WEBVTT - Episode 4 - Gangster's Paradise 0:00:15.607 --> 0:00:16.127 Pushkin. 0:00:18.607 --> 0:00:20.727 If you're enjoying this podcast and you want to hear 0:00:20.767 --> 0:00:23.327 more from the Ft, the Ft Edit app gives you 0:00:23.367 --> 0:00:26.247 eight of the Financial Times His best stories, hand picked 0:00:26.327 --> 0:00:29.047 daily by our editors. You'll get the perfect daily dose 0:00:29.047 --> 0:00:34.127 of expert opinion, surprising stories and fresh perspectives from across politics, culture, 0:00:34.407 --> 0:00:37.607 business and more. Start your free one month trial today, 0:00:37.767 --> 0:00:40.127 then get your first six months for just ninety nine 0:00:40.167 --> 0:00:43.727 p per month. Currently only available on iOS. There's a 0:00:43.767 --> 0:00:49.967 link in the show notes. Previously on Hot Money, Daniel 0:00:50.047 --> 0:00:53.487 Kinahan took over the family business, launched his career as 0:00:53.527 --> 0:00:56.287 a boxing promoter, and waged a bloody war on the 0:00:56.287 --> 0:00:59.807 streets of Dublin. Europe was no longer safe for him. 0:01:01.767 --> 0:01:03.847 Back in twenty twenty one, I was working for the 0:01:03.887 --> 0:01:07.487 FT as a foreign correspondent in Italy. One morning I 0:01:07.567 --> 0:01:09.847 noticed this story that was causing a bit of a stir. 0:01:11.767 --> 0:01:13.767 One of it to Lea's most wanted Fugitives. 0:01:14.167 --> 0:01:15.447 This guy on the run. 0:01:15.727 --> 0:01:19.127 He'd given an interview to a local Naples newspaper and 0:01:19.167 --> 0:01:23.847 his name was Rafaela Imperiale. This interview, it was a 0:01:23.847 --> 0:01:27.007 pretty audacious move because at the time he was wanted 0:01:27.007 --> 0:01:29.727 on drug trafficking charges and was thought to be tied 0:01:29.727 --> 0:01:33.567 to the Neapolitan Camora mafia and Imperial le He looked 0:01:33.607 --> 0:01:37.367 like this classic mob character. He wore finally tailored clothes 0:01:37.407 --> 0:01:40.647 and expensive leather shoes. But the thing that really grabbed 0:01:40.647 --> 0:01:45.287 my attention was his nickname, the Van Goff Boss. That's 0:01:45.407 --> 0:01:47.647 Van go if you're listening in the US, but Van 0:01:47.767 --> 0:01:50.847 Goboss doesn't really sound as good. It came from a 0:01:50.887 --> 0:01:53.847 story that began in two thousand and two when these 0:01:53.887 --> 0:01:56.727 criminals sledge hammered their way into the Van goth Museum 0:01:56.767 --> 0:01:59.407 in Amsterdam in the middle of the night. In less 0:01:59.407 --> 0:02:02.887 than five minutes, they lifted two priceless paintings off the walls, 0:02:03.167 --> 0:02:06.047 ab sailed down the building and disappeared into the night. 0:02:07.167 --> 0:02:10.087 The robbery made headlines around the world and was listed 0:02:10.087 --> 0:02:12.327 by the FBI as one of the most notable art 0:02:12.367 --> 0:02:16.207 thefts of the twenty first century. The thieves they were 0:02:16.247 --> 0:02:19.927 eventually caught, but the paintings were long gone. They were 0:02:19.927 --> 0:02:22.807 sold to an unknown buyer, and for years no one 0:02:22.887 --> 0:02:26.367 knew where the Van Goffs could be. And then in 0:02:26.407 --> 0:02:31.167 twenty sixteen, an Italian public prosecutor got a letter. It 0:02:31.207 --> 0:02:34.527 was from Raphaeli Imperiale, he was by then living on 0:02:34.567 --> 0:02:39.247 the run in Dubai. Imperiale told the Italians that he 0:02:39.407 --> 0:02:41.247 was the guy who bought the stole a Van Goffs, 0:02:41.727 --> 0:02:43.807 and he was willing to come back and face the 0:02:43.887 --> 0:02:46.567 charges against him, but he wanted to trade the paintings 0:02:46.607 --> 0:02:47.967 in for a lighter sentence. 0:02:48.967 --> 0:02:49.807 It didn't work out. 0:02:50.527 --> 0:02:53.807 The Italians weren't interested, and soon enough the police raided 0:02:53.807 --> 0:02:58.287 a property outside of Naples and recovered the paintings. 0:02:59.407 --> 0:03:02.167 That interview with Imperiale, a lot of it was about 0:03:02.167 --> 0:03:02.927 the Van Goffs. 