WEBVTT - Episode 8: The Lion and the Mosquito 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:03.720 And O to the listeners. This episode contains a reference 0:00:03.760 --> 0:00:05.000 to suicide. 0:00:07.200 --> 0:00:12.159 Corruption, especially between the media and politicians. Eats away at 0:00:12.200 --> 0:00:29.600 the heart of democracy. 0:00:22.000 --> 0:00:28.320 Cord in prison, Malta. Right here we will early twenty eighteen, 0:00:29.200 --> 0:00:35.479 about six months after Daphne's murder. Daphne's free assassins, Vincent Lakoff, 0:00:35.680 --> 0:00:39.520 Chinese George and Alfred the Bean have been held here 0:00:39.640 --> 0:00:44.199 on pre trial detention since before Christmas. What follows is 0:00:44.240 --> 0:00:48.440 a dramatization based on courtroom testimony by Vincent the kaff Muscat. 0:00:48.960 --> 0:00:52.239 We provided color in places without changing any of the 0:00:52.280 --> 0:00:57.440 material facts or allegations. The defendants are entitled to regular 0:00:57.480 --> 0:01:00.240 meetings with their lawyer, and today one of the those 0:01:00.240 --> 0:01:03.320 conferences is scheduled. The three of them are gathered here 0:01:03.320 --> 0:01:06.839 in the meeting room, sitting alongside one another, a guard 0:01:06.880 --> 0:01:07.480 by the door. 0:01:08.720 --> 0:01:12.280 Three middle aged contract killers, no doubt familiar with the 0:01:12.280 --> 0:01:15.280 frequent rituals of Malta's legal system when it comes to 0:01:15.400 --> 0:01:22.440 organized crime, arrest, interrogation, delay, confinement, postponement and then all 0:01:22.520 --> 0:01:26.080 too often temporary release which eventually becomes permanent. 0:01:28.319 --> 0:01:30.880 And are so often in prison life at the moment 0:01:30.920 --> 0:01:36.520 they're stuck wasting their lawyer has so far failed to 0:01:36.560 --> 0:01:37.000 show up. 0:01:38.720 --> 0:01:41.600 Since the arrests, things have mostly been going in the favor. 0:01:42.200 --> 0:01:44.720 In the outside world, the battle to uncover the plot 0:01:44.760 --> 0:01:48.520 to kill Daphane has reached a stalemate. Public protests that 0:01:48.600 --> 0:01:51.680 Daphanie's murder have become a permanent feature of Maltese politics, 0:01:52.320 --> 0:01:54.840 but the government appears to be weathering them. 0:01:55.240 --> 0:01:58.720 Jephane's family are trying to bring international political pressure to 0:01:58.800 --> 0:02:02.360 bear on the Mall's government, and they're helping a team 0:02:02.360 --> 0:02:06.680 of investigative journalists to reinvestigate loose ends in her stories, 0:02:07.160 --> 0:02:10.800 but so far, nothing that's been published has led to 0:02:10.880 --> 0:02:11.600 a breakthrough. 0:02:12.160 --> 0:02:14.679 The one man who does know all the details of 0:02:14.720 --> 0:02:18.040 the plot, Melvin the Middleman, is struggling to keep his 0:02:18.080 --> 0:02:20.800 life together under the strain of the secrets he carries. 0:02:21.760 --> 0:02:26.560 He's drinking heavily, even contemplating ending it all, but so 0:02:26.639 --> 0:02:29.800 far he is keeping his silence, and all the while, 0:02:30.480 --> 0:02:35.160 the accused architect of the murder, Mister alleged Mastermind, remains 0:02:35.240 --> 0:02:39.680 unnoticed by law enforcement. His wealth and influence probably allow 0:02:39.760 --> 0:02:42.359 him to remain one step ahead of the authorities at 0:02:42.360 --> 0:02:42.880 any time. 0:02:47.000 --> 0:02:50.000 So although the three men in this prison interview room 0:02:50.040 --> 0:02:54.280 are locked up and under investigation for Daphanes's murder. They 0:02:54.280 --> 0:02:57.520 have reason to be quietly confident. If they can just 0:02:57.560 --> 0:03:00.640 stick together and keep their mouths shut, all his attention 0:03:01.120 --> 0:03:05.120 should eventually go away, just like it did after all 0:03:05.160 --> 0:03:07.519 the other car bomb assassinations in Malta. 0:03:08.600 --> 0:03:12.639 But on this day, for the first time, something's not right. 0:03:13.520 --> 0:03:21.280 In fact, it's very very wrong. Ho Chinese George motions 0:03:21.360 --> 0:03:25.800 Vincent the Cough to come closer, close enough so he 0:03:25.800 --> 0:03:27.639 can whisper without the guard. 