 0:11:42.959 Boyanav is someone who is the wife of an arko boss, definitely, 0:11:43.000 --> 0:11:46.440 and he is not just any narko boss. He is 0:11:46.480 --> 0:11:49.120 the most important man in this area. 0:11:49.840 --> 0:11:53.600 Ladon Lazarevitch celebrated his thirty seventh birthday in twenty twenty one. 0:11:54.520 --> 0:11:56.760 The party brought out some notable guests. 0:11:57.040 --> 0:11:59.680 It's known as a fact, for example, that the last 0:11:59.840 --> 0:12:04.199 year he celebrated his birthday in the town of Nish 0:12:04.640 --> 0:12:08.199 and for this celebration for his birthday other people who 0:12:08.200 --> 0:12:12.160 were invited those were also other big cocaine bosses of 0:12:12.440 --> 0:12:16.240 West Balkans and police is aware of what's happening and 0:12:16.280 --> 0:12:19.960 who is right there, but there is no reaction from 0:12:20.000 --> 0:12:21.400 their part whatsoever. 0:12:21.679 --> 0:12:26.119 All of this might explain Whydin wasn't questioned more forcefully 0:12:26.160 --> 0:12:29.319 by the police after he was attacked, why his police 0:12:29.480 --> 0:12:33.120 escort allowed him to leave the hospital in that armored car, 0:12:33.600 --> 0:12:37.480 and why his name had not been publicly associated with 0:12:37.640 --> 0:12:39.079 any major crimes. 0:12:39.320 --> 0:12:43.600 The police and prosecutors when they hear his name in 0:12:43.640 --> 0:12:48.320 a connection with any murder or any severe crime, they 0:12:48.440 --> 0:12:52.079 simply just ignore it. And when you ask around in 0:12:52.160 --> 0:12:56.480 a niche about him, people are just scared. They don't 0:12:56.480 --> 0:12:58.600 want to share anything with you. He is a very 0:12:58.679 --> 0:13:02.840 dangerous man and he is more dangerous than he ever 0:13:02.960 --> 0:13:03.800 used to be before. 0:13:07.080 --> 0:13:10.880 We asked OLIVERA. Tcherkovic, the former basketball star and convicted 0:13:10.920 --> 0:13:13.880 Pink Panther, for her thoughts about Bloodin. 0:13:14.000 --> 0:13:15.080 To toyblo Robe. 0:13:15.760 --> 0:13:17.840 Her son Nicholas is translating here. 0:13:18.080 --> 0:13:20.880 I was not the part of the team who did 0:13:20.880 --> 0:13:23.839 it in Dubai. We can talk about the guys who 0:13:23.880 --> 0:13:26.360 were in Dubai because two of them are close friends 0:13:26.400 --> 0:13:29.400 of us, so we really know the story, but I 0:13:29.440 --> 0:13:43.160 don't want to speak of them. 0:13:43.200 --> 0:13:46.360 Over the past several years, the criminal underworld in the 0:13:46.400 --> 0:13:50.079 Balkans has come to be dominated by two major clans, 0:13:50.720 --> 0:13:56.280 the Kavakhs and the Scalieris in twenty twenty one about 0:13:56.280 --> 0:14:00.960 thirty criminals associated with the kavak where rest and charged 0:14:01.080 --> 0:14:05.960 with multiple counts of kidnapping, rape and murder, including the 0:14:06.080 --> 0:14:10.439 killing of Milan Li Puya. As of this recording, trials 0:14:10.480 --> 0:14:14.000 are still ongoing in Belgrade. It has become a media 0:14:14.120 --> 0:14:15.960 sensation throughout the Balkans. 0:14:17.800 --> 0:14:22.120 Tabloid media are all over it. You have front pages 0:14:22.640 --> 0:14:25.520 full of physic gluesome bloody details. 0:14:25.800 --> 0:14:29.640 Ivan and Gaelovski is a Serbian investigative journalist now based 0:14:29.680 --> 0:14:33.840 in Canada. He says that local tabloids are obsessed with 0:14:34.080 --> 0:14:36.880 all the grisly details that are emerging from the trial. 