0:03:03.567 --> 0:03:06.047 What could a mobster know about art? He was asked, 0:03:06.727 --> 0:03:08.487 was he aware about how valuable? 0:03:08.487 --> 0:03:08.927 They were? 0:03:09.927 --> 0:03:13.287 Seemed to slightly annoy him. He tells the interviewer that 0:03:13.327 --> 0:03:16.327 he's a man of culture and refined taste, and that 0:03:16.407 --> 0:03:20.207 he was raised to appreciate fine painting. I'd never seen 0:03:20.247 --> 0:03:22.967 anything like it before. If the most wanted man in 0:03:23.007 --> 0:03:26.407 Italy was freely giving interviews, why hadn't the police caught 0:03:26.487 --> 0:03:30.407 him yet? But what I hadn't grasped was that imperial 0:03:30.647 --> 0:03:33.887 had become a sort of trailblazer. He was a guy 0:03:34.007 --> 0:03:36.967 who spotted a big opportunity in the middle East before 0:03:36.967 --> 0:03:39.887 everyone else, because around the same time that the police 0:03:39.927 --> 0:03:42.967 seized his stolen Van Goffs, the top drug traffickers from 0:03:43.007 --> 0:03:46.007 around Europe were looking out for a new safe place 0:03:46.047 --> 0:03:49.367 to base their operations, and they settled on the same 0:03:49.447 --> 0:03:53.087 city the Imperiale, the Van Goff boss had chosen back 0:03:53.127 --> 0:03:58.847 in twenty ten, the tiny Gulf Emirate of Dubai. Imperiale 0:03:58.927 --> 0:04:01.527 had seen that Dubai was a dream location for a 0:04:01.527 --> 0:04:05.327 man like him, and soon the Kinnahans and other top 0:04:05.327 --> 0:04:07.527 bosses in Europe would be following him out to the 0:04:07.527 --> 0:04:12.087 Middle East alone. Each of these men were ruthless and 0:04:12.127 --> 0:04:16.447 cunning operators, but once they're all together in Dubai, they 0:04:16.487 --> 0:04:17.847 begin to pull their resources. 0:04:19.047 --> 0:04:21.327 They came to realize that by forming a new. 0:04:21.207 --> 0:04:25.087 Type of criminal group, they could become richer, more powerful, 0:04:25.207 --> 0:04:26.367 and more feared. 0:04:26.207 --> 0:04:27.567 Than their wildest dreams. 0:04:28.447 --> 0:04:31.767 They were about to transform organized crime in Europe and 0:04:31.807 --> 0:04:40.607 create the supercartel. I'm Miles Johnson and from the Financial 0:04:40.647 --> 0:04:42.207 Times and Pushkin Industries. 0:04:42.567 --> 0:04:44.207 This is Hot Money Season two. 0:04:44.727 --> 0:04:49.607 The New Narcos episode four, Gangster's Paradise. 0:05:09.247 --> 0:05:16.087 See Dubai as a bit of a combination between Manhattan, Miami, 0:05:16.367 --> 0:05:17.567 and Beverly Hills. 0:05:18.767 --> 0:05:21.567 Matthew Page used to work for the US government in 0:05:21.647 --> 0:05:24.847 several three letter agencies. Now he's an analyst and a 0:05:24.927 --> 0:05:28.687 author who studies corruption and kleptocracy at the Carnegie Endowment. 0:05:29.367 --> 0:05:32.087 He co edited a report on Dubai that helped me 0:05:32.247 --> 0:05:37.287 understand why people like Raphaeli Imperiale love living there. Matthew says, 0:05:37.367 --> 0:05:40.807 Dubai first of all, is a bit like Manhattan. 0:05:41.047 --> 0:05:43.567 Right, you know, Manhattan, because it's got that sort of 0:05:43.607 --> 0:05:48.927 elite skyscraper type of feel to it. Beverly Hills sort 0:05:48.927 --> 0:05:54.047 of that conspicuous consumption, the bling, the if it wasn't 0:05:54.047 --> 0:05:56.327 so hot, they'd have furs, but they certainly have the 0:05:56.367 --> 0:06:01.367 Bentleys and hate couture. And then also Miami because of 0:06:01.447 --> 0:06:04.207 the climate, the beaches, the beautiful people. 0:06:05.287 --> 0:06:08.567 In that newspaper interview, imperial says his life in Dubai 0:06:08.807 --> 0:06:12.007 is nothing fancy. But I've got hold of an Italian 0:06:12.007 --> 0:06:15.127 police file on him that tells a different story. It's 0:06:15.127 --> 0:06:20.047 based on wire taps, informant testimony, financial documents, and information 0:06:20.167 --> 0:06:23.367 shared by police around the world. It paints his portrait 0:06:23.407 --> 0:06:27.567 of him strutting around Dubai wearing expensive suits, tailored in 0:06:27.607 --> 0:06:32.127 his native Naples and always trailed by three bodyguards. Dubai 0:06:32.207 --> 0:06:34.407 is somewhere he can flash his cash in the company 0:06:34.407 --> 0:06:37.167 of other wealthy people who are doing exactly the same thing. 