Ratko Butorović

Ratko Butorović (17 July 1956 – 8 June 2013) also known as Bata Kan Kan was a controversial Montenegrin–Serbian entrepreneur and businessman.

Born in Nikšić, Butorović found success in Novi Sad where he owned several hospitality venues and also had a stint owning the city's best-known football club FK Vojvodina. Known for his colourful clothing and eccentric ways, he also maintained alleged ties to various underworld figures in Serbia and Montenegro such as Đorđe Božović and .

Early life Growing up in Nikšić, Butorović's extended family included his maternal cousin Milo Đukanović (six years Buturović's junior and son of Buturović's maternal uncle Radovan) who would later go on to become the longtime political and state leader of Montenegro.

In the early-to-mid-1970s, after completing high school in his hometown, teenage Buturović moved northwards to SR Serbia: first to Belgrade before eventually settling in Novi Sad where he enrolled in the mechanical engineering program at the University of Novi Sad's Faculty of Technical Sciences. It was in Novi Sad where Buturović grew close to , a fellow Nikšić-born-and-bred Montenegrin who had, much like Buturović, arrived in Novi Sad in search of expanded opportunities and was already well on his way to becoming an influential organized crime figure. Young Buturović quickly developed a knack for entrepreneurship, often of the illegal or semi-legal variety, reportedly making his first money by selling clothing items stolen in Italy that had been smuggled into SFR Yugoslavia.

In his twenties, Butorović moved on to Vienna where, having had a strong physical build, he found employment as bouncer and bodyguard. After Vienna, Buturović spent some time in Paris. By mid-1980s, he returned to SR Serbia within SFR Yugoslavia where he decided to modify his last name from Buturović to Butorović, reportedly in an effort of making himself harder to track down due to transgressions committed abroad. Named 'Kan Kan' (after the can-can dance), the store further cemented his by now well-known nickname around town and soon expanded into a chain of shops throughout the city. Butorović soon diversified his business activities by establishing a rent-a-car company as well as an airport taxi service shuttling passengers between Novi Sad and Belgrade Airport.

In September 1995, nineteen-year-old beauty queen Jelena Molnar was found dead in a Hotel Park room, leased out to Butorović's company, where she had been staying with her twenty-three-year-old Cetinje-born boyfriend Predrag Maričić, one of Butorović's bodyguards.

While in Greece, Butorović resided in Thessaloniki, running a department store in the city in addition to several small hotels in Chalkidiki. For two years he reportedly held majority stake in the ownership of P.A.O.K. basketball club. In several 1990s and early 2000s Serbian Interior Ministry (MUP) internal notes that have subsequently become public through freedom of information requests, Butorović is explicitly mentioned as "having direct ties and maintaining constant contact with Montenegrin organized crime groups". With a history dating back to the 9th century, the property — that had at one point been a Benedictine monastery — is designated as a structure of special importance. Under the terms of the concession agreement signed by the Novi Sad mayor Maja Gojković and HTUP Park representative Kosta Kliska, Butorović's company took on the obligation of investing at least €6 million into the 5,405 m2 property while being allowed to forgo the payment of a lease fee to the city during the initial five years of the agreement. The exact amount of the investment Butorović made in the hotel has been disputed, however, due to lack of oversight.

FK Vojvodina In 2006 Butorović became the owner of the struggling FK Vojvodina football club in Serbia. His investment triggered a revival in the club's fortunes, immediately breaking into the top three in the Serbian SuperLiga. Led by incoming head coach Milovan Rajevac and benefiting from the 17 league goals by twenty-three-year-old striker Ranko Despotović as well as midfield enterprise of newly acquired twenty-seven-year-old Milan Davidov and returning thirty-three-year-old veteran Miodrag Pantelić, Vojvodina finished third in the league (club's best league finish in a decade) and made the Serbian Cup final where they lost to Red Star Belgrade. Furthermore, the season saw regular playing time and continued development opportunities for their up-and-coming squad assets: eighteen-year-old attacking midfielder Dušan Tadić, nineteen-year-old midfielder Gojko Kačar, and twenty-two-year-old goalkeeper Damir Kahriman.

2008 arrest on match-fixing suspicion On Tuesday, 29 January 2008, Butorović got arrested on suspicion of match fixing. Butorović was appointed president of the revived entity, a position he performed in parallel to his duties at FK Vojvodina.

Personal In the late 1980s, Butorović married his wife Smiljka. They have two sons, Balša and Bodin. Butorović was known for his colourful lifestyle and flamboyance, adopting an extravagant style of dress and reportedly being friends with rapper 50 Cent.

Death Butorović died of natural causes in 2013. he was last seen alive the night before around 8:00 pm at the same hotel during a meeting with FK Vojvodina's managing board members and newly named head coach Marko Nikolić after which Butorović retired to the hotel suite he had reportedly often been using as a second home.

Funeral On 12 June 2013, before being transported to Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport and flown to Montenegro for burial, the coffin with Butorović's body was displayed at Novi Sad's city cemetery — where, among others, pop-folk star Nataša Bekvalac came to pay her respects.

Upon landing in Montenegro in the early afternoon, Butorović's body was transported to his birthplace Nikšić to be displayed in the city chapel where the family received condolences alongside FK Vojvodina squad players, head coach Marko Nikolić, and sporting director Miodrag Pantelić before the funeral procession headed to the Kočani cemetery on the town's outskirts for burial. Among those present at the funeral were Butorović's first cousin, Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Đukanović alongside his family—wife Lidija Kuč, son Blažo, influential businessman brother Aco Đukanović, and court judge sister Ana Kolarević—in addition to high-ranking members of his DPS party (the ruling party in Montenegro): Svetozar Marović, Milan Roćen, Branimir Gvozdenović, Tarzan Milošević, Suad Numanović, Mevludin Nuhodžić, Milutin Simović, etc. Also present were Butorović's close friend, organized crime figure Brano Mićunović, Montenegrin FA (FSCG) president and former football great Dejan Savićević alongside his deputy Momir Đurđevac, Montenegrin Basketball Federation (KSCG) officials and businessmen Vesko Barović and Danilo Mitrović, businessman Duško Knežević, retired footballer Mateja Kežman, coaches Dejan Vukićević and Nebojša Vignjević, etc.