František Mrázek

František Mrázek () (1 February 1958 – 25 January 2006 in Prague) was a controversial Czech entrepreneur, often referred to as the "Godfather of Czech Organized Crime". Mrázek covertly influenced Czech politics for almost twenty years. In 2006 he was assassinated by a (still unknown) sniper. Most of the publicly available information about his criminal activities and contacts with the politicians leaked from police archives (which include wiretapping records and Mrázek's own collection of blackmail material) after his death. These sources suspect he was involved in over 30 murders.

Communist Czechoslovakia

Mrázek set up a smuggling business during the communist era. He "dealt" in a variety of articles including wristwatches, Walkmans and textiles of Western origin, and even with gravestones from Czech Jewish cemeteries. He was also involved in the criminal underground of the Kolín region as his name appeared in the circles of foreign currency speculators ( cs, veksláci). In 1986 Mrázek spent two months in custody and was subsequently sentenced to probation. In February 1987, Mrázek consented to cooperating with the criminal investigation department of Czechoslovak police. However, he himself was under surveillance by the ''Omega'' police team .

Post-revolution

Following the Velvet Revolution of 1989 Mrázek at first focused on voucher privatization. Together with his business partners, he took the opportunity offered by the chaotic situation at the beginning of Czech economic transformation, and laundered the dirty money from the past. He later focused his business activities on real estate. Obtaining loans from Czech banks, often through a third party, Mrázek specialized in the buying and reselling of real estate. He dealt in buildings that were fraudulently overvalued, earning hundreds of millions in Czech currency. He established many similar companies owned by so-called "white horses" (bogus owners, usually with Russian names). He later transferred his assets to other firms in order to cover these fraudulent activities. The Czech police investigated his suspicions activities, however, their case was closed as inconclusive as Mrázek was not legally involved in any of the firms. From 1991 to 1994 František Mrázek managed to extract an astronomical amount of money from Czech banks - more than 1.14 billion Czech crowns.

At the beginning of the 1990s, Mrázek, together with famous Czech singer Karel Gott