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Speaker 1: Sometimes, when federal law enforcement agencies investigate crimes, they unwittingly

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Speaker 1: target the informants or undercover agents of other agencies. This

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Speaker 1: season is one of those stories, a simmering alphabet soup

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Speaker 1: with the DEA, the CIA, and the FBI all mixed

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Speaker 1: up in the same case. Also as a warning, this

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Speaker 1: show includes uncensored undercover recordings that contain explicit language. It

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Speaker 1: is intended for adult audiences.

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Speaker 2: It took a long time to meetium. How are you good?

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Speaker 2: Thank you for coming.

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Speaker 3: How you.

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Speaker 4: Okay?

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Speaker 2: This is for you. I think I know you were coming.

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Speaker 3: Thank you very much.

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Speaker 2: How are you?

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Speaker 1: This may sound like small talk, but what you're hearing

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Speaker 1: is an illegal arms deal.

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Speaker 2: One.

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Speaker 1: It's December twenty fourteen, and two Romanian men are in

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Speaker 1: a hotel room in the country of Montenegro. They're meeting

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Speaker 1: with three Colombians. The Romanians are named Flavio georg Escu

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Speaker 1: and Christian Ventilla, and they've arranged for the Colombians to

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Speaker 1: buy millions of dollars in weapons and ammunition anti aircraft cannons,

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Speaker 1: rocket propelled grenades, and assault rifles.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I show him the contract. I was pushing to

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Speaker 4: sign the contract.

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Speaker 1: This is Flavio and yeah, even illegal arms deeals use contracts. Anyway,

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Speaker 1: Flavio's got his paperwork together, but he's stressed.

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Speaker 4: Christiano has tried to show him things on his laptop,

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Speaker 4: some specifications, anything, but for me is just to put

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Speaker 4: his signature and just leave me alone because I want

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Speaker 4: to get out. That's it. I'm done.

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Speaker 1: Flavio is at the finish line. He'd brokered the whole deal.

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Speaker 1: All he needs now is to close with a signature

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Speaker 1: from one of the Colombians. But the Colombians they're stalling.

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Speaker 1: They've told Flavio they represent the FARC, the Colombian paramilitary

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Speaker 1: group that, as this is happening, is a US designated

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Speaker 1: foreign terrorist organization. That's a big deal. It's what makes

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Speaker 1: this an illegal arms deal also a big deal. The

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Speaker 1: Romanians were explicitly told that the weapons would be used

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Speaker 1: to shoot down American helicopters. The lead Colombian is a

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Speaker 1: wide bellied, brash man with a bellowing voice, and he

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Speaker 1: says he's not signing, not yet.

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Speaker 4: No, before he signed it, he said, I have to

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Speaker 4: talk with my people.

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Speaker 1: The Colombian says he needs final approval from his superiors,

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Speaker 1: and he and his two associates step out of the

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Speaker 1: hotel room. Then agents with the United States Drug Enforcement

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Speaker 1: Administration burst through the door, guns drawn.

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Speaker 4: You're on the wrist and the v handcuffs me and

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Speaker 4: I said, let me talk with you. Let me use

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Speaker 4: the bathroom.

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Speaker 1: And this is where things get interesting. Flavio, handcuffed motions

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Speaker 1: with his head to one of the DEA agents. The

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Speaker 1: agent walks with Flavio into the bathroom. They're crowded together

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Speaker 1: in the small room. Flavio looks directly at the agent

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Speaker 1: and motions for him to step closer. In a soft voice,

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Speaker 1: Flavio tells him, I work for the CIA.

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Speaker 4: When I said, I call it this center for CIA,

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Speaker 4: just call them.

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Speaker 1: I'm Trevor Aronson from Western Sound and iHeart Podcasts. This

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Speaker 1: is Alphabet Boys. Each season of Alphabet Boys, we bring

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Speaker 1: you into the world of America's alphabet agencies, including the FBI, CIA, DEA,

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Speaker 1: and ATF. Using secret undercover recordings, we take you deep

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Speaker 1: inside a federal investigation. We dive into cases that raise

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Speaker 1: a common question. Are federal agents and their informants catching

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Speaker 1: bad guys or creating them? In season one, we went

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Speaker 1: to Denver, where FBI agents investigated racial justice activists during

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Speaker 1: the summer of twenty twenty.

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Speaker 5: If you're trying to implicate that I'm a fucking snitch,

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Speaker 5: check this out.

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Speaker 6: Three things.

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Speaker 5: I ain't a punk, I ain't a bitch, and I

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Speaker 5: had a fucking snitch.

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Speaker 1: In that case, the FBI's informant, Mickey Windecker, tried desperately

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Speaker 1: to preserve his cover after he was accused of being

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Speaker 1: an informant.

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Speaker 5: You should ask who the real fucking punker bitches or

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Speaker 5: who the real fucking snitches.

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Speaker 1: But now we have a very different story with some

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Speaker 1: very different federal agents in this season. The guy working

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Speaker 1: with the FEDS isn't trying to hold on to his cover.

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Speaker 1: He's trying to expose it, to reveal himself as a

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Speaker 1: government agent in order to save himself.

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Speaker 7: In my mind that time was okay, as soon as

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Speaker 7: I'm going to reach United States CIA, they were going

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Speaker 7: to give me all the documents. It shows everything what

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Speaker 7: I did.

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Speaker 1: Flavio Georgescu, Romanian American businessman, is arrested by the DEA

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Speaker 1: and tells those agents that he's collecting intelligence for the CIA.

