Serbian Organized Crime (Serbian: Cpпска мафија / Srpska Mafija, Serbian Mafia) are various criminal organizations based in Serbia or composed of ethnic Serbs in the Serbian Diaspora. The organizations are primarily involved in smuggling, arms trafficking, drug trafficking, protection rackets and illegal gambling. The Mafia is composed of several major organized groups, which in turn have wider networks throughout Europe.
The Serbian Mafia gave many Serbs a "way out" of the economic disaster that occurred in the country following the implementation of internationally imposed sanctions against Serbia during the Yugoslav Wars. Serbian criminals have been recruited to state security forces, a notable example is Legija, a commander in Arkan's Tigers which after the war was re-labelled as the JSO (Red Berets), he also planned the assassination of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić.
The ethnic Serbian OC groups are organized in the horizontal manner and higher-ranked members are not necessarily coordinated by any leader.
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