A three-time convicted rapist in Yugoslavia, Magaš rose to become a Yugoslav mafia crime boss and one of the most influential figures in the Frankfurt underworld during the 1970s and 1980s.
Born to a Croatian father, Šime Magaš, from Nin, and a Serbian mother, Rosa Ćurčić, Ljubomir spent his early youth in Zemun.
When he was eight, his mother moved the family to Belgrade, the Zvezdara neighbourhood where he attended Ćirilo i Metodije primary school.
In fall 1967, together with Rade "Ćenta" Ćaldović and Zoran "Robija" Milosavljević, nineteen-year-old Magaš was arrested on a rape charge.
Ćenta and Robija got off due to lack of evidence, while Magaš was sentenced for rape to 2 years and 8 months in Sremska Mitrovica penitentiary.
One anecdote had Magaš forcing his fellow inmates to chew over dry and hardened bread so that he could make chess figures out of it.
In March 1971, he escaped to Italy with an associate, Danilo "Đani" Novaković, in order to avoid arrest over a car theft.
He settled in Offenbach am Main, essentially a suburb of Frankfurt, where the Yugoslav mafia operated out of a cafe called Žurnal.
At first, Magaš worked as bouncer, however, using the alias Tomislav Spadijer, he assembled a group of criminals specializing in armed robberies and racketeering.
This marked the beginning of his criminal heyday — through fear and intimidation he led a group of associates that enabled him to secure a steady income stream.
Yugoslavia submitted another request, while Magaš was arrested in Frankfurt again in May 1975 for using falsified identification documents, robbery and driving without a license.
On 27 October 1978, Magaš was suspected of taking part in the murder of Veljko Krivokapić aka Velja Crnogorac.
In 1983, Magaš was among some twenty individuals that got arrested on extortion, blackmail and armed robbery charges, part of a sweeping action by the West German police.
Magaš used his influence around Yugoslav emigre circles to obtain favourable witness testimonies and reportedly even got football coach Fahrudin Jusufi to provide an alibi for his whereabouts on the night of the shooting.