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Speaker 7: Step by step, not even one one step aside of

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Speaker 7: the line I didn't took money, I didn't jeopardize nobody

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Speaker 7: likes and I delivered everything, which I promise.

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Speaker 6: But who is this guy Flavio? Who is he really?

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Speaker 8: When I land, there's Flavio in a suit, It's like,

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Speaker 8: follow me?

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Speaker 6: Is he CIA operative?

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Speaker 8: And he slams down his badge in my passport and

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Speaker 8: they just stamp it and we walk to the next window,

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Speaker 8: and I'm like, something's going on here?

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Speaker 1: Is he an international arms dealer?

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Speaker 9: Then Romanian government on my as right now because they.

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Speaker 1: Think I'm bullshitting or maybe Flavio is something entirely different.

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Speaker 4: I see movies with arm dealers on TV. But hold on,

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Speaker 4: I have to learn. I have to create a mindset. Okay,

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Speaker 4: I'm going there for c B. I'm gonna die.

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Speaker 1: This is Alphabet Boys Season two, up and Arms, episode one.

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Speaker 1: I work for the CIA.

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Speaker 3: No have a prepaid call.

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Speaker 7: You will not be charged for this call.

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Speaker 3: This car is from just an inmate at I said

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Speaker 3: with prison Hi.

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Speaker 10: Flave you, Hello, good morning, mister Arson.

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Speaker 6: Hey, thanks so much for calling.

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Speaker 1: I'm so sorry I didn't realize that this two oh

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Speaker 1: two number was you this whole time.

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Speaker 6: Sorry about that.

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Speaker 10: It is not a problem it's not a problem.

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Speaker 1: It's August twenty twenty and Flavio and I are talking

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Speaker 1: for the first time. He'd been trying to call me,

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Speaker 1: and I had mistakenly ignored his calls.

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Speaker 10: Normally, when I tried to make new friends or to

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Speaker 10: meet somebody in my life, I don't call them from prison.

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Speaker 10: I wait for this call for probably the last or

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Speaker 10: Mosboro six.

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Speaker 1: In case you haven't figured it out yet, let me

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Speaker 1: tell you Flavio was arrested, convicted, and imprisoned for what

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Speaker 1: happened in Montenegro, even though he told US officials that

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Speaker 1: he was working for the CIA. I get a lot

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Speaker 1: of calls, emails, and texts from people claiming to have

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Speaker 1: been railroaded by the government. They read my articles or

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Speaker 1: hear my podcasts about how federal law enforcement runs very

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Speaker 1: questionable sting operations, and they hope I'll cover their very

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Speaker 1: questionable cases. Most of the time, there's no there there,

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Speaker 1: but Flavio's different. I first heard of Flavio Georgescu in

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Speaker 1: twenty fifteen. His arrest for allegedly brokering a seventeen million

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Speaker 1: dollar arms deal for the FARC in Colombia stood out

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Speaker 1: to me. The deal included some serious weapons anti aircraft, cannons, RPGs,

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Speaker 1: assault rifles, the kind that caused misery and destruction in

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Speaker 1: the worlds more desperate corners. I wrote about Flavio's case

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Speaker 1: during his trial and after being set to prison, Flavio

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Speaker 1: started reading my previous work.

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Speaker 10: What I was trying to talk with you. You study all

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Speaker 10: those cases, and I realized that, and I know how

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Speaker 10: much work you put and how much time.

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Speaker 7: What I see, what's college?

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Speaker 11: So a real prison what I see right now?

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Speaker 10: After that much work, you didn't achieve anything because you

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Speaker 10: didn't make a change out.

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Speaker 1: Okay, Flavio, go on, but my case.

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Speaker 10: Is the same like everybody else, because the government use

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Speaker 10: a template and the way they approach people based on trust,

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Speaker 10: based on temptations, based on different ingredients. Everybody on all

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Speaker 10: the cases which you study, they buy the bait, they

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Speaker 10: get temptated, whatever they get played or whatever was the situation.

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Speaker 1: He's not wrong. In many of these federal cases involving stings,

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Speaker 1: the target of the sting moves forward and tries to

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Speaker 1: or does commit the crime. Think of Post nine eleven

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Speaker 1: terrorism stings. A government agent gives a bomb to the

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Speaker 1: target and the target tries to detonate it, not knowing

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Speaker 1: the weapon is fake. Or here's another example. In twenty thirteen,

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Speaker 1: FBI undercover agents helped the White supremacists build a radiological

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Speaker 1: device that's the technical term for what he thought. He

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Speaker 1: was building a homemade death ray.

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Speaker 4: Eighty four thousands, so.

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Speaker 12: All four thousand, this machine, right of four thousand with

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Speaker 12: that machine that doesn't.

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Speaker 6: Translated the chiefs from.

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Speaker 1: And then once the supposed death ray was built, federal

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Speaker 1: agents rushed in guns drong. Flavio is trying to tell

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Speaker 1: me that his case started like that, but he didn't

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Speaker 1: fall into the trap myself.

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Speaker 10: I didn't let myself to be played. I didn't lend

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Speaker 10: myself to touch the bait. My case is so unique

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Speaker 10: based on the facts and based on the evidence.

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Speaker 1: Flavio says he wasn't an arms dealer.

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Speaker 6: He never was.

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Speaker 1: He was the CIA's guy, and he got tangled in

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Speaker 1: a web of federal agencies, each with its own agenda.

