WEBVTT - Episode 1: Drive-By In Birkirkara 0:00:02.640 --> 0:00:07.840 There are crooks everywhere you look. Now the situation is desperate. 0:00:18.600 --> 0:00:24.520 Eighth of October twenty fifteen, just before seven am a 0:00:24.640 --> 0:00:28.120 sleepy Thursday morning, in the town of Birgerkara, in the 0:00:28.120 --> 0:00:33.840 center of Motawn, tightly wound medieval streets, beautiful, pale yellow 0:00:33.880 --> 0:00:37.480 limestone churches, all just beginning to catch the first rays 0:00:37.520 --> 0:00:41.720 of the early morning Mediterranean sun. Inside the houses and 0:00:41.760 --> 0:00:45.519 apartments here, most people are still asleep or just waking up. 0:00:48.840 --> 0:00:51.720 But here, on the top floor of an early empty 0:00:51.800 --> 0:00:55.800 multi story garage on john Board Street, three men are 0:00:55.800 --> 0:01:01.000 wide awake, crashing the seats of a stolen Toyota Parks 0:01:01.040 --> 0:01:03.000 so they can watch the road down below. 0:01:04.120 --> 0:01:04.640 They wait. 0:01:07.760 --> 0:01:11.520 In this episode, we've taken evidence heard in the courtroom 0:01:11.600 --> 0:01:16.640 and reconstructed what happened according to that testimony. We've dramatized 0:01:16.640 --> 0:01:20.759 the evidence and provided color in places without changing any 0:01:20.840 --> 0:01:23.039 of the material facts or allegations. 0:01:23.680 --> 0:01:26.320 Okay, JJ dot lest. 0:01:26.880 --> 0:01:30.520 In the driving seat is George de Georgia, around fifty 0:01:30.560 --> 0:01:34.399 two years old, thinning hair, a little overweight, but an 0:01:34.400 --> 0:01:39.360 intimidating presence. He's officially long term unemployed, but also able 0:01:39.480 --> 0:01:44.360 somehow to support a remarkably luxurious lifestyle, luxury cars, including 0:01:44.360 --> 0:01:48.280 a white Corvette, and his own fishing yacht. George is 0:01:48.800 --> 0:01:51.640 well known to the police in his line of work. 0:01:51.800 --> 0:01:55.440 Most people know him by his Multese street name of Itchinese, 0:01:55.800 --> 0:01:58.440 the Chinese one. In the way of these names, the 0:01:58.480 --> 0:02:02.360 origin is mysterious. Chinese George de Georgia is not from 0:02:02.400 --> 0:02:06.760 an Asian family. He's one hundred percent Maltese and right now, 0:02:07.040 --> 0:02:10.480 like the others in this toyota, he's kied up waiting 0:02:10.520 --> 0:02:11.200 for the job to. 0:02:11.120 --> 0:02:18.080 Begin in the back seats, watching the streets. The two men, allegedly. 0:02:17.840 --> 0:02:21.600 One of them is Vincent il Kochu Mouscat. His Maltese 0:02:21.680 --> 0:02:24.560 nickname translates roughly to the sound made by someone coughing. 0:02:25.200 --> 0:02:28.960 This recreation is based on his courtroom testimony about that morning. 0:02:31.160 --> 0:02:32.600 And after him then a list. 0:02:33.280 --> 0:02:36.200 Like Chinese George, Vincent the Coff is middle aged with 0:02:36.400 --> 0:02:40.239 decades of work behind him. He too has a reputation 0:02:40.320 --> 0:02:44.640 with the police, and allegedly, alongside Vincent the Cuff in 0:02:44.680 --> 0:02:48.360 the car is the final member of the team. Jamie Vella, 0:02:49.120 --> 0:02:52.240 in his early thirties, the youngest of the three, also 0:02:52.840 --> 0:02:56.640 known to the police. He's seen as knowledgeable about firearms. 0:02:56.639 --> 0:02:59.480 By the other two. There's an AK forty seven, a 0:02:59.560 --> 0:03:03.440 Russian the designed submachine gun, resting under deceit near him. 0:03:03.840 --> 0:03:07.840 Jamie also allegedly has with him a revolver, his main weapon. 0:03:07.880 --> 0:03:09.440 This morning, and on. 0:03:09.360 --> 0:03:12.880 This October morning, in twenty fifteen, in this busy channel 0:03:12.880 --> 0:03:16.440 in Malta, these men in the car are a team, 0:03:16.639 --> 0:03:19.119 even if you like a family. 