spectacular manner as the entire airport was shut down. He had been indicted in 1992 for giving a $60,000 bribe to a juror in the 1987 racketeering murder trial of John Gotti, and thus was held without bail as a wanted fugitive. The charges against Radonjić were dropped after the key witness in his case, Gravano, was arrested for drug related offenses. Gravano had been the Gambinos' intermediary between Radonjić and the corrupt juror, Pape. However, the case against Radonjić was based almost entirely on Gravano's testimony, and Gravano's arrest made prosecutors believe his testimony would not be credible. Radonjić was freed in March 2001. He immediately left the United States and went back to the former Yugoslavia. In subsequent interviews Radonjić claimed the FBI had ulterior motives for persecuting and harassing him: During spring 2003, following the assassination of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić, Radonjić was arrested and questioned as part of Operation Sablja, a wide-sweeping police action initiated by the Serbian authorities under the state of emergency. After spending three days in prison, Radonjić was released. He died following a brief illness in Belgrade, Serbia on 31 March 2011. In popular culture In the 1998 made-for-TV movie Witness to the Mob, a depiction of the life of Sammy the Bull, Radonjić is played by Stephen Payne. Niko Bellic, the main character of Grand Theft Auto IV, may have been inspired by Radonjić due to both being Yugoslav criminals, with ties to Italian and Irish organized crime. References Further reading Davis, John H. Mafia Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the Gambino Crime Family. New York: HarperCollins, 1993; English, T.J. The Westies: Inside the Hell's Kitchen Irish Mob. St Martin's Paperbacks, 1991; External links James Ridgway de Szigethy, "J.R.'s Mafia Year In Review – 2000", AmericanMafia.com Daniel Voll "Radovan Karadzic: A Deeply Misunderstood Mass Murderer" by Radonjić obituary, nytimes.com, 9 April 2011 1943 births 2011 deaths Serbian gangsters Yugoslav emigrants to the United States American crime bosses American gangsters American people of Serbian descent Westies (New York gang) Serbian people imprisoned abroad Prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government Serbian anti-communists Abuse of the legal system