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Speaker 1: Pushkin Just a quick note before we start today's show.

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Speaker 2: Previously on Hot Money, I started looking into a murder

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Speaker 2: in a small Dutch town, the murder of a man

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Speaker 2: who was living secret life on the run from the

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Speaker 2: Iranian regime. And it's taken me to Ireland to a

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Speaker 2: safe house owned by the Kinnahans, the family at the

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Speaker 2: heart of Europe's most powerful cocaine cartel. But who are

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Speaker 2: the Kinnahans and why would drug traffickers be connected to

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Speaker 2: what looks like a political assassination. This isn't an easy

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Speaker 2: story to report because, for obvious reasons, I can't just

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Speaker 2: call up the main characters, crime bosses. They don't usually

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Speaker 2: take calls from journalists, so instead I need to find

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Speaker 2: the people who are trying to bring them down.

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Speaker 3: Heroin took everyone by surprise, took the criminals by surprise.

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Speaker 3: It took the on Garda Shircanna. The Irish police Force

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Speaker 3: took them by complete surprise.

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Speaker 2: In nineteen seventy seven, Michael O'Sullivan had just joined the

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Speaker 2: Irish Police Force. He's in his early twenties and he's

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Speaker 2: grown a handle bar mustache and got himself a leather jacket.

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Speaker 2: He kind of looks a bit like Charles Bronson, but

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Speaker 2: more approachable, a bit friendlier, and as a young detective,

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Speaker 2: he soon finds himself on the front line of policing

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Speaker 2: a new type of problem because tons of cheap heroin

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Speaker 2: is flooding into Europe, including Dublin.

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Speaker 3: This was a new ballgame. These were drug dealers on

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Speaker 3: the streets, street wise, in what we would call flat complexes,

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Speaker 3: in rundown areas where they would have lookouts, and it

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Speaker 3: was they're like fortresses and the problem was getting worse

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Speaker 3: and worse. It wouldn't be uncommon to have an entire family,

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Speaker 3: you know, four or five kids, all on drugs.

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Speaker 2: Michael can tell that the usual methods of policing, the

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Speaker 2: old ways, they're just not going to work. So he

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Speaker 2: comes up with a radical idea.

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Speaker 3: I went to my superiors and suggested to them that look,

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Speaker 3: people could go in and buy the drugs with a

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Speaker 3: view to catching the drug dealer, and basically suggested that

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Speaker 3: I could do it. From similar background, I felt I

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Speaker 3: could easily blend in.

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Speaker 2: What Michael was talking about. Here is an undercover sting,

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Speaker 2: and in nineteen eighties Island in the police that's just

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Speaker 2: not really the dune thing.

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Speaker 3: My boss has told me. It was a crazy idea.

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Speaker 3: It was illegal, and if I didn't get myself arrested

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Speaker 3: or brought before the courts, i'd bring the police force

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Speaker 3: into discredit. It couldn't be done, and it wasn't to

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Speaker 3: be done.

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Speaker 2: Michael listens to his bosses, weighs up their advice, and

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Speaker 2: he ignores it. The way he tells the story of

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Speaker 2: this first sting, it sounds just like a scene from

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Speaker 2: a movie. He's already chosen a dealer, a dealer he's

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Speaker 2: been watching for a while, and one day, when he's

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Speaker 2: out on patrol, he decides to split off from his

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Speaker 2: colleagues and he goes out alone without telling them where

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Speaker 2: he's heading.

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Speaker 3: So I went into a flat complex and knocked on

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Speaker 3: the door and a guy came out. This big guy

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Speaker 3: stood at the door, and as I began to ask

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Speaker 3: him for drugs, he produced in his hand and I

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Speaker 3: was probably cut by surprise. I didn't really realize. I

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Speaker 3: didn't think it would work that fast, So I took

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Speaker 3: a deep breath and snatched the drugs from his hand

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Speaker 3: and produced my ID card. At the same time, he

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Speaker 3: looked at me in disbelief. He thought I was a

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Speaker 3: junkie trying to robin.

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Speaker 2: It takes a second, but the man notices Michael's police

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Speaker 2: idea and then he realizes what's really going on.

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Speaker 3: At this stage, he assumed that I'd back up, but

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Speaker 3: what he didn't realize was the backup had no idea

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Speaker 3: where I was. So he decided to cut his losses

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Speaker 3: and he ran back into his flat, and I followed

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Speaker 3: him on the way. He cut some drugs that were

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Speaker 3: on a table and threw them into a lighting fire.

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Speaker 2: Michael knows he needs the drugs as evidence, because that's

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Speaker 2: the whole point of the sting, so he stops. The

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Speaker 2: heroine is wrapped in this plastic and it's trying to melt.

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Speaker 2: Michael reaches his hand into the fire and pulls it out.

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Speaker 2: At the same time time the dealer is still desperately

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Speaker 2: trying to find a way out of the flat.

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Speaker 3: He opened a back window of the ground floor flat,

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Speaker 3: and as he was halfway outed, I was holding onto

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Speaker 3: his leg.