0:03:19.800 --> 0:03:25.320 For now, and there is another thing that unites these 0:03:25.360 --> 0:03:29.320 three their shared and bloody future, the reason we're telling 0:03:29.360 --> 0:03:32.560 you this story. At least two of these men will 0:03:32.560 --> 0:03:34.560 one day be the foot soldiers and the murder of 0:03:34.600 --> 0:03:40.120 my country's most famous journalist, the assassination of a beloved wife, mother, 0:03:40.440 --> 0:03:44.120 daughter and sister, and for me and many Maltese people 0:03:44.440 --> 0:03:50.840 also an inspiration. The journalist's name is Deafnely Karwana Galitzia, 0:03:53.480 --> 0:03:54.200 not Jane. 0:03:56.160 --> 0:03:56.640 Shane. 0:03:57.000 --> 0:04:00.800 But on this day in twenty fifteen, as these men 0:04:00.880 --> 0:04:05.080 sit impatiently in a stolen car in an empty multi 0:04:05.160 --> 0:04:09.760 story garage that is still a long way off, on 0:04:09.920 --> 0:04:13.720 this morning, we will later be told in court they 0:04:13.760 --> 0:04:17.560 are all still waiting for just one thing, the signal 0:04:18.160 --> 0:04:23.440 to start their work. And then Vincent Lecough spots something. 0:04:27.400 --> 0:04:31.159 Maltese for heads up. I can see him. He's coming 0:04:31.200 --> 0:04:35.080 up the street. Some way off. A man in a 0:04:35.120 --> 0:04:38.520 business suit is approaching, walking towards the entrance to the 0:04:38.520 --> 0:04:47.359 garage Chinese George. George drives down through the almost deserted garage, 0:04:47.400 --> 0:04:51.720 heading to street level. They don't have long They need 0:04:51.760 --> 0:04:54.200 to be at the entrance before this man reaches the building. 0:04:55.480 --> 0:04:59.480 As George drives, Jimmy and Vincent allegedly pull on Balaclava's 0:05:00.520 --> 0:05:06.359 it's good to look the part. They pull over to 0:05:06.400 --> 0:05:08.520 a space on the ground floor with a view of 0:05:08.560 --> 0:05:12.200 the entrance onto the street. It won't be long now. 0:05:14.800 --> 0:05:17.400 Along the walls of each floor are dozens of small, 0:05:17.520 --> 0:05:20.800 lockablelee garages. You can rent one out for a small fee. 0:05:21.360 --> 0:05:23.800 It's more private and secure than parking on the street, 0:05:24.080 --> 0:05:25.760 but that also means that if you use one of 0:05:25.800 --> 0:05:29.240 these garages regularly the same time every day, people can 0:05:29.279 --> 0:05:30.359 guess where to find you. 0:05:31.160 --> 0:05:33.520 The street entrance opens, and the man in the suit 0:05:33.560 --> 0:05:37.120 walks calmly in a leather bag in one hand, patting 0:05:37.120 --> 0:05:40.120 his pockets with the other hand to find his keys. 0:05:40.160 --> 0:05:48.680 Oblivious, the Toyota edges forward twenty meters away in the 0:05:48.680 --> 0:05:53.520 back seat, Jamie allegedly lowers the window and takes the 0:05:53.560 --> 0:06:00.960 safety off the revolver ten meters five meters. 0:06:01.560 --> 0:06:03.720 The man in the suit has his keys out now 0:06:04.240 --> 0:06:07.040 and he's standing just in front of Garage number forty six, 0:06:07.400 --> 0:06:10.159 close to the entrance. As he puts the key in 0:06:10.200 --> 0:06:12.800 the lock, he turns his back to the Toyota for 0:06:12.839 --> 0:06:15.320 a moment, pulling the shutter open with his. 0:06:15.360 --> 0:06:18.440 Weight, and that's when the car passes right next to him, 0:06:18.720 --> 0:06:26.280 close enough to the chiut untouched. The shots are a 0:06:26.400 --> 0:06:28.440 most point blank, a whole clip. 0:06:39.279 --> 0:06:44.000 It's clear there's no need for a second pass. According 0:06:44.000 --> 0:06:47.720 to Vincent Lakoff, Chinese George drives straight through the exit 0:06:48.000 --> 0:06:51.720 into the back streets of Berkha Kara. They've rehearsed the 0:06:51.800 --> 0:06:54.479 route to the safe house. Jamie in the back seat 0:06:54.839 --> 0:06:59.520 stashes his weapon from here. It's just routine, planned for 0:06:59.600 --> 0:07:02.040 the last it's what they do. 0:07:07.360 --> 0:07:10.560 The man in the suit's name is carmelker Kopp, a lawyer, 0:07:10.920 --> 0:07:14.800 married thirty five years, in business with some dangerous people. 