0:14:37.320 --> 0:14:41.200 It's not easy to read front pages where you can 0:14:41.440 --> 0:14:47.320 see pictures of people smiling holding other people's severed heads, 0:14:47.480 --> 0:14:50.480 which you can see right now or on front pages 0:14:50.560 --> 0:14:55.000 of some of Serbian tabloids. So it's very chilling atmosphere. 0:14:55.400 --> 0:14:59.240 The court proceedings have offered a particularly graphic look inside 0:14:59.280 --> 0:15:01.480 the dangerous world of drug trafficking. 0:15:01.720 --> 0:15:06.600 They have several insider witnesses and they don't spare any 0:15:06.640 --> 0:15:11.200 words in describing the grusolness of those murders. They would 0:15:11.200 --> 0:15:15.400 photograph their victims and they would send those images and 0:15:15.520 --> 0:15:20.240 videos to their bosses, and one message, if I remember correctly, 0:15:20.600 --> 0:15:25.160 was can you see this boss? It's Mexico in central Belgrade, 0:15:25.360 --> 0:15:30.120 so you can say that they were implementing brutal practices 0:15:30.320 --> 0:15:34.720 of criminal groups in South America. It's the same region 0:15:34.720 --> 0:15:37.040 that they would traffic the cocaine front. 0:15:38.120 --> 0:15:41.200 But the trial is drawing attention for more than its 0:15:41.240 --> 0:15:42.320 corey details. 0:15:42.560 --> 0:15:45.680 The trial is heavily politicized and everyone is following it 0:15:45.800 --> 0:15:47.760 because of political connections. 0:15:47.920 --> 0:15:51.280 As we've heard before from numerous journalists based in the Balkans. 0:15:51.760 --> 0:15:55.200 In Serbia, the ties between organized crime and the state 0:15:55.560 --> 0:16:00.040 run deep, and according to Angelovsky, that's particularly true in 0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:01.360 the case of the Kavakh Klan. 0:16:01.840 --> 0:16:05.480 They have you know their financial interests, they have their 0:16:05.560 --> 0:16:09.560 political connections. It is often considered that the members of 0:16:09.600 --> 0:16:13.320 this group are in one way or the other connected 0:16:13.360 --> 0:16:18.000 to the ruling party here in Belgrade, So everything around 0:16:18.080 --> 0:16:21.280 them has political consequences. 0:16:21.360 --> 0:16:25.320 And as we've seen, whenever crime and politics intermingo and Serbia, 0:16:25.480 --> 0:16:29.320 soccer or football is usually somewhere in the mix too. 0:16:29.600 --> 0:16:32.440 So the group that's on trial, they are members of 0:16:32.480 --> 0:16:37.000 an organized brand group, but they're also supporters of a 0:16:37.240 --> 0:16:42.200 football team in Belgrade. It's often considered that who leads 0:16:42.280 --> 0:16:48.120 the supporters on football stadiums, they lead the narcotics trade 0:16:48.280 --> 0:16:52.400 in country. So the group that's on trial are the 0:16:52.440 --> 0:16:56.520 main traffickers of cocaine from South America to Europe. 0:16:56.960 --> 0:17:00.680 Reporter Evan and Gilowski thinks all this media focus on 0:17:00.720 --> 0:17:04.960 the Serbian government's alleged ties to organized crime is unlikely 0:17:05.000 --> 0:17:07.400 to do much to stem the country's corruptions. 0:17:07.440 --> 0:17:10.080 It's not the first time we're seeing this. We were 0:17:10.160 --> 0:17:13.680 in this situation before. You know, first democratically elected Prime 0:17:13.720 --> 0:17:17.720 minister of Serbia, Zorojinich, was murdered in two thousand and three. 