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Speaker 2: So here's Michael, one hand covered in melted plastic, the

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Speaker 2: other hand gripping the leg of a heroin dealer who's

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Speaker 2: dangling out of a ground floor window, and no one

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Speaker 2: knows where he is. He's got back up, but they've

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Speaker 2: lost him.

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Speaker 3: A passing unit of the police who are trying to

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Speaker 3: look for me saw him hanging out the window and

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Speaker 3: realized where I was. It came down to that, had

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Speaker 3: he not gone out the window, it thinks could have

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Speaker 3: gone quite badly. It was a crazy thing to do.

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Speaker 3: Looking back in it, I wouldn't advise anyone to do it,

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Speaker 3: but you know, you're young and impulsive, and nobody planned

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Speaker 3: for it to go that way. I was admonished by

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Speaker 3: my bosses and told it was her brain. Don't do

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Speaker 3: it again.

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Speaker 2: But Michael's risky move pays off. It takes a while,

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Speaker 2: but Eventually his bosses realize that he's onto something, and

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Speaker 2: soon enough he finds himself coming up against a new

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Speaker 2: force in Irish organized crime. It's a family that will

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Speaker 2: transform the drugs business, make their fortune and end up

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Speaker 2: some of the world's most wanted men. The family at

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Speaker 2: the heart of the Dubai Supercartel. I'm Miles Johnson from

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Speaker 2: the Financial Times and Pushkin Industries. This is Hot Money,

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Speaker 2: Season two, The New Narcos, Episode two, Cocaine Ceo. I'm

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Speaker 2: trying to understand how a group of European drug traffickers

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Speaker 2: became some of the world's most successful criminal entrepreneurs because

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Speaker 2: their story is the story of a revolution, a revolution

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Speaker 2: that swept across Europe's criminal economy. And Michael, he's been

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Speaker 2: following all of this from the start. The Kinahans have

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Speaker 2: been in his sights since his early days on the

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Speaker 2: streets of Dublin, and it started with Christopher Kinahan better

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Speaker 2: known as Christie or the Dappadon.

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Speaker 3: Myself and Chris Canahan has most started working in drugs

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Speaker 3: around the same time, and our careers have sort of

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Speaker 3: gone in tandem. I was on one side of the

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Speaker 3: fence and he's on the other.

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Speaker 2: Michael first comes across Christy in the mid eighties. It's

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Speaker 2: at the height of Dublin's heroin problems.

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Speaker 3: I was aware that there was somebody behind the distribution

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Speaker 3: network within Dublin. The name Christy Kinahan came up. I

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Speaker 3: had never heard of him. I had made some inquiries

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Speaker 3: and I'd heard that he was best described as a

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Speaker 3: fraudster and he would go around bouncing checks, you know,

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Speaker 3: he could talk to wasn't a real criminal, he was,

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Speaker 3: you know, a suave sort of a guy.

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Speaker 2: Michael starts looking into Christy Kinahan and he learns that

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Speaker 2: he grew up in a middle class family in Dublin.

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Speaker 2: He went to the same school that the writer James

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Speaker 2: Joyce had attended seventy years earlier when he was a kid.

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Speaker 2: Christie's family lived in the UK for a bit, and

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Speaker 2: he sometimes puts on an English accent. He's also acquired

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Speaker 2: some expensive tastes, sports cars, nice clothes, and luxury apartments.

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Speaker 2: As Michael watches him, he can tell us not just

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Speaker 2: bounce checks. Covering Christie's extravagant lifestyle is drug money and

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Speaker 2: Christy he seems to have come up with a new

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Speaker 2: distribution model. One that's different from the other heroine dealers.

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Speaker 3: He had rented a luxury apartment away from grotty streets

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Speaker 3: and drug dealing and was using it as the nerve center.

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Speaker 3: He's paranoid, so he'd only trust himself, and he reckoned

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Speaker 3: he was in such a safe place and that he

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Speaker 3: was unknown that he could hold the drugs and maybe

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Speaker 3: get one or two trusted people to take them from him,

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Speaker 3: and they will go and cut it and distribute it.

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Speaker 2: The location of Christie's base of operations is so unlikely

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Speaker 2: that Michael actually doubts it at first, but then he

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Speaker 2: sees Christy arriving at the block of flats.

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Speaker 3: Fortunately for us, he drove a flash red sports cart

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Speaker 3: and it's confirmed.

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Speaker 2: It's nineteen eighty six and Michael's undercover sting operations are

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Speaker 2: by now well established. If Christie's holding heroin in that apartment,

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Speaker 2: that's where Michael wants to stage a sting.

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Speaker 3: You just can't hang around a place for days and

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Speaker 3: with cameras and sit in another adjoining apartment complexes. You've

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Speaker 3: got to put yourself into a position. So we just decided, look,

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Speaker 3: let's go in as workmen, and myself and another guy

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Speaker 3: went in as workmen and carrying on our work tools.

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Speaker 2: Michael's with a colleague and they go inside the block

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Speaker 2: of flats. They're dressed as electricians. They start going around,

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Speaker 2: knocking on doors and asking residents if they can check

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Speaker 2: their lights.

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Speaker 3: One or two of the residents asked us to try

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Speaker 3: and fix fridges and stuff. So we just sort of

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Speaker 3: ran with the flow and it worked.

