Boyan, Deutschemark, Mosquito, and Jumbo, four boys from the gang Vucko, couldn’t wait for the war to begin so that they wouldn’t have to go to middle school. They had named their gang after
the little wolf mascot of the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo. The boys lived next to the airport, in the Dobrinja suburb, built to house foreign athletes and journalists during the Games. Afterward, the city converted the buildings into luxury apartments.
In the early spring of 1992, melting snow revealed plastic bags and shreds of paper stuck in the barren bushes. The wind blew across the back alleys, and old garbage emerged all over the former Olympic Village. Boyan, the leader, had just gotten a new pair of Nike tennis shoes and was kicking up dust on Mitsubishi Avenue on his way to Vucko’s meeting.