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Speaker 1: None of those agendas included him.

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Speaker 10: I was convicted for no reason, and having my case

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Speaker 10: compared with the thousand cases which you review them, all

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Speaker 10: of my case is the one. But you're gonna clear

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Speaker 10: your work and We're gonna put you in this country,

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Speaker 10: in the place which you deserve to be. You are

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Speaker 10: the only one. That's why I'm so impressed about your

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Speaker 10: work and everything, because you are the only one to

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Speaker 10: address the cause. You are the only one to point

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Speaker 10: the finger on the confidational sources and confinational informant.

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Speaker 1: He's the good guy in all this, Flavia says, and

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Speaker 1: he insists there's no ambiguity about any of it. He

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Speaker 1: was working with the CIA the whole time, but in

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Speaker 1: the end he was hung out to dry. Flavio maintains

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Speaker 1: that he's innocent, completely innocent.

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Speaker 10: First, I want to clear my name because as Romanians,

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Speaker 10: we are very proud people and I don't deserve to

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Speaker 10: be labeled as a false terrorist for the rest of

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Speaker 10: my life. I cannot do that.

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Speaker 7: Said to die.

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Speaker 10: Just put me to sleep, and that's it.

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Speaker 1: Flavia wants me to tell a story, and if I agree,

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Speaker 1: he promises to tell me everything.

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Speaker 10: Thanks so much to talking. We need probably I don't

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Speaker 10: know hours and hours the way you write. I want

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Speaker 10: to be with you and start to choose the journey

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Speaker 10: which I start in this life. I want to start

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Speaker 10: to choose from two thousand that beep sound.

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Speaker 1: It means the call is about to end. Federal inmates

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Speaker 1: can only talk on the phone for fifteen minutes at

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Speaker 1: a time.

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Speaker 10: When I was arrested from Montenegro and take you with

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Speaker 10: me everywhere and you document everything, and yeah, we're gonna

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Speaker 10: be a change. Right now, we're gonna get I have

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Speaker 10: only fifteen minutes. I can pull it back in forty minutes.

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Speaker 10: Then you tell me your your opinions and we start

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Speaker 10: from death.

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Speaker 6: Okay, great, I'll be here. I'll look for your call, transistent.

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Speaker 10: Thank you.

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Speaker 1: This would be the first of men he calls between

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Speaker 1: us more after the break.

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Speaker 3: This college from an inmate at a set of a prison.

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Speaker 1: This may seem pretty obvious to say now, but when

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Speaker 1: Flavio calls me back forty minutes later, I tell Flavio

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Speaker 1: that I'll do a story. I tell him that I

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Speaker 1: want to figure out the truth. But I also tell

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Speaker 1: him that I'm a journalist. I'll investigate a story and

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Speaker 1: I'll report what I find out. And he may not

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Speaker 1: like everything I discover. So where do I start to

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Speaker 1: understand Flavo and why he might have done the things

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Speaker 1: he says he did. It's important to understand the world.

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Speaker 1: He grew up in communist Romania. During the Cold War,

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Speaker 1: Romania was unique. It was part of the Eastern Bloc

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Speaker 1: but never officially part of the Soviet Union. Cold War

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Speaker 1: era Romania was dominated not by Moscow but by a

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Speaker 1: single man, Nikolai Chalceska, Doyeska.

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Speaker 2: And Prime Movent.

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Speaker 1: Chalcescu was a dictator who held on the power for

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Speaker 1: a quarter of a century through a massive police state,

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Speaker 1: brutal repression and mass surveillance. He used the assets of

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Speaker 1: the state to fund an opulent lifestyle. His bathrooms were

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Speaker 1: adorned in real gold. Even as many Romanians lived in poverty.

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Speaker 11: Teochesku and his family extended their to every facet of

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Speaker 11: Romanian life. The secret police have terrified people for years.

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Speaker 11: Dissidents have been exiled or simply killed.

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Speaker 1: Chiscu's secret police, known as a Securitate, were all powerful.

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Speaker 1: Those who spoke out against the government could be pulled

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Speaker 1: from their beds in the middle of the night and

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Speaker 1: thrown in horrible prisons, never to be heard.

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Speaker 9: From villaged positions.

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Speaker 4: He held power through the ruthless.

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Speaker 10: Depression of the people by means of his security forces,

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Speaker 10: a network of police and spies said to number one

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Speaker 10: in ten of the population.

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Speaker 4: Amongst them was.

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Speaker 1: One very Flavio's parents were both geologists, and his father

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Speaker 1: worked for the state mining company.

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Speaker 6: Flavio was their only child.

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Speaker 4: And he was in charge to They'd make a drill

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Speaker 4: in the ground, they put dynamite inside, and when they

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Speaker 4: detonate that thing, they record the seesmic movement and if

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Speaker 4: they sees like X ray, they see if he's oil

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Speaker 4: inside or gas or whatever.

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Speaker 1: Flavio's father worked with explosives, so the secret police kept

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Speaker 1: a particularly close eye on him.

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Speaker 4: That means we were so search in our house by

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Speaker 4: the secret police and caps and everything, and we were

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Speaker 4: terrified all the time because my father did never do

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Speaker 4: anything wrong.

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Speaker 1: Flavio's dad would even have to watch how much he

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Speaker 1: drank during meals on the weekend.

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Speaker 4: In Romania, we drink when you start to eat the.

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Speaker 7: Main course.

