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Vienna gang arrested for extorting bar owners

Eight members of a criminal gang suspected of extorting as much as half a million euros over three years from bar owners in Vienna have been arrested.

Published: 8 April 2016 11:45 CEST

Vienna gang arrested for extorting bar owners

Polizei

The months long investigation into the gang came to a dramatic conclusion early in the morning on March 22nd when the homes of the suspects were stormed and they were arrested.

The defendants – who all deny the accusations – include seven men and one woman aged between 23 and 38-years-old.

They are accused of threatening to hurt the owners of several bars and one mobile phone shop in Vienna unless they hired the gang members as bouncers of their establishments, paying them a salary that went into the gang’s coffers.

The new ‘security guards’ were paid a hundreds of euros for the ‘protection’ and in some cases between €10,000 and €100,000, according to the head of the office for organised crime Andreas Holzer. Demands were even made from one victim for €1.5 million.

The gang, who mainly targeted businesses on Ottakringer Straße and Märzstraße, reportedly spent the money on fancy cars, luxury items and expensive clothing brands.

Some business owners were so intimidated they sold their bars rather than have to deal with the criminals. Others had their cars set on fire and received notes saying “next time, your house will burn”.

The extortion scheme is thought to have been operating since 2013 but only came to the police’s attention in Autumn 2015 when a group of business owners rallied together to file a joint complaint.

Authorities believe the alleged main suspect – 37-year-old Edin D. – may also be connected to the shooting dead of a customer in the Cafe Cappuccino in Ottakringer Straße in 2006, which became known as the 'Cappuccino murder'.

Authorities are calling for anyone who thinks they may be a victim of the gang to contact the Federal Office of Crime (01/24836 985025) with details. A witness protection programme is available.

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Are there 'young gangs' forming in Vienna?

Austrian tabloid media jumps on such stories: a group of teenage girls breaking into cars in Linz or vandalism and robberies committed by young people in Vienna. Particularly in the capital, it seems that there was a rise in crimes committed by groups of young people. But does that mean that Vienna has a gang problem?

According to the newspaper daily Der Standard, the Vienna Provincial Police Directorate (LPD) repeatedly states that the much-cited youth gangs do not exist but that there is “an increase in young people appearing in groups and committing offences”.

What does that mean, and what is the difference between “young people appearing in groups and committing offences” and gangs?

According to the police: “The term gang is commonly used in everyday language – without a precise definition in this context. In criminal law, however, the term is clearly defined. From a criminal law perspective, a gang is an organised, hierarchically structured group of people intent on committing offences on an ongoing basis.”

READ ALSO: Which crimes are on the rise in Austria?

According to the police, they are dealing with “groups that come together spontaneously” and are not “hierarchically organised.” These groups mostly commit “thefts or minor robberies” but are not criminal organisations.

So, technically, Vienna does not have a “youth gang” problem, but it does have an increase in young people in groups committing crimes – though the police didn’t share official numbers.

A recent Kurier report stated that the number of crimes committed by young people and children under the age of 14 has doubled in the last ten years.

At the same time, there has only been a slight increase among young people over the age of 14 and even a decrease among young adults. The main crimes committed by young people and adolescents are theft, damage to property, assault, burglary and dangerous threats.

Christian Holzhacker, Head of Education at the Association of Viennese Youth Centers, told Der Standard that it is important not to “stigmatise” an age group and that the word gang is often used in an “inflationary way”. He points out that in relation to the size of the Viennese population, the number of minors committing crimes is small, even if it is increasing.

He also highlighted that stigmatising regions or groups of young people who get together in public spaces is not the answer. “If you want to fight crime, you have to look at the realities of the lives of the people who have committed crimes,” he said.

READ ALSO: Is Vienna a safe city to visit?

What are the police doing about the crime?

Austria’s federal criminal police office has gathered a new special task force to combat youth crime (EJK). According to the Ministry of the Interior, the idea is to recognise the new phenomenon and combat youth gangs in Austria.

The task force is set to carry out checks in public spaces, particularly in urban areas and “potential hotspots”, Kurier reported.

The task force also set up a “panel of experts” to suggest how parents can be more responsible, how children’s use of social media and cell phones can be improved, and how the asylum system can better accommodate young migrants.

However, Dieter Csefan, head of the task force, told Die Presse that most young offenders were born in Austria.

“There are unaccompanied minors, but the young people we meet in the groups and gangs usually have parents. And the prolific offenders often come from a normal home. They can also be native Austrians. So it’s not always just Afghans or Syrians”, he said.

He also mentioned that “lowering the age of criminal responsibility is one suggestion” to fight crime. Currently, the age is set at 18, but there are discussions and proposals to lower it to twelve. However, “that alone is not necessarily enough”, he added.

READ NEXT: Which parts of Austria have the highest crime rates?

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