Editing Arkan (section)

==Early life==
Željko Ražnatović was born in [[Brežice]], a small border town in [[Styria (Slovenia)|Lower Styria]], [[People's Republic of Slovenia|PR Slovenia]], [[Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia|FPR Yugoslavia]]. His father, [[Veljko Ražnatović]] served as a decorated officer in the [[Yugoslav Air Force|SFR-Yugoslav Air Force]], being highly ranked for his notable involvement in World War II. Veljko was stationed in Slovenian Styria at the time when his fourth child Željko was born.<ref>Miloš Milikić Mido – ''Za naše nebo — Monografija prve klase letača Vazduhoplovnog učilišta 1945-1947''. Belgrade 1995.</ref>

Infant Ražnatović spent part of his childhood in [[Zagreb]] and [[Pančevo]] before his father's job eventually took the family to the Yugoslav capital of [[Belgrade]], which is considered his hometown.<ref name=svedok70322>{{cite web|url=http://www.svedok.rs/index.asp?show=70322|title=Internet Svedok - 916|publisher=Svedok.rs|access-date=1 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190128131339/http://www.svedok.rs/index.asp?show=70322|archive-date=28 January 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref> He grew up with three older sisters in a strict, militaristic patriarchal household with regular [[physical abuse]] from his father. In a 1991 interview, he recalled: "He didn't really hit me in a classical sense, he'd basically grab me and slam me against the floor."<ref>{{cite web|author=Dada Vujasinovic|url=https://dadavujasinovic.com/dada-pise/ratnik-ogrezao-u-svetosavlju-duga-br-462-1991/|title=Ratnik ogrezao u svetosavlju|publisher=duga|date=8 April 1994|access-date=1 March 2014}}</ref> As a child, Ražnatović was considered to be a "problem child" by his teachers who regularly complained of his unruly behavior.{{sfn|Schlichte|2010|p=318}}

In his youth, Ražnatović aspired to become a pilot as his father had been. Due to the highly demanding and significant positions of his parents, there appeared to be very little time in which a bond was able to be established between parents and children. Ražnatović's parents eventually divorced during his teenage years.<ref name=svedok70322/>

Ražnatović was arrested for the first time in 1966 for snatching women's purses around [[Tašmajdan Park]],<ref name="Arkanova ostavština">{{cite web|author=Filip Svarm|url=http://www.vreme.com/cms/view.php?id=906970|title=Arkanova ostavština|publisher=Vreme.com|date=14 January 2010}}</ref> spending a year at a juvenile detention center not far from Belgrade. His father then sent him to the seaside town of [[Kotor]] in order to join the [[Yugoslav Navy]], but Ražnatović had other plans (ending up in [[Paris]] at the age of 15). In 1969, Ražnatović was arrested by French police and deported home, where he was sentenced to three years at the detention center in [[Valjevo]] for several [[burglary|burglaries]]. During this time, he organized his own gang in the prison.<ref name=svedok70322/>

In his youth, Ražnatović was a [[ward (legal)|ward]] of his father's friend,<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=La3sAAAAMAAJ |title=Danas - Google Boeken |date=18 December 2009 |pages=56 |access-date=1 March 2014}}</ref> the Slovenian politician and Federal Minister of the Interior, [[Stane Dolanc]].<ref name=PIC/> Dolanc was chief of the [[Directorate for State Security (Yugoslavia)|Directorate for State Security]] (UDBA) and a close associate of [[President of Yugoslavia|President]] [[Josip Broz Tito]]. Whenever Ražnatović was in trouble, Dolanc helped him, allegedly as a reward for his services to the UDBA, as seen in the escape from the Lugano prison in 1981. Dolanc is quoted as having said: "One Arkan is worth more than the whole UDBA."<ref name=PIC>{{cite book|title=Partners in Crime: The Risks of Symbiosis Between the Security Sector and Organized Crime in Southeast Europe|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bMGxXQpfvWUC&pg=PA42|year=2004|publisher=CSD|isbn=978-954-477-115-7|pages=42–}}</ref>