0:03:27.440 --> 0:03:33.400 Hearing Lisma station by that chilt mind continct with that 0:03:33.840 --> 0:03:34.480 it's my child. 0:03:36.200 --> 0:03:39.400 Chinese George tells Vincent that he didn't sleep a wink 0:03:39.520 --> 0:03:45.720 last night. Something surprising was bothering him his ace. Vincent 0:03:45.840 --> 0:03:51.320 listens with a straight face, unresponsive. Chinese George goes on, 0:03:52.400 --> 0:03:56.920 does Vincent want to tell him something? Are you sure? 0:03:57.840 --> 0:03:59.960 Because he thinks there's something Vincent should be telling him. 0:04:03.560 --> 0:04:09.600 Again, Vincent the Cough doesn't respond, chance. 0:04:10.800 --> 0:04:19.040 It and there it is, the accusation spoken out loud. Vincent, 0:04:19.440 --> 0:04:22.320 you want to speak at the depot. The depot is 0:04:22.400 --> 0:04:27.520 multi slang for police headquarters. In other words, somehow George 0:04:27.560 --> 0:04:30.120 has discovered that Vincent has begun speaking to the police. 0:04:30.760 --> 0:04:38.480 Secretly, Chinese George is accusing his fellow murderer of breaking 0:04:38.600 --> 0:04:42.760 the criminal code of silence after years of knowing each 0:04:42.800 --> 0:04:46.000 other and working together from the Carmel Kirk Coop drive 0:04:46.080 --> 0:04:50.000 by shooting to Daphne's murder. George believes that Vince is 0:04:50.080 --> 0:04:55.040 snitching and snitching about the murder of Daphne Carona Calizzia. 0:04:56.839 --> 0:05:00.400 Before Vince can respond, their lawyer finally entered the role. 0:05:01.279 --> 0:05:04.480 The meeting begins as if nothing has been said. But 0:05:04.600 --> 0:05:08.040 from now on everything has changed between Chinese George and 0:05:08.200 --> 0:05:11.200 Vincent de Kov. The betrayals have begun. 0:05:15.720 --> 0:05:20.560 From iHeart Podcasts, Topic Studios in Vespucci, I'm John Sweeney 0:05:20.839 --> 0:05:26.280 and I'm Manuel Delia and this is Crooks Everywhere, Episode eight, 0:05:27.839 --> 0:05:29.800 The Lion and the Mosquito. 0:05:34.880 --> 0:05:37.880 I was there for one of the earlier sittings, actually 0:05:37.960 --> 0:05:44.280 present in the courtroom, and what impressed me was he 0:05:44.440 --> 0:05:47.960 had George, the George Jaw, who sat in the middle. 0:05:48.520 --> 0:05:52.360 His brother was sitting to his right side, I believe, 0:05:53.160 --> 0:05:59.480 and Vince to his left, and there was this complete silence. 0:06:01.240 --> 0:06:04.800 Kurt Sansone has watched Vincent Lakoff Muscat and the two 0:06:04.920 --> 0:06:08.679 Di Giorgia brothers, Chinese George and Alfred the Bean in Court. 0:06:09.080 --> 0:06:12.360 He is the executive editor of Malta Today and has 0:06:12.400 --> 0:06:15.920 been covering the investigation into Daphnese murder for years. 0:06:16.480 --> 0:06:20.040 Given the dynamic between them, I would say Vince Muscat 0:06:20.279 --> 0:06:24.880 was sort of the person who tagged along to the brothers. 0:06:24.920 --> 0:06:28.480 The junior partner, and perhaps he'd grown tired of all that, 0:06:29.320 --> 0:06:33.360 or since that being the junior partner made him more vulnerable, disposable, 0:06:33.880 --> 0:06:35.320 not part of the inner circle. 0:06:35.800 --> 0:06:40.000 They didn't give him all the information. I mean, they 0:06:40.160 --> 0:06:44.119 just gave him the information that he needed to know. Listen, 0:06:44.240 --> 0:06:47.239 we're going to do this. You'll be here at this time. 0:06:47.360 --> 0:06:51.000 After they're arrested. Vincent Lakoff may also have been under 0:06:51.040 --> 0:06:54.600 greater financial pressure than the other two killers. We don't 0:06:54.640 --> 0:06:58.840 know how much of the unwilling financial support from Melvin 0:06:58.880 --> 0:07:02.960 the middleman reached Vincent. Certainly no one bought his family 0:07:03.040 --> 0:07:05.360 member's pedigree dogs from China. 