Imre Arakas, known as “The Butcher,” was born in Estonia (most likely in 1959, based on his age at the time of his first crimes). As a young man during the Soviet era, Arakas gained notoriety for a 1979 armed break-in at a shooting club in Tallinn with an accomplice, where they stole handguns and ammunition. Some in Estonia viewed this act as a blow against Soviet control, although it was clearly a criminal offense. Arakas was arrested quickly but made a daring escape from the courthouse by jumping off a hilltop viewing platform. He managed to evade authorities for 87 days before being recaptured and sentenced to 15 years in a high-security Russian prison. He spent most of his twenties and thirties behind bars.

After his release, Estonia’s post-Soviet chaos gave rise to organized crime, and Arakas became a member of a major Estonian gang involved in deadly turf wars with Russian crime groups. He survived several assassination attempts during these violent years and established a reputation for toughness. Facing constant threats, Arakas eventually left Estonia for Spain in 1998, seeking a safer environment but remaining in criminal circles. There, he continued his career as a freelance contract killer, building connections across Europe’s underworld.

Imre Arakas’s criminal career extended beyond Estonia, as he became suspected of participating in multiple murders across Europe. In Spain, he survived at least one assassination attempt in Marbella and shifted to work as a “hitman for hire.” He was later connected to murders in countries including Lithuania and Ireland. Arakas was hired by the Kinahan gang during Ireland’s infamous Kinahan-Hutch gangland feud, tasked in 2017 with killing James “Mago” Gately. Law enforcement, acting on a tip, surveilled Arakas and arrested him before he could carry out the hit. In 2018, he was convicted by Ireland’s Special Criminal Court and sentenced to six years for conspiracy to murder. While incarcerated in Dublin’s Mountjoy Prison, Arakas suffered a stroke.

After his release from the Irish prison, Arakas faced extradition to Lithuania, where he was wanted for the November 6, 2015, murder of Deimantas Bugavičius, the partner of Lithuanian pop star Vita Jakutienė. Lithuanian authorities allege Arakas was part of a three-man team that shot Bugavičius to death. In 2023, after challenging extradition for several years, Arakas was finally sent to Lithuania, where he remains jailed and faces trial for murder. Throughout his life, Arakas has maintained a reputation as a ruthless, professional killer, but the full extent of his crimes remains unclear. He has also been known as a former wrestler, occasional actor, and political separatist in Estonia, but it is his violent criminal legacy that has made his name infamous in organized crime history.