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Speaker 2: There in the corridor was Christie.

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Speaker 3: He passed me in the hall. I saw him go

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Speaker 3: in and out and I realized who he was.

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Speaker 2: So Michael calls him back up and braces himself to

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Speaker 2: go in.

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Speaker 3: You don't know if somebody behind that door has a gun.

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Speaker 3: You don't know how many people are behind that door.

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Speaker 3: You could go in and a guy could be standing

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Speaker 3: there with a machine gun. A guy could be standing

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Speaker 3: with a handgun and get the drop on you. As

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Speaker 3: they would say, the adrenaline is flowing, you know, your

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Speaker 3: heart is racing. Anything could go wrong.

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Speaker 2: The door opens, but it's not Christie on the other side.

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Speaker 2: It's another man. Mike On and his colleagues pull out

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Speaker 2: their search warren and they entered the flat. Where's Christy

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Speaker 2: At this point.

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Speaker 3: He's sitting at a table eating a sandwich. Can still

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Speaker 3: see him sitting out looking as it was a big role.

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Speaker 3: He was eating a big salad roll or something. It

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Speaker 3: was still in his mouth as we came in the

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Speaker 3: door and knee he just he visibly paled and he

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Speaker 3: just he just froze. Really, he just froze. Yeah. I

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Speaker 3: told him we were the drug squad and with a

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Speaker 3: warrant to search the premises. And he put down the

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Speaker 3: sandwich and he said, I'm as sick as a parrot

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Speaker 3: for the English phrase. He said, is your name Sullivan?

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Speaker 3: I said it is. He said, I was told to

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Speaker 3: look out for you, and I said, well he should

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Speaker 3: have took that advice.

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Speaker 2: Did it. I worry you at all that he knew

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Speaker 2: who you were.

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Speaker 3: When you're in the drugs business, when you're working against

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Speaker 3: the organized crime, if you're going to worry about your safety,

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Speaker 3: you're on the wrong job.

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Speaker 2: After Michael arrests him, Christy Kinahan's charged. He admits to

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Speaker 2: owning the drugs and the cash and the fraudulent checks

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Speaker 2: that were found inside the apartment. He pleads guilty, and

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Speaker 2: while Christie works his way through the legal system, Michael

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Speaker 2: starts to get a sense of his character.

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Speaker 3: You know, in court and traveling to court, he would

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Speaker 3: be trying to learn French or reading books. He thought

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Speaker 3: he was a step above everybody.

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Speaker 4: He was.

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Speaker 3: Reasonably smart, but he was I suppose it's a bit

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Speaker 3: of a snob. Really, he wouldn't waste time and he'd

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Speaker 3: always look for opportunities.

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Speaker 2: By the time Christie's trial comes around, his lawyers come

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Speaker 2: up with the defense. He says that his client is

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Speaker 2: committed to turning his life around, and he tells the

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Speaker 2: court that Christie's learning, He's learning French and Arabic, and

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Speaker 2: he's trying to improve himself. Michael is skeptical, but the

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Speaker 2: judge buys Chris this story, and then he gives him

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Speaker 2: six years in prison. Christy Kinahan is down, but he's

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Speaker 2: not out. A few years later, Michael's still doing drug enforcement.

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Speaker 2: One night, after work, he decides to go for a run.

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Speaker 3: And I glanced over my shoulder and I saw a

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Speaker 3: car following me, and so I ran through a series

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Speaker 3: of streets and I could see the car was still

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Speaker 3: following me, and I went around a corner and stopped

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Speaker 3: to tie my lace, and the car sped past me,

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Speaker 3: and I glanced at it, and I told to myself,

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Speaker 3: I swear that's Chris Connhan. I went back to the

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Speaker 3: office and I said, h'm after seeing Chris Connette. She

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Speaker 3: couldn't have done Yeah, So it came to pass that

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Speaker 3: he was out.

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Speaker 2: Christi Kinahan's out of prison and he's only just getting started.

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Speaker 5: I'm gonna warn you right up front. I'm known to

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Speaker 5: go all over the place.

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Speaker 2: So that's Derek Maltz. And Derek's loud, but he's not angry.

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Speaker 2: He just talks like this all the time. It's sort

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Speaker 2: of the same if he's ordering a pizza or arresting

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Speaker 2: a drug kingpin. Derek used to run the Special Operations

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Speaker 2: Division of the US Drug Enforcement Administration.

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Speaker 6: When we signed up to be DA, we didn't sign

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Speaker 6: up to be firemen where the bell rings, you slide

249
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Speaker 6: down the pole and you go put out the fire.

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Speaker 6: We signed up to proactively infiltrate the biggest and baddest

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Speaker 6: criminals in the world.

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Speaker 2: Derek's been a source of mind for a couple of years.

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Speaker 2: It's been a couple of years where I've been having

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Speaker 2: to do a lot of networking with law enforcement agents

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Speaker 2: around the world because I was writing a book on

256
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Speaker 2: international organized crime. But the thing about police. There's no

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Speaker 2: online directory, and the way it works is this, you

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Speaker 2: meet someone like Derek, and if you're lucky, he'll introduce

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Speaker 2: you to someone else, and so it goes on, and

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Speaker 2: it's three these kind of connections. I've met police from

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Speaker 2: the US, France, the Netherlands, the UK Island and more.