0:17:17.960 --> 0:17:20.800 We had a similar atmosphere as we have now. Back 0:17:20.840 --> 0:17:26.640 then the organized crime killed the Prime Minister, and that 0:17:26.800 --> 0:17:31.680 was a watershedting moment because people figured out how deep 0:17:31.800 --> 0:17:36.040 politics was involved with organized crime. Because you know, organized 0:17:36.080 --> 0:17:40.080 crime never died down. We are now seeing this. 0:17:43.240 --> 0:17:46.600 Two of the defendants who testified in the trial admitted 0:17:46.640 --> 0:17:50.080 that they actually work for the Serbian government, claiming they've 0:17:50.119 --> 0:17:54.040 met several times with the country's current president, Alexander Vocich, 0:17:54.600 --> 0:17:58.560 who asked them to perform various quld unquote favors over 0:17:58.600 --> 0:18:03.440 the years. Vutich has publicly denied all of these allegations. 0:18:07.080 --> 0:18:10.560 The trial has revealed shocking details about the nature of 0:18:10.640 --> 0:18:15.199 Serbia's criminal cartels, their fascination with the brutal style of 0:18:15.240 --> 0:18:19.920 their Central and South American business partners, their entrenched connections 0:18:20.000 --> 0:18:23.800 to the country's political class, and it has brought attention 0:18:23.920 --> 0:18:28.960 to another story, a more personal one. As troubling as 0:18:28.960 --> 0:18:30.480 it is hard to prove. 0:18:31.240 --> 0:18:35.200 It's important just to remember this information. A Malad and 0:18:35.280 --> 0:18:39.720 Lazarevich in a niche he had a nickname, and his 0:18:39.920 --> 0:18:44.280 nickname is Ladentu. That's like a little Maladen. 0:18:44.400 --> 0:18:49.000 Little Mladen, acute nickname for someone who's potentially a very 0:18:49.160 --> 0:18:56.320 dangerous man. Yelena's richest source tells her that Mladen knew 0:18:56.400 --> 0:18:59.359 that Milan Lepoye had joined up with the rival klan, 0:19:01.200 --> 0:19:02.040 and he was not. 0:19:02.240 --> 0:19:07.000 Pleased the fact that there were tape conversation when there 0:19:07.040 --> 0:19:11.280 was an investigation about the murder of Yapoya, and in 0:19:11.320 --> 0:19:17.120 this taped conversation, several times the name of Mladene was mentioned, 0:19:17.200 --> 0:19:21.520 so he was aware of what's going on with Yepoya 0:19:21.600 --> 0:19:24.800 and he was not happy with the fact that Yapoya 0:19:25.000 --> 0:19:27.199 was with the gang of SKAYERI. 0:19:28.520 --> 0:19:32.120 It's possible that the so called Little Laden was involved 0:19:32.119 --> 0:19:34.840 in some way in the murder of his old friend Milan, 0:19:36.160 --> 0:19:39.040 but so far he has not appeared at the trial. 0:19:39.720 --> 0:19:42.800 Despite the fact that the name of Mlada was always 0:19:42.840 --> 0:19:47.400 present in his conversation, the police actually never invited him 0:19:47.520 --> 0:19:48.240 to testify. 0:19:48.760 --> 0:19:51.800 None of this is proved that Laden Lazarevitch was involved 0:19:51.800 --> 0:19:54.800 in the killing of Milan le Poya, and Yelena says 0:19:54.800 --> 0:19:58.800 that she can fully verify this claim. The trial is 0:19:58.840 --> 0:20:16.560 ongoing as of the recording of this episode. While the 0:20:16.600 --> 0:20:21.159 cinematic tale of Milan Lipuyan, Milada Lazarevich and Boyana Mitic 0:20:21.720 --> 0:20:25.720 may sound like something straight out of Hollywood, for Jelena Zorich, 0:20:26.080 --> 0:20:28.360 there is little to root for in their story. 