Karel Kopáč

Karel „Karlos“ Kopáč (3 June 1960 – 15 April 2004) was the leader of the group. Before the Velvet Revolution, he trained as a milling machine operator and was once convicted of theft. After the revolution, he worked as a porter and bouncer in nightclubs and developed an interest in martial arts. At the beginning of 1990, he joined the Rapid Response Unit, but left after a few months, allegedly due to a low salary and poor training.

After quitting, he found work as an arms dealer, mostly trading Škorpion machine pistols and grenades. He lived at Příčná 840/22 in Rudná, close to childhood friend and later accomplice, Vladimír Kuna.

Ludvík Černý

Ludvík "Pacient" Černý (born 25 May 1965) was the main killer of the group. Before the revolution, he worked as a bricklayer, but also secretly sold illegal goods as a fartsovchik.^[3] In 1985, he was convicted of theft and served a prison sentence. After the revolution, he found employment as a taxi driver at Mercedes-Benz Bohemia Praha, and often visited gyms and solariums (in one of which he would later meet Kopáč and Kuna).^[1] In 1992, Černý married, and in 1995, the couple had a son. He was well-liked by his neighbours, regarded as a good husband and nicknamed "Mimísek" (loosely translated as "babyface") by acquaintances due to his kind appearance.^[3]

Vladimír Kuna

Vladimír Kuna (born 21 June 1964) was a childhood friend of Kopáč, who often accompanied him to the gyms Podolí. He would eventually set up his own gym in the cellar of his own home, where he stored a variety of weapons, including anti-tank RPG missiles.

Accomplices

The two remaining members were Kopáč's sister, Irena Meierová, and her boyfriend, Petr Chodounský (born 19 July 1965).

Aleš Katovský

In 1991, Kopáč met businessman Aleš Katovský, who hired him as a bodyguard and eventually gained his trust. The initial idea to kill the businessman and rob him of his money came from Černý.

On 5 April 1991, Kopáč and Katovský left for Rudná, where Černý, posing as a client interested in exchanging currencies, was waiting for them.^[3] At arrival, he told Katovský that he did not have the necessary amount to exchange, and asked to be driven to his home. When they reached the railroad crossing where Na Radosti Street crossed Plzeňská Street in Zličín, Černý shot Katovský in the head from the back seat. The car started swerving and there was a risk of it colliding with an incoming bus, but the criminals managed to regain control of it.^[1]

Kopáč and Černý then drove to a nearby landfill, wrapped up the body in wire netting, put in the trunk of the car and drove to the Žďákov Bridge, where they threw the body in the water.^[3] From this killing, they acquired 800,000 koruna, with Černý later selling the car at a bazaar to the German owner of Musik Haus.

Leorent Lipoveci

The second murder took place on 9 January 1992. On that date, Kuna had arranged to sell a weapon to Leorent Lipoveci, a waiter who had immigrated from Kosovo.^[1] The deal was to take place at Kuna's apartment in Rudná, but unbeknownst to them, Lipoveci had armed himself with a knife just in case he was attacked. While browsing the suitcase full of weapons, Černý suddenly shot him in the head, frightening both Kopáč and Kuna.^[3] Kopáč later testified that Černý replied to their shock by claiming that "[He] was the Joker!", and since then, they referred to him as "Pacient" (The Patient, alluding to a psychiatric hospital). The trio gathered 30,000 koruna from this killing.^[1]

At this time, Kuna came up with the idea of disposing of the corpse by stuffing it into a barrel, which he had prepared in advance, and pouring lye over it.^[4] Kopáč was initially unconvinced, but Kuna and Černý nevertheless stuffed Lipoveci's body inside, poured lye and water over it, and then welded the barrel. All three then loaded the barrel into a borrowed Avia truck and went to the Žďákov Bridge, where, like Katovský, threw it into the water.^[3]

After the murder, Černý started wearing the dead man's gold chain. He also expressed interest in appropriating Lipoveci's apartment but was dissuaded by Kopáč. Using their victim's car, the trio drove to Weiden in der Oberpfalz, Germany, parked the car in front of a hypermarket and then drove back home.^[1]