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Speaker 2: In each agency they have their own culture, their own vibe.

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Speaker 2: And Derek, he couldn't mean more on brand for the DEA.

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Speaker 2: And maybe that's because it's pretty much in his blood.

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Speaker 5: He worked thirty years my father in the DEA.

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Speaker 6: My father did a lot of work with the heroin

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Speaker 6: traffickers in New York, you know, getting drugs from you know,

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Speaker 6: Italian organized crime. At the time, when I was thirteen

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Speaker 6: years old, my father actually took me out on a

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Speaker 6: surveillance following a female who was connected to a heroin fugitive.

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Speaker 6: And so he thought it was a good idea to

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Speaker 6: put a thirteen year old kid in the government vehicle,

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Speaker 6: follow into a high rise hotel in a very bad

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Speaker 6: area in New York City and send his kid into

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Speaker 6: the elevator with the target to see what apartments she

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Speaker 6: went into.

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Speaker 5: So I guess my law enforcement.

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Speaker 6: Career actually started when I was like between nine and

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Speaker 6: thirteen years old.

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Speaker 2: Derek's father was tackling the growing problems caused by heroin.

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Speaker 2: But by the time Derek started working for the DEA,

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Speaker 2: there was a different drug rapidly taking market share.

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Speaker 6: America was getting completely bombarded with cocaine and crack and

284
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Speaker 6: just so many problems violence, crime, okay, and all of

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Speaker 6: the cocaine at that time was coming from Colombia.

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Speaker 2: Columbia has always been one of the biggest producers of coca,

287
00:16:48,087 --> 00:16:51,127
Speaker 2: the plant that cocaine is derived from. The cost of

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Speaker 2: growing and processing coca is low and the markups are huge.

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Speaker 2: The supply chain is controlled by powerful cortails.

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Speaker 5: The cartels. They're in the business to make money.

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Speaker 6: They run these organizations like a fortune five hundred company

292
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Speaker 6: in the sense of they want to maximize profits and

293
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Speaker 6: reduce risks.

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Speaker 2: In the nineteen eighties and nineteen nineties, these Latin American

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Speaker 2: drug kingpins they captured the world's attention. Names you might

296
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Speaker 2: have heard of, like Pablo Escobar or El Chappo Gusman.

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Speaker 2: The American market for cocaine it got bigger, and the

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Speaker 2: cartels they became more and more powerful, so US law enforcement.

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Speaker 2: They ramped up their response.

300
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Speaker 5: The DEA established a Kingpins strategy.

301
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Speaker 6: The United States attorneys around America started engaging a lot more.

302
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Speaker 5: We started getting enhanced sentencing.

303
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Speaker 6: Guidelines for drug traffickers around America, and we started working

304
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Speaker 6: very closely with the Colombian National Police.

305
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Speaker 2: It was a controversial strategy. Not everyone was comfortable with

306
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Speaker 2: the DA jumping into other countries and arresting people, but

307
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Speaker 2: it got results. Hundreds of cartel members were extradited from

308
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Speaker 2: Columbia to the US on cocaine trafficking charges, and it

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Speaker 2: made life for them really difficult. So the cartels pivoted

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Speaker 2: because moving cocaine loads into the US no longer seemed

311
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Speaker 2: as appealing as it used to be.

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Speaker 6: You got to remember, the Colombians are like entrepreneurs, very

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Speaker 6: very smart. They studied their failures. They didn't want to

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Speaker 6: sit in American jails.

315
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Speaker 5: Okay.

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Speaker 6: They advanced their communications, they compartmentalized their operations, They insulated

317
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Speaker 6: themselves from prosecution in America.

318
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Speaker 2: But to do this, the Colombian cartels needed a new market,

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Speaker 2: one which was not the United States, a place that

320
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Speaker 2: would not get people like Derek on their case. And

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Speaker 2: this is a key moment in Christy Kinahan's story, because

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Speaker 2: the market the Colombians choose, it's Western Europe, and.

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Speaker 6: They started bombing Europe with massive amounts of cocaine. Like

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Speaker 6: I said, if you're in a business, there's really two

325
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Speaker 6: things you got to keep in mind. Increased profits reduce risk. Well,

326
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Speaker 6: cocaine trafficking in Europe was a home run for the cartels.