0:06:37.887 --> 0:06:40.007 There are pictures in a high end restaurant with his 0:06:40.207 --> 0:06:43.287 much younger girlfriend draping her arms around him, and he's 0:06:43.327 --> 0:06:46.047 wearing an open net white shirt and a smart jacket. 0:06:46.527 --> 0:06:49.447 It's got selfies he took at the gym, flexing his muscles. 0:06:50.207 --> 0:06:54.167 He drives custom made supercars with conspicuous two letter license plates, 0:06:54.487 --> 0:06:57.767 and he's also developed an expensive diamond habit. He buys 0:06:57.847 --> 0:07:00.607 jewelry for his girlfriends at the Graph Jewelry Store and 0:07:00.727 --> 0:07:03.927 jokes to his friends that he has a motto, no Graph, 0:07:04.287 --> 0:07:08.007 no Love. For a while, he lives in the Burgeo Larrab, 0:07:08.567 --> 0:07:12.167 the luxury hotel where Daniel Kinahan will soon celebrate his wedding. 0:07:12.967 --> 0:07:15.967 The Italian press report that he and his entourage are 0:07:15.967 --> 0:07:19.327 often found at a club called Provocateur inside Dubai's Four 0:07:19.367 --> 0:07:20.167 Seasons hotel. 0:07:21.087 --> 0:07:22.047 It's his sort of place. 0:07:22.367 --> 0:07:25.927 It's guest list only, with leather seats, bottle service, and 0:07:25.967 --> 0:07:28.767 a huge custom seeding light that looks like a giant 0:07:28.767 --> 0:07:33.047 diamond and Imperiale has this reputation as a lavish spender. 0:07:33.327 --> 0:07:36.207 He buys dozens of bottles of crystal at thousands of 0:07:36.247 --> 0:07:39.047 dollars and then picks up the entire tab and leaves 0:07:39.047 --> 0:07:40.167 a very generous tip. 0:07:41.287 --> 0:07:43.087 But it's not just a great place to party. 0:07:43.647 --> 0:07:46.247 It's also a fantastic place for him to do business, 0:07:46.887 --> 0:07:50.967 because in Dubai, alongside the beautiful people and the very rich, 0:07:51.487 --> 0:07:56.207 and the powerful and the dangerous. Someone once told me 0:07:56.447 --> 0:07:59.127 that the best way to describe Dubai is sort of 0:07:59.167 --> 0:08:02.567 like a bling version of the Cantina and Star Wars, 0:08:02.567 --> 0:08:05.447 full of these strange and shadowy characters from around the world. 0:08:06.367 --> 0:08:09.647 You have hedge fund managers and professional athletes drinking at 0:08:09.687 --> 0:08:13.167 the same bars as Russian oligarchs and cocaine kingpins. 0:08:14.287 --> 0:08:19.567 It could be an Afghan warlord who has taken all 0:08:19.647 --> 0:08:23.247 the money that he made during the Karzai regime and 0:08:23.287 --> 0:08:25.927 now that the Taliban is back in control, kind of 0:08:25.967 --> 0:08:29.647 can't go back to the fiefdom that he once ruled. 0:08:30.127 --> 0:08:34.407 The Instagram influencer who makes their living taking pictures of 0:08:34.447 --> 0:08:39.047 themselves on fabulous yachts. It could be the sort of 0:08:39.207 --> 0:08:44.167 nerdy but indispensable sort of pasty British accountant who provides 0:08:44.247 --> 0:08:49.127 the services that these individuals need and legitimizes them. It 0:08:49.167 --> 0:08:53.047 could be people like Isabelle de Santosch, former head of 0:08:53.687 --> 0:08:57.967 Angola's national oil company and whose father was the former president, 0:08:58.367 --> 0:09:02.367 and she's basically on the run from international law enforcement. 0:09:02.927 --> 0:09:05.447 And that's not to mention the local elites, right the 0:09:05.527 --> 0:09:10.167 royal family, the ruling family, cousins and nephews and grandchildren, 0:09:10.287 --> 0:09:13.127 who are the most powerful people in this in this country. 