0:07:16.000 --> 0:07:18.080 As is normal for this kind of crime in Malta, 0:07:18.600 --> 0:07:21.640 no one will be convicted for his murder. As is 0:07:21.680 --> 0:07:25.560 normal for this kind of crime in Malta, no one 0:07:25.560 --> 0:07:27.240 will even be arrested. For years. 0:07:29.040 --> 0:07:33.240 No one is chasing these men now through Berkhakara, and 0:07:33.280 --> 0:07:38.080 no one will. These men are free to kill again 0:07:38.880 --> 0:07:43.320 and again until one day, two years later, when they 0:07:43.360 --> 0:07:46.640 make the mistake of taking out Malta's most famous journalist. 0:07:48.080 --> 0:07:51.040 This is the story of how my home, a smaller 0:07:51.040 --> 0:07:55.960 European democracy, a picture postcard tourist destination, came to be 0:07:56.000 --> 0:07:59.400 a place where the criminals set the rules, where crime 0:07:59.760 --> 0:08:03.520 and politics merge, a place where some people can literally 0:08:03.560 --> 0:08:06.360 get away with murder. This is a story you might 0:08:06.400 --> 0:08:09.640 have heard part of before, but it's only now, in 0:08:09.640 --> 0:08:12.520 twenty twenty four, that we are coming close to the 0:08:12.600 --> 0:08:19.240 full truth. From iHeart Podcasts, Topic Studios and Vespucci, this 0:08:19.400 --> 0:08:36.360 is Crooks Everywhere, Episode one, Drive by in Birkerkara. My 0:08:36.520 --> 0:08:40.640 name is Manuel Delilla. I'm a former multist political operative 0:08:40.880 --> 0:08:44.000 and government official, and I was inspired to become a 0:08:44.080 --> 0:08:47.359 journalist by this story we will be telling in this podcast, 0:08:48.000 --> 0:08:52.440 the brutal murder of deaf Nie Carwana Galicia in twenty seventeen. 0:08:53.160 --> 0:08:55.319 Ever since her death, I've been one of the people 0:08:55.360 --> 0:08:58.400 trying to discover not just who killed her, but who 0:08:58.559 --> 0:09:02.720 ordered her killing and why and how they are connected 0:09:02.720 --> 0:09:04.640 to some of the most powerful people in the country. 0:09:05.480 --> 0:09:10.079 It's an incredible and terrifying story. This might sound grand, 0:09:10.120 --> 0:09:13.520 but for me, whether we find justice for Dephni is 0:09:13.559 --> 0:09:16.839 about the future of this whole nation, about the kind 0:09:16.840 --> 0:09:21.400 of country my children will be living in. But to 0:09:21.440 --> 0:09:23.439 tell this story, I knew I needed someone with the 0:09:23.480 --> 0:09:26.840 experience to take on difficult and even dangerous stories. And 0:09:26.880 --> 0:09:29.280 that's why I called up my friend and mentor, mister 0:09:29.360 --> 0:09:30.120 John Sweeney. 0:09:30.320 --> 0:09:31.560 Thank you very much, sir. 0:09:31.800 --> 0:09:34.440 Six years ago I didn't know John except from the TV, 0:09:35.000 --> 0:09:37.680 but now he's an old friend. He's a former BBC 0:09:37.840 --> 0:09:39.360 man and if you ask me, one of the best 0:09:39.360 --> 0:09:42.720 investigative and war reporters in the world. And probably if 0:09:42.760 --> 0:09:43.559 you ask him. 0:09:43.360 --> 0:09:46.640 To oh, leave it out, galv I'm only here to 0:09:46.800 --> 0:09:49.680 make trouble for the wrong kind of people. 0:09:49.880 --> 0:09:54.080 John stuck up inconvenient truths on subjects as varied as scientology, 0:09:54.280 --> 0:09:57.240 North Korea and the life of Gillame Maxwell. And for 0:09:57.400 --> 0:09:59.960 years he's chronicled the corruption and crimes of Vladimir pu 0:10:00.840 --> 0:10:04.599 sometimes on the front lines of Ukraine. 