A total of 1281 years in prison and two life sentences are facing Berat Can Gökdemir, the alleged boss of the mafia group “Dalton“, in his homeland Turkey. But the 29-year-old Turkish citizen cannot be arrested for now because he is in Russia, and it refuses to hand him over to the Turkish authorities - despite the extradition request.
The Turkish judiciary accuses Gökdemir of various cases of murder, incitement to murder, armed attacks and robberies, writes the German public media ARD, referring to documents from the investigation that the publication has. The group around Gökdemir is also believed to be involved in arms and drug trafficking, as well as racketeering.
Generation change in the Turkish mafia
"Daltonlar", as the criminal organization is called in Turkish, is considered the new "Gen Z generation" of organized crime. In addition to "Dalton", there are other groups: "Casperlar", "Red Kits" or "Şirinler" - named after comic book characters such as "Lucky Luke" or "The Smurfs".
They are famous for being particularly brutal and for showing off their deeds on social media. In Istanbul alone, several dozen murders have been attributed to them in the last five years. "They share videos in which they announce that they are going to kill someone," Turkish investigative journalist Osman Çaklı, who has been monitoring the group for several years, told ARD. "And when they kill someone, they publish the act itself."
"Teenagers as young as 15 work as hitmen"
Videos of teenagers shooting on the move from motorcycles or cars are circulating on social media. The groups also use social platforms to recruit young men, promising them money, luxury cars and weapons. "We see that there are quite a few teenagers who are only 15 years old and already working as hitmen," Çaklı said. According to his observations, the groups often use automatic weapons, including Kalashnikov assault rifles.
In recent years, criminal groups in Turkey have come under increasing pressure. Arrest warrants have been issued for leading members of the gangs. Many of them fled to Europe, explains the investigative journalist: "After that, we started seeing various murders and attacks in Europe as well."
"Dalton" are also active in Germany
These groups are also active in Germany. According to the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), they threaten and blackmail businessmen, and they also run an illegal arms trade. The violence is often directed against shop owners of Turkish-Kurdish origin, Berlin Senator for Justice Felor Badenberg told ARD. “These people are pressured, threatened, and in some cases weapons are used against them.“
How such extortion is organized and carried out is shown by the case of a supermarket chain owner. A man who introduced himself on the phone as Ahmet from “Dalton“ demanded 250,000 euros to protect his property and threatened that otherwise the stores would be blown up. Shortly afterwards, two stores were fired upon. The perpetrator, Alikan S., was arrested and sentenced to two years and nine months in prison. The court ruling makes it clear that he arrived in Germany as a minor and was recruited in a refugee center by a member of the “Daltons“, writes ARD.
A mafia boss with connections to the Russian secret services?
According to Turkish media, the leader of “Daltons“ Gökdemir was arrested in Russia in 2024. The alleged spokesman for the group said in an interview with ARD that Gökdemir now lives “in a safe place“ provided to him by the Russian government. From there, he continued to coordinate all the activities of the group.
For Turkish mafia expert Ceveri Güven, these contacts with Russia raise many questions. Turkey has handed over to Russia documentation in the case, incriminating Gökdemir in serious violent crimes, including witness statements. "However, Russia is not extraditing him," says the investigative journalist, adding that according to some rumors, Gökdemir has connections with the Russian secret services.
Austrian political scientist and security expert Gustav Gressel believes that such contacts are not surprising, since cases of links between state institutions and organized crime are constantly being discovered. "These are informal agreements with the judiciary or intelligence services, in which criminals provide their networks for money laundering, smuggling, recruiting agents or for destabilizing actions," he tells ARD.
Authors: ARD - Vivian Menges, Daniel Donat, Markus Paul