0:09:13.887 --> 0:09:16.607 To understand why Dubai was the perfect place for a 0:09:16.607 --> 0:09:19.607 bunch of international drug lords to join forces, you need 0:09:19.607 --> 0:09:22.287 to know a little bit about its history. It's part 0:09:22.287 --> 0:09:25.247 of the United Arab Emirates, a federation made up of 0:09:25.287 --> 0:09:29.567 seven neighboring monarchies. Before the UAE gained independence in nineteen 0:09:29.607 --> 0:09:32.367 seventy one, the region was a British colony and an 0:09:32.407 --> 0:09:35.727 important source of oil, but the oil belongs to Dubai's 0:09:35.727 --> 0:09:39.007 Emirti neighbor, Abu Dhabi. So when the British left and 0:09:39.047 --> 0:09:41.847 the UAE was born, Dubai needed to find ways to 0:09:41.927 --> 0:09:43.287 diversify its economy. 0:09:44.007 --> 0:09:47.887 And it was really a tiny place with just you know, 0:09:48.007 --> 0:09:51.167 a few tens of thousands of people until the nineteen 0:09:51.207 --> 0:09:55.967 eighties nineteen nineties when it saw an explosive growth. You know, 0:09:56.007 --> 0:09:58.327 so the royal family in Dubai really had a vision 0:09:58.327 --> 0:10:01.567 of how to transform the emirate by building lots of 0:10:02.007 --> 0:10:07.607 you know, world class infrastructure, you know, power roads, airport, seaport. 0:10:08.407 --> 0:10:10.087 And it wasn't just infrastructure. 0:10:11.087 --> 0:10:13.127 The royal family also invested in some of the most 0:10:13.207 --> 0:10:17.367 luxurious real estate in the world. Dubai today is now 0:10:17.407 --> 0:10:20.927 full of skyscrapers and gated communities. Some of them are 0:10:20.927 --> 0:10:23.767 built on these artificial sand islands that stretch out into 0:10:23.807 --> 0:10:27.087 the Persian Gulf. If you've never seen them before, they're 0:10:27.087 --> 0:10:30.207 pretty surreal. There's one in the shape of a palm tree. 0:10:30.567 --> 0:10:33.567 There's another archipelago that replicates a map of the world, 0:10:34.167 --> 0:10:37.367 and they're isolated, which means for the rich and the powerful, 0:10:37.967 --> 0:10:41.967 they feel safe. When Imperiale moved to Dubai, he starts 0:10:41.967 --> 0:10:45.127 to make huge investments in property, and he doesn't settle 0:10:45.207 --> 0:10:48.887 for anything but the very best. He buys the island 0:10:48.887 --> 0:10:52.407 on the archipelago that's shaped like Taiwan, worth an estimated 0:10:52.527 --> 0:10:56.687 eighty million dollars. He begins a project to build ten 0:10:56.807 --> 0:11:00.847 luxury villas worth twenty million dollars each, and according to 0:11:00.887 --> 0:11:03.847 a police file, he tried to get Zaha Hadid, the 0:11:03.887 --> 0:11:07.647 critically acclaimed architect, to design them, because in Dubai he 0:11:07.687 --> 0:11:10.127 can spend that sort of money without too many questions 0:11:10.127 --> 0:11:10.647 being asked. 0:11:11.927 --> 0:11:16.167 Dubai is like a membrane. It's where the sort of 0:11:17.167 --> 0:11:21.807 brackish waters of the underworld and the murky waters sort 0:11:21.807 --> 0:11:25.407 of percolate and mingle with the fresh water of the 0:11:25.487 --> 0:11:29.967 rules based international financial system, and that really captures Dubai 0:11:30.007 --> 0:11:34.847 in a nutshell. It's a place where these different flows 0:11:35.007 --> 0:11:38.887 merge and mix and just generally come out cleaner and 0:11:38.927 --> 0:11:40.447 sweeter smelling than they came in. 0:11:41.247 --> 0:11:43.887 But Dubai has also been an island of stability in 0:11:43.927 --> 0:11:46.727 a region that, otherwise from the perspective of the West, 0:11:46.927 --> 0:11:50.167 has been pretty unstable, and so in the nineteen nineties, 0:11:50.407 --> 0:11:53.207 a lot of Western banks and other companies they chose 0:11:53.287 --> 0:11:54.727 Dubai as their base in the region. 0:11:55.567 --> 0:12:00.607 But at the same time, its own system of rules 0:12:01.247 --> 0:12:05.807 has been kept loose and fungible enough to allow the 0:12:05.887 --> 0:12:12.807 penetration of a lot of unexplained wealth illicit funds into 0:12:12.847 --> 0:12:14.927 the country and as a result, it's served as a 0:12:15.007 --> 0:12:17.527 magnet for those types of funds. 