A Romanian gangster known as Nutzu the Pawnbroker did not collect your everyday pets. Recently indicted for leading a criminal gang, Ion Balint (his real name) was found to have four lions and two bears living in his home he reportedly used to intimidate his rivals into respecting his authority.
"You said I fed men to the lions?" Balint said on a videotape recording as he rode away from prison on a black stallion in 2010. "Why don't you come over and I'll give you some lions!"
Balint, 48, is a stocky man known for his mustache, receding hairline and track suit fashion. So, basically how everyone already envisions what a Romanian gangster looks like.
Balint's high-walled and heavily guarded estate sits in the poorest section of Bucharest. The Romanian news media reported the house also contained a torture chamber if the lions and bears weren't enough for Balint's rivals.
On Wednesday, the lions and bears, which mostly appeared to be in good condition, were sedated and moved to the Vier Pfoten animal welfare charity. Also found on the property were thoroughbred horses ad canaries. Livia Cimpoeru, a Vier Pfoten spokeswoman believes that "the lions are a status symbol" for Balint. The animals will be temporarily housed in a zoo and possibly moved to a location in South Africa in the future, according to animal welfare officers. Balint kept them illegally for 10 years without documentation or health records according to Mircea Pupaza, commissioner of the National Environment Guard.
Balint's relatives described him as an animal lover and a good neighbor, despite the zoo in his backyard.
"We can hear [the lions] every day, but only when they're hungry or the female is in heat," said Gabriela Ionescu. "They don't disturb us at all."
Authorities allege that Balint and his brother Vasile headed a criminal network that ran the underworld in Bucharest. 400 police and detectives were assigned to the investigation that led to Balint's arrest last week, along with his brother and 65 other suspects. He was previously convicted of human trafficking, violence and pimping in 2009. Though Balint was sentenced to 13 years, it was later reduced to six years and he was then freed after just one year in prison.