Else Beekman
The man shot dead in broad daylight on Tuesday in central Barcelona has been identified as Filip Knežević, a 36-year-old Serbian national linked to the notorious Balkan mafia. Authorities have confirmed the killing as a contract hit connected to a long-running and deadly feud between rival Eastern European crime syndicates.
The victim was ambushed outside his residence at number 200, Consell de Cent Street. That’s in the heart of the city’s Eixample district. He was shot eight times, reportedly in the head and back, as he left the building. The gunman fled the scene, prompting the Mossos d’Esquadra (Catalan police) to launch ‘Operación Jaula’, a containment operation aimed at capturing the suspect. Despite these efforts, no arrests have yet been made.
Knežević had recently moved into the apartment block, which is mostly occupied by foreign professionals. According to police sources cited by La Vanguardia, neighbours had little or no contact with him.
A figure in a bloody feud
Investigators believe the killing was a calculated act of revenge orchestrated by rival factions within the Balkan criminal underworld. Knežević had long been wanted in connection with the 2020 assassination of two Montenegrin gang leaders on the Greek island of Corfu. The victims, Alan Kožar and Damir Hadžić, were heads of the Škaljari clan, a major Montenegrin crime group. They were gunned down with 29 bullets in what authorities described as a brutal mafia execution. Knežević was reportedly one of the gunmen involved, acting on behalf of the rival Kavač clan.
The feud between the Škaljari and Kavač clans stems from a split in 2014 within a larger Montenegrin drug cartel. Since then, the conflict has escalated across Europe, claiming dozens of lives. Both factions are deeply entrenched in international cocaine trafficking, money laundering, arms dealing, and contract killings.
Serbian media outlet Kurir had linked Knežević to the Kavač clan. He had been in hiding ever since the Corfu murders. His execution-style killing in Barcelona bears all the hallmarks of a mafia hit, reinforcing suspicions that hitmen were contracted for the job.
An emerging pattern in Catalonia
While such violent incidents are rare in Barcelona, they are not unprecedented. In recent months, the region has witnessed a handful of similarly brazen killings. In May 2024, Turkish drug trafficker Tekin Kartal was shot five times in the city. Months earlier, in November, a dock worker with ties to drug trafficking was murdered while having coffee in Montgat after dropping his child at school.
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