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Speaker 4: You drink homemade plums like a brandy okay or a

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Speaker 4: little glass while you were stopping Saturday, because Monday he

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Speaker 4: was going back to work, and if anything happened wrong

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Speaker 4: and they find alcohol in his blood, he was going

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Speaker 4: to jail for his life.

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Speaker 1: The secure tat was an all consuming concern for Flavio

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Speaker 1: and his parents. It affected every part of their lives.

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Speaker 4: Let me tell you something else.

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Speaker 3: You know, I was growing up.

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Speaker 4: If you go to in the summer, were having a

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Speaker 4: vacation and we go to the Black Sea. If you

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Speaker 4: having a long hair, the cops they will stop you.

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Speaker 1: Chilchescu's agents who keep hair clippers on hand, they'd shave

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Speaker 1: an X in the back of any long haired man's head.

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Speaker 4: If you have any jeans, okay, the cops there was

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Speaker 4: having scissors in the packet. Then those cutting your jeans

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Speaker 4: and your jacket because the jeens comes from the West,

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Speaker 4: from cowboys. And if you don't have cows, why do

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Speaker 4: you have to wear jeans?

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Speaker 10: Yeah?

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Speaker 4: Actually, so many, so many crazy, crazy things.

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Speaker 1: Throughout all this, Flavio says he dreamed of another place.

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Speaker 6: As a child.

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Speaker 1: In the nineteen eighties, he was completely enamored with the

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Speaker 1: idea of the United States. A few friends showed him

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Speaker 1: how he could illegally listen to American broadcasts on his radio.

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Speaker 1: Networks like Radio Free Europe and Voice of America were

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Speaker 1: then and continue to be US government funded projects, a

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00:19:17,520 --> 00:19:21,439
Speaker 1: form of propaganda intended to seduce listeners with American and

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00:19:21,480 --> 00:19:27,120
Speaker 1: Western ideas, things like open societies, a free press, unrestricted expression,

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Speaker 1: and rock and roll.

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Speaker 4: Which gives you their music the insights with the politics

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Speaker 4: and everything.

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Speaker 1: And Flavio fell for it. He'd tune in as often

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Speaker 1: as he could. But one night Flavio's dad discovered him

307
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Speaker 1: listening to the American broadcast. He was horrified.

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Speaker 4: He catched me one time, listened down one huh. He

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00:19:55,160 --> 00:19:57,640
Speaker 4: didn't beat me up because they never hit me one time.

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Speaker 4: My mom over my dad. But I got so much

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00:20:02,400 --> 00:20:05,240
Speaker 4: theory and explained to me the risk and everything to

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Speaker 4: listen to radio. I you Bob, listened radio for the

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Speaker 4: rest of my life.

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Speaker 6: But then everything changed.

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Speaker 8: Mister Gorbachev teared down this wall.

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Speaker 1: In the late eighties, the Iron Curtain fell, revolutions erupted

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Speaker 1: in Eastern Europe. In Romania's was the bloodiest. Thousands of

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Speaker 1: people were killed. Chelchescu finally fell when the military turned

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Speaker 1: against him. Thousands poured into the streets of the capitol Bucharest,

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Speaker 1: chanting the national anthem as it had been written before

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Speaker 1: Chelchescu took power. Chelchescu and his wife were suddenly stripped

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Speaker 1: of power and arrested just before Christmas nineteen eighty nine,

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Speaker 1: they were both executed.

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Speaker 12: The deposed Romanian leader, President Chowcescu and his wife have

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Speaker 12: been executed. State television tonight announced a military tribunal found

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Speaker 12: them guilty of genocide and undermining.

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Speaker 1: The national Following the revolution, Romania began a decades long

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Speaker 1: process of political and economic reforms. Flavio is a natural talker.

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Speaker 1: It can be hard to get them to stop talking.

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Speaker 6: Honestly.

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Speaker 4: Read flag for me A boy was the respect was

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Speaker 4: put with some bitter taste in my mind. You don't

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00:21:36,440 --> 00:21:38,920
Speaker 4: see me who I am? His father, and he grew

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Speaker 4: up everything like his friendly Right now there are multi

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Speaker 4: billionaires and everything. And he was staying in my house

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Speaker 4: for a few days.

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Speaker 1: And he excelled at building relationships in Romania. As Romania

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Speaker 1: started changing, he went to work at an exclusive hotel

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Speaker 1: in Bucharest. He became known as a guy who could

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Speaker 1: get things done, who could get guests whatever they desired

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Speaker 1: in the city. Acting that's a kind of fixer. But

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Speaker 1: Romania wasn't changing as quickly as Flavia would have liked,

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Speaker 1: and he still dreamed of living in America. Flavio had

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Speaker 1: a cousin in Las Vegas who was running a gym

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Speaker 1: so he applied for a visa and arrived in the

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Speaker 1: United States in the late nineteen nineties. Flavia went to

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Speaker 1: Vegas initially to work for his cousin.

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Speaker 4: Myself, I was fascinated about the shows. I was so

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Speaker 4: excited about the Hoover dam ranted those jet ski all

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Speaker 4: day long was beautiful. And what I loved so much

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Speaker 4: was the people. You see Vegas, it is a place

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Speaker 4: which everybody's happy. Nobody cries, nobody said. Even they lose money,

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Speaker 4: they win money, they are happy.

