Franko Simatovic - Frenky

PLACE AND DATE OF BIRTH: Belgrade, 1954

FAMILY BACGROUND: Father Pero, from Dubrovnik, a Partisan, and after WWII, highly ranked officer in the Yugoslav National Army and one of the founders of the water polo club Partizan.  Sister, Dubravka (married Horvat) is living in Rijeka, Croatia.

EDUCATION:  Higher Police School and Faculty of Political Science, University of Belgrade

Speaks English fluently.

CAREER:  From the beginning, connected with the slightly older Jovica Stanisic as mentor, colleague and personal friend.  Like Stanisic, Simatovic got a job in the State Security Service immediately after graduating and progressed in the Service.  When Milosevic came to power, he was chief of a section of the Service dealing with American espionage in Yugoslavia.

WAR EFFORTS:  In the late 1990 he became the key man for organizing Serbian paramilitary units in Croatia and elsewhere.  He arrived in Knin with personal documents in the name of Dragan Simendic, journalist with “Politika ekspres”, but his main task is to overlook Captain Dragan, a hired man paid to mask the involvement of the Service in the so-called “tree-stump revolution.”  With Frenky’s assistance, Captain Dragan’s training center in Golubici yields the first generation of paramilitary units which later got the name Red Berets, and later the name of Special Operations Units of the State Security Service.  Included in this group were Aca Bozovic Legija, Rajo Bozovic (not related), Zika Ivanovic the Montenegrin, Njegus Kusic, Pera Divljakovic Divljak (tr. the Savage), Bora Todorovic, Raso Soldo, Sasa Medakovic, Vaso Mijovic…  A small number of these men were professional policemen – the rest were sentenced criminals, blackmailed or released from prison in return for “patriotic service.”  Stanisic, Mihalj Kertes and Brana Crncevic were on the recruiting board.

EYEWITNESS REPORT (1):  “I saw Frenky for the first time in May 1992, at the training center in Bosnia.  There were many thugs at that camp: Seselj’s boys, “White Eagles”, independent volunteer groups, in fact thugs and looters.  Still, all of them were afraid of the Red Berets and trembled at the sight of their commander, Aca Legija.  One day Frenky paid us a visit.  He came by helicopter, wearing an elegant, civilian suit, sporting Ray Ban sunglasses.  Aca Legija reported for him and addressed him “Sir, Commander, Sir!”  Frenky presented himself with his full name and family name and said that he is the emissary of the Serbian State and that we are knights on which the fate of the Serbian people rests.  After this we all got a CZ gun from a casket which came with the same helicopter.  We were told to write our biographies so that we could get official police badges.  Later, many of us got as many as two badges: one from the State Security Service of Serbia (for use in Serbia) and one from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Serbian Republic of Krajina (for use in Republika Srpska and Krajina).  We were untouchable with every police force and army.

EYEWITNESS REPORT (2):  “I stood on the banks of the Neretva River when a group of Red Berets, among whom I recognized Pera the Savage, escorted a group of some hundred Muslims and Croats from the cellars of the Zelik suburb of Mostar.  It lasted half an hour before they killed them all, whether with guns, knives, of rifle buts.  After that a dredger came and buried them all.”

RECENT CAREER:  Simatovic survived Stanisic’s firing in October of 1998 and after a brief “freeze” became assistant to the new Chief of State Security, Rade Markovic.  However, their relations were strained from the beginning, with Markovic complaining often that he has no control over Frenky and the Special Operations Unit.  During 1998/99, the Red Berets were active in Kosovo, where investigations are being conducted in several locations regarding their crimes against civilians.

HOBBY:  Fishing & hunting.

PRESENT STATUS:  Pensioner.