0:10:04.679 --> 0:10:08.760 When a journalist is murdered. It's not just a tragedy 0:10:08.800 --> 0:10:13.360 for a family. It's an attempt to shut down what 0:10:13.520 --> 0:10:17.480 we all do. Journalism is about trying to tell truth 0:10:17.520 --> 0:10:20.560 about the world, to keep power and money in check, 0:10:20.920 --> 0:10:24.200 to give a voice to the voiceless. The moment I 0:10:24.280 --> 0:10:28.000 arrived in Malta after Daphne's murder, I sense this wasn't 0:10:28.120 --> 0:10:32.640 just the snuffing out of one extraordinary woman. Someone was 0:10:32.679 --> 0:10:37.400 trying to silence a whole country, to prevent it from 0:10:37.440 --> 0:10:43.079 asking the wrong kind of questions. And for me, this 0:10:43.160 --> 0:10:46.520 is a story that has lessons for every country where 0:10:46.679 --> 0:10:52.160 power and money use crime to settle scores. I see 0:10:52.160 --> 0:10:55.120 this story played out in varying degrees across the world, 0:10:55.960 --> 0:11:00.880 in Russia, in America, in Britain. And that's why this 0:11:01.000 --> 0:11:07.000 story matters whether you're Maltese or not. And for a 0:11:07.040 --> 0:11:11.800 subject like this, you need an insider, someone who knows 0:11:11.840 --> 0:11:14.280 the place, someone like Manuel. 0:11:15.320 --> 0:11:18.040 A few years ago, when my writing about corruption led 0:11:18.080 --> 0:11:21.720 to me and my family receive incredible threats, I decided 0:11:21.760 --> 0:11:24.520 to leave the country temporarily. When I was stuck a 0:11:24.520 --> 0:11:26.599 long way from home, wondering if I was doing the 0:11:26.679 --> 0:11:29.360 right thing. John was one of the friends who visited 0:11:29.400 --> 0:11:33.000 me and became someone I could turn to. We've written 0:11:33.040 --> 0:11:36.640 a book together about Defnie and Malta's recent history, along 0:11:36.679 --> 0:11:40.160 with our co author, mafia expert Carlo Bonini. But a 0:11:40.200 --> 0:11:42.520 lot has changed since that book came out five years ago. 0:11:42.520 --> 0:11:46.120 Although do please buy it. Murder on the Malta Express 0:11:46.640 --> 0:11:49.960 is still available in all good bookshops. 0:11:50.280 --> 0:11:52.680 We now know a lot more about men like Chinese 0:11:52.679 --> 0:11:55.560 George and Vincent, the cough and the men who were 0:11:55.600 --> 0:12:00.800 accused of paying them. So what this Jack? I've invited 0:12:00.840 --> 0:12:04.240 John back to my home country. You see, I'm proud 0:12:04.320 --> 0:12:09.400 of this wonderful complex place. Hello John, Good morning morning. 0:12:10.720 --> 0:12:13.800 We're in Touchbash, which is part of the Northern Harbor, 0:12:13.960 --> 0:12:16.160 just north of Aleta, and we're going to the boat right, 0:12:16.400 --> 0:12:16.800 that's for that. 0:12:18.200 --> 0:12:19.520 I've got my sea legs on. 0:12:20.440 --> 0:12:20.959 Let's go meet. 0:12:20.960 --> 0:12:28.400 Ask. So what's this? What's the ship called again? A 0:12:28.520 --> 0:12:33.520 gin Fizz? Gin Fizz. I'm already thinking of that gin 0:12:33.600 --> 0:12:38.160 Fiz as we speak. All right, guys, you guys have 0:12:38.160 --> 0:12:39.959 probably been on Boast before, but I still have to 0:12:40.000 --> 0:12:43.320 go through the safety briefing by law. 0:12:43.400 --> 0:12:44.480 Can everybody swim? 0:12:45.000 --> 0:12:47.199 Yeah? Any medical issues I need to know. 0:12:47.120 --> 0:12:52.120 About a few facts to begin. Mota is the smallest 0:12:52.120 --> 0:12:54.920 country in the European Union, a chain of islands in 0:12:54.960 --> 0:12:59.560 the Mediterranean between Sicily and North Africa. Our whole country 0:12:59.559 --> 0:13:01.320 is less than half the size of New York City 0:13:01.440 --> 0:13:05.800 or London. It's also densely populated. There are half a 0:13:05.840 --> 0:13:10.280 million people here and plenty of history. We speak our 0:13:10.400 --> 0:13:14.559 own unique language derived from medieval Arabic eat footed that 0:13:14.640 --> 0:13:17.040 might remind you of Italy. And we're ruled as a 0:13:17.040 --> 0:13:20.400 British colony for one hundred and fifty years. And the 0:13:20.520 --> 0:13:24.400 jewel of this nation, our beautiful capital city of Valletta, 0:13:25.080 --> 0:13:28.240 is set in the majestic Grand Harbor. And you know what, 0:13:28.960 --> 0:13:33.360 grand and majestic are no exaggerations. This view can turn 0:13:33.400 --> 0:13:35.480 even a grizzled reporter like John to poverty. 