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Speaker 1: Flavio had several odd jobs during those initial years in

355
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Speaker 1: the United States, but Flavio built relationships all around, just

356
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Speaker 1: as he had done in Bucharest years earlier, and Flavio

357
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Speaker 1: established a transnational reputation too. If a wealthy Romanian was

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Speaker 1: flying into Las Vegas for a good time, Flavio was

359
00:23:12,040 --> 00:23:16,480
Speaker 1: to go to contact. He would arrange just about anything,

360
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Speaker 1: shopping trips, exclusive access to casinos and restaurants, whatever could

361
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Speaker 1: be bought with money in Las Vegas, which is well everything.

362
00:23:27,960 --> 00:23:30,760
Speaker 1: Flavio's clients would fly to Las Vegas, find an obscenely

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Speaker 1: expensive car, take it for a test drive, and then

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Speaker 1: buy it. Flavio was responsible for finding a way to

365
00:23:37,680 --> 00:23:41,119
Speaker 1: get the car from Las Vegas to Romania.

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Speaker 4: I was shipping things cars to Europe all the time,

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Speaker 4: and somebody said, it is a Romanian guy in la.

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Speaker 1: And that's how Flavio would make a connection that would

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Speaker 1: prove life changing. Andy Georgescu ran a sho shipping company

370
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Speaker 1: in Los Angeles that prided itself on discretion. Andy didn't

371
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Speaker 1: ask a whole lot of questions about his cargo.

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Speaker 4: Then I met him and I said, he's Romanian. We

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00:24:11,359 --> 00:24:12,680
Speaker 4: have the same last name.

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Speaker 1: Flavio and Andy aren't related. George Escu is the most

375
00:24:17,119 --> 00:24:20,920
Speaker 1: common surname in Romania. It'd be like two unrelated Smiths

376
00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:25,680
Speaker 1: being friends. In the United States, Flavio was initially skeptical

377
00:24:25,760 --> 00:24:28,920
Speaker 1: of Andy and a shipping company, but over the years

378
00:24:28,960 --> 00:24:31,320
Speaker 1: he shipped a lot of cars with Andy.

379
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Speaker 4: First of all, I don't want to get affiliated with

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00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:37,280
Speaker 4: people which I don't know what they do. Those cars

381
00:24:37,400 --> 00:24:40,199
Speaker 4: expensive cars and has to be take care of in

382
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Speaker 4: a specific way, and with the insurance, with everything. With

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00:24:43,160 --> 00:24:46,080
Speaker 4: more companies, they cannot offer those things. So no, give

384
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Speaker 4: him my chance. I was, okay, give you my chance.

385
00:24:48,760 --> 00:24:51,240
Speaker 1: The two george Escus made a lot of money together.

386
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Speaker 1: They were both hustlers, Romanian immigrants who had made it

387
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Speaker 1: the United States. Their common heritage created such a strong

388
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Speaker 1: bond that they'd met each other's parents back in the

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00:25:00,280 --> 00:25:04,399
Speaker 1: home country. Flavio had even visited Andy's ill father when

390
00:25:04,440 --> 00:25:07,880
Speaker 1: he was in the hospital in Romania. And one day

391
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Speaker 1: in twenty twelve, Andy has an idea, a new way

392
00:25:13,280 --> 00:25:18,960
Speaker 1: for them to make money, a lot of money. He

393
00:25:19,040 --> 00:25:22,160
Speaker 1: tells Flavio he knows a Colombian looking for a way

394
00:25:22,200 --> 00:25:26,280
Speaker 1: to buy millions of dollars in weapons. Just a cut

395
00:25:26,280 --> 00:25:32,000
Speaker 1: of that a commission would mean a big payday. So

396
00:25:32,080 --> 00:25:36,159
Speaker 1: Andy tells the Colombian that he knows a guy, a

397
00:25:36,240 --> 00:25:40,000
Speaker 1: guy who can make stuff happen, maybe even an arms deal.

398
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Speaker 6: That's after the break.

399
00:26:02,200 --> 00:26:03,600
Speaker 4: This is this is my plan.

400
00:26:04,240 --> 00:26:05,480
Speaker 9: We have called a lot.

401
00:26:05,720 --> 00:26:10,040
Speaker 2: We have tried to go this here. I'm there at

402
00:26:10,040 --> 00:26:13,360
Speaker 2: this point. I do want to see you. Let's see.

403
00:26:13,359 --> 00:26:15,239
Speaker 2: We got a regroup a little bit. I want to go.

404
00:26:15,359 --> 00:26:19,120
Speaker 1: This is one the brash Colombian with the bellowing voice,

405
00:26:19,800 --> 00:26:21,840
Speaker 1: the guy who was in the hotel room with Flavio

406
00:26:22,840 --> 00:26:26,800
Speaker 1: just before he was arrested by the DEA. And if

407
00:26:26,800 --> 00:26:30,280
Speaker 1: there's a turning point in Flavio's story the place where

408
00:26:30,720 --> 00:26:34,240
Speaker 1: if this were a movie, the dramatic music starts low

409
00:26:34,280 --> 00:26:40,440
Speaker 1: and slow. It's probably this phone call. The call happens

410
00:26:40,600 --> 00:26:42,800
Speaker 1: on February nineteenth, twenty fourteen.

411
00:26:44,320 --> 00:26:46,680
Speaker 2: I want to come to La maybe next week, Okay,

412
00:26:47,240 --> 00:26:47,680
Speaker 2: all right?

413
00:26:48,840 --> 00:26:51,600
Speaker 6: Like a plan for at least two years.