0:07:06.040 --> 0:07:10.600 It was mainly George, that GEORGEA and Alfred the Georgia 0:07:10.920 --> 0:07:16.000 doing the dealings and making the arrangements which he would 0:07:16.040 --> 0:07:20.600 then obviously willingly tag along and being involved in. 0:07:23.080 --> 0:07:27.400 Or maybe Vincent has realized that Daphne's murder had provoked 0:07:27.400 --> 0:07:31.160 a backlash too large for any of them to ride 0:07:31.240 --> 0:07:34.360 out in silence. If that theory is true, it's a 0:07:34.520 --> 0:07:39.600 real tribute to the Maltese public, the ordinary people who 0:07:39.760 --> 0:07:43.760 keep attending the demonstrations and protests in Daphne's memory for 0:07:43.960 --> 0:07:48.600 month after month after month, refusing to let the story die, 0:07:49.680 --> 0:07:53.160 and without knowing it, spooking her killers. 0:07:57.680 --> 0:08:01.120 Whatever Vincent's reasons, it begins to see greatly negotiating with 0:08:01.200 --> 0:08:04.080 the police for a reduced sentence or a pardon in 0:08:04.160 --> 0:08:07.680 exchange for a confession. And the first piece of information 0:08:07.840 --> 0:08:11.040 he's offering in exchange for his freedom is the name 0:08:11.280 --> 0:08:13.800 of the next guy up in the chain, the man 0:08:13.840 --> 0:08:17.120 who hired him and the the Georgio brothers, Melvin Toma, 0:08:17.640 --> 0:08:19.400 the increasingly panicy Middleman. 0:08:19.680 --> 0:08:22.680 But it turns out that an offering to become an informant, 0:08:23.080 --> 0:08:27.280 Vincent the Cough is miscalculated in two crucial ways. He's 0:08:27.320 --> 0:08:34.240 both underestimated and overestimated multice law enforcement. Underestimated because in fact, 0:08:34.280 --> 0:08:37.480 the authorities are already close to finding out Melvin the 0:08:37.520 --> 0:08:42.520 Middleman's identity. Anyway, the di Giorgio brothers constant demands for 0:08:42.760 --> 0:08:47.400 donations from Melvin has left multiple clues that the authorities 0:08:47.480 --> 0:08:48.440 are able to follow. 0:08:48.840 --> 0:08:52.640 Whenever Chinese George or Alfred de Bean called Mario de Georgio, 0:08:53.120 --> 0:08:56.640 the police are listening, The brothers never refer to Melvin 0:08:56.679 --> 0:09:00.760 by name, instead referring to him as dead guy. But 0:09:00.880 --> 0:09:03.959 it's obvious to the police eavesdroppers that that guy is 0:09:04.040 --> 0:09:07.199 a crucial connection to whoever else was involved in Daphnie's skinning. 0:09:10.160 --> 0:09:14.400 By the time Vincent Leakoff begins negotiating at the depot 0:09:14.520 --> 0:09:19.360 that's the police headquarters, detectives are already watching Mario di 0:09:19.480 --> 0:09:24.000 Giorgio's house, taking photos of Melvin when he visits. 0:09:25.120 --> 0:09:29.960 But Vincent d Koff has also overestimated moul dieselaw enforcement. 0:09:31.240 --> 0:09:33.679 In spite of his knowledge of the crime world, he 0:09:33.800 --> 0:09:36.040 clearly hopes that the police will be able to keep 0:09:36.080 --> 0:09:37.280 his betrayal less secret. 0:09:38.240 --> 0:09:42.760 Perhaps he should have known better. Even by Maltese standards, 0:09:42.880 --> 0:09:46.839 this is not a murder investigation that is secure or 0:09:47.080 --> 0:09:51.920 anything like it. As we've heard, every important breakthrough in 0:09:52.000 --> 0:09:55.280 the case is discussed in the presence of Prime Minister 0:09:55.440 --> 0:10:00.920 Joseph Muscat, his chief of staff Keith Schembri and Jeopardy 0:10:01.000 --> 0:10:05.560 Police Commissioner Sylvio val Letter. And as we've also heard, 0:10:06.080 --> 0:10:10.120 those lasts who are both close personal friends of mister 0:10:10.240 --> 0:10:15.880 alleged Mastermind himself, Keith Skembrie texts mister alleged Mastermind on 0:10:15.960 --> 0:10:20.000 a near daily basis. Deputy Police Commissioner Silvio the Letter 0:10:20.480 --> 0:10:23.280 will later share a family holiday with him. 0:10:23.559 --> 0:10:26.200 So it is not surprising that Vincent de Koff's betrayal 0:10:26.600 --> 0:10:31.000 very quickly reaches mister alleged Mastermind, and then that information 0:10:31.559 --> 0:10:35.880 quickly moves down the chain. According to Paul Karwna Galizia's book, 0:10:36.320 --> 0:10:39.400 when mister Alleged Mastermind passes on the news to Melvin, 0:10:39.440 --> 0:10:44.440 the middleman, he immediately panics, unable to believe it. It's 0:10:44.520 --> 0:10:46.600 not true, it's not true about the cough. 