0:13:36.200 --> 0:13:41.200 So we're passing into Grand Harbor, which is one of 0:13:41.240 --> 0:13:43.160 the most beautiful in the world. 0:13:43.200 --> 0:13:44.079 And there's something. 0:13:43.840 --> 0:13:49.320 About the honeycomb stone of Malta and the construction it 0:13:49.360 --> 0:13:53.120 was roughly the same time that constructed Venice of that 0:13:53.200 --> 0:13:54.000 kind of era. 0:13:54.480 --> 0:13:55.560 It's extraordinary. 0:13:56.000 --> 0:13:56.920 Found years off. 0:13:57.200 --> 0:14:01.040 So Venice is when venices twelve hundred, Venice is all up, 0:14:01.880 --> 0:14:03.240 you're about four hundred years off. 0:14:03.720 --> 0:14:04.520 I know nothing. 0:14:07.320 --> 0:14:10.280 Look, this is a beautiful place, and I can see 0:14:10.280 --> 0:14:12.840 why John thinks of Venice when he's sees it. In 0:14:12.880 --> 0:14:15.079 one direction from the boat, you can see a skyline 0:14:15.120 --> 0:14:19.040 jump built full of Renaissance churches, domes and forts, all 0:14:19.120 --> 0:14:23.040 crisscrossed with waterways and inlets, ferries and sailing boats. 0:14:23.080 --> 0:14:26.360 There's a gown a little boat zooming along. Looks rather cool. 0:14:26.880 --> 0:14:29.960 But alongside the history there is also the other Malta here, 0:14:30.520 --> 0:14:34.480 the new Malta of multi story concrete hotels and luxury 0:14:34.520 --> 0:14:38.400 apartment blocks, crowding right up to the water, catering for 0:14:38.440 --> 0:14:42.680 the new elite, and for some this is a playground. 0:14:44.800 --> 0:14:48.680 So the scale of the money here in boats is 0:14:49.040 --> 0:14:53.280 an extraordinary umber passing one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, 0:14:53.480 --> 0:14:58.200 eight nine, and not quite super yachts, but they're pretty 0:14:58.320 --> 0:14:59.000 nice yachts. 0:14:59.400 --> 0:15:01.600 Well, if I'm careful where to look, I still love 0:15:01.680 --> 0:15:06.000 this place. This is my country. This bay is where 0:15:06.000 --> 0:15:08.280 I was brought up. This is where I went to swim, 0:15:08.360 --> 0:15:10.240 This is where I crossed the ferry to go to Valletta, 0:15:10.320 --> 0:15:15.320 my first job. And I see on one side hasn't 0:15:15.360 --> 0:15:17.560 changed much. And if you see photos from fifty or 0:15:17.560 --> 0:15:20.480 one hundred years ago hasn't changed much. On the other side, 0:15:20.840 --> 0:15:23.280 you blink and it's six stories higher. 0:15:23.880 --> 0:15:29.080 And this is rash of concrete. Acne is a symbol 0:15:29.360 --> 0:15:33.280 of the dirty money that is besieging Malta. 0:15:33.480 --> 0:15:35.880 Well you call it a symbol, John, it's actually a product. 0:15:36.080 --> 0:15:39.080 So some of it, at least, it's money being recycled 0:15:39.200 --> 0:15:41.160 from illicit activities and tax evasion. 0:15:44.240 --> 0:15:49.080 So as we round the point, beautiful old honeycombstone to 0:15:49.160 --> 0:15:54.360 our right, enormous cruise ship like a block of flats, 0:15:54.640 --> 0:15:58.680 ugliest sin. And the reason they're here is because Malta 0:15:58.760 --> 0:16:04.360 is a tourist paradise. But underneath these extraordinary beauty, in 0:16:04.400 --> 0:16:10.280 this this heft of history, there are some dark, dark shadows. 0:16:10.920 --> 0:16:13.320 This is a place where. 0:16:13.200 --> 0:16:17.280 Dark power and dark money likes to hang out. And 0:16:17.320 --> 0:16:21.000 if you try and tell truth to that dark money, 0:16:21.040 --> 0:16:24.320 in that dark power, if you're a journalist, it can 0:16:24.360 --> 0:16:25.720 be a very dangerous place. 