During this time, the Ustaša political party, headed by the fascist leader Ante Pavelić, controlled Croatian leadership.

[7] While this puppet state adapted the anti-semitic policy of the Axis powers, their goal was also to ethnically cleanse all Serbian and Roma people through acts of systematic extermination.

[7] It is thought that the war crimes and the Holocaust in Croatia during WWII committed by the Ustaša regime is what spurred some anti-Croat sentiment within some parts of the Serbian populations later on.

[7] While this view of the Croat diaspora population was largely slanted, it did describe a small number of loosely organized groups which were in line with the Ustaše.

[7] Otpor existed for over three decades, and while it never had more than a few thousand members worldwide, it linked a variety of notable Croatian nationalists.

[8] Otpor branches on four continents at times splintered, notably the Argentinian one under the leadership of Dinko Šakić.

[11] In August 1991, the U.S. Customs Service arrested four members of Otpor from Chicago for attempting to procure illegal weapons, including anti-aircraft missiles, and ship them to Croatia.

After fleeing Yugoslavia for war crimes committed during WWII, he spent some time in Austria and Italy before relocating to Argentina with the majority of the remaining NDH leadership and an estimated 5,000 to 15,000 Ustaše sympathizers.

This split was due to the fact that Pavelić was willing to give up some historically Croatian land in exchange to reestablish an independent Croatia.

A number of attacks against Yugoslavia were organized by the Ustasha emigration, including the 1971 killing of ambassador Vladimir Rolović by Miro Barešić and Anđelko Brajković.

This attack happened three months after Cikoja had received a letter from the "Croatian Nationalist Army", demanding a payment of $5,000 towards the cause for independence.

This incident was similar to the previous two: the target, Krizan Brkic, also received an extortion letter demanding that he contribute money towards the cause for independence.

The suppressed pistol used by Caran to commit the murder was given to him by Miro Biosic for an unsuccessful assassination attempt on Mario Forgiarini, a wealthy recipient of an extortion letter.

[18] On May 23, 1979, a pipe bomb killed Otpor members Marijan Rudela and Zvonko Zimac in a pickup truck in the San Pedro district of Los Angeles.

The FBI believed the bomb detonated accidentally; it was intended for the homes of two Croatians who had previously received extortion letters.

In 1981, ten Croatian nationalists were indicted by the U.S. government on racketeering charges: Mile Markic, Milan Bagaric, Ante Ljubas, Vinko Logarusic, Ranko Primorac, Drago Sudar, Andjelko Jakic, Ivan Misetic, Miro Biosic, and Mile Boban.

[20] In exchange for immunity on state murder charges, Caran agreed to plead guilty to civil rights violations for killing Brkzic, and testify for the prosecution.