0:10:48.080 --> 0:10:51.120 Melvin's already spent thousands of euros of his own money 0:10:51.240 --> 0:10:54.920 paying for gifts and treats to keep the assassins happy 0:10:55.080 --> 0:10:59.439 behind bars, trying to avoid exactly this outcome. 0:11:00.280 --> 0:11:06.120 But eventually he does believe it. Naturally, he doesn't hesitate 0:11:06.240 --> 0:11:08.480 to pass the bad news further on down the line 0:11:09.000 --> 0:11:12.520 to Chinese George and Alfred de Bean the contract killers 0:11:12.559 --> 0:11:15.559 who are also being betrayed. They are amazed as well, 0:11:15.960 --> 0:11:20.079 and then no doubt ready to take action. Melvin the 0:11:20.160 --> 0:11:23.839 Middleman must know that by informing the the Georgia family 0:11:23.960 --> 0:11:27.280 of Vincent de Kof's betrayal, he could well be triggering 0:11:27.400 --> 0:11:30.720 further than the violence, that he could be signing another 0:11:30.840 --> 0:11:36.120 man's death warrant. And perhaps that's what he intends. We 0:11:36.240 --> 0:11:40.400 can't know, whatever the truth. It's soon after this that 0:11:40.520 --> 0:11:43.920 Vincent de Koff receives that sinister warning while waiting for 0:11:44.040 --> 0:11:50.199 his lawyer to arrive. And that's how Malta's circle of 0:11:50.240 --> 0:11:54.600 corruption works, highly sensitive information apparently flowing from a top 0:11:54.679 --> 0:11:59.199 secret police interrogation, to a high level police briefing, to 0:11:59.320 --> 0:12:03.640 an alleged criminal mastermind, to a middlemen, and onto two 0:12:03.840 --> 0:12:05.480 brutal underworld hitmen. 0:12:16.480 --> 0:12:20.040 After the warning, Vincent the Cough is well aware of 0:12:20.160 --> 0:12:23.480 the danger he's in now. After all, he used to 0:12:23.520 --> 0:12:26.760 be part of the death squad. He requests and gets 0:12:26.840 --> 0:12:30.720 additional protection in the prison he's now guarded. When he eats, 0:12:31.400 --> 0:12:35.199 separated from his fellow killers, he asks his family to 0:12:35.240 --> 0:12:37.599 bring in food so he doesn't have to touch the 0:12:37.679 --> 0:12:42.439 prison meals, who knows what strings that Georgia's might be 0:12:42.520 --> 0:12:45.600 able to pull inside the prison kitchen, and. 0:12:45.679 --> 0:12:51.400 There are the strings they can pull outside. Later in 0:12:51.520 --> 0:12:54.800 Quartron testimony, Vincent Kof said he received a warning that 0:12:54.920 --> 0:12:57.640 his partner and their children might be killed in an 0:12:57.640 --> 0:13:01.720 acid attack, So isn't just watching his own back. 0:13:02.120 --> 0:13:05.920 Jason, as a party Daphnese family lawyer, has experience of 0:13:06.000 --> 0:13:09.120 what these kind of threats can be like. Years later, 0:13:09.320 --> 0:13:13.360 as a party, cross examined Chinese George Georgio in court. 0:13:14.160 --> 0:13:18.160 Chinese George didn't appreciate the line of questioning, so in 0:13:18.240 --> 0:13:20.560 front of the judge, the police, in the entire court, 0:13:21.120 --> 0:13:25.439 he stood up and began saying things that made Jason 0:13:25.520 --> 0:13:27.240 as a party feel threatened. 0:13:29.320 --> 0:13:31.960 If I say it was an enjoyable experience, I would 0:13:32.000 --> 0:13:35.319 be lying. George de Georgia was livid when when he 0:13:35.559 --> 0:13:38.720 was looking at me, and I do remember his eyes, 0:13:39.520 --> 0:13:45.960 I cold ice cold eyes looking at me, terribly angry, 0:13:46.720 --> 0:13:52.640 using very foul language and yes threateningly, and I remember 0:13:52.920 --> 0:13:54.400 you could hear a pin drop. 0:13:56.480 --> 0:13:59.040 After these courtroom threats, Jason as a part of the 0:13:59.080 --> 0:14:02.320 receives offers of asistance from the police, and the threats 0:14:02.320 --> 0:14:06.440 have never been carried out, but back in twenty eighteen, 0:14:06.800 --> 0:14:10.440 Vincent d Kov's decision to turn informant has clearly painted 0:14:10.480 --> 0:14:13.120 a target on his back. And it's not just the 0:14:13.360 --> 0:14:17.280 Georgia Emily. He has to worry about the Talmaxar brothers. 