Photo: Ministry of the Interior of Serbia
Jovan Vukotić was considered to be the leader of the škaljars and he lived on a farm. So far, he has survived at least three attempts at liquidation, and his father and godfather were also killed. His head was blackmailed, they say, at a million euros
Since the division of the Kotor clan into skaljars and kavačas and their war since 2015, every day that Jovan Vukotić spent either in freedom or in prison was a lottery. His life resembled a reality action thriller, he clashed with both the police and criminals, wrote letters to the media, at one time his extradition became an international political spectacle, they tried to poison him while he was in prison, his family members and friends were killed, and he quarreled with the leaders of rival clans and sent threats through obituaries.
Vukotić was considered to be the leader of the škalyars and he lived on a farm, so far he has survived at least three attempts at liquidation, and his father and godfather were also killed. His head was blackmailed, they say, for a million euros, his picture was often found in the album of Interpol warrants. So running away from the police and hiding from rivals became his daily routine.
Liquidation like in the movie
His criminal liquidation, like a movie scene, was carried out on Thursday night in Turkey.
According to the first information, while Vukotić was driving through the suburbs of Istanbul, he was hit by a bullet from a hired killer who shot it from a moving motorcycle. With his last movements, Jovan Vukotić tried to unfasten his seat belt and avoid death once again, but the bullets were faster. He was killed in front of his child and pregnant wife.
State of emergency in Kotor
As the news about the murder of the most famous skalar echoed in the Balkans, dozens of police vehicles arrived in Kotor. Military jeeps were also spotted on the waterfront, and the most police patrols were seen in the Kavači neighborhood. It is assumed that the Montenegrin police are trying to prevent further bloodshed, although many in Kotor say that in this way the police are actually protecting the Kavka from revenge.
It was the police that Vukotić once pointed his finger at. He hid throughout Europe with fake passports and justified it as the only way for him to escape from Montenegrin and Serbian police officers who he claimed were providing logistics and protection to his criminal rivals. In a message to the media in October 2020, Vukotić said that, in case "something happens to him", the police will be held responsible.
"I have left the house twice since I have been released and both times the police want to arrest me, before that they search my cars, they keep me on the street like a clay pigeon." From now on, if anything happens to me, my family and friends will hold the police directly responsible," said Vukotić.
The reason for such a statement by the leader of the scalers was an event in front of the police station in Kotor. Namely, the head of the "scumbags", who was released from prison in July 2020, was intercepted by the police, and then quickly handed him an invitation to an interview for the purpose of "gathering information".
While they were interrogating Vukotić, his bodyguard caught Petar Mujović (20), a man from Nikšić, who is close to the Kavčans, with a gun in the barrel, in front of the station. Mujović later admitted that he had been promised half a million euros if he liquidated the main sklar.
High-risk extradition
Even at the time of the liquidation, Vukotić was on the wanted list - the Montenegrin authorities accused him last year of preparing the murder of the leader of the Kavčan. Apparently, he chose to hide in Turkey again, as in 2018, when he was a citizen of both Serbia and Montenegro, and was arrested for forging a passport. Even though it was a minor criminal act, the then state secretary of the MUP of Serbia, Dijana Hrkalović, personally went to Antalya to pick up Vukotić, who accompanied him to Belgrade in a special plane for high-risk actions. Nebojša Stefanović, the then current Minister of Police, actively participated in the entire extradition procedure and made decisions.
For days, it was speculated whether the extradition met the legal requirements or was actually police support for the bars. All in all, the court proceedings lasted a short time, and Vukotić was convicted.
Political dimension
He wasn't safe even behind bars. It sounded like a media bombshell that in 2019, a group of fake policemen were arrested who intercepted the fiancee of the leader of the skalars while she was taking his lunch to prison. According to the indictment, that group intended to pour cyanide into food to poison a rival. However, the court acquitted them due to lack of evidence.
In recent months, Jovan Vukotić was given an important role in the political turmoil. The Montenegrin media, close to the president there, Milo Đukanović, regularly published correspondence from the Sky application that pointed to Vukotić's association with Prime Minister Dritan Abazović, otherwise one of Đukanović's strongest opponents.
It was said in criminal circles that Vukotić's name could not be erased from the death list, and that regardless of whether the skaljars and blacksmiths continue to fight or conclude a truce, he will definitely be killed. Because of his father's murder, it was assumed that he would never stop seeking revenge. One thing is certain, the killers never stopped looking for Jovan Vukotić, and how and with whose help they found him in Istanbul will be a story in itself.
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