0:20:28.720 --> 0:20:32.440 So many people will probably try to make the story 0:20:33.040 --> 0:20:36.200 a little bit more romantic. They will probably talk about 0:20:36.320 --> 0:20:40.080 their spectacular heists, especially the one in Dubai. They're going 0:20:40.160 --> 0:20:43.280 to tell you how unique, how spectacular this was. But 0:20:43.359 --> 0:20:47.160 for me, this story is far away from that. It's 0:20:47.240 --> 0:20:51.600 not just the simple thieves who are maybe interesting to 0:20:51.960 --> 0:20:55.080 regular people because they steal from the rich. Know that 0:20:55.280 --> 0:20:58.959 these are thieves who later become a murderers. 0:20:59.560 --> 0:21:02.919 These days, alleged Pink Panthers make the occasional appearance in 0:21:02.960 --> 0:21:05.639 the medium, but more often than not their reports are 0:21:05.640 --> 0:21:10.399 a bit anti climactic because their highsts aren't successful. 0:21:11.920 --> 0:21:12.520 To the index. 0:21:12.600 --> 0:21:16.639 Now, in a major takedown overseas police arresting five suspected 0:21:16.680 --> 0:21:18.520 members of the notorious. 0:21:18.160 --> 0:21:22.320 Pink Panther gang during a jewel heist in Barcelona, Reports 0:21:22.359 --> 0:21:25.399 like this one from ABC News in twenty sixteen about 0:21:25.400 --> 0:21:28.520 a failed Pink Panther's heist, one where the authorities who 0:21:28.560 --> 0:21:31.120 are several steps ahead of the would be thieves, are 0:21:31.160 --> 0:21:35.640 becoming more common, and as Aveko Nan told NPR, one 0:21:35.680 --> 0:21:37.959 reason for this is geopolitics. 0:21:38.440 --> 0:21:41.320 Detective Kanan of the Paris Police says the Pink Panther 0:21:41.400 --> 0:21:44.240 era is nearly finished. He says most of the thieves 0:21:44.280 --> 0:21:47.480 hail from Serbia and Mountainegro, which are becoming more willing 0:21:47.520 --> 0:21:50.400 to hand over suspects to international law enforcements. 0:21:50.520 --> 0:21:54.080 Serbian Mantenegro want to go in the European Union, so 0:21:54.320 --> 0:21:56.679 in the pat that we're untouchable, and now they can 0:21:56.720 --> 0:21:57.280 be arrested. 0:21:57.600 --> 0:22:00.119 The panthers are no longer able to flee back to 0:22:00.160 --> 0:22:02.919 Serby and live openly and well on their ill gotten 0:22:03.000 --> 0:22:06.240 gains now that the Serbian government sees more value in 0:22:06.359 --> 0:22:10.760 extraditing them. Overall, the Ping Panthers simply can't operate the 0:22:10.760 --> 0:22:13.560 way they once did, and so they've become less of 0:22:13.600 --> 0:22:17.679 a priority for law enforcement. INTERPOL shut down Ron Nobles 0:22:17.680 --> 0:22:23.000 Ping Panther task force in twenty sixteen, and recently Interpal 0:22:23.040 --> 0:22:26.920 itself has come under scrutiny for alleged abuses of its 0:22:27.040 --> 0:22:31.240 Red Notice system. The alerted issues to law enforcement around 0:22:31.240 --> 0:22:34.600 the world about the presence of criminals in their jurisdiction. 