HUNTING THE TIGER

In war-torn Serbia, a compulsive petty thief metamorphoses from mob boss to paramilitary warlord to international war criminal.

Until his assassination in early 2000—after The Hague indicted him on 24 counts of war crimes, and the United States offered a $5 million bounty on his head—Zeljko Raznatovic, aka Arkan, was responsible for much of the carnage that swept the former Yugoslavia as it descended into a nightmare of mass murder and ethnic cleansing. Freelance journalist Stewart recounts Arkan’s career from his early days as a bank robber to his recruitment as a hit man by Yugoslavian dictator Josip Tito. Twice sprung from prison thanks to his government connections, he displayed an unchecked appetite for the spoils of crime that was soon matched by his thirst for power. As Yugoslavia unraveled in the 1980s following Tito’s death, Arkan transformed himself from international bank robber and gangster to ultra-nationalist paramilitary leader, forming his own private army manned with unruly young soccer fans, whose anger and frustration he deftly tapped. With the blessing of another Serbian madman, President Slobodan Miloševic, Arkan and his army of “Serbian patriots” pillaged their way through Croatia, then Bosnia and finally Kosovo, leaving thousands dead in their wake. In the process, he amassed millions in spoils, married the country’s top pop singer in an opulent wedding rivaling that of Prince Charles and Diana, and even won a seat in Parliament. Stewart diligently follows his dark, bloody trail, but doesn’t quite manage to bring this sinister madman out of the shadows. Readers never get a feel for the source of Arkan’s hatred and ruthlessness.

More than once, the author questions the reliability of his own sources, leaving us unsure of just how much of this murky story—including whether Arkan is actually dead—we should believe. Nevertheless, a chilling, eye-opening account of a madman who deserves a choice seat in the pantheon of the 20th-century’s most evil criminals.