Is Nikola Pekovic the biggest 'gangster' in NBA history? Maybe someone else comes to mind? 👀 Let us know in the comments below ✍ If you enjoyed the video, help us grow by hitting the like button & subscribing to our channel! 🙌 Lastly, follow us on social media for more content: Twitter: twitter.com/basketnews_com/ Instagram: instagram.com/basketnews/ Inquiries for partnership: commerce@basketnews.com
He isn't a criminal, he is just best friends with one of the biggest drug king pins the world has ever known... And yeah, he laundered some money, invested 100s of millions in construction etc.. cool guy 😂@@Byrdinero-bf1sy
@@Mr.Feanor He started playing basketball when he was 17. He had 2 years in Atlas before going to Partizan. He was extremely rough around the edges when Duško Vujošević started working with him. A regular lumberjack. He wasn't a done product by any means. Before coming to Partizan Peković didn't get to play a single game in a serious competition, against a serious competition. Atlas "discovered" him, gave him a chance, but without Partizan he would end up working as a bouncer at one of the Belgrade raft clubs, and definitely not in PAO and the NBA. Dule Vujošević was a specific type of coach. It didn't matter how old you were. You could play Euroleague at 16 or 17 years old if you're good enough. Undermining influence he had in hundreds of young players he coached is seriously disrespectful.
@@Mr.Feanor Sure sure. In fact, he'd go directly to the NBA if he skipped playing for Partizan. Working with Vujošević actually slowed him down, if anything. He was a LUMBERJACK when he came to Partizan, and that's the only truth. He was a force of nature for sure, but he was extremely raw both technically and tactically. Peković was so bad(outside his physical prowess) that Kosta Perović played as a starting center until Dule knocked some basketball sense into him. And it's not ME who said that Peković started playing at 17 years old. He said it himself. I'm sure you were blown away by his size and talent, but that was all low level basketball. Partizan was competing for regional trophies, played in the Euroleague. There's only so much a small club like Atlas can offer to a player in such a weak competition. Partizan at that time had the highest goals possible, while giving young players a fair chance. Dule had a way of working with tall guys. He let Milutinov play Euroleague before his 18th birthday. He shaped Perović, Krstić, Varda. He made Slavko Vraneš look effective, which is a feat no one managed to replicate before or after. Marić became an MVP type player in Partizan, and no one heard of him before that. He scored 2 points on average. Joffrey Lauvergne showed an incredible progress after working with Vujošević, and he became one of the cub legends. Valencia just gave him up because he was no good. Veseli got fired as an untalented garbage before Dule picked him up, changed his position and made a proper basketball player out of him. So yeah, just because someone played basketball somewhere before Dule Vujošević, doesn't mean that they would make a career without him. You SAY that's the case, but I'm willing to wager everything Vujošević did throughout his career against your word any day of the week.
First, i will say that many player who played against him, said he was one of toughest players to play against, he was just insanely strong, even jokic himself said he was his idol. Second on his ties to mafia, in most european countries famous people and especially sportsmen become associated with mafia people, mafia loves their heroes and they treat them very nice, also pekovic probably knew some mafia guys from his childhood, he grew up in 90s, and 90s was crazy time, especially in former yugoslavia countries. He probably had ties, connections and partied with them, befriended some, that dont mean he himself was criminal.
"In most *southern* European countries famous people become associated with mafia people. Allthough in the Netherlands some top footballplayers are doing the same. Quincy promes, Ziyech etc. Allthough in all honesty these really are the dumbewt guys out there.
@@lukababic5623 I believe it. However the one guy that scared the shit out of us (my team is Panathinaikos) was Marianovic. I never saw anything like it, he was straight out of the Soviet Union years when they had 200 million people to choose from and they found giants. He made Mike Batiste (a beast on his own) look like a little kid. I was so glad he went in the NBA and thought he would dominate but he became something like a mascot there. Weird.
Nico Belic from GTA is made on a real life character (not Nikola ), a Serb who went to America, joined some gang and took it over after some time. My wife knows more about it but she sleeps, can't ask her. Maybe I'll come later to tell you more and give you some links if she still can find them
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bo%C5%A1ko_Radonji%C4%87 There is the part "In popular culture In the 1998 made-for-TV movie Witness to the Mob, a depiction of the life of Sammy the Bull, Radonjić is played by Stephen Payne. Niko Bellic, the main character of Grand Theft Auto IV, may have been inspired by Radonjić due to both being Yugoslav criminals, with ties to Italian and Irish organized crime."
