Uwe Gemballa found dead in South Africa

 Uwe Gemballa found dead in South Africa
Uwe Gemballa driving Porsche 911 GT 650, company photos, 25.02.2010

Police looking into connections with organized crime

The cellophane-wrapped body of Uwe Gemballa has been found in South Africa.  Founder of well known German tuning firm Gemballa Automobiletechnik, the company recently relaunched under new ownership.

While details are limited, police believe Uwe's murder was tied to an illegal money laundering scheme with Czech crime boss Radovan Krejcir. According to testimony, Gemballa and Krejcir had been cahooting on nefarious transactions since 2002 but, in September of last year, problems arose. It appears Gemballa wasn't making payments on time and Krejcir told him, "...you're a dead man."

After this phone call, an associate of Krejcir lured Gemballa to South Africa under the guise of setting up a business agreement. Airport surveillance shows Uwe being picked up by a light-skinned man, believed to be a Russian associate of Krejcir, on February 8th. Afterwards, the two traveled to a house and Uwe (or someone claiming to be him) was forced to call his wife and ask for one million dollars. When the money didn't arrive, Uwe was killed.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

Source: stern.de

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 Shyne Shyne
R.I.P.
October 3, 2010 6:26 am
 mohaon mohaon
too bad the guy have millions and got killed for not deliverying only ONE million.
October 3, 2010 6:46 am
 odteknology odteknology
damn. R.I.P. Uwe. No one deserves to die. (and also not in such a cruel way.)
October 3, 2010 6:46 am
 SD-AMG SD-AMG
R.I.P Uwe. You were an inspiration for the tuning business with so many great cars and ideas. :(
October 3, 2010 6:54 am
 GHERNAS GHERNAS
Am sorry for Uwe ,he was a nice man.But in the meantime he did a bigger mistake with others .He don`t deserves to be killed
October 3, 2010 7:01 am
 mmr66 mmr66
R.I.P . he made so many wonderfull cars may peace be upon him
October 3, 2010 8:45 am
 PONTIAC G8 GXP PONTIAC G8 GXP
RIP
October 3, 2010 8:52 am
 Hellbound Hellbound
Poor b*astard. That's what happens if you swim with sharks. Wonder if his wife took the 1Mil demand seriously, or perhaps she was looking forward to a life outside of criminality after he'd gone.
October 3, 2010 9:22 am
 Hardboy997 Hardboy997
Very sad news. R.I.P to this fantastic car tuner.
October 3, 2010 11:01 am
 BavarianMS BavarianMS
His Carrera GT was my wallpaper for a very long time, RIP.
October 3, 2010 1:02 pm
 mohaon mohaon
RIP, but didnt we all know he was lost a long time ago, did any of u guys think he's still alive?
October 3, 2010 3:25 pm
 andrewB andrewB
R.I.P - All of the cars are awesome and had their own look. Hopefully the current owners are going to make the cars just as good
October 3, 2010 4:53 pm
 TurboS2010 TurboS2010
RIP - My fathers car had two red Gemballa twin turbos in his Porsche the car was incredible. Very sad to see him go like that, regards to his family and friends.
October 3, 2010 5:41 pm
 radmeister radmeister
Can't say i feel sorry for him, i mean he was a grown man, he knew what he was getting into and knew the consequences of his actions. It's like someone going up to a tiger and slapping it. Would i feel bad that the tiger killed him, no not really. I would think the guy was a retard for slapping a tiger. Same applies to this, absolutely no pity or respect, as a matter of fact I lost respect for him, he was running a successful company, had more than enough $ and then went and did something stupid which was unnecessary and the price was his life. He should of just been happy creating beautiful machines and making a more than decent income from it. But instead he decided to play Tony Montana, and sadly it appears his story ends much in the same way.
October 3, 2010 5:57 pm
 Kepex Kepex
I second that. That's what you get when you start playing around with mobsters.
October 4, 2010 1:47 pm
 6spdterror 6spdterror
I couldnt have said it any better. If your an honest decent man, you have no business mixing with criminal individuals like that. They got to where they are by being ruthless and sell their own mothers for a few bucks. Great cars, great tuner....questionable character. Hope he found peace....but then again, we dont know about his share of "dirty deeds"
October 4, 2010 2:35 pm
 catchmyshadow catchmyshadow
a crazy guy who created crazy cars ends up in a crazy drama, it fits together, sadly.
October 3, 2010 6:19 pm
 Prancing Horse Prancing Horse
Run with wild rabid dogs,expect to be bitten.
October 3, 2010 6:38 pm
 urbangti urbangti
Sad day. RIP
October 3, 2010 7:08 pm
 Viking79 Viking79
Gemballa Mirage GT still my dream car.
October 3, 2010 9:12 pm
 M! M!
RIP
October 4, 2010 12:19 am
 Aesthetics Aesthetics
gangsters are scum of the earth. they bleed the desperate, only thing that is worse are egoistic ambitious polticians
October 4, 2010 12:39 am
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