327
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Speaker 2: So by the early naughties, the South American cartails are

328
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Speaker 2: busy building up trusted networks of distributors in Europe and

329
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Speaker 2: there are hubs emerging places filled with people eager to

330
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Speaker 2: do business with them. Amsterdam is the perfect base for

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Speaker 2: anyone who's looking to expand their criminal network. The first

332
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Speaker 2: thing's where it's situated. It's in the center of Western Europe,

333
00:19:30,887 --> 00:19:33,647
Speaker 2: and so they're regular flights and trains to anywhere in

334
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Speaker 2: the world. And secondly, it's a city that's close to

335
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Speaker 2: two of the world's largest container ports, Rotterdam and Antwerp,

336
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Speaker 2: and that's the critical infrastructure for bringing almost all goods

337
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Speaker 2: into Europe, including vast shipments of cocaine. At the same time,

338
00:19:50,167 --> 00:19:54,447
Speaker 2: European economic growth and integration was ramping up, borders are

339
00:19:54,447 --> 00:19:58,087
Speaker 2: coming down and the single currency, the Euro is coming together,

340
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Speaker 2: and broader globalization is making the world even smaller. During

341
00:20:03,407 --> 00:20:05,767
Speaker 2: its golden age, Amsterdam was a hub, and it was

342
00:20:05,767 --> 00:20:08,767
Speaker 2: a hub for diamonds, spices, and now it's becoming a

343
00:20:08,807 --> 00:20:12,527
Speaker 2: hub again because over the next few decades the cocaine

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Speaker 2: market will explode. In nineteen eighty six, less than five

345
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Speaker 2: tons of cocaine was seized in Europe, according to the

346
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Speaker 2: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. But by the

347
00:20:22,927 --> 00:20:26,247
Speaker 2: mid nineties this has grown to around twenty five tons.

348
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Speaker 2: And then flash forward to twenty twenty one, they're now

349
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Speaker 2: seizing a record breaking two hundred and forty tons, almost

350
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Speaker 2: ten times more. And the thing is that's just a

351
00:20:37,287 --> 00:20:40,447
Speaker 2: tiny proportion of the actual amount that gets in, So

352
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Speaker 2: the true size of the market it's much much bigger.

353
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Speaker 2: Perhaps it's over one thousand tons a year, or maybe

354
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Speaker 2: even more.

355
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Speaker 3: Cocaine was seen as a rich man's drug. Young populations,

356
00:20:52,287 --> 00:20:58,327
Speaker 3: affluent population, disposable income people see cocaine as sexy. It's

357
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Speaker 3: great to have. We'll have a few drinks and we'll

358
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Speaker 3: take some cocaine and we'll party throughout the night. And

359
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Speaker 3: they would never stick a needle in their round They

360
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Speaker 3: probably wouldn't take an ecstasy pill because they wouldn't know

361
00:21:08,327 --> 00:21:12,087
Speaker 3: what's in it. But coke looks quite and clean and bright,

362
00:21:12,127 --> 00:21:13,967
Speaker 3: and you see it on the movies and that everyone's

363
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Speaker 3: doing it and it's great and it's I wouldn't really

364
00:21:15,887 --> 00:21:19,087
Speaker 3: get addictive. That's what people think. That's how it's marketed.

365
00:21:20,327 --> 00:21:24,487
Speaker 3: The reason Europe has such a large market is because

366
00:21:24,487 --> 00:21:27,727
Speaker 3: the money is there, the profits are there. No criminal

367
00:21:27,807 --> 00:21:32,847
Speaker 3: organization were to salt would not be involved in cocaine.

368
00:21:32,847 --> 00:21:37,167
Speaker 3: In other words, cocaine is the fuel by which organized

369
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Speaker 3: crime operates.

370
00:21:39,127 --> 00:21:42,567
Speaker 2: Derek says, the Colombian hotels immediately saw there was a

371
00:21:42,687 --> 00:21:44,287
Speaker 2: huge opportunity in Europe.

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Speaker 6: So why do I want to sell If I'm a

373
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Speaker 6: cartel leader in Columbia, why do I want to sell

374
00:21:49,007 --> 00:21:53,247
Speaker 6: cocaine in America for twenty thousand dollars you know kilogram

375
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Speaker 6: when I could send it into Europe and make double triple.

376
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Speaker 6: And then when you look at Antwerp and Rotterdam and

377
00:22:00,447 --> 00:22:04,567
Speaker 6: look at the amount of maritime business that's being done,

378
00:22:04,647 --> 00:22:06,207
Speaker 6: how the hell are they going to be able to

379
00:22:06,647 --> 00:22:11,407
Speaker 6: properly monitor the vine that's coming into those ports. So

380
00:22:11,567 --> 00:22:15,687
Speaker 6: guess what drug traffic is transnational criminals are going to

381
00:22:15,687 --> 00:22:19,767
Speaker 6: take total advantage of weaknesses and vulnerabilities, and that's what

382
00:22:19,807 --> 00:22:20,287
Speaker 6: they've done.

383
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Speaker 2: And so in the mid two thousands, Derek realizes that

384
00:22:23,527 --> 00:22:27,047
Speaker 2: the DA's strategy needs to change. They need a global

385
00:22:27,087 --> 00:22:30,447
Speaker 2: network just like the cartels are building. So they start

386
00:22:30,487 --> 00:22:33,967
Speaker 2: to work more closely with national law enforcement agencies. They

387
00:22:33,967 --> 00:22:37,767
Speaker 2: start to share more information and work jointly on more investigations.

388
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Speaker 6: The command and control leadership for all of these international

389
00:22:43,327 --> 00:22:45,927
Speaker 6: drug traffic and organizations is all overseas.

390
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Speaker 5: It's not in America.