0:12:18.127 --> 0:12:20.367 The fact that there's lots of people who want to 0:12:21.247 --> 0:12:26.167 move there presumably that has also resulted in springing up 0:12:26.207 --> 0:12:32.047 of financial and technical kind of infrastructure to support people 0:12:32.087 --> 0:12:33.847 bringing money from all around the world. 0:12:34.247 --> 0:12:38.287 Absolutely, so these include you know, high end estate agents, 0:12:38.727 --> 0:12:43.127 you know the people who again manage those transactions, the accountants, 0:12:43.167 --> 0:12:48.007 the conveyors and so forth. It involves lawyers and maybe 0:12:48.127 --> 0:12:53.047 PR consultants as well, and people who are essentially functioning 0:12:53.087 --> 0:12:59.007 as wealth managers and helping you often within the bounds 0:12:59.047 --> 0:13:05.927 of what is legal, avoid tax and optimize the wealth 0:13:06.127 --> 0:13:10.687 that you have gained without necessarily questioning what the source 0:13:11.127 --> 0:13:14.767 of that wealth is. I mean, if you think about it, 0:13:15.007 --> 0:13:18.607 the international financial system is twenty first century as it 0:13:18.727 --> 0:13:23.447 is with you know, contactless payment and instant transactions around 0:13:23.447 --> 0:13:25.247 the globe, is still a very sort of almost like 0:13:25.327 --> 0:13:27.967 eighteenth century element to it. You know, there's a lot 0:13:27.967 --> 0:13:32.087 of trust involved. There's a lot of essentially taking people 0:13:32.087 --> 0:13:37.927 at their word that the money that they've acquired is legitimate. 0:13:38.127 --> 0:13:40.847 In countries either the US or the UK. If you 0:13:40.927 --> 0:13:43.247 suddenly turn up to a bank with a million dollars 0:13:43.247 --> 0:13:46.527 in a suitcase, they might get a little twitchy, But 0:13:46.607 --> 0:13:50.607 in Dubai, according to Matthew, very few questions asked about 0:13:50.607 --> 0:13:52.527 where your cash comes from. 0:13:52.767 --> 0:13:55.967 They're just looking for ways essentially to take that wealth 0:13:56.047 --> 0:13:59.767 off you, you know, and in exchange for a luxury 0:13:59.807 --> 0:14:03.527 apartment or a high end car, or looking to provide 0:14:03.807 --> 0:14:10.687 services to you an extraordinarily high net worth individual, whether 0:14:10.887 --> 0:14:14.887 you be a Silicon Valley you know, multi billionaire who 0:14:14.887 --> 0:14:18.847 earned your money legitimately, or you're a drug trafficking kingpin 0:14:19.007 --> 0:14:19.727 from Europe. 0:14:20.167 --> 0:14:23.367 So there's sort of a whole universe of sort of 0:14:23.367 --> 0:14:26.847 like twenty first century gat spies, like people who've sort 0:14:26.887 --> 0:14:29.607 of come to escape their past in a way or 0:14:29.647 --> 0:14:32.487 at least like sort of set up shop, you know, 0:14:32.527 --> 0:14:34.927 as a new type of person with lots of money 0:14:34.967 --> 0:14:36.487 where people don't ask any questions. 0:14:37.287 --> 0:14:41.247 Yeah, and it's a way in which wealth can be 0:14:42.527 --> 0:14:46.807 traded or exchanged for elite status. Right, places like Oxford 0:14:46.847 --> 0:14:51.607 and Cambridge used to be that for global elites one 0:14:51.647 --> 0:14:54.767 hundred years ago. Right, this is the twenty first century 0:14:54.847 --> 0:14:58.927 answer to that. And it's all about conspicuous consumption, you know, 0:14:59.087 --> 0:15:02.687 Instagram selfies and an ill gotten wealth. 0:15:03.527 --> 0:15:06.767 But there's another very important part to living in Dubai 0:15:06.887 --> 0:15:09.407 that even the bloodiest crime bosses understand. 