The palatial villas of former crime bosses are almost impossible to sell without enormous discounts, according to the daily Metro. The daily reports that despite reducing the minimum bid by a third less than its original price to “just” CZK 17.2m, the home of Radovan Krejčíř in Černošice wasn’t sold in a recent auction. The minimum bid is expected to fall to half of the original purchase price in the next attempted auction. “The reputation of the former owner can influence interest in this type of real estate,” said Jaroslav Novotný, a broker at the Rak agency. “So they often sell for just a fraction of their purchase price.” Another home of Krejčíř in Prague 4 is having no luck finding a new owner, at least not for the alleged CZK 100m price tag. Krejčíř fled the Czech Republic in 2005 to South Africa, where he is now serving prison time for attempted and kidnapping. Another villa in Český Brod worth an alleged CZK 100m hasn’t found a buyer at half that price. Its owner, František Mrázek, former king of the Czech underworld, was shot and killed by an unknown sniper in 2006.