391
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Speaker 6: So how the hell are you going to do your

392
00:22:48,887 --> 00:22:53,367
Speaker 6: job if you don't work very closely and cooperatively collaboratively

393
00:22:53,727 --> 00:22:56,847
Speaker 6: with your partners in these countries all over the world. Okay,

394
00:22:57,767 --> 00:23:00,407
Speaker 6: so I made it a goal to kind of break

395
00:23:00,447 --> 00:23:13,967
Speaker 6: down walls, not only in the US but around the world.

396
00:23:15,767 --> 00:23:18,487
Speaker 2: In the mid twenty tens, Christi Kinhan sets up a

397
00:23:18,487 --> 00:23:21,847
Speaker 2: consulting company and on the website there's a motto. I

398
00:23:21,927 --> 00:23:23,687
Speaker 2: take it as a kind of guiding principle for how

399
00:23:23,727 --> 00:23:27,287
Speaker 2: Christy built his empire. Being in the game is not

400
00:23:27,367 --> 00:23:30,767
Speaker 2: as important as staying ahead of it. But it's not

401
00:23:30,807 --> 00:23:33,047
Speaker 2: just strategy that helps him stay ahead of the game,

402
00:23:33,887 --> 00:23:36,527
Speaker 2: Christy turns out to be the right man in the

403
00:23:36,607 --> 00:23:41,367
Speaker 2: right place at the right time. Nineteen ninety two, Christy

404
00:23:41,447 --> 00:23:44,407
Speaker 2: gets out of prison just as a huge criminal opportunity

405
00:23:44,407 --> 00:23:48,287
Speaker 2: that Derek described is about to open up. Only one

406
00:23:48,367 --> 00:23:51,727
Speaker 2: year later, he's in trouble again, and this time it's

407
00:23:51,727 --> 00:23:55,327
Speaker 2: for stealing travelers checks from a bank. He's charged, he

408
00:23:55,367 --> 00:23:58,047
Speaker 2: gets out on bail, and then Christie skips the country

409
00:23:58,727 --> 00:24:02,407
Speaker 2: for one of those new European hubs, Amsterdam.

410
00:24:02,567 --> 00:24:04,447
Speaker 3: A lot of Irish criminals meant it in Netherlands to

411
00:24:04,487 --> 00:24:07,727
Speaker 3: get away from the Irish police. It was suitable because

412
00:24:07,807 --> 00:24:11,447
Speaker 3: it was sufficiently far away from the UK, who were

413
00:24:11,527 --> 00:24:15,487
Speaker 3: quite proactive and Ireland. It was a two hour flight

414
00:24:15,687 --> 00:24:18,327
Speaker 3: an hour and a half flight maybe, and you were there.

415
00:24:18,847 --> 00:24:21,287
Speaker 3: Like most Irish criminals when they go to the Netherlands,

416
00:24:21,567 --> 00:24:23,847
Speaker 3: it opens up a new world for them. You were

417
00:24:23,847 --> 00:24:28,167
Speaker 3: in the league of wholesalers, or the organizers and the strategists.

418
00:24:28,207 --> 00:24:32,927
Speaker 3: It's all about the contacts. It's no different to business

419
00:24:32,967 --> 00:24:33,767
Speaker 3: from Amsterdam.

420
00:24:33,927 --> 00:24:36,367
Speaker 2: Christy continues to ship drugs into island in the UK

421
00:24:36,967 --> 00:24:39,567
Speaker 2: and it's now far harder for Michael and the Irish

422
00:24:39,567 --> 00:24:43,407
Speaker 2: police to keep tabs on what he's doing. Nineteen ninety seven.

423
00:24:43,607 --> 00:24:46,847
Speaker 2: Because of the outstanding charges against him, Christy rarely travels

424
00:24:46,847 --> 00:24:49,087
Speaker 2: back to Ireland, but there's one of them back home

425
00:24:49,127 --> 00:24:53,167
Speaker 2: that he can't miss. It's his father's funeral. He flies

426
00:24:53,287 --> 00:24:56,847
Speaker 2: back and he gets arrested and the police officer who

427
00:24:56,887 --> 00:25:01,327
Speaker 2: interrogates Christie at the station it's Michael So. More than

428
00:25:01,367 --> 00:25:04,007
Speaker 2: ten years after Michael first arrested him in the flat

429
00:25:04,007 --> 00:25:07,847
Speaker 2: in Dublin, they're back in the same room. Christy doesn't

430
00:25:07,847 --> 00:25:10,967
Speaker 2: want to talk. He's sit there staring at the wall

431
00:25:11,127 --> 00:25:15,207
Speaker 2: in silence. But there's something he just can't resist telling Michael.

432
00:25:16,127 --> 00:25:18,687
Speaker 3: During the interview. He looked at me and he said,

433
00:25:19,687 --> 00:25:23,687
Speaker 3: you think you're so fucking smart? He said, I followed you.

434
00:25:23,807 --> 00:25:28,167
Speaker 3: He said, so, I gave him the red registration number

435
00:25:28,207 --> 00:25:30,967
Speaker 3: of the car that he followed me. I was the

436
00:25:31,047 --> 00:25:33,407
Speaker 3: last conversation I had done. Me didn't talk then after that,

437
00:25:33,567 --> 00:25:36,247
Speaker 3: but chose you his mindset. You know.

