 Frankfurt Mafia is from Veles, North Macedonia | |
| Founded | Mid-1990s |
|---|---|
| Named after | City of Frankfurt in Germany |
| Founding location | Veles, North Macedonia |
| Territory | North Macedonia, Austria, Germany |
| Ethnicity | Macedonian |
| Activities | Heroin trafficking, money laundering |
The Frankfurt mafia is a crime group from Veles, North Macedonia, that was involved in the heroin trade in Frankfurt, Germany, and Vienna, Austria.
The crime group was founded in the mid-1990s by people from Veles. [1] The group mainly consisted of Macedonian citizens from Veles. [2] Boris Rhein, Hessen's Interior Minister, stated that the Frankfurt mafia held about 90% of the drug trade market in Frankfurt for a couple of years. [3] [4] The Frankfurt mafia controlled 19 out of 24 blocks in Vienna's drug trade using intelligence methods. [5] Per officials, the group had taken control of the heroin trade in Frankfurt and Vienna in a short period of time by violently forcing out rival gangs. [6] [7] [8]
In September 2010, a leader of the group was killed in a fish restaurant. [9] In an international operation, the Macedonian, German and Austrian police arrested around 400 people in 2010. Per police, 170kg of heroin in Germany and 26.3kg in Austria were seized. [7] Macedonian police launched their operation in Veles and Gevgelija, Sveti Nikole and Skopje. Around 350 police officers took part in raids on the homes, restaurants and cafes. Per the police, there was a large amount of money, drugs and other items. [10] The Criminal Court in Skopje gave the leaders of the group prison and suspended sentences in 2012. [11] [12] In a joint operation in 2013, Macedonian and German police arrested around 50 people. Per Macedonian police, three persons remained at large. Macedonian police arrested people in Skopje, Veles, Bitola, Sveti Nikole, Štip and Struga. [13] According to the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime: "Although 450 people ended up behind bars, the group is still active and has simply changed tactics." [2]
Veles is a city in the central part of North Macedonia on the Vardar river. The city of Veles is the seat of Veles Municipality. Veles is the sixth largest Macedonian city with a total population of 43,716. The largest cities in the proximity of Veles are: Skopje - the capital and the largest city of North Macedonia - 54 km in the northwest direction, Štip 43 km to the east, Sveti Nikole 34 km to the northeast, Prilep 79 km in the southwest direction, and Kavadarci and Negotino 43 km and 40 km respectively to the southeast. Veles is on the crossroad of important international road and rail lines. For all these reasons, Veles is considered to have a good geolocation within North Macedonia.
Makedonski Železnici was the public enterprise for railways in North Macedonia. In 2007 it was split into railway operation company Železnici na Republika Severna Makedonija Transport and the infrastructure company Makedonski Železnici Infrastruktura.
Sojuz na Izvidnici na Makedonija (The Scout Association of Macedonia) (Macedonian: Сојуз на извидници на Македонија), the national scouting organization of Republic of North Macedonia, became a member of the World Organization of the Scout Movement in 1997. The coeducational Sojuz na Izvidnici na Makedonija has 3010 members as of 2023.
Skopje International Airport, also known as Skopje Airport and Petrovec Airport is the larger and busier of the two international airports in North Macedonia, with the other being the St. Paul the Apostle Airport in Ohrid, which is located 170 km (110 mi) southwest from the national capital Skopje. The airport was previously named Skopje Alexander the Great Airport.
Criminal organizations have been prevalent in Italy, especially in the southern part of the country, for centuries and have affected the social and economic life of many Italian regions. There are major native mafia-like organizations that are heavily active in Italy. The most powerful of these organizations are the Camorra from Campania, the 'Ndrangheta from Calabria and the Cosa Nostra from Sicily.
Petrovec Municipality is a municipality in northern North Macedonia, near the capital Skopje. Petrovec is also the name of the village where the municipal seat is found. It is located in the Skopje Statistical Region.
The Serbian mafia, or Serbian organized crime, are various criminal organizations based in Serbia or composed of ethnic Serbs in the former Yugoslavia and Serbian diaspora. The organizations are primarily involved in smuggling, arms trafficking, drug trafficking, human trafficking, assassinations, heists, assault, protection rackets, murder, money laundering and illegal gambling. Ethnic Serb organized crime groups are organized horizontally; higher-ranked members are not necessarily coordinated by any leader. According to criminologists and law enforcement authorities, the Serbian mafia is the most powerful in Europe.