0:16:25.720 --> 0:16:26.120 Indeed. 0:16:42.160 --> 0:16:47.120 October twelfth, twenty seventeen, opposition leader's wife says convicted drug 0:16:47.120 --> 0:16:51.080 dealer's girlfriend is one of my closest and most trusted friends. 0:16:51.920 --> 0:16:53.520 So Manuel, what are we listening to? 0:16:54.160 --> 0:16:56.760 Well, as with many things. To understand how we got here, 0:16:56.840 --> 0:16:59.000 you need to go back a while, in this case 0:16:59.040 --> 0:17:02.720 a decade ago to the mid twenty tens. Deers leading 0:17:02.800 --> 0:17:07.080 up to Daphanie's death. Remember blogs. 0:17:07.400 --> 0:17:10.640 Drug dealer's girlfriend says she and opposition leader's wife are 0:17:11.119 --> 0:17:12.479 close friends in Malta. 0:17:12.600 --> 0:17:15.720 They never really went away like sisters. At that point, 0:17:15.840 --> 0:17:18.880 I'd left politics and was working as a software salesman, 0:17:19.240 --> 0:17:21.320 and like many people in Malta, I'd begin each day 0:17:21.320 --> 0:17:24.760 by checking one politics blog, in particular a blog by 0:17:24.800 --> 0:17:26.240 Dfhanie Karwana Galicia. 0:17:26.480 --> 0:17:29.040 In this case, the husband dislieve with asked the actors 0:17:29.080 --> 0:17:32.480 Sienna Miller to read these extracts from Daphne's right. 0:17:32.320 --> 0:17:35.040 Friend is a convicted lifelong drug dealer who was released 0:17:35.080 --> 0:17:36.280 from jail a few months ago. 0:17:37.040 --> 0:17:40.399 I remember that time in Britain, too Big dreams that 0:17:40.480 --> 0:17:45.080 blogging could provide an alternative to newspapers and TV channels, 0:17:45.600 --> 0:17:48.600 a place where you could get your political news a 0:17:48.600 --> 0:17:50.720 bit more unfiltered. 0:17:51.200 --> 0:17:53.879 Well, in Malta, Dafanie's blog wasn't just a blog for 0:17:54.000 --> 0:17:58.639 political geeks. It was bigger than that. It made the news. 0:17:58.960 --> 0:18:01.440 It's been often said, was read by more people each 0:18:01.520 --> 0:18:05.359 day than any of Malta's newspapers. The newspapers did not 0:18:05.440 --> 0:18:06.359 dispute that claim. 0:18:06.880 --> 0:18:09.920 A bill to bring Malta's anti money laundering legislation in. 0:18:09.880 --> 0:18:13.160 Line with and here what's her secret? Defney's style wasn't 0:18:13.240 --> 0:18:17.080 dry paper of record staff. It was chetty, sarcastic. 0:18:17.160 --> 0:18:18.080 Are we supposed to laugh? 0:18:18.200 --> 0:18:18.480 Or what? 0:18:19.119 --> 0:18:24.320 Often? Angry? Sometimes gossipy, sometimes viciously personal at all? 0:18:24.359 --> 0:18:25.760 April fifteenth, twenty. 0:18:25.560 --> 0:18:27.280 Sixteen, always gripping. 0:18:27.920 --> 0:18:31.240 Malta is not a normal country, but a bizarre island, 0:18:31.320 --> 0:18:35.879 crowded with peculiar people who are either completely mad, very dotty, 0:18:36.280 --> 0:18:40.080 deeply stupid, totally malicious, or a combination of all. 0:18:39.960 --> 0:18:40.600 Of those things. 0:18:41.080 --> 0:18:43.760 Here is what I think that we have descended to 0:18:43.800 --> 0:18:48.720 the pits of ineptitude, abuse of power, trading in influence, cronyism, 0:18:49.000 --> 0:18:49.640 and corruption. 0:18:55.119 --> 0:19:00.240 I think it was quite anoveative. It was the narve. 0:19:00.320 --> 0:19:06.320 Daphne's narrative was quite unique. She had a brilliant command 0:19:06.400 --> 0:19:07.720 of the English language. 0:19:07.840 --> 0:19:10.439 Herman Grek is editor in chief of the Times of Malta, 0:19:10.880 --> 0:19:15.200 the country's actual paper of record, part of the journalistic establishment. 0:19:15.520 --> 0:19:20.360 And she was funny, and she was also brutal towards 0:19:21.160 --> 0:19:24.880 you know people she didn't like. In the case of Daphnie, 0:19:25.160 --> 0:19:28.680 was a one woman show, and she was out there 0:19:29.480 --> 0:19:32.639 without an editor, and she could say whatever she wanted. 