Džamba

Iso Lero, known as Džamba, was a Yugoslavian gangster based in Belgrade, Serbia. He was called "the Don" and "the king of Dorćol". An ethnic Romani, whose paternal family had settled Belgrade already in the second half of the 19th century, he was brought up at Dobračina street, together with his maternal cousin Džej Ramadanovski, a popular singer. He began his criminal career in his youth. He was jailed at the Central Prison in 1976 for purse snatching and fighting at a bus station in Belgrade. He took an interest in law, learnt all criminal paragraphs, and became the "lawyer" of many inmates, writing complaints and other court applications. During the 1970s and 1980s, he, as many Yugoslav criminals, committed crimes in Italy, Germany and France, but not in Yugoslavia. At first in conflict with Đorđe Božović "Giška", they became friends while imprisoned in Italy. He was a close associate of Aleksandar "Knele" Knežević, underboss in the Voždovac gang.

Džamba, a leader in jail, was often and badly beaten up by the Central Prison guards due to his rebellious nature. He owned a detective firm called "Karmen". He disappeared on 23 September 1992, aged 39, after being beaten up by casino security headed by Vukašin "Vule" Gojak, major in the Arkan's "Tigers", at Beograđanka. It is alleged that Arkan's Tigers members beat him to death, then took him to Erdut, where the Tigers were based during the 1991–95 Yugoslav Wars, where they supposedly buried him. His wife Snežana Lero has accused four of Arkan's men of beating him up. Legend has him retired somewhere in South America, while other say that Arkan forced his cousin Džej to sing at his unmarked grave in Erdut. Politician Vojislav Šešelj has claimed that Arkan planned the murder.^[1] Apparently, Džamba had beaten up Arkan while they were both youngsters serving time in juvenile detention center, leaving him with a scar over eyebrow for which Arkan became known later. Some sources indicate that Džamba belonged to long list of murdered criminals from Serbia who all had one thing in common, lack of "good backing" in the police.^[2] The man suspected of his murder, Vukašin Gojak, was shot by a sniper in 1997.

Poetry

In an interview given to Politika, Ramadanovski stated that Džamba is author of the text of two songs he later recorded and published. One was "Teško je živeti" from album "Zar ja da ti brišem suze" and the other was "Žuta ruža/To je žena mojih snova" published on his album "1,2".^[3]

References

Sources

• "Čovek bez straha". Novosti.
• "Ovaj Džejov hit svi pevate, a pojma nemate da ga je napisao KRIMINALAC koji je prebio Arkana, a onda zauvek NESTAO!". Telegraf.
• "Ovo je jedini čovek koji je u popravnom domu dobio Arkana na ruke: Željko mu to nije zaboravio". Telegraf.
• "NAJPOZNATIJI DON SA DORĆOLA – Bio je kriminalac i advokat momcima iz podzemlja. Evo kako je na kraju završio". Vestinet.
• "NAJVEĆA TAJNA BEOGRADSKOG PODZEMLJA: Nikad nije otkriven Džambin ubica". nadlanu.
• "DŽAMBA JE PLJUNUO NA ARKANOVU SLIKU: Bio je don Dorćola, Kneletov drug, Džejev brat, a Šešelj je tvrdio da zna ko ga je ubio!". Espreso.