While Antonín Běla’s family was almost exclusively associated with violent crimes, František Mrázek was also involved in big business. This shows the difference in ambition between the two men, who started out in the same background.
Even after the fall of the regime, Mrázek had millions of crowns in cash and luxury goods as seed money. It came mostly from bill-broking and smuggling. In the early 1990s, he used the money for usury and real estate purchases. From the beginning of the new era, he tried to build an image as a serious businessman. For example, he took advantage of his cooperation with Karel Gott, with whom he founded the Karel Gott Interpo Foundation. The foundation with the name of the Czech singing legend was allegedly used to launder money from crime, but also as a valued business card that opened the door to big business and politics.
Mrázek’s main masterstroke was the control of the food company Setuza, which he took over together with other members of organized crime, Tomáš Pitre and Miroslav Provod. This enabled the group to make lucrative profits from extensive tax fraud. All of this was possible not only thanks to the protection of the police, but also thanks to the links to politicians. In addition to Ivo Svoboda, the Czech Social Democratic Party’s finance minister, Mrázek had close contacts with dozens of other MPs and senators.
Mrázek’s hegemony is associated mainly with the period of the Václav Klaus governments. The long career of the boss ended with his assassination on 25 January 2006. However, several of his partners are still active in business today.
