17 July 2025 , 21:13
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An alleged Balkan mob hitman was shot dead in Barcelona in what appears to be a gangland execution.
The man shot dead last Tuesday at the entrance of a building in the heart of Barcelona has been identified as Filip Knežević, an alleged hitman for the Montenegrin Kavač clan and one of the most wanted Balkan criminals, OCCRP has learned from sources familiar with the investigation.
Catalonia’s regional police, the Mossos d’Esquadra, have officially confirmed the victim’s identity on Thursday and said false identity documents were found in his possession. The investigation remains ongoing.
Knežević, 36, was wanted in Serbia for the 2020 killings of two rival mobsters on the Greek island of Corfu.
Sources familiar with the case told OCCRP that Knežević had recently been in Ibiza and was planning to travel to Rome. Though he was staying in a non-tourist apartment in the Barcelona building, they believe he was not a resident of Spain.
He was shot in the back inside the entrance of 200 Carrer del Consell de Cent. The attacker fired at least 10 rounds from an automatic weapon, striking Knežević in the head and back, while other bullets hit the building’s interior walls.
Authorities identified him by fingerprints, as he was listed in a Serbian criminal database.
According to a Serbian secret police report obtained by the investigative outlet KRIK, Knežević was part of a Kavač clan hit team sent to Corfu to assassinate Alan Kožar, a leader of the rival Škaljar clan. Knežević and another hitman reportedly entered Greece illegally through Kosovo and North Macedonia and tracked Kožar for several days.
On July 23, 2020, they waited offshore in a boat until Kožar returned from the beach to his rental home. At that point, they opened fire, killing Kožar and his companion.
Intercepted communications indicate Knežević was paid €200,000 ($231,295 at the time) for the murder.
Technology & Business Editor