438
00:25:37,527 --> 00:25:40,207
Speaker 2: Christy goes back to prison for several years, and like

439
00:25:40,287 --> 00:25:44,327
Speaker 2: his last stretch inside, he uses the time strategically. He reads,

440
00:25:44,567 --> 00:25:47,807
Speaker 2: he studies, he takes courses in law, and works on

441
00:25:47,847 --> 00:25:51,927
Speaker 2: his languages, Dutch and Spanish. He even starts a degree.

442
00:25:52,407 --> 00:25:55,767
Speaker 3: Whereas most criminals will think of the next job, or

443
00:25:55,887 --> 00:25:57,327
Speaker 3: what'll I do when I get out. I bet you

444
00:25:57,367 --> 00:25:59,407
Speaker 3: I could do that robbery and I could get some money,

445
00:25:59,847 --> 00:26:03,647
Speaker 3: he would think further down the road, far more strategically.

446
00:26:04,447 --> 00:26:09,207
Speaker 3: He was always trying to look for angles and improve

447
00:26:09,407 --> 00:26:12,287
Speaker 3: himself and learned from his mistakes.

448
00:26:14,127 --> 00:26:17,287
Speaker 2: Two thousand and one, Christy gets out and he leaves

449
00:26:17,327 --> 00:26:19,927
Speaker 2: Ireland again for continental Europe.

450
00:26:20,207 --> 00:26:24,167
Speaker 4: Would have been when Christopher Senior had only come out

451
00:26:24,207 --> 00:26:28,167
Speaker 4: of prison. That's when I would have first heard that

452
00:26:28,207 --> 00:26:29,167
Speaker 4: the Kinahan name.

453
00:26:30,047 --> 00:26:34,767
Speaker 2: Seamus Boland is Detective Chief Superintendent in the Irish Police.

454
00:26:34,807 --> 00:26:37,167
Speaker 2: Seamus and his colleagues, they've been trying to keep tabs

455
00:26:37,167 --> 00:26:40,047
Speaker 2: on Christy even though he's now far away from Ireland

456
00:26:40,367 --> 00:26:44,287
Speaker 2: and they can see he's becoming more global, more dangerous,

457
00:26:44,567 --> 00:26:45,527
Speaker 2: and more powerful.

458
00:26:46,287 --> 00:26:50,527
Speaker 4: I would have been involved in investigations going back as

459
00:26:50,687 --> 00:26:55,807
Speaker 4: far as two thousand and three, significant investigations with significant

460
00:26:56,007 --> 00:27:01,127
Speaker 4: drug seizures which were associated with the Kinahan organized crime group.

461
00:27:01,327 --> 00:27:03,647
Speaker 4: So you know, the Kinnan organized crime group has been

462
00:27:03,687 --> 00:27:07,167
Speaker 4: the primary group for the last twenty twenty five years

463
00:27:07,727 --> 00:27:11,407
Speaker 4: that built the networks applying drugs and firearms dist jurisdiction

464
00:27:11,487 --> 00:27:12,047
Speaker 4: with Dot a DOT.

465
00:27:13,367 --> 00:27:16,047
Speaker 2: Over the years, Christie will be arrested again several times,

466
00:27:16,207 --> 00:27:18,007
Speaker 2: but he always seems to manage to get off on

467
00:27:18,047 --> 00:27:21,847
Speaker 2: relatively light sentences. For the police. It feels like Christie's

468
00:27:21,847 --> 00:27:24,927
Speaker 2: living up to his business mantra. He's staying one step

469
00:27:24,927 --> 00:27:30,287
Speaker 2: ahead of the game. Christian his partners build operations in Spain, Holland,

470
00:27:30,527 --> 00:27:34,127
Speaker 2: the UK, and An Island. But it goes wider than that.

471
00:27:34,727 --> 00:27:37,527
Speaker 2: There's this leaked diplomatic cable from the US embassy in

472
00:27:37,567 --> 00:27:40,327
Speaker 2: Sierra Leone. It's in two thousand and nine and it

473
00:27:40,327 --> 00:27:43,767
Speaker 2: contains intelligence about a Kinahan associate coming into the country

474
00:27:43,807 --> 00:27:47,127
Speaker 2: to help them ship drugs through Africa. And then Irish

475
00:27:47,127 --> 00:27:51,287
Speaker 2: police realize that Christi Kinahan's connections go much wider than

476
00:27:51,327 --> 00:27:55,527
Speaker 2: they ever could have imagined. Remember that morning in twenty sixteen.

477
00:27:55,887 --> 00:27:58,527
Speaker 2: We heard about it in episode one when the Dutch

478
00:27:58,607 --> 00:28:01,967
Speaker 2: murder broker is caught in a Kinahan safe house in Dublin.