0:19:33.200 --> 0:19:35.320 So that's what she presented. 0:19:35.280 --> 0:19:37.919 For most of my life. The big Motives newspapers like 0:19:37.960 --> 0:19:41.680 Herman's have been considered mostly serious and formal, while TV 0:19:41.800 --> 0:19:46.080 stations are the opposite, highly partisan, tabloid and openly backing 0:19:46.119 --> 0:19:50.760 one political party or the other. However angry Daphne's blog 0:19:50.800 --> 0:19:53.680 would be she could be trusted to have done her research, 0:19:54.280 --> 0:19:57.399 and any attempts to intimidate Daphnie would also end up 0:19:57.440 --> 0:19:58.000 in her blog. 0:19:58.400 --> 0:20:02.720 October fifth, twenty seventeen, ant Andrea Kuttayer, the owner of 0:20:02.760 --> 0:20:04.919 an illegal zoo in which big cats have bred for 0:20:04.960 --> 0:20:07.800 a lucrative market, has just wrung me to take issue 0:20:07.800 --> 0:20:10.159 with the fact that I wrote about his illegal operation 0:20:10.280 --> 0:20:13.120 earlier this afternoon. He did not ring to correct any 0:20:13.160 --> 0:20:16.520 reported facts, but to object to being placed in the limelight. 0:20:17.359 --> 0:20:19.200 Leave me alone and I'll. 0:20:19.119 --> 0:20:19.920 Leave you alone. 0:20:20.240 --> 0:20:21.600 And she was fearless. 0:20:21.960 --> 0:20:25.320 I am a very big millionaire, he said, do you 0:20:25.400 --> 0:20:28.720 have any idea how much money I have? I don't 0:20:28.760 --> 0:20:32.920 need to justify myself with anyone. Well, that's exactly the problem. 0:20:33.040 --> 0:20:35.639 I said. You think that because you have lots of 0:20:35.680 --> 0:20:37.840 money you can do what you please, that you are 0:20:37.840 --> 0:20:40.879 more equal than others before the law, And unfortunately you're 0:20:40.920 --> 0:20:42.000 being proved right on that. 0:20:42.760 --> 0:20:46.439 And that goes to the heart of Dapinice's philosophy. What 0:20:46.640 --> 0:20:50.760 connected so many of her stories the feeling that those 0:20:50.800 --> 0:20:54.240 with power and money in Morta had ceased to believe 0:20:54.280 --> 0:20:57.440 that the law applies to them. One rule for them, 0:20:57.920 --> 0:21:01.240 another for the rest of us. That multis society, the 0:21:01.440 --> 0:21:05.280 court's political parties, the press, ordinary voters, all of us 0:21:05.720 --> 0:21:07.840 were struggling to meet that onslaught. 0:21:08.359 --> 0:21:09.000 Was she on the. 0:21:08.960 --> 0:21:12.159 Money man, Well, well, yes, in my view, I'd say so, 0:21:12.680 --> 0:21:16.119 it's how it feels living here. And Daphne's response to 0:21:16.119 --> 0:21:19.440 that situation was simple. She wouldn't let them get away 0:21:19.440 --> 0:21:22.920 with their lies, not the big lies or the small ones. 0:21:23.440 --> 0:21:26.480 But that can be dangerous for someone working on their own. 0:21:26.680 --> 0:21:29.760 Yes, and because those with power and money and Malta 0:21:29.800 --> 0:21:32.520 were so used to getting their way, definitely found that 0:21:32.520 --> 0:21:34.200 they often didn't hide their lives all that. 0:21:34.359 --> 0:21:40.439 Well, Daphnie didn't just use the freedom that her blog 0:21:40.520 --> 0:21:43.520 gave her to fight corruption or take on the powerful. 0:21:44.320 --> 0:21:47.840 Unlike in the newspaper, there was no editor looking over 0:21:47.920 --> 0:21:52.119 Daphne's shoulder for a second opinion on what she was posting. 0:21:52.760 --> 0:21:57.320 That meant less interference, but it also meant that anyone 0:21:57.440 --> 0:21:59.040 could end up in her sights. 0:22:01.040 --> 0:22:05.040 Some of those posts about ordinary people make for uncomfortable reading. 