Lmao I remember seeing Nikola Pekovic in Belgrade with my group of friends and we were all hyped to see him and he just straight ignored us all and looked away. We all started laughing because it was in good spirit and he was smiling, it's such a fun memory
Add Doncic Bogdanovic Jovic Zubac Nrkic ,Bogdanovic Pokasevski Saric Teodosic and a few young players from the homeland and have an All Star game Yugoslavia vs the World , Yugoslavs vs NBA , or Yugoslavs vs Euroleague ! It would be the least FIBA could do to Honor Lil Yugoslavian Basketball for it's historic contribution to the sport !
you have story when he is in partizan, he used to pay his sister 500 euros to read books for him then paraphrase and then he impress coaches by his knowledge because they used to be book readers
Nisam nikada pročitao više kontradiktornosti u jednoj rečenici. Pošto ti verovatno nije poznato začenje opšte poznate reči kontradiktornost, potraži je u rečniku. Mafia members are known as people with big hearts.😂 Jeste legenda mog Partizana, ali...
@@vice7965 To je nasa ,srpska repka, kao sto ce ex SR BiH biti,jer ono sto ne prodje u Srbiji proci ce u nasim rezervnm drzavama,kao sto je i Srbija vasa-da ne razumes pogresno,vise Crnogorskih drzavljana u Srbiji nego dole,tako da misli o tome,cisti kao Mirotic,al od svih CG planina on se skrasi na Staroj kod Pirota u Srbiji,cisti Sumadinac pise,ali prvo Srbin.
Panathinaikos fan here-Nikola was a big talent,never a bully,helped our team alot to gain 5 Euroleague back in 2009,was doing great in NBA before injuries cut him short. There is no proof of him being a drug dealer or whatever.
@@KajzerSoze yea he is. After he retired, he link up with Darko Saric one of the bigest Europe cocaine drug lords. He is from same small city as Pekovic. He was stupid enough to be used for launering money through him in construction.
07:40 the guy with golden chains around his neck is convicted murderer from Serbia who also has been killed couple of years ago. That guy was brother of wife of ex NBA player from Serbia Darko Milicic (also big crazy guy). All of them were strong and crazy and conected to gangsters and hooligans from Serbia and Balkan. I will never forget one party I witnessed, we were in a restorant were some Serbian nationalist singer was singing and they came...Around 30-40 guys, most of them footbal hooligans, gangsters and them. They were good with bouncers and intervention police. That was scary view, all of them at one place, hanging, drinking and laughing all together. One word...Balkan 🙂
Being a real "Gangster" isnt necessary an accomplishment nor Cool. Tim Duncan nor Kawhi Leonard are gangsters because they've reached a level in life where its unnecessary and would be a backwards & down Grade move. Idolizing Gangsters is a childs endeavor.
@@universalconquest4447 Lol, True man. I know some gangsters that aint touched a wmn in 25yrs and wont for the rest of their lives. So meh for every one the steal, they'll spend 5yrs showering with Dudes.
Blazers fan here, and I have always remembered Nikola well. Even referenced him somewhat recently. Dude's got that cliche 1920s bodybuilder/male pinup body. Shaped like a conical top with legs haha
Morant attended a private high school and had a relatively carefree childhood. Some of his recent actions are more suited for analysis by a psychologist and have no connection to the mafia or anything of the sort. Regarding Nikola, I don't believe he's involved with the mafia. He grew up in northern Montenegro, just like the Šarić family. Their friendship likely dates back to their early years. As someone mentioned, criminals often enjoy the company of popular athletes. In areas where the Šarić family invested their money, you only hear words of praise about them. They conducted their "business" from a distance, and it's likely that the state and the police were involved... Until a certain point when someone's political will was to put them behind bars. Nikola also earned a considerable amount of money, and I don't see any motivation for him to engage in criminal activities. He invested in legal ventures, which is the most logical path after his basketball career. Today, if I'm not mistaken, he is also the president of the Montenegro Basketball Federation. Only a foolish person would get involved in criminal activities, and I don't think that applies to him.
@@dacdukvazda vam poštenje bilo jača strana. Pola podzemlja u BG držite vi ponosni Montenigrini a nema vas ni koliko Novi Sad ima stanovnika, toliko o tome.