414
00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:54,200
Speaker 1: This guy, Juan has been talking to Andy georg Escu,

415
00:26:54,600 --> 00:26:57,439
Speaker 1: Flavio's friend in Los Angeles who runs the shipping company.

416
00:26:57,920 --> 00:27:00,719
Speaker 6: Juan and Andy have talked about a lot of stuff.

417
00:27:01,119 --> 00:27:04,480
Speaker 1: They talked about a potential drug deal for cocaine, using

418
00:27:04,480 --> 00:27:07,440
Speaker 1: the code word pink stuff. They've talked about a money

419
00:27:07,480 --> 00:27:10,080
Speaker 1: laundering contact in Hong Kong, and they've talked about their

420
00:27:10,160 --> 00:27:11,480
Speaker 1: romantic relationships.

421
00:27:11,920 --> 00:27:13,359
Speaker 6: But now Wan is.

422
00:27:13,359 --> 00:27:17,000
Speaker 1: Asking Andy to put together something much bigger, a deal

423
00:27:17,119 --> 00:27:20,880
Speaker 1: to sell military grade weapons to the FARC, the Colombian

424
00:27:20,920 --> 00:27:21,879
Speaker 1: paramilitary group.

425
00:27:22,440 --> 00:27:23,000
Speaker 6: At the time.

426
00:27:23,520 --> 00:27:27,840
Speaker 1: FARC is officially a terrorist organization according to the US government.

427
00:27:28,480 --> 00:27:36,640
Speaker 1: Wan tells Andy he's a representative of the FARC. This

428
00:27:37,119 --> 00:27:40,280
Speaker 1: didn't come out of the blue. Juan first brought up

429
00:27:40,280 --> 00:27:43,000
Speaker 1: the possibility of a weapons deal to Andy in twenty twelve,

430
00:27:43,720 --> 00:27:46,760
Speaker 1: and Andy told Wan that he knows people who make

431
00:27:46,840 --> 00:27:50,080
Speaker 1: things happen. But by the time of this call in

432
00:27:50,160 --> 00:27:54,960
Speaker 1: twenty fourteen, nothing has materialized. It's all just a bunch

433
00:27:54,960 --> 00:28:02,400
Speaker 1: of talk. And Wan is frustrated, really straighted, so frustrated.

434
00:28:02,840 --> 00:28:05,640
Speaker 1: He's going to visit Andy in Los Angeles to get

435
00:28:05,640 --> 00:28:06,440
Speaker 1: things going.

436
00:28:07,920 --> 00:28:12,000
Speaker 2: And maybe we can go to launch. Okay, all right,

437
00:28:12,040 --> 00:28:15,160
Speaker 2: and see what we can put together. Is especially back

438
00:28:15,200 --> 00:28:18,760
Speaker 2: in your home country or on that area for that matter.

439
00:28:19,119 --> 00:28:23,240
Speaker 1: By home country one means Romania. He thinks Andy can

440
00:28:23,240 --> 00:28:25,440
Speaker 1: put together a weapons deal in Romania.

441
00:28:26,840 --> 00:28:28,960
Speaker 2: All right, bro, I called you next week and we're

442
00:28:28,960 --> 00:28:34,040
Speaker 2: talking in person. All right, all right, I see that bye, Okay.

443
00:28:35,320 --> 00:28:39,280
Speaker 2: Preceding phone call, I mean the nine fifteen pm east

444
00:28:39,240 --> 00:28:41,480
Speaker 2: of the time in the US and the nineteenth of

445
00:28:41,480 --> 00:28:45,160
Speaker 2: February twenty fourteen be a sky to and your jesuis.

446
00:28:47,120 --> 00:28:52,280
Speaker 1: What Andy doesn't know is Ons recording their phone calls,

447
00:28:54,000 --> 00:28:58,160
Speaker 1: and the next month, on March fourth, twenty fourteen, Ons

448
00:28:58,400 --> 00:29:01,840
Speaker 1: in Los Angeles. He's made arrangements for Andy to pick

449
00:29:01,920 --> 00:29:03,040
Speaker 1: him up near the airport.

450
00:29:04,720 --> 00:29:08,560
Speaker 2: Well, hey there, hey, hey, I'm here at the budget

451
00:29:08,640 --> 00:29:12,720
Speaker 2: run a car of century like a like behind the

452
00:29:13,120 --> 00:29:15,800
Speaker 2: cross from the Mario Hotel. Can you marry here?

453
00:29:16,240 --> 00:29:20,360
Speaker 9: Okay, oh yeah, I'll wait you here in about half

454
00:29:20,400 --> 00:29:21,080
Speaker 9: an hour because I'm.

455
00:29:21,840 --> 00:29:24,200
Speaker 2: So started to have an argus I'm need to check

456
00:29:24,280 --> 00:29:31,400
Speaker 2: him out. The I called to Andy at eleven am

457
00:29:31,520 --> 00:29:36,720
Speaker 2: March four, twenty fourteen, and the youre adjustment.

