Jusuf "Juka" Prazina (pronounced [jǔsuf jûka prǎzina]; 7 September 1962 – 4 December 1993) was a Bosniak organized crime figure and warlord during the Bosnian War.

[3] Although a bullet remained (causing him to have a limp and reduced range of motion in his left hand for the rest of his life), Prazina ultimately survived and continued his activities.

[citation needed] Following the start of the siege of Sarajevo, Prazina set out with his gang to defend the city from the attacks of the VRS (or "Chetniks," as he called them).

Rapidly swelling his numbers, by May he was able to gather some 3,000 men outside the city's Druga Gimnazija high school (in the neighbourhood where he grew up on Sutjeska Street) and declare their intention to "defend Sarajevo.

"[2] Juka's Wolves, as the group was called, were thoroughly armed with sawed-off shotguns and AK-47s (provided in part through a connection with the Croatian Defence Forces), and uniformed with crew-cuts, black jump-suits, sunglasses, basketball shoes, and sometimes balaclavas.

[4][page needed] They were split into a number of locality-based factions, each under the direct control of one of Juka's close confidants but ultimately responsible to the central base ran by Prazina himself.

[2] In contrast to all this (and due to a variety of factors, including a pre-war policy that strove for a peaceful resolution and an international arms embargo), the central government under Alija Izetbegović and its formal army was relatively unorganized and unprepared.

Because of this, the assistance of well-armed groups such as Prazina's private army in the city's defense was welcomed, and their pre-war criminality overlooked in light of their apparent willingness to fight for a united and sovereign Bosnia and Herzegovina.

[4][page needed] His forces cleared the streets of Serb paramilitaries and the areas under his control (most notably Alipašino polje) were considered impenetrable to the enemy.

[2] On a number of occasions he participated in actions orchestrated by the leaders of other military units more closely affiliated with the central government (such as Dragan Vikić), many of whom he had good relations with.

At a time when many Sarajevans had to risk their lives for humanitarian food provisions, Prazina handed out candy to children on the street (albeit usually accompanied by the cameras of foreign news services).

[5] Prazina's frustrations were such that in late June he even laid siege to the Presidency Building, finally convincing the government that the issue had to be addressed immediately.

[3] Prazina never abandoned his criminal past; he and his group were notoriously corrupt, involved in numerous grand thefts, in control of the city's black market, and increasingly connected to various atrocities against civilians and POWs.

In September he had an allegedly threatening altercation with Alija Izetbegović in the president's office, following which he was asked to resign from his position as member of the General Staff.

[3] Increasingly troubled and unable to cope with Izetbegović's subtle plots to remove him from the center of power, his mental health reportedly further worsened when his pregnant wife Žaklina was wounded.

[4][page needed] In October the Bosnian government finally issued a warrant for Juka's arrest, accusing him of treason, extortion, and an addiction to cocaine.

Not willing to leave their defensive positions and open up various fronts for the VRS, the greater part of Prazina's former army remained in the city and was formally incorporated into the ARBiH.

[4][page needed] The decisive altercation occurred one day when Prazina expected to initiate a counter-offensive against certain government units with another local warlord, Zulfikar "Zuka" Ališpago.

Despite this lack of support from his former comrades, the consequences of his defeat at the hands of Zuka and the ARBiH made HVO held territory in Herzegovina a logical destination for Prazina.

[6] The HVO authorities appointed Prazina head of their Special Forces and assigned him to guard over the Sarajevo-Mostar corridor near the hydroelectric power plant Salakovac in northern Herzegovina.

[5] Prazina justified his actions by branding the expelled Bosniak civilians as extremists, and by claiming that their homes in the tower blocks had to be vacated so as to not leave good vantage points for enemy snipers.

[1] Although Prazina settled himself and his followers in a neighborhood populated mostly by immigrants from Turkey and the Maghreb, he eventually established himself among the city's small Yugoslav emigrant community.

The bullets found in Prazina's head corresponded to the holes in his car, and the ownership of a Beretta by one of his bodyguards sealed the case in the eyes of Belgian police.

[7] Witness testimonies and the nature of the questions asked by investigators showed that the German police had serious indications that Prazina had been killed by Zijo Oručević from Mostar.

[8] Post-war revelations of these activities have served to sour Prazina's legacy among the Bosniak citizens of Sarajevo, who once considered him among the most positive figures of the Bosnian war.