Albanian mafia or Albanian organized crime are the general terms used for criminal organizations based in Albania or composed of ethnic Albanians. Albanian organized crime is active in Europe, North America, South America, and various other parts of the world including the Middle East and Asia. The Albanian mafia participates in a diverse range of criminal enterprises including trafficking in drugs, arms, and humans. Due to their close ties with the 'Ndrangheta of Calabria, they control a large part of the billion dollar wholesale cocaine market in Europe and appear to be the primary distributors of cocaine in various European drug hubs including London. Albanian organized crime is characterized by diversified criminal enterprises which, in their complexity, demonstrate a very high criminal capacity. In Albania, there are over 15 mafia families that control organized crime.
The Cuntrera-Caruana Mafia clan was a Mafia clan of the Cosa Nostra and held a key position in the illicit drug trade and money laundering for Cosa Nostra in the 1980s and 1990s. The Italian press baptized the clan as "The Rothschilds of the Mafia" or "The Bankers of Cosa Nostra".
The East Harlem Purple Gang was a gang and organized crime group in New York City consisting of Italian-American hit-men and heroin dealers who were semi-independent from the Italian-American Mafia and, according to federal prosecutors, dominated heroin distribution in East Harlem, Italian Harlem, and the Bronx during the 1970s and early 1980s. Though mostly independent of the Mafia and not an official Mafia crew, the gang was originally affiliated with and worked with the Lucchese crime family and later with the Bonanno crime family and Genovese crime family. It developed its "closest ties" with the Genovese family, and its remnants or former members became part of the Genovese family's 116th Street Crew.
Organised crime in Nigeria includes activities by fraudsters, bandits, drug traffickers and racketeers, which have spread across Western Africa. Nigerian criminal gangs rose to prominence in the 1980s, owing much to the globalisation of the world's economies and the high level of lawlessness and corruption in the country.
The Casalesi clan is a clan within the Camorra, an Italian criminal organization, operating from San Cipriano d'Aversa in the province of Caserta. Formed by Antonio Bardellino, it is a confederation of clans in the Caserta area. The Casalesi clan is believed to be one of the most powerful groups within the Camorra, specialising in construction and keeping a lower profile than clans that focus on drug dealing.
Law enforcement in North Macedonia is the responsibility of the Police of the Republic of North Macedonia.
Slovakia is a Central European country with a history of relatively low crime. While crime became more widespread after the Revolutions of 1989, it remains low when compared to many other post-communist countries.
Crime in Germany is handled by the German police forces and other agencies.
The Macedonian Municipal Leagues is the fourth and fifth-highest football competition in the North Macedonia.
In April 2016, protests began in the Republic of Macedonia against the incumbent President Gjorge Ivanov and the government led by the interim Prime Minister Emil Dimitriev from the ruling VMRO-DPMNE party. Referred to by some as the Colorful Revolution, the protests started after the controversial decision by President Gjorge Ivanov to stop the investigation of former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and dozens of politicians who were allegedly involved in a wiretapping scandal. The demonstrations were organized by "Protestiram" and supported by a coalition led by the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia and other opposition parties, in addition to the newly formed Levica demanding that the government resign and be replaced by a transitional government and that the parliamentary elections planned for 5 June 2016 be cancelled, on the grounds that the conditions for free and transparent elections were not in place. The government and its supporters, who had organized pro-government rallies, maintained that the elections on June 5 were the only solution to the political crisis, with some observers blaming the opposition for creating a "Ukraine scenario" in Macedonia.
Zoran Manaskov is a Macedonian former leader of the Frankfurt mafia. His nickname is Skršeniot. He was arrested in the police action "Dirigent" in 2010. For the heroin trade in Frankfurt and Vienna, he was sentenced to 13 years in prison along with his crime partner Spase.
The COVID-19 pandemic in North Macedonia was a part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The virus was confirmed to have reached North Macedonia in February 2020. The initial contagion in the country was mainly connected with the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy as there are circa 70,000 residents of Italy from North Macedonia and resulted in many people returning to North Macedonia, bringing the virus with them. As of 9 July, over 7,000 cases have been confirmed in the country, due to its second wave caused by family reunions during Eid al-Fitr among the Muslim minority and the overall re-opening of the country to organize the parliamentary elections.
The Raduša shootout was a shootout between the Macedonian police forces and 4 veterans of the NLA near the village of Raduša close to the Kosovo border, who were smuggling weapons. The Macedonian police recovered a large quantity of weapons and NLA uniforms in their vehicle.
 | This article about a criminal organization is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |