Yes, it's the return of Two Steps East and your No. 1 consulting detective in Central Europe, P. Konrad Smith, and let's just say this episode starts and ends with a bang--that is with the assassination in Istanbul this week of Montenegrin Skaljari crime boss Jovan V.  The killing, which took place  the context of not only a long running (and bloody) war with the rival Kavac gang, but also within that of cocaine trafficking, politics (notably in Serbia)  provokes a number of key questions, including: just what happens next?

For this is a mob war that has lasted more than six years, has seen some 40 hits in capitals across Europe, and which--until the murder of Jovan V. --showed no signs of abating. And the spoils are titanic, with the combined efforts of the Skaljari and Kavac mobs likely controlling at least one-third of a EUR 10 bln-plus illicit market that is increasing by the day.

[Intro and outro riff courtesy of Hoodoohat/Preston Smith/Marek Tymkoff (Bonemusic). Background music courtesy of Hoodoohat/Preston Smith/Marek Tymkoff (the Ohm Song). All rights reserved.]