In the first installment of "The Godfather," Francis Ford Coppola's iconic three-part mob saga, corrupt police captain McCluskey brokers a truce between Virgil Solotz and Michael Corleone at Lewis's in the Bronx. The conflict within the clans arose because Vito, the elderly head of the Corleone family, refused to cooperate with the younger and ambitious "Turk" in selling cocaine in New York...
In the Serbian reality, the "dirty" head of the Belgrade police Veselin Milić arranges a meeting between Aleksandar Nešović Baja and Saša Vuković Bosket in the restaurant "27" in Senjak. The conversation goes wrong, Boske kills Baja on the spot, Milić with policing who were with him sloppily removes traces...
Blood, bullets and arrests in Senjak: The disappearance of Aleksandar Nešović Baja
A country steeped in crime
The public may never know the causes of the conflict between the two criminals, just like the details of the actual act of murder in Senjak, but some conclusions can certainly be drawn.
The first is that the top police, which in the meantime has been carefully sorted out by the President of the Republic of Serbia and the informal head of the progressive clan, Aleksandar Vučić, is obviously steeped in crime and corruption to such an extent that it can no longer be covered up.
The next question is: on whose payroll is Milić? Was he just the mediator of the meeting, or in the hierarchy of Serbian organized crime, maybe he was superior to both Bosket and Baja, he wanted to bring them into order, so the matter got out of control?
And is there any in this whole story boss of all bosses, someone to whom all three are subordinate, someone who ordered Milić to smooth out the relations between the feuding clans, because confrontations are not good for business?
The case of Veselin Milić: Corruption kills
The silence and distraction of the state leadership
Another conclusion is that on Friday, when this story from the underground came to the surface, the entire state leadership was silent.
We were waiting for Aleksandar Vučić. He spoke about the mafia murder, in which his former advisor for the fight against corruption and crime was involved, on Saturday around noon, saying that he would first travel to Azerbaijan and that after Trump and Putin, he would also meet with the President of China, Xi Jinping. Having said that, he crossed the highways and Expa to blood in a restaurant in Senjak. Even Coppola couldn't have come up with that.
The President of Serbia spoke incoherently, about anything and everything, emphasizing his importance, greatness and courage. He did not, in fact, say anything about the scandal for which the press conference was called.
The behavior of the state leadership indicates a fear of what could come to light, if the Milić tangle began to unravel, which, for example, was prevented when a conflict broke out between the former Minister of the Interior Nebojsa Stefanović and Vučić, when the media intensively reported on the relationship between the high-ranking MUP official Dijana Hrkalović and the Veljko Belivuk clan...
The third conclusion is that the regime's media, including RTS, slyly published some semi-information, television news was pushed behind the "historical" letter of Vučić to Montenegrins, some business forum, Expa. They dragged their feet until Vučić's performance.
Explosive news, which even in a semi-normal country would have the potential to topple the government, is covered up as much as possible. First, the second echelon of regime analysts was thrown into the fire, trying to portray the entire case as the ultimate proof that the rule of law actually works, because yes, there are no protected persons, so the first policeman of Belgrade ended up in custody. There were also allusions that Milić, in fact, had connections with the blockaders-terrorists.
It was clear, for the umpteenth time, that the entire tabloid media machinery does nothing independently, that it waits for instructions from the top.
Former Belgrade police chief Veselin Milić was ordered into custody
Political responsibility
The fourth conclusion is that, even in Serbia, such an obvious connection of the importance of the third man of the Serbian police with criminals would have to have political consequences, at the very least the resignation of the Minister of Internal Affairs, Ivica Dacic, should be expected. The resignation, or dismissal, of Police Director Dragan Vasiljević, who spoke to Vučić at the press conference on Saturday, should be taken for granted.
Neither, however, SPS head Ivica Dacic would agree to sacrifice himself for the welfare of the ruling coalition and "take a bullet", nor Vučić, who has been panicking in the defense of the government for a year, can in such a situation afford a conflict with the most important coalition partner who has changed sides on several occasions, or show any weakness of the government.
The political moment when all this is happening is more tricky for the progressive government than ever before in the last 14 years: the rebellion in society has not abated since November 1, 2024, Vučić has promised special elections by the end of this year, public opinion surveys record the unstoppable decline of SNS, and students are calling for a new big rally in Belgrade on May 23 against lawlessness and corruption, during which yesterday's corrupt chief of the Belgrade Police Department will be in to prison for involvement in the murder and concealment of evidence.
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