458
00:29:37,440 --> 00:29:40,400
Speaker 1: Andy picks up one and they meet to discuss a

459
00:29:40,440 --> 00:29:50,960
Speaker 1: possible arm steel. The global arms market is enormous, worth

460
00:29:51,000 --> 00:29:55,160
Speaker 1: more than one hundred billion dollars annually. Much of this

461
00:29:55,240 --> 00:29:59,479
Speaker 1: trade is legitimate and perfectly legal weapons sales to government

462
00:29:59,560 --> 00:30:05,840
Speaker 1: entities all done in accordance with international regulations, but illegal sales,

463
00:30:06,280 --> 00:30:10,120
Speaker 1: also known as arms trafficking, are estimated to be worth

464
00:30:10,400 --> 00:30:15,680
Speaker 1: one billion dollars annually. Brokers or middlemen are commonly involved

465
00:30:15,680 --> 00:30:19,000
Speaker 1: in weapons deals of all kinds. They connect the buyers,

466
00:30:19,360 --> 00:30:24,600
Speaker 1: usually foreign governments, with the sellers, usually arms manufacturers, and

467
00:30:24,720 --> 00:30:28,120
Speaker 1: collect a big commission. But some of these brokers and

468
00:30:28,200 --> 00:30:33,520
Speaker 1: manufacturers will sell both legally and illegally. Illegal sales are

469
00:30:33,520 --> 00:30:37,600
Speaker 1: often conducted with of veneer of legitimacy. An illegal buyer,

470
00:30:38,040 --> 00:30:41,360
Speaker 1: with the help of a broker, obtains documents that specify

471
00:30:41,720 --> 00:30:45,680
Speaker 1: a different destination for the weapons than the intended destination.

472
00:30:46,680 --> 00:30:50,360
Speaker 1: That's often how black market arms deals work. They end

473
00:30:50,480 --> 00:30:54,800
Speaker 1: up looking kind of gray, making it difficult to hold

474
00:30:54,920 --> 00:30:57,880
Speaker 1: arms traffickers and their enablers accountable.

475
00:30:59,880 --> 00:31:04,200
Speaker 9: Anyway.

476
00:31:04,840 --> 00:31:10,880
Speaker 6: Back to Indian One.

477
00:31:11,760 --> 00:31:15,680
Speaker 1: By Maria Magdalena, Juan Is referring to Andy's girlfriend.

478
00:31:16,520 --> 00:31:19,920
Speaker 3: We need to we lean that, we lean.

479
00:31:19,840 --> 00:31:24,960
Speaker 2: That what's going on. We got hey, I never got

480
00:31:24,960 --> 00:31:26,920
Speaker 2: your heart, you.

481
00:31:26,880 --> 00:31:29,840
Speaker 9: Know, No, I didn't send I didn't send it because

482
00:31:29,920 --> 00:31:32,280
Speaker 9: I'm waiting for the They didn't get back to me

483
00:31:32,360 --> 00:31:33,520
Speaker 9: on the one paper you.

484
00:31:33,560 --> 00:31:34,240
Speaker 12: Got back to me for.

485
00:31:35,200 --> 00:31:37,560
Speaker 1: Andy assures Wan that he has contacts who can broke

486
00:31:37,600 --> 00:31:40,360
Speaker 1: her an arms deel. He just needs a list of

487
00:31:40,400 --> 00:31:42,240
Speaker 1: the weapons that Wan wants to buy.

488
00:31:43,240 --> 00:31:45,760
Speaker 9: So I just need to reconfie some things with him

489
00:31:45,800 --> 00:31:47,280
Speaker 9: and so I can put it down.

490
00:31:47,400 --> 00:31:50,680
Speaker 2: Okay, find out when we can meet at the place

491
00:31:50,720 --> 00:31:54,440
Speaker 2: that I told you. We can meet at the end place. Okay,

492
00:31:54,840 --> 00:31:58,600
Speaker 2: you on whoever you have on myself, you know, so

493
00:31:58,960 --> 00:32:03,520
Speaker 2: I can plan and and do that that go shopping.

494
00:32:03,240 --> 00:32:05,360
Speaker 9: Definitely on that sage. Yeah, we need to know. I

495
00:32:05,400 --> 00:32:06,920
Speaker 9: mean we need to know. I mean I need to

496
00:32:07,000 --> 00:32:09,480
Speaker 9: explain exactly how the payment is gonna work and stuff

497
00:32:09,480 --> 00:32:09,680
Speaker 9: like that.

498
00:32:10,680 --> 00:32:11,640
Speaker 3: No, well, this is it.

499
00:32:11,840 --> 00:32:15,640
Speaker 2: We want to meet there and once we agree that

500
00:32:15,720 --> 00:32:17,760
Speaker 2: you can have two of these two d and two

501
00:32:17,800 --> 00:32:20,800
Speaker 2: of the other ones, you know whatever. Okay, then uh

502
00:32:22,160 --> 00:32:24,120
Speaker 2: I bring the money. I give you the money, right there,

503
00:32:24,760 --> 00:32:26,120
Speaker 2: No good, That's what I'm think.

504
00:32:26,040 --> 00:32:28,520
Speaker 9: I can explain to them, and you know, we'll sit

505
00:32:28,600 --> 00:32:31,200
Speaker 9: down and discus. I don't want them to see too

506
00:32:31,240 --> 00:32:33,840
Speaker 9: many faces and you know stuff like that.

507
00:32:33,840 --> 00:32:34,280
Speaker 4: That's fine.

508
00:32:34,320 --> 00:32:35,720
Speaker 2: Whatever you call you call the shots.

509
00:32:36,040 --> 00:32:39,000
Speaker 9: You just you, I mean nothing, you know what I mean?