0:14:17.400 --> 0:14:22.840 The alleged bomb suppliers also allegedly make a friendly approach 0:14:22.920 --> 0:14:26.280 to Vincent Dakoff's family, offering them money if the Cough 0:14:26.320 --> 0:14:30.000 retracts the statements he's giving to the police. They too 0:14:30.280 --> 0:14:34.280 appear fully informed about Vincentnakoff's confidential discussions with the police. 0:14:40.560 --> 0:14:44.160 After Vincent Nakov's decision to speak to the police, Melvin 0:14:44.200 --> 0:14:48.480 the Middleman begins to feel in even greater danger. As 0:14:48.560 --> 0:14:51.400 we heard, Melvin is already worried that he knows too 0:14:51.520 --> 0:14:55.560 much about mister alleged Masterminds crimes. That is, in spite 0:14:55.600 --> 0:14:59.360 of their closeness, he has become a liability to mister 0:14:59.520 --> 0:15:04.040 alleged Mastermind. If Vincent the Cough gives Melvin's name to 0:15:04.120 --> 0:15:08.360 the police, mister alleged Mastermind will have an even stronger 0:15:08.440 --> 0:15:15.000 incentive to have his old friend disappeared. Melvin the Middleman's 0:15:15.080 --> 0:15:19.800 drinking and drug taking accelerates. He's spiraling downwards. 0:15:26.480 --> 0:15:29.080 It is around this time that Melvin the Middleman drunkenly 0:15:29.200 --> 0:15:32.880 climbs onto the roof of his own house and contemplates 0:15:33.080 --> 0:15:36.640 ending at all, But instead he has a change of heart. 0:15:37.360 --> 0:15:40.040 Instead of jumping, he decides to fight and to use 0:15:40.080 --> 0:15:42.080 the secrets he's carrying to protect himself. 0:15:43.400 --> 0:15:47.360 Soon after, he purchases a second smartphone, but this phone 0:15:47.520 --> 0:15:51.080 isn't for making calls. Instead, one day at home, he 0:15:51.200 --> 0:15:53.680 switches on the new phone and sets it to silent, 0:15:54.080 --> 0:15:58.280 an aeroplane mode. He needs to make sure that it 0:15:58.400 --> 0:16:02.040 cannot receive a call or make a sound. His girlfriend's 0:16:02.120 --> 0:16:03.520 daughter has shown him how to do this. 0:16:04.040 --> 0:16:05.680 More than technology isn't really his. 0:16:05.800 --> 0:16:09.200 Thing, Melvin the Middleman opens a voice recorder app on 0:16:09.280 --> 0:16:12.920 the phone and sets it running, allowing the device to 0:16:13.000 --> 0:16:16.800 record every sound in the room around him. His girlfriend's 0:16:16.880 --> 0:16:20.320 daughter has shown him how to do this too. Now, 0:16:20.960 --> 0:16:24.320 with the voice app running, he locks the phone and 0:16:24.520 --> 0:16:29.280 slips it into his sock, where it stays hidden. From 0:16:29.360 --> 0:16:33.280 now on, whenever he meets mister alleged Mastermind, every word 0:16:33.600 --> 0:16:38.040 will be secretly recorded. Every incriminating remark will be stored 0:16:40.080 --> 0:16:43.560 like the cough. Melvin the Middleman is breaking the ultimate 0:16:43.640 --> 0:16:48.520 taboo of a moral faminalism. He's betraying family. 0:16:54.600 --> 0:16:57.360 Melvin Hobbs dead. The tapes might just give him enough 0:16:57.480 --> 0:16:59.240 leverage to keep himself alive. 0:17:00.040 --> 0:17:04.880 Bevin Toma was saying, Listen is very well connected, immensely rich. 0:17:05.640 --> 0:17:09.200 I'm no one compared to him. I don't have friends 0:17:09.280 --> 0:17:12.800 in high places, and so better take precautions. 0:17:13.280 --> 0:17:17.520 Years later, in court, Melvin Toma will describe mister alleged 0:17:17.600 --> 0:17:23.000 Mastermind as a lion and himself as a mosquito in comparison, 0:17:23.600 --> 0:17:25.560 a being that can be crushed without trace. 0:17:27.160 --> 0:17:31.280 And soon it is not just audio recordings. Melvin the 0:17:31.320 --> 0:17:35.639 middle Man begins building an entire archive of evidence. It 0:17:35.760 --> 0:17:39.560 includes the selfie of himself with the Prime Minister's chief 0:17:39.600 --> 0:17:43.359 of Staff, Keith Skembrie, the two of them ah me 0:17:43.480 --> 0:17:48.159 in ah during that bizarre tour of government offices organized 0:17:48.160 --> 0:17:50.040 by mister alleged Mastermind. 