12punto obtains details of the 1,700-page Daltonlar indictment: How does a new generation of criminal organisations operate in the new Turkey?

By: Sercan MERİÇ

A very different kind of danger has been taking root in Istanbul's back streets for several years. The spectacle of murders committed on the streets was moved onto social media. The door opened with a killing, followed by poses with heavy weapons and motorcycle assassination squads.

The organisation's name — one heard frequently in recent years — is the Daltonlar.

The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has just completed its indictment against this gang, to be submitted to the Istanbul Heavy Criminal Court. 12Punto has obtained the details of the 1,676-page indictment.

The organisation's leader is Beratcan Gökdemir.

Gökdemir's criminal record began with petty offences along the Bahçelievler–Küçükçekmece corridor and extended to drug trafficking. A turning point came in January 2022, when he killed his former close friend Gökhan Demirci.

In March 2022, he ordered the killing of Demirci's friend Hürkan Özkan. In April 2022, he also had a hand in the murder of Yüksel Ustahüseyin.

Following these murders, the group began to be known as the "Daltonlar."

After these killings, Gökdemir fled to Georgia. There he aligned himself with the crew of Barış Boyun, also known for motorcycle-style executions. Until last year he served in a managerial role within Boyun's armed wing. At the start of 2024, however, he fell out over the division of extortion proceeds and declared his own independence.

Gökdemir is the leader, but according to the indictment, the organisation's management cadre includes Batın Can Gökdemir, Bünyamin Yıkar, Ahmet Mustafa Timo, Murat Küçükyavuz, Sinan Memi, and Murat Özavşar.

The Daltonlar Gang initially established its presence in Esenyurt and Bahçelievler. Gang members stayed in apartments rented through Airbnb. Weapons, ammunition, ballistic vests, explosives, and motorcycles were kept ready at these locations. When an order to act was issued, teams were deployed.

The division of roles within a team was roughly as follows: one person drove the motorcycle while the person carrying out the assassination sat on the back. If the primary team was unable to complete the task, a "joker" stepped in — the joker being a backup assassin.

The organisation tolerated no compromise on vertical hierarchy. The chain of command was paramount.

The leader or managers issued execution orders by phone (most often via Telegram) before an operation. If a gang member was arrested, a lawyer was immediately dispatched. Statements were coordinated from a single centre.

It should be noted that the Daltonlar avoided using open lines or regular phones. For vehicles, they used either stolen cars or vehicles registered in the names of third parties. They attempted to cover their tracks through the use of cloned licence plates and techniques involving multiple vehicles converging on a scene.

The most critical point regarding criminal organisations of this kind is the source of their financing.

The indictment lists the Daltonlar's sources of financing as follows: extortion, protection money, "shaking down" tradespeople and business owners, drug manufacturing and trafficking, subcontracting and "hitman" income, robbery, shootings, theft, assault, "paid murder/assault," arms trafficking, and so on.

It should also be noted that the indictment includes a video in which Muhammet Ali Gezici, one of the Daltonlar's rivals, was made to speak while naked, with a threat that "if 500 thousand euros are not sent, I will be killed and sexually assaulted."

So what sets the Daltonlar apart from classic underground groups?

Two elements stand out: recruiting individuals under the age of 18 into the gang, and social-media-centred propaganda.

The Daltonlar is a structure that attempts to attract young people through images of luxury lifestyles, provocations, and armed visuals on Instagram and TikTok. These young people are drawn in by the leaders' posts and join the organisation — only to be deployed, as the indictment puts it, like "kamikaze drones."

The constant presence of drugs in safe houses, the sharing of ski-mask-and-weapon photographs, phone contacts saved under the abbreviation "DLT," and the cultivation of loyalty through luxury vehicles are among the other elements that make membership permanent.

We mentioned earlier that the organisation's leader, Beratcan Gökdemir, drew close to the Barış Boyun gang after the murders he committed in 2022. That alliance broke down two years later, in March 2024. The split was openly announced on social media. It is stated that the rift stemmed from disputes over "income and weapons sharing," and that the new structure moved to independent action.

The indictment also reflects the influence of yet another gang in this split: the Casperlar. There is a finding that the Daltonlar were in a state of readiness for "action at any moment" against this group.

Leader Beratcan Gökdemir spent a long period as a fugitive along the Georgia–Abkhazia corridor after the Demirci murder. A number of killings also took place there.

The indictment against the Daltonlar includes catalogue offences such as: establishing and managing a criminal organisation, intentional killing, attempted murder, robbery, drug trafficking, and unlawful possession of dangerous substances. Charges such as "damage to property" and "endangering public safety" are also included.

Aggravated life imprisonment is being sought for the organisation's managers.

Once the indictment prepared by the prosecutor's office is accepted, proceedings will advance before the Heavy Criminal Court; secret witnesses, digital evidence, social media content, and technical surveillance records will be examined during hearing days. If suspects abroad cannot be apprehended, trial in absentia in separate files is a strong possibility.

The Daltonlar set themselves apart from the classic mafia through the bridge they built between "the street" and "social media": they put violence on display, used luxury as a shop window, and turned young people into ammunition. This new model — stretching from safe houses to live broadcasts — confronts us not merely with a criminal organisation, but with a contemporary underground architecture woven from a triangle of fear, imitation, and loyalty.

When one considers the construction of a one-man regime in Turkey, the traumas created by the economic crisis, migration, and a culture of mob-justice attempts, gangs like the Daltonlar — or those resembling them — stand before us not as a phenomenon but as a case study. Draining the swamp that produces them is one choice; feeding that swamp is another.