Serbian warlord Arkan was a notorious figure in Yugoslavia, a member of Belgrade's shady underworld and one of the richest men in Serbia.

Arkan's paramilitary group, the Tigers, are alleged to have murdered countless ordinary Croats and Bosnian Muslims during the wars which followed the break-up of the republic.

He was heavily involved in illegal trafficking in Serbia and initial theories suggested he probably met his end as part of a gangland settling of scores.

Arkan was indicted for war crimes in 1997 under his real name Zeljko Raznatovic, but the charges were not revealed until March 1999.

War in Bosnia

The Tigers answered directly to the Ministry of Interior and charges against their leader allegedly related to the massacre in 1991 of 250 men taken from a hospital in Vukovar during the war in Croatia.

When war broke out in Bosnia in April 1992, the Tigers stormed the key towns of Bijeljina and Zvornik, thus securing strategic bridgeheads linking what was to become the Serb-held part of Bosnia with Serbia.

The indictment was made public in 1999 apparently in an attempt by the international war crimes tribunal on Yugoslavia to dissuade Arkan from joining the Serb assault on Kosovo.

But he will also be remembered - however improbably - as an enigmatic figure in Belgrade society who, until his violent end, had led a charmed life.

He is survived by his glamorous pop star wife and in recent years entered the sporting arena as owner of the Belgrade Obilic football club.

Gangster

Before becoming a paramilitary leader Arkan was a gangster and bank robber operating in western Europe.

He was wanted by Interpol and is believed to have escaped from jail several times.

It is also believed that - even then - he was working in league with the Yugoslav security services, who helped him out in exchange for his services as a hit man.

Arkan's troops were last mobilised in the summer of 1995 in a bid to stem the tide of Serbian defeats, just before the end of the war in Bosnia, although they were accused of taking part in the crackdown on Kosovo before Nato intervention in 1999.