0:17:51.880 --> 0:17:56.160 One taped conversation is particularly revealing. On the tape, mister 0:17:56.240 --> 0:17:59.879 alleged Mastermind describes the moment when he informed Keith Kembri 0:18:00.520 --> 0:18:05.639 that Daphne had been murdered on his alleged Mastermind's personal orders. 0:18:06.480 --> 0:18:08.040 That the whole crime was his plan. 0:18:08.840 --> 0:18:16.600 Keach Cambrie froze, his face became white, eshen white. You 0:18:16.720 --> 0:18:21.760 can hear him saying this to Melvin Tooma on tape 0:18:22.000 --> 0:18:26.359 being secretly taped recorded by Melvin Tooma months after the murder. 0:18:27.040 --> 0:18:29.560 The implication is that Keach Cambrie wasn't in on the 0:18:29.640 --> 0:18:32.760 plan to kill Daphne and wasn't even aware that alleged 0:18:32.800 --> 0:18:37.840 Mastermind was responsible, and so, according to mister alleged Mastermind, 0:18:38.400 --> 0:18:43.119 Keith's reaction to hearing this confession is shocked. Sch Caambree's 0:18:43.200 --> 0:18:47.040 ashen white reaction suggests both his personal lack of involvement, 0:18:47.680 --> 0:18:50.800 but also that he immediately realizes this might be an 0:18:50.880 --> 0:18:55.119 unimaginable disaster for him politically, that he is now complicit 0:18:55.600 --> 0:18:58.679 and the most famous murder in Malta's modern history. 0:19:02.400 --> 0:19:04.480 But if this is the case, keefs Gmbrie does not 0:19:04.760 --> 0:19:09.359 denounce mister Alleged Mastermind. He does not contact Europe's police 0:19:09.400 --> 0:19:13.000 agency europe On. He does not contact the Multi's police 0:19:13.440 --> 0:19:17.840 with this breakthrough in the case. Instead, he pulls himself 0:19:17.920 --> 0:19:24.880 together and continues working with his close friend mister Alleged Mastermind, 0:19:25.760 --> 0:19:29.440 helping him to cover up the crime by allegedly sharing 0:19:29.880 --> 0:19:35.560 confidential details of the investigation. To this day, keeps Gambrie 0:19:35.640 --> 0:19:41.200 has denied any wrongdoing and denies leaking information. But in truth, 0:19:41.560 --> 0:19:45.040 by now it is becoming too late for a successful 0:19:45.400 --> 0:19:49.080 cover up. Never underestimate the mosquito. 0:19:57.720 --> 0:20:00.520 There's another reason why the cover up being ground. Alleged 0:20:00.560 --> 0:20:05.119 mastermind might be unreveling. Just as Daphnese killers are beginning 0:20:05.200 --> 0:20:08.800 to turn on each other, the Deafney Project, the international 0:20:08.880 --> 0:20:11.600 team of journalists who gathered to follow up lose ends 0:20:11.640 --> 0:20:13.720 in her stories, are continuing to. 0:20:13.760 --> 0:20:17.880 Work, searching, above all, for the story that might reveal 0:20:18.000 --> 0:20:19.320 the motive for her murder. 0:20:20.240 --> 0:20:23.920 They get some impressive scoops. We've heard how the Definite 0:20:24.000 --> 0:20:28.440 Project reported on Malta's passport sales scheme, its public hospital scandal, 0:20:28.880 --> 0:20:33.960 and the shady deals with Azerbaijan, but so far still 0:20:34.040 --> 0:20:36.240 nothing that seems linked to Daphne's murder. 0:20:39.920 --> 0:20:43.920 Then Jacob Borche, a Daphney Project reporter for the Terms 0:20:43.960 --> 0:20:48.520 of Malta, gets an intriguing anonymous tip. The tip off 0:20:49.080 --> 0:20:52.719 is to look up one phrase in Daphne's entire journalistic output, 0:20:54.200 --> 0:21:00.080 seventeen Black along with Stephen Gray, a reporter from v 0:21:00.440 --> 0:21:03.240 and it so happens a friend of ours. Jacob begins 0:21:03.280 --> 0:21:05.560 searching through Daphne's archive for every mention. 0:21:07.040 --> 0:21:10.040 The first blog post to mention it is typical Daphne, 0:21:10.680 --> 0:21:14.920 a cryptic, intriguing teaser. The whole post is just one 0:21:15.000 --> 0:21:15.800 sentence long. 0:21:16.080 --> 0:21:20.680 February twenty second, twenty seventeen. Seventeen Black the name of 0:21:20.720 --> 0:21:22.359 a company incorporated in Dubai. 