510
00:32:39,040 --> 00:32:42,760
Speaker 2: Oh no, just me, just me? Oh yeah yeah yeah, yeah,

511
00:32:42,840 --> 00:32:46,280
Speaker 2: yeah yeah yeah. But I got the people on the standby,

512
00:32:46,440 --> 00:32:50,920
Speaker 2: and they will make the phones available for the for

513
00:32:51,000 --> 00:32:54,520
Speaker 2: the you know, for the stuff, our peace and all that. Okay,

514
00:32:55,120 --> 00:32:58,520
Speaker 2: that's right, all right, all right, okay, So I went

515
00:32:58,600 --> 00:32:59,520
Speaker 2: on not to hear from you.

516
00:33:00,480 --> 00:33:02,840
Speaker 9: Will finalize that this this week, this weekend, this.

517
00:33:02,880 --> 00:33:03,440
Speaker 10: Should be done.

518
00:33:03,720 --> 00:33:06,480
Speaker 2: Brother, all right, thank you, say hello, say hello to

519
00:33:06,560 --> 00:33:16,440
Speaker 2: Maria Mondalina. I will, okay, okay, I will all right.

520
00:33:16,560 --> 00:33:20,960
Speaker 2: Uh hold on eleven six pm Eastern seventh time in

521
00:33:21,000 --> 00:33:30,239
Speaker 2: the US to uh Todays Days throws in March six,

522
00:33:30,320 --> 00:33:31,360
Speaker 2: twenty fourteen.

523
00:33:32,360 --> 00:33:36,160
Speaker 1: What Wan doesn't know is that Andy is talking to Flavio,

524
00:33:36,960 --> 00:33:39,920
Speaker 1: and Flavio is the one Andy believes is going to

525
00:33:39,920 --> 00:33:43,400
Speaker 1: put together the arms deal for Wan. Andy expects to

526
00:33:43,400 --> 00:33:46,960
Speaker 1: get a cut of whatever deal comes from this. When

527
00:33:47,000 --> 00:33:47,960
Speaker 1: Andy says.

528
00:33:48,800 --> 00:33:51,000
Speaker 9: You can't get back to me on the one paper

529
00:33:51,040 --> 00:33:51,880
Speaker 9: he got back to me for.

530
00:33:51,880 --> 00:33:56,840
Speaker 1: A belief, he's referring to Flavio. Andy had called Flavio

531
00:33:56,880 --> 00:33:59,520
Speaker 1: in April twenty twelve and asked him if he could

532
00:33:59,560 --> 00:34:04,200
Speaker 1: put together the arms deal. Flavio said maybe he could,

533
00:34:04,920 --> 00:34:08,560
Speaker 1: but there's something that neither Wan nor Andy knows about.

534
00:34:09,760 --> 00:34:12,879
Speaker 1: Right after Andy first called Flavio about the arms deal,

535
00:34:13,760 --> 00:34:20,400
Speaker 1: Flavio called someone else, the Central Intelligence Agency, the CIA,

536
00:34:21,640 --> 00:34:27,279
Speaker 1: AH and the CIA. They were recording their calls too

537
00:34:28,280 --> 00:34:28,920
Speaker 1: good afternoon.

538
00:34:28,920 --> 00:34:32,680
Speaker 3: How can I help you, Hi? Her mind is Flavio,

539
00:34:33,160 --> 00:34:35,960
Speaker 3: and I have an information for you, and I want

540
00:34:36,000 --> 00:34:39,080
Speaker 3: to be in touchly one of your agency overkill in

541
00:34:39,200 --> 00:34:41,800
Speaker 3: many order. I know you have an office now with Tria.

542
00:34:44,200 --> 00:34:45,760
Speaker 6: That's in the next episode.

543
00:34:46,800 --> 00:34:49,839
Speaker 1: This is up in arms, Season two.

544
00:34:49,360 --> 00:34:50,560
Speaker 6: Of Alphabet Boys.

545
00:35:02,560 --> 00:35:05,719
Speaker 1: Alphabet Boys is a production of Western Sound and iHeart Podcasts.

546
00:35:06,280 --> 00:35:09,680
Speaker 1: The show is reported, written and hosted by me Trevor Aaronson.

547
00:35:10,440 --> 00:35:12,520
Speaker 1: For more information about this series, we're going to drop

548
00:35:12,600 --> 00:35:16,320
Speaker 1: us a tip. Head to our website Alphabet Boys dot xyz.

549
00:35:17,040 --> 00:35:20,280
Speaker 1: You can contact me on Twitter or Instagram at Trevor Aaronson.

550
00:35:20,920 --> 00:35:25,080
Speaker 1: The show's instagram is Alphabetboys dot pod. If you're enjoying

551
00:35:25,080 --> 00:35:29,240
Speaker 1: Alphabet Boys, tell your friends about the show. Personal recommendations

552
00:35:29,400 --> 00:35:32,480
Speaker 1: are the best recommendations. And if you want to see

553
00:35:32,480 --> 00:35:36,680
Speaker 1: an illegal armstel from the inside again, it's Alphabet Boys

554
00:35:36,719 --> 00:35:40,759
Speaker 1: dot xyz. You'll find undercover recordings and documents related to

555
00:35:40,800 --> 00:35:44,560
Speaker 1: Flavio's case. Finally, you can help us ride the algorithms

556
00:35:44,640 --> 00:35:47,320
Speaker 1: by leaving a rating or review on your favorite podcast

557
00:35:47,320 --> 00:35:49,399
Speaker 1: app that helps other people find us.

558
00:35:50,040 --> 00:35:50,880
Speaker 6: And thanks for listening.