0:22:35.520 --> 0:22:38.800 Chief among the abusers of this system, the United Arab 0:22:38.880 --> 0:22:43.760 Emirates Human rights attorney Rather Sterling, says that Interpol has 0:22:43.800 --> 0:22:47.520 allowed its red notices to be used by the Immerting 0:22:47.600 --> 0:22:52.480 government as a pretext to target its enemies. I've removed 0:22:52.760 --> 0:22:56.440 hundreds of these notices over the years. I present evidence 0:22:56.480 --> 0:22:59.480 to Interpol that this should never have been put to 0:22:59.520 --> 0:23:02.600 into Poland in the first place, and they agree with me. 0:23:02.680 --> 0:23:04.280 But they don't do anything to stop it. 0:23:04.480 --> 0:23:08.240 So the UA is absolutely abusing that access to the database, 0:23:08.280 --> 0:23:10.920 but into Pol doesn't want to upset them. 0:23:11.040 --> 0:23:14.680 In the past several years, the UAE has publicly donated 0:23:14.840 --> 0:23:18.520 over fifty million dollars to Interpol an incentive for the 0:23:18.560 --> 0:23:21.840 international organization to leave well enough alone. 0:23:21.960 --> 0:23:24.680 And they're a huge donor, and they're also a partner 0:23:24.800 --> 0:23:25.960 in fighting other. 0:23:25.960 --> 0:23:29.200 Sorts of more high profile crime, and they definitely don't 0:23:29.200 --> 0:23:34.720 want to lose that relationship. Something else has changed since Boyana, 0:23:34.920 --> 0:23:38.080 Landon and Milan pulled off their heist at the Waffi 0:23:38.160 --> 0:23:42.240 Mall in Dubai. According to journalist Devana and Gelowski, the 0:23:42.359 --> 0:23:45.920 United Arab Emirates and Serbia have developed a much more 0:23:45.960 --> 0:23:47.240 intimate relationship. 0:23:47.800 --> 0:23:52.400 After twenty twelve, UAE and Serbia got into some kind 0:23:52.440 --> 0:23:56.359 of cooperation from then on. There are lots of Balkan 0:23:56.440 --> 0:23:59.960 people in ue Now you have some of the main 0:24:00.000 --> 0:24:04.800 major kingpins of Palkan organized crime living in Uee because 0:24:04.840 --> 0:24:05.760 of protections they have. 0:24:05.800 --> 0:24:10.520 There and Sazangilowski. In twenty thirteen, the Emeratic government began 0:24:10.760 --> 0:24:14.160 pouring money into infrastructure projects in Serbia. 0:24:14.280 --> 0:24:19.040 There are these several projects in Serbia funded by money 0:24:19.040 --> 0:24:22.800 from UAE. Some suspect that it's actually money from Serbia 0:24:22.840 --> 0:24:27.320 advent to UAE and then back to Serbia. And there 0:24:27.320 --> 0:24:31.040 are lots of for example, arms deals, So there are 0:24:31.320 --> 0:24:37.240 these connections that are basically shady. But all of that 0:24:37.400 --> 0:24:39.920 comes after Dubai heist. 0:24:40.040 --> 0:24:44.440 As for Interpose energetic young Secretary General Ron Noble, who 0:24:44.520 --> 0:24:48.480 championed the organization's pursuit of the Ping panthers. He retired 0:24:48.480 --> 0:24:51.680 from Interpol in twenty sixteen to enter the private sector. 0:24:52.359 --> 0:24:56.240 He now has a number of business interests in Dubai. 0:25:01.520 --> 0:25:03.520 Why do people get driven to a life of crime? 0:25:03.760 --> 0:25:06.600 Former interpoal director with in Salesgabor I. 0:25:06.520 --> 0:25:09.320 Think certainly in the recent history you've seen people with 0:25:09.400 --> 0:25:14.639 high skill sets that now are confronted with a economic issue, 0:25:14.800 --> 0:25:16.679 like in the US Lago when the sanctions came in, 0:25:17.160 --> 0:25:20.080 they're forced to do other things they'll figure out how 0:25:20.119 --> 0:25:23.560 to use their skills, whether it be with weapons, with violence, 0:25:23.600 --> 0:25:28.240 with technology, whether it be state driven or motivated by money. 0:25:28.720 --> 0:25:30.000 So I think all of it. 0:25:30.440 --> 0:25:31.960 You know, it is the story of crime. 0:25:34.160 --> 0:25:39.240