0:22:05.800 --> 0:22:08.080 I'm sure it's not just my imagination. When I look 0:22:08.080 --> 0:22:11.240 at stills and films of Labor mass meetings, I think 0:22:11.280 --> 0:22:14.120 that they looked just like a white trash convention. It's 0:22:14.160 --> 0:22:15.560 almost incredible. 0:22:16.040 --> 0:22:18.720 The Labor Party was the party in government at that time. 0:22:20.240 --> 0:22:23.600 The real DEFNI, or at least the face to face Deafni, 0:22:23.920 --> 0:22:28.280 was very different from blogging Deafnie. Less confrontation and less caustic. 0:22:28.720 --> 0:22:30.160 How well did you know a man? 0:22:30.160 --> 0:22:30.360 Well? 0:22:31.160 --> 0:22:34.359 I knew her professionally, most as a small place, and 0:22:34.440 --> 0:22:37.160 we both worked in media and politics, and we shared 0:22:37.200 --> 0:22:39.719 some of the same fears and campaigns against corruption and 0:22:39.760 --> 0:22:43.200 dirt to money in politics. She was already an inspiration 0:22:43.359 --> 0:22:47.679 to me, and when she started breaking her really big stories, 0:22:48.000 --> 0:22:51.359 the ones that alleged serious crimes committed by powerful men, 0:22:52.080 --> 0:22:54.640 well then she was a hero to many people too. 0:22:59.480 --> 0:23:00.720 So I knew as a sister. 0:23:01.320 --> 0:23:05.280 This is Corin Vella, the younger sister of Daphne Carouana Galitzia. 0:23:05.840 --> 0:23:07.960 I only knew her sort of in a domestic environment, 0:23:08.000 --> 0:23:10.720 and the domestic in the sense of family environment, that 0:23:10.800 --> 0:23:13.199 of off duty kind of thing. The fact that she 0:23:13.280 --> 0:23:15.119 was prolific in her writing didn't mean it was the 0:23:15.160 --> 0:23:17.320 only thing she was doing. I mean, she did all 0:23:17.359 --> 0:23:19.679 kinds of things. She traveled, she know, she had a 0:23:19.680 --> 0:23:22.760 lovely home, she loved gardening, and she had a life 0:23:22.840 --> 0:23:28.720 outside her journalistic work. But that's only because people knew 0:23:28.760 --> 0:23:31.639 her through her work that they got the perception that 0:23:31.640 --> 0:23:33.240 that is the only thing she is doing. 0:23:34.040 --> 0:23:36.159 It's one of the real risks of any kind of 0:23:36.240 --> 0:23:40.359 high profile journalism. People will assume they know the real 0:23:40.440 --> 0:23:43.439 you from what they read, whatch or listen to. 0:23:44.960 --> 0:23:47.199 I mean, I do understand why people thought that she 0:23:47.560 --> 0:23:50.639 was her journalism. She wrote so much that it was 0:23:50.640 --> 0:23:53.040 hard to imagine how she had a life outside her writing. 0:23:53.720 --> 0:23:56.520 There could be multiple updates in a single day, and 0:23:56.520 --> 0:23:58.960 in a country as small as small town, there's really 0:23:59.000 --> 0:24:01.160 no way to stay in on it. If you are 0:24:01.240 --> 0:24:03.400 known and you go out in public, you will meet 0:24:03.440 --> 0:24:06.320 people who know who you are and they may have 0:24:06.400 --> 0:24:08.280 opinions about you that they want to share. 0:24:08.720 --> 0:24:10.919 I mean, it was a general sense of unease. But 0:24:10.960 --> 0:24:12.840 it wasn't like you were actually going to tell her 0:24:12.880 --> 0:24:15.080 to please stop doing this because you're making me nervous. 0:24:15.320 --> 0:24:18.320 Because you don't do or don't do something because of 0:24:18.560 --> 0:24:22.480 how someone else feels. That wouldn't be a reasonable request, 0:24:23.520 --> 0:24:27.439 and it didn't seem right to expect someone to be 0:24:27.640 --> 0:24:31.800 quiet because someone else couldn't tolerate their views. 0:24:32.560 --> 0:24:35.560 In her final few years, some politicians in particular became 0:24:35.600 --> 0:24:39.760 favorite targets for Daphne's blog posts, and after her death, 0:24:40.080 --> 0:24:44.560 these men would find themselves answering difficult questions, questions about 0:24:44.560 --> 0:24:48.440 how definitely had damaged their public images and about how 0:24:48.480 --> 0:24:51.560