0:15:09.927 --> 0:15:10.767 You might be. 0:15:10.647 --> 0:15:14.327 Murdering people or shipping industrial quantities of drugs somewhere else, 0:15:14.647 --> 0:15:18.247 but you don't commit violent crime in Dubai. And that 0:15:18.327 --> 0:15:21.167 means for a city inhabited by some of the scariest 0:15:21.167 --> 0:15:24.167 men on the planet, it's pretty safe. There are very 0:15:24.167 --> 0:15:28.127 few robberies or murders. So why is Imperiale always walking 0:15:28.127 --> 0:15:31.847 around Dubai with bodyguards. Well, the thing is he tells 0:15:31.847 --> 0:15:34.527 his friends that his hench men, they're not there to 0:15:34.567 --> 0:15:37.567 protect him, they're there to protect others in case he 0:15:37.607 --> 0:15:40.927 gets angry. Because in Dubai you've got to keep your 0:15:40.967 --> 0:15:44.287 temper under control, and if you do that then most 0:15:44.327 --> 0:15:47.167 of the time the authorities there they'll leave you alone. 0:15:48.487 --> 0:15:50.927 At the time, Dubai doesn't have extradition agreements with a 0:15:50.967 --> 0:15:53.527 lot of other countries, so even if you do get 0:15:53.567 --> 0:15:56.127 in trouble, it's very hard for the police to actually 0:15:56.207 --> 0:16:00.127 get you, and that means for the kinner hands, Dubai 0:16:00.207 --> 0:16:02.967 will be like the Costa del Soul, but even better, 0:16:03.807 --> 0:16:07.567 more luxurious, lower risk, and way beyond the reach of 0:16:07.607 --> 0:16:26.847 European law enforcement. So Daniel Kinahan arrives in Dubai in 0:16:26.887 --> 0:16:29.727 twenty sixteen, not long after the attempt on his life 0:16:29.727 --> 0:16:32.447 at the Regency Hotel, and his family moves there to 0:16:33.007 --> 0:16:37.767 his father, Christie and his brother Christopher Jr. Corporate documents 0:16:37.807 --> 0:16:41.327 and property files they show that Christie wasted very little 0:16:41.367 --> 0:16:44.007 time in setting up a bunch of companies, usually in 0:16:44.007 --> 0:16:47.647 the name of Christopher Vincent, leaving off to Kinnahan. He 0:16:47.727 --> 0:16:51.127 reinvents himself as a commodities trader and a business consultant. 0:16:51.487 --> 0:16:54.087 He sets up social media accounts for his companies and 0:16:54.487 --> 0:16:57.287 he tweets out news about the oil market and. 0:16:57.447 --> 0:16:58.727 Tesla's earning results. 0:16:58.967 --> 0:17:01.807 He even follows the ft on that, and he sets 0:17:01.887 --> 0:17:04.847 up a new LinkedIn under his fake identity, and he 0:17:04.887 --> 0:17:08.407 describes himself as an executive with a view to expanding 0:17:08.407 --> 0:17:10.327 my company's and an eye for detail. 0:17:10.967 --> 0:17:13.527 He lists his skills, skills that you would. 0:17:13.367 --> 0:17:16.367 Probably expect a crime boss to have, such as negotiation 0:17:16.567 --> 0:17:21.287 and strategic planning. And actually many of his top business contacts, 0:17:21.407 --> 0:17:24.447 people like Imperiale guys he's known for years through the 0:17:24.447 --> 0:17:25.687 European cocaine market. 0:17:25.967 --> 0:17:27.647 They're all out there with him. 0:17:27.807 --> 0:17:31.327 It's around this time that different police forces they start 0:17:31.327 --> 0:17:33.007 to see that something pretty BIG's. 0:17:32.727 --> 0:17:33.687 Happening in Dubai. 0:17:34.327 --> 0:17:37.527 At the start, they only get little snippets of meetings 0:17:37.567 --> 0:17:41.207 and deals. They learn that the Kinnahans and Imperiale they're 0:17:41.207 --> 0:17:45.167 spending more time together, and other notorious kingpins. They seem 0:17:45.207 --> 0:17:48.487 to be part of the same group. Ridu Antargi he 0:17:48.607 --> 0:17:51.527 shows up in Dubai. He's a Dutch Moroccan crime boss 0:17:51.607 --> 0:17:55.127 who's linked to multiple murders. There's also a Chilean called 0:17:55.207 --> 0:17:59.167 Richard roquelme Vega. He's nicknamed El Rico or the rich 0:17:59.207 --> 0:18:03.727 guy under the Giant diamond in provocateur in five star 0:18:03.847 --> 0:18:07.807 restaurants and high end hotels. These gangsters they start to 0:18:07.847 --> 0:18:11.447 form a sort of consortium. It's a powerful new alliance 0:18:11.807 --> 0:18:16.087 and European police. They believe that by twenty seventeen, they've 0:18:16.127 --> 0:18:19.247 seized control of a third of the continent's cocaine market. 