U.S. Said to Take $1M to Drop Extradition Claim on "Serb Thug"
The New York Post has a Hillary Clinton headline that looks like a scandal: "BLOOD MONEY: Hill Behind $1M Serb Thug Deal." But followers of the "Serb Thug Miladin Kovacevic" story -- about the Serbian national who beat a Brooklyn kid into a coma in Binghampton, then fled to his native Serbia, where he was only recently arrested -- will probably approve of Clinton's effort: she brokered, the Post says, a deal with the Serbian government to get $900,000 for the victim, Bryan Steinhauer, and to hold onto Kovacevic's $100,000 bail.
The U.S. government could fight the Serbs for extradition, but has no treaty with them in that regard, and the Steinhauer family needs money for medical bills, so it seems a logical move. Serbian officials say they will try Kovacevic over there. Binghamton's ABC affiliate says that Steinhauer will also be allowed to testify against Kovacevic.
The Boston Herald confirms that Serbia's Interior Minister wants the deal, though he has claimed to the local press that no deal has been finalized.
Kovacevic's family and lawyer are upset to hear of the deal, the latter saying it "seals Kovacevic's guilt," and Serb papers are mad that the government gave up the assailant's bail.
Many locals were pissed about Kovacevic's barroom attack on Steinhauer, especially when he was pictured in the Post (above) acting like some kind of East European gangsta.
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