Current Pekovic's main business interest is real estate development, mostly in mountain resort Zlatibor in Serbia and some on Montenegro's seaside. Real estate is profirable on itself, especialy on booming markets like Zlatibor or Montenegro seaside but also a perfect cover for money loundring. And boats dock in Montenegro than "goods" are transported by cover of Pekovic's companies to Serbia, which is kind of hub for drugs smuggling to main market-EU. Similary, Saric brothers had "real estate companies" in Montenegro seaside and Serbia untill they got arrested. So, go figure...
"he has ties" is the understatement. he lives with them, goes everywhere with them, has businesses with them... in short he is part of the organization. if he was terrifying on the court he is much more terrifying irl because of the mob he hangs around with. but it's not serbian mafia it is montenegrin mafia. some of the guys he hangs with are almost as big as he is
These are SERBS, Pekovic is from Bijelo Polje and Darko Saric is from Pljevlja. These two cities are completely SERB and no one there support that Montenegrin identity. Both cities only became part of Montenegro in 1913. People from their resemble more Bosnian Serbs and Raska Serbs.
Pekovic was one of the rare athletes who somehow managed to turn millions of dollars, legally earned playing in the nba, into illegal money. He laundered money in reverse lol
they have family clans and call themselves as 'mafioso' lmfao. But in reality their familes are feuding over who stole a goat 200 years ago and where the property line should be. no mafia activities, only seljaks arguing with other seljaks.
I'll tell you, the simple truth...from the first hand, I know him personally ,he's a good guy...and he's not a criminal, nor a member of mafia, he just know many different people, someone is successful, someone is not, someone is a football player, someone is a basketball player, someone has rent a car, or small business, someone has connections with crime, someone doesn't...he trained hard all his life, he achieved his goal, when the injuries came, he started to deal more with his private life, he missed his family, friends, he was far from home, on another continent, he didn't want to play basketball anymore. He's a great guy🤷♂️👍
You guys were talking about Pekovic and his backround some months ago but back then you didn't mention his past. Did people reach out to you to correct what you said since I quit the video back then, because of your missing knowledge on the topic?
As a Montenegrian I approve this message. And by the way he really has serious mafia ties, we dont fuck around here. Never pretend to be a GANGSTA in Balkans, you ll get checked quick.
@@kiferzablacanski my point is he can’t be the biggest gangster if he was just a front to launder money when there’s people from the league who’s actually shot people
bro, just for you to undrstnd, he is kum (godfather) to Saric brothers kid! In Serbian Orthodoxy (Pekovic is Serbian from Montenegro), that is the bigest honor you can possibly receive, de facto you immediately become part of the family! now, speaking about family, Saric was arrested for 2.7 tons of cocaine, while Interpol information say they were importing 60 tons per year to Europe...now you do the math
They don't need him to launder money lol. They already had that before this dude even came to the NBA. These are already well established clans not some new comers to the game.
Jason Williams played for the nets and killed a limo driver. Chance Comanche just got charged with his girlfriend for murder. I think. There’s a few more
When pekovic came to Panathinaikos some journalists made a compare with Erceg who just went to Olympiacos. So they made a result that Erceg was better..😂😂😂😂
@@bmsuperstar1 Because most of journalists wanted to say that Olympiacos made greatest transfers than Pana.That time newspapers was still in market and most of them survived this way.
He is gangster in fact, at the end of his career, he was seen in close company on a yacht with the greatest drug lord from south Europe Darko Saric, which, in the meantime, have been convicted on life sentence
These stories are good theres a story about a wrestler from Romania his name is Costel Corduneanu he was an olympic wrestler before he became the boss of a mafia family very amazing story
@@dimitrijetucovic1307 ja se bar smejem vicu ispricanom. Stvarno nisi cuo sta kazu za one, koji se sami sebi smeju kao ti? A ako nista drugo, bar nosis ime coveka koji je realno pricao o odnosima Srba prema Albancima. Opasno ste retki prvosrbijancici takvi.
You shouldn't mix his basketball carrier with other part of his life.As a player he was pretty good,bully is a tough word,he plays with a lot of contact,thats all.After he stop playing he worked with Saric brothers, laundering money for them through KK Partizan and that's it,I guess.
I remember a game when he was at partizan. There was a fight on the floor and pac was on the bench. He watched for a few seconds and when he finally stood up it was like moses splited the sea 😂 all the players moved to the sides
Really is a shame dudes like this get lost in history due to being on horrible teams but dude was a 20/10 machine in his prime. Had no idea about the extracurricular stuff though, wow lol.