0:18:19.567 --> 0:18:22.847 That's a business worth billions of dollars a year, and 0:18:22.927 --> 0:18:28.887 that's how they earn the name the Supercartel. Like any 0:18:28.887 --> 0:18:32.327 criminal conspiracy, it's not easy to get a clear picture 0:18:32.567 --> 0:18:35.287 of how it works. I've tried to piece it together 0:18:35.807 --> 0:18:39.527 a sort of tapestry of information. But the documents I've 0:18:39.527 --> 0:18:42.887 got they're based on hundreds of pages of shared intelligence 0:18:42.887 --> 0:18:45.927 from various law enforcement agencies, and they do a pretty 0:18:45.967 --> 0:18:50.447 good job of sketching out how the Supercartel operates. It 0:18:50.527 --> 0:18:53.767 calls them partners in a sort of holding company for 0:18:53.847 --> 0:18:58.287 international cocaine trafficking, and that holding company it works on 0:18:58.327 --> 0:19:03.047 a few simple but powerful economic principles. The most important 0:19:03.087 --> 0:19:07.647 thing is market power. This new consortium it's based out 0:19:07.687 --> 0:19:10.247 of Dubai, but it has a global reach that stretches 0:19:10.247 --> 0:19:14.767 across Europe, Africa and Latin America. And by being bigger, 0:19:15.207 --> 0:19:19.447 the Supercartel can buy cocaine in larger quantities at lower prices, 0:19:19.927 --> 0:19:23.527 they can spread their risk. The file says that they 0:19:23.567 --> 0:19:27.167 work to form joint ventures with Colombian cartels to quote 0:19:27.247 --> 0:19:30.367 control the trafficking of cocaine from South America into the 0:19:30.407 --> 0:19:34.127 ports of Rotterdam and Antwerp. They share the same transport 0:19:34.247 --> 0:19:37.887 routes and they start to pull their cash. The aim 0:19:38.047 --> 0:19:41.927 is to quote maintain control of the supply channels because 0:19:41.927 --> 0:19:44.527 that gives them bigger market share in Europe and a 0:19:44.567 --> 0:19:48.047 better ability to set prices. And the cartel starts to 0:19:48.127 --> 0:19:52.567 establish economic co interests. They're laundering their money together and 0:19:52.607 --> 0:19:56.087 they're investing it in countries around the world. The file 0:19:56.127 --> 0:20:00.047 also has these remarkably detailed examples of the logistical complexity 0:20:00.047 --> 0:20:05.327 of these operations. They're not only using ports, they send drugs, money, 0:20:05.407 --> 0:20:09.207 and guns through fleets of articulated lorries leaving the nether 0:20:09.687 --> 0:20:13.567 to travel across Europe. And they're these photos sent between 0:20:13.607 --> 0:20:17.367 Imperially and his crew of huge shipments of cocaine sitting 0:20:17.367 --> 0:20:18.167 in a warehouse. 0:20:18.447 --> 0:20:19.927 They're on industrial palettes. 0:20:20.687 --> 0:20:23.487 In this case, it's being sent to Sydney, Australia in 0:20:23.527 --> 0:20:28.567 a shipping container disguised as Italian natural stone. On another occasion, 0:20:28.887 --> 0:20:32.407 Imperially arranges for a truck filled with several million euros 0:20:32.407 --> 0:20:35.167 to be sent to a fellow supercartel member's son in 0:20:35.207 --> 0:20:39.047 the Netherlands. So this is starting to look quite a 0:20:39.127 --> 0:20:42.087 lot like the way you'd structure a multinational trading company. 0:20:42.647 --> 0:20:46.607 You've got equity partners pulling their resources and spreading their risk, 0:20:47.247 --> 0:20:49.767 and they use their scale to get cheaper prices and 0:20:49.847 --> 0:20:53.207 lower distribution costs and profit margins. 0:20:53.487 --> 0:20:54.167 They go up. 0:20:54.887 --> 0:20:57.847 Business is booming, and all of them are making more 0:20:57.847 --> 0:21:02.687 money than ever before. But for Daniel Kinahan, quietly growing 0:21:02.687 --> 0:21:06.807 his business, it's not enough because he wants his reputation 0:21:06.967 --> 0:21:10.007 to grow not as a drug trafficker but as a 0:21:10.007 --> 0:21:14.407 global sports tycoon. And this next bit of the story 0:21:14.727 --> 0:21:18.047 it shows just how fuzzy the lines have become between gangster, 0:21:18.687 --> 0:21:25.127 online influencer and entrepreneur. Today, Tyson Fury is one of 0:21:25.167 --> 0:21:28.927 the best known boxers on the planet. He's outspoken and funny, 0:21:29.127 --> 0:21:31.847 and recently he was given the ultimate badge of fame. 0:21:32.487 --> 0:21:35.167 I Say his own reality TV. 0:21:34.967 --> 0:21:39.087 Show on Netflix, following him his wife Paris and their six. 0:21:38.967 --> 0:21:42.087 Children living in the busy household, three girls, Throny Ball's 0:21:42.127 --> 0:21:44.647 small wife, all freaking crazy. 