0:21:23.040 --> 0:21:27.760 Underneath that sentence are some photos of politicians the key ones. 0:21:28.040 --> 0:21:31.440 First a picture of the Prime Minister Joseph Moscat, second 0:21:31.520 --> 0:21:34.679 a photo of Chief of Staff Keach Cambri, and finally 0:21:34.720 --> 0:21:38.119 a photo of Health and Energy Minister Conrad Mitzi. And 0:21:38.240 --> 0:21:41.800 that's it. What could be linking these powerful men with 0:21:41.880 --> 0:21:46.760 a Dubai company called seventeen Black. Of course, the last 0:21:46.800 --> 0:21:49.760 two men, she Cambria and Midsi, are the same politicians 0:21:49.920 --> 0:21:53.560 Daphne had already identified in the Panama Papers as owning 0:21:53.720 --> 0:21:57.040 secret shell companies and Panama. And when the Panama paper 0:21:57.119 --> 0:22:02.040 scandal broke, some mysteries had remained unsolved. Schambrie and Midzi's 0:22:02.119 --> 0:22:06.119 carefully hidden Panama companies had all hardly been used. What 0:22:06.320 --> 0:22:09.280 secret assets had these politicians been expecting to receive. 0:22:10.240 --> 0:22:13.240 Most of the other seventeen Black blog posts don't seem 0:22:13.359 --> 0:22:15.440 likely obvious place to finances though. 0:22:16.320 --> 0:22:19.920 February twenty second, twenty seventeen, I have discovered that this 0:22:20.119 --> 0:22:23.399 clique is using a company called seventeen Black, which is 0:22:23.440 --> 0:22:28.040 incorporated in the United Arab Emirates UAE and registered in Dubai, 0:22:28.600 --> 0:22:32.400 to move large sums of money around. The ultimate beneficial 0:22:32.440 --> 0:22:35.920 ownership of seventeen Black is concealed by nominees protected under 0:22:36.080 --> 0:22:36.720 UAE law. 0:22:37.400 --> 0:22:43.080 Quick translation, the ultimate beneficial ownership is concealed means the 0:22:43.200 --> 0:22:44.280 rill owner is a secret. 0:22:44.720 --> 0:22:47.960 In other words, definitely believe that seventeen Black was a 0:22:48.040 --> 0:22:51.359 company acting as yet another tool to hide payments to 0:22:51.480 --> 0:22:55.280 Maltese politicians and powerful men. She also found that the 0:22:55.400 --> 0:23:00.479 Maltese financial authorities had investigated seventeen Black and found there 0:23:00.600 --> 0:23:04.280 was quotes a reasonable suspicion of money laundering and all 0:23:04.440 --> 0:23:07.800 the proceeds of crime on quotes. That is to say, 0:23:08.440 --> 0:23:11.959 it looked pretty dodgy, but no action was taken by 0:23:12.000 --> 0:23:17.560 the police. Dafely also didn't know who was behind seventeen Black. 0:23:18.240 --> 0:23:22.320 She hadn't discovered who, let's say, was the alleged mastermind 0:23:22.760 --> 0:23:24.000 of seventeen Black. 0:23:24.280 --> 0:23:27.719 And gradually the scandal of seventeen Black was overshadowed by 0:23:27.840 --> 0:23:33.480 other scandals, even on Dafnew's on blog at this point 0:23:33.600 --> 0:23:36.800 after her death, it still isn't clear why that anonymous 0:23:36.840 --> 0:23:41.080 tipster had suggested looking into seventeen Black, but the Definitely 0:23:41.119 --> 0:23:43.840 Project reporters aren't about to give up easily. 0:23:44.600 --> 0:23:49.120 A company called seventeen Black was playing in a really 0:23:49.200 --> 0:23:53.840 important role in all of this, but we didn't have 0:23:53.960 --> 0:23:58.159 a lot more and we didn't have proof, and so 0:23:58.400 --> 0:23:59.840 we went back to the data. 0:24:02.840 --> 0:24:05.600 Bassi and Obermayer and the rest of the Daphne Project 0:24:05.760 --> 0:24:10.000 organizers decided to take a fresh approach. They would re 0:24:10.200 --> 0:24:13.359 examine some of the original leak files that had been 0:24:13.440 --> 0:24:17.679 behind the Panama Papers scoop, and in this huge database 0:24:17.760 --> 0:24:22.000 of files they find some leaked emails that hadn't seemed 0:24:22.040 --> 0:24:24.080 important when Daphne was alive. 0:24:24.800 --> 0:24:28.480 In the middle of a haystack, a journalistic needle has appeared. 0:24:29.280 --> 0:24:31.840 We were looking inside that that part of data, and 0:24:31.960 --> 0:24:34.680 we found this email which didn't say a lot, but 0:24:34.800 --> 0:24:38.560 it said that there was a company called seventeen Black 0:24:39.200 --> 0:24:41.399 and that Metro to receive money. 