479
00:28:02,847 --> 00:28:05,607
Speaker 2: The murder broker who's connected to the assassination of a

480
00:28:05,647 --> 00:28:08,007
Speaker 2: man who's been on the run from the Iranian government

481
00:28:08,287 --> 00:28:12,047
Speaker 2: for thirty years. So now we've got what looks like

482
00:28:12,087 --> 00:28:15,207
Speaker 2: a state sponsored hit the sort of thing usually carried

483
00:28:15,207 --> 00:28:19,207
Speaker 2: out by spies or special forces operatives, and it's connected

484
00:28:19,487 --> 00:28:23,687
Speaker 2: to the Kinahan cartel. In that moment, the Irish police

485
00:28:23,727 --> 00:28:26,207
Speaker 2: don't yet have all the information to grasp exactly what

486
00:28:26,247 --> 00:28:29,727
Speaker 2: it means, but it shows that Christi Kinahan, the man

487
00:28:29,767 --> 00:28:32,407
Speaker 2: who started out selling heroin in Dublin in a flat

488
00:28:32,447 --> 00:28:35,807
Speaker 2: in the nineteen eighties, has evolved into a different breed

489
00:28:35,887 --> 00:28:36,647
Speaker 2: of crime boss.

490
00:28:37,807 --> 00:28:43,167
Speaker 4: What you're seeing there is such a close network of

491
00:28:43,327 --> 00:28:49,167
Speaker 4: people who obviously work together. That's how organized crime has

492
00:28:49,647 --> 00:28:53,887
Speaker 4: developed across Europe. So I think no different too small

493
00:28:53,967 --> 00:28:56,407
Speaker 4: companies that all of a sudden get bought up by

494
00:28:56,407 --> 00:28:59,647
Speaker 4: bigger companies, and all of a sudden there are multinational companies.

495
00:28:59,807 --> 00:29:04,607
Speaker 4: That's how the drug gangs have manifested. They're like a

496
00:29:04,647 --> 00:29:07,127
Speaker 4: business network, they're organized crime networks.

497
00:29:08,327 --> 00:29:11,807
Speaker 2: Christi Kinahan's network will reach its peak when Europe's most

498
00:29:11,807 --> 00:29:15,087
Speaker 2: powerful and dangerous criminals gather his son's wedding. But it's

499
00:29:15,087 --> 00:29:18,807
Speaker 2: a long way from Dublin to Dubai. To understand how

500
00:29:18,807 --> 00:29:21,767
Speaker 2: the supercartel was born, we have to look at an

501
00:29:21,847 --> 00:29:25,607
Speaker 2: important turning point in Christi Kinhan's criminal strategy. It's a

502
00:29:25,647 --> 00:29:29,207
Speaker 2: time when Christie's thinking about the future. He's got two sons,

503
00:29:29,647 --> 00:29:33,487
Speaker 2: Daniel and Christopher Junior, and they've got no criminal convictions.

504
00:29:33,927 --> 00:29:37,967
Speaker 2: They're clean, and perhaps Christy begins to think with his

505
00:29:38,047 --> 00:29:41,767
Speaker 2: sons by his side. Together they can take what began

506
00:29:41,807 --> 00:29:44,967
Speaker 2: as a tiny heroin hustle in a Dublin flat into

507
00:29:44,967 --> 00:29:50,327
Speaker 2: the international criminal stratosphere. Daniel, the eldest son, is being

508
00:29:50,367 --> 00:29:54,607
Speaker 2: groomed as his successor, but like all family businesses, they're

509
00:29:54,647 --> 00:29:59,127
Speaker 2: at their most vulnerable at a time of succession. His

510
00:29:59,647 --> 00:30:02,687
Speaker 2: power was challenged here in Dublin, and he was going

511
00:30:02,727 --> 00:30:06,047
Speaker 2: to lash out and make sure everyone knew who he was.

512
00:30:06,727 --> 00:30:10,207
Speaker 3: You cannot go round like al Capone. You can, but

513
00:30:10,327 --> 00:30:11,727
Speaker 3: you'll only last so long.

514
00:30:13,127 --> 00:30:29,247
Speaker 2: That's next time on Hot Money. Hot Money is a

515
00:30:29,247 --> 00:30:32,527
Speaker 2: production of The Financial Times and Pushkin Industries. It was

516
00:30:32,567 --> 00:30:35,487
Speaker 2: written and reported by me Myles Johnson, and if you've

517
00:30:35,487 --> 00:30:37,847
Speaker 2: got any leads or information about this story, you can

518
00:30:37,887 --> 00:30:42,087
Speaker 2: email me at new narcosat FT dot com. The series

519
00:30:42,167 --> 00:30:46,047
Speaker 2: producer is Peggy Sutton. Edith Russolo is the associate producer.

520
00:30:46,407 --> 00:30:50,687
Speaker 2: Fact checking is by Arthur Gompertz. Jason Gambrell and Amanda

521
00:30:50,767 --> 00:30:54,527
Speaker 2: k Wong are the mixing engineers, sound design from Jake Gorsky.

522
00:30:55,087 --> 00:30:59,167
Speaker 2: Jeremy Walmsley wrote the original music. Our editor is Sarah Nix,

523
00:30:59,487 --> 00:31:03,127
Speaker 2: and the executive producers are Jacob Goldstein and Cheryl Brumley.

524
00:31:03,967 --> 00:31:08,127
Speaker 2: Special thanks to Laura Clark, Alistair Macki Breen Turner, Jude Webber,

525
00:31:08,167 --> 00:31:12,927
Speaker 2: and rich Ward