0:21:45.287 --> 0:21:48.847 Before he met Kinnahan, Fury had some major success in 0:21:48.887 --> 0:21:49.607 twenty fifty. 0:21:49.927 --> 0:21:51.447 He defied the odds to beat. 0:21:51.327 --> 0:21:54.767 Ukraine's Vladimir Klitschko in a match broadcast by Sky Sports. 0:21:55.327 --> 0:21:57.087 I've got everything in the gym for this and i 0:21:57.207 --> 0:21:58.567 just can't believe it, and I've got. 0:21:58.487 --> 0:22:01.087 It, so Fury's credit. It is genuinely one of the 0:22:01.087 --> 0:22:04.487 best wins that British boxer has ever done. It wasn't 0:22:04.767 --> 0:22:07.047 in England, it was a win on foreign soil, and 0:22:07.167 --> 0:22:09.527 it was against a guy who hadn't been beaten for 0:22:09.567 --> 0:22:14.127 more than a decade. But after that win, Tyson Fury's 0:22:14.127 --> 0:22:15.167 life just spiraled. 0:22:15.567 --> 0:22:17.727 This is boxing journalist Alan Dawson. 0:22:18.127 --> 0:22:21.647 He tested positive for the banned substance in andrelone, and 0:22:21.687 --> 0:22:24.927 by his own admission, he was using cocaine and drinking 0:22:24.967 --> 0:22:26.047 tequila in the morning. 0:22:26.927 --> 0:22:31.327 By twenty seventeen, Tyson Fury's down and out. He later 0:22:31.367 --> 0:22:34.007 talked about this period of his life on Joe Rogan's podcast. 0:22:34.447 --> 0:22:35.927 I'd wake up and I think, why did I wake 0:22:36.007 --> 0:22:37.887 up this morning? This is coming from a mom who 0:22:37.927 --> 0:22:43.807 had everything, money, fame, glory, titles, a wife, a family, kids, everything. Well, 0:22:43.887 --> 0:22:45.447 I felt as if I had nothing. I felt there 0:22:45.487 --> 0:22:47.567 was an empty gape in hole. 0:22:48.527 --> 0:22:51.047 So Kinahan entered his life at this point. 0:22:52.127 --> 0:22:54.887 When Daniel Kinahan was in Spain, he picked up promising 0:22:54.927 --> 0:22:58.207 young boxers, paying for the best trainers and the best equipment. 0:22:58.767 --> 0:23:00.087 But that's not what Fury needs. 0:23:00.887 --> 0:23:04.847 And it's kind of unclear what specifically Kinahan did for Fury, 0:23:04.927 --> 0:23:07.687 But for Ben Davison, who was Tyson Fury's coach at 0:23:07.687 --> 0:23:11.087 the time, it was simply a belief in him. It's 0:23:11.127 --> 0:23:14.007 a theme I've observed in Kinnahan where he tends to 0:23:14.127 --> 0:23:16.487 enter people's lives when they're at their lowest step, and 0:23:16.647 --> 0:23:18.887 I kind of see that in quite a predatory way. 0:23:19.927 --> 0:23:23.247 In twenty seventeen, Tyson Fury posts a selfie on Twitter. 0:23:23.727 --> 0:23:25.887 He and Daniel Kinahan are sitting next to each other, 0:23:26.047 --> 0:23:27.647 both wearing colorful shirts. 0:23:27.887 --> 0:23:28.727 They look relaxed. 0:23:28.807 --> 0:23:32.367 They're grinning, arms around each other's shoulders, giving the camera 0:23:32.407 --> 0:23:35.967 a thumbs up. They look like best friends. It's a 0:23:36.007 --> 0:23:39.847 classic story, the fallen champion on the ropes, needing to 0:23:39.847 --> 0:23:44.047 relaunch their career. Tyson Fury doesn't have any connection to crime, 0:23:44.527 --> 0:23:47.207 but just like that, one of the world's most famous 0:23:47.207 --> 0:23:52.647 boxers has a new advisor, Daniel Kinahan. Fury is clearly 0:23:52.807 --> 0:23:55.247 one of the most talented, the most talented boxer of 0:23:55.287 --> 0:23:57.567 his generation, at least bristboxer. 0:23:57.607 --> 0:23:59.447 You know, he's clearly like a huge figure in the sport. 0:23:59.887 --> 0:24:01.647