The Empire Never Ended

TENE relays the story of a little know but powerful organized crime network known as Grupa Amerika. Especially interesting is Grupa Amerika's connection with both the CIA and the Serbian deep state, as well as its origins in SOPO and the Westies. Subscribe to patreon.org/tenepod and twitter.com/tenepod.

One hundred episodes since Boris, Fritz, and Rey discovered that they were in a tabletop rpg, they are drawn back into the Morlak's partisan struggle and forced to leave their pyramid studio. Music from pixabay (mostly Lexin_Music) and from FesliyanStudios. SFX from freesound.org Subscribe to patreon.org/tenepod and twitter.com/tenepod.

Rey describes the history of the Hell's Kitchen-based gang the Westies, and their unlikely boss during the 80s, Boško Radonjić, aka "Yugo". Yugo was simultaneously one of the leaders of the Serbian terrorist group SOPO and the closest friend of the crazy hijacker Nikola Kavaja, and had some even more surprising connections... Subscribe to patreon.org/tenepod and twitter.com/tenepod.

Rey discusses revolutionary nationalist groups in Bosnia and Croatia of the pre-WWI period, and how this history reflects on the relation of nationalism and imperialism and contributes to continuing misery of our lives - which is not appealing at all. Subscribe to patreon.org/tenepod and twitter.com/tenepod.

Rey summarizes a century of Serbian and Yugoslav history along a thread of obscure groups such as Serbian National Defense, the Black Hand, and SOPO, as well as SOPO's connections to organized crime. Subscribe to patreon.org/tenepod and twitter.com/tenepod.

In their second tamburitzan-themed episode, Boris tells of the rise of performer-cum-Neo-Ustasha political activist Miroslav Škoro in Croatia and his musical education under lovable Pittsburgh tamburitza virtuoso, Jerry Grcevich. Subscribe to patreon.org/tenepod and twitter.com/tenepod.

Rey forces Boris to listen to Neofolk and gives TENEpod some background on its three foundational artists while Boris reviews Douglas Peace's Death in June, Tony Wakeford's Above the Ruins, and Ian Read's Fire + Ice. Spoiler alert: It's terrible nazi music. Subscribe to patreon.org/tenepod and twitter.com/tenepod.

Boris, Fritz, and Rey answer their last round of Patron questions from Arc 4, discussing metal bands, Balkan historical texts, ideal weirdos for future episodes, and jazz, jazz, jazz! Subscribe to patreon.org/tenepod and twitter.com/tenepod.

TENE concludes their look at media representations of Ustashas in Yugoslav television and cinema in the '80s with an analysis of the 1988 film Braća po Materi and its attempt to subtly rewrite the histories of Croatian and Serbian nationalism. Subscribe to patreon.org/tenepod and twitter.com/tenepod.

TENE pod accepts their first round of patron questions for arc 4, giving their thoughts on BBC documentaries, made-up nonsense games with the podcast's favorite characters, Balkan political geography and history, left conspiracism, future episode ideas, and other weirdness. Subscribe to patreon.org/tenepod and twitter.com/tenepod.