0:24:44.600 --> 0:24:48.399 That leaked email allows the Dafney project to confirm what 0:24:48.560 --> 0:24:52.119 Deafhney had alleged but hadn't been able to prove. It 0:24:52.200 --> 0:24:56.239 suggests that government ministers Conrad Mitzi and Keach Company had 0:24:56.320 --> 0:25:00.880 been expecting to receive had been promised regular large amounts 0:25:00.920 --> 0:25:06.680 of money moving into their Panama holding companies. All from 0:25:06.760 --> 0:25:07.800 seventeen Black. 0:25:09.280 --> 0:25:13.320 Times of Mota eighty eight April twenty and eighty A 0:25:13.480 --> 0:25:16.520 total of one point six million dollars one point three 0:25:16.600 --> 0:25:20.399 million euros was transferred to seventeen Black to the BI 0:25:20.520 --> 0:25:23.760 company listed as one of the target clients which would 0:25:23.800 --> 0:25:27.160 pay in money to Keych Cambrees and Conrad Midsi's once 0:25:27.320 --> 0:25:30.680 secret Panama companies. League to documents show. 0:25:32.560 --> 0:25:37.119 The definitely project breaking this story was huge. Midsi ande 0:25:37.160 --> 0:25:41.280 Cambree deny wrongdoing, proof that in spite of all these denials, 0:25:41.800 --> 0:25:44.880 the emails showed that Maltese politicians had planned to enrich 0:25:44.960 --> 0:25:48.520 themselves secretly while in office, and they were going to 0:25:48.600 --> 0:25:52.560 do so using a company that Maltese investigators considered under 0:25:52.600 --> 0:25:55.640 suspicion for money laundering and criminal activity. 0:25:56.240 --> 0:26:00.080 And so this was the missing piece that helped to 0:26:01.520 --> 0:26:06.399 connect the Panama papers and to the money right, and 0:26:06.680 --> 0:26:11.040 so once we got puzzled that together we had a 0:26:11.800 --> 0:26:12.560 strong lead. 0:26:12.920 --> 0:26:16.960 But there is still one big question unanswered. Around this time, 0:26:17.400 --> 0:26:21.120 a group of demonstrators stage of protests outside government officers 0:26:21.600 --> 0:26:25.480 with placards reading who owns seventeen black? 0:26:25.920 --> 0:26:26.400 Exactly? 0:26:26.880 --> 0:26:27.040 Who? 0:26:27.760 --> 0:26:31.440 Who was planning to bribe these politicians? That question on 0:26:31.560 --> 0:26:34.240 the blucards is the question that everyone in more Thanao 0:26:34.520 --> 0:26:36.720 once answered, everyone. 0:26:36.680 --> 0:26:42.240 Except mister alleged Mastermind. Mister alleged Mastermind can't afford for 0:26:42.320 --> 0:26:45.119 that question to be answered, and he knows that the 0:26:45.200 --> 0:26:48.280 closer the Daphne Project gets to his friend Keith Schenbury, 0:26:48.840 --> 0:26:52.560 the closer they will get to him. Because you won't 0:26:52.600 --> 0:26:55.720 be surprised to hear this, The real owner of seventeen 0:26:55.800 --> 0:27:00.920 Black is our mister alleged Mastermind, and he must know 0:27:01.560 --> 0:27:04.520 it might not be long before his real identity is 0:27:04.640 --> 0:27:05.720 exposed and. 0:27:05.800 --> 0:27:11.600 The Deafnite Project are not his only problem now. Around 0:27:11.680 --> 0:27:15.200 this time too, the spring of twenty eighteen, the Maltese 0:27:15.240 --> 0:27:18.320 police investigation of the Dafnie murder begins to pick up 0:27:18.359 --> 0:27:22.520 the pace, and for the first time, mister Alleged Mastermind 0:27:22.680 --> 0:27:25.920 is mentioned by name. In the police investigation as a 0:27:26.040 --> 0:27:31.080 person of interest, even a potential suspect. For the first time, 0:27:31.280 --> 0:27:34.640 he is on the investigation's radar. For the first time, 0:27:34.800 --> 0:27:39.320 his wealth and power are no longer shielding him. We 0:27:39.400 --> 0:27:41.960 don't know for sure if he finds this out, but 0:27:42.080 --> 0:27:44.080 given how he has a network that has told him 0:27:44.080 --> 0:27:47.840 about every other detail of the investigation, it seems likely 0:27:47.920 --> 0:27:51.080 he knows that the net is slowly closing in around him, 0:27:51.680 --> 0:27:51.960 and so. 0:27:52.520 --> 0:27:55.480 Like Vincent the Cough and Melvin the Middleman before him, 0:27:56.040 --> 0:28:00.480 mister alleged Mastermind begins to crash slowly on the pressure, 0:28:01.119 --> 0:28:06.000