The October 2008 assassination of Ivo Pukanić was one of several prominent murders in Croatia at the time which were attributed to organized crime and associated by the media with an increased occurrence of crime in Zagreb in 2008. In March 2008, an 18-year-old Bad Blue Boys football fan was killed in the Ribnjak Park, followed by a retaliation by other BBB members. A mob beating at a bus stop in the high-traffic Većeslav Holjevac Avenue ensued, with deadly consequences for 18 year old Luka Ritz. The October 2008 murder of Ivana Hodak, the daughter of Zvonimir Hodak, the lawyer who defended alleged war profiteer general Vladimir Zagorec, caused the Prime Minister Ivo Sanader to fire Marijan Benko, chief of Zagreb Police Department, Berislav Rončević, Minister of Internal Affairs and Ana Lovrin, Minister of Justice. Rončević was replaced by Tomislav Karamarko and Lovrin by Ivan Šimonović. In February 2009, the Hodak murder was attributed by the police to a homeless unemployed man blaming Zvonimir Hodak for his problems in life.