Vlastimil Hodr

Hodr, an antique dealer, was shot in the head near a gas station on Plzeňská Street in Prague by Černý, who wanted to steal a golden seal he was carrying on his person.^[3] He then contacted Kuna and Kopáč to help dismember the body, as Hodr was too big and could not fit in the barrel at all. After finishing the procedure, they stuffed the remains and threw them off the bridge into the water. The stolen seal was never recovered.^[2]

Anna Medková

The gang's next victim was Kuna's mother, Anna Medková, who owned a salon. On 7 February 1992, Černý sent her a package containing a mixture of semtex, TNT and screws to her house in Mnichovice.^[4] Immediately after opening the package in her kitchen, it exploded in Medkova's hands, causing her serious injuries. Kuna, dissatisfied with the outcome, planned to suffocate his mother with a pillow while visiting her in the hospital, but she succumbed to her injuries five days later.^[3] The blast occurred on her birthday; however, this was not intentional, as Kuna allegedly did not know his mother's date of birth.

The murderers earned 1.6 million koruna through the murder. Kuna and his brother got half of the money at first, but his share was later stolen by other members. Petr Chodounský, playing the role of an entrepreneur, offered Kuna's brother a bargain - instead of the promised earnings, however, they stole his money.^[4]

Afrim Kryeziu

This murder was carried out solely by Černý, and is normally not associated with the gang's activities. He was hired by a group of Yugoslav drug traffickers to carry out a job with the help of Afrim "Frenki" Kryeziu, a Kosovo Albanian.^[5] On the morning of 1 June 1993, Černý was instructed to meet him on the corner of a house on Větrná Street in the centre of Liberec. After seeing Kryezia approaching in his BMW, Černý pulled out a Škorpion submachine gun, firing nine times at the car and killing him.^[5] As a result, the car crashed into a stone pillar, which was part of a church fence that remained damaged for a long time. Černý then left the scene on foot. The cartridges fired from his gun were later found on a stairway leading to Rybářská Street, as he had used a plastic bag while firing to avoid them being found by authorities at the actual scene of the shooting later on. His total haul amounted to 200,000 koruna.^[5]

Jaroslav Meier

At one point, Kopáč suggested that they could earn a lot of money by opening an erotic club, but as none of the gang members had the funds to run it, he approached his brother-in-law Jaroslav Meier and asked him to guarantee a bank loan on his house.^[3] Meier, who had built the house himself, refused. Kopáč's sister, Irena, also learned of the suggestion, and at the end of 1992, she told her brother that if her husband was killed, the house would be handed to her and she would guarantee the loan. Her reason for the hit on her husband was her wanting to live with Chodounský, as well as her personal interest in the property. Kopáč was against the idea, and only pretended to be interested in front of his sister, even promising to procure the killer himself if she was being honest with him. He then had an acquaintance pretend to be a hired gunman, to whom Meierová handed over an envelope with the money Kopáč had given her. To her surprise, these turned out to be newspaper clippings.

After Kopáč did not keep his promise, Meierová and Chodounský turned to Černý, who accepted. On 6 July 1993, Černý shot Meier four times with the Škorpion, which was supplied by Kopáč, at his house in Rudná. From the murder, the killers received 100,000 koruna.^[3]

According to court and criminal records, Chodounský was not Meier's lover and had never asked Černý for anything.

Attempted murder of Ján Mato

In the summer of 1992, Černý attempted to kill police officer Ján Mato, who knew some of the gang members from the gym. The reason for the crime was Černý wanting to acquire his apartment in Prague 5 and his service badge.^[3] Despite this, there is no indication that Mato knew of his friends' criminal activities.

That summer, Kopáč, Černý and Mato went to shoot at targets in Kuna's cellar. At one point, Černý put a pistol to Mato's head and pulled the trigger, but the gun jammed and did not fire. Mato, in a calm manner, insulted his would-be killer and promptly left.^[3] Later on, he would be disciplined for associating with the gang members. In 2002, he was murdered in the Prague Metro in an unrelated matter.^[3]