WEBVTT - 1. I Work for the CIA 0:00:00.600 --> 0:00:06.519 Sometimes, when federal law enforcement agencies investigate crimes, they unwittingly 0:00:06.559 --> 0:00:11.600 target the informants or undercover agents of other agencies. This 0:00:11.640 --> 0:00:16.880 season is one of those stories, a simmering alphabet soup 0:00:17.600 --> 0:00:22.319 with the DEA, the CIA, and the FBI all mixed 0:00:22.400 --> 0:00:27.440 up in the same case. Also as a warning, this 0:00:27.520 --> 0:00:33.599 show includes uncensored undercover recordings that contain explicit language. It 0:00:33.640 --> 0:00:35.760 is intended for adult audiences. 0:00:39.080 --> 0:00:42.360 It took a long time to meetium. How are you good? 0:00:42.440 --> 0:00:43.120 Thank you for coming. 0:00:43.159 --> 0:00:43.440 How you. 0:00:47.200 --> 0:00:47.520 Okay? 0:00:47.520 --> 0:00:49.640 This is for you. I think I know you were coming. 0:00:50.520 --> 0:00:51.159 Thank you very much. 0:00:54.400 --> 0:00:57.240 How are you? 0:00:57.760 --> 0:01:01.240 This may sound like small talk, but what you're hearing 0:01:01.360 --> 0:01:03.880 is an illegal arms deal. 0:01:04.840 --> 0:01:05.120 One. 0:01:06.000 --> 0:01:10.440 It's December twenty fourteen, and two Romanian men are in 0:01:10.480 --> 0:01:14.600 a hotel room in the country of Montenegro. They're meeting 0:01:14.880 --> 0:01:19.360 with three Colombians. The Romanians are named Flavio georg Escu 0:01:19.760 --> 0:01:23.319 and Christian Ventilla, and they've arranged for the Colombians to 0:01:23.319 --> 0:01:28.720 buy millions of dollars in weapons and ammunition anti aircraft cannons, 0:01:29.160 --> 0:01:32.759 rocket propelled grenades, and assault rifles. 0:01:33.840 --> 0:01:36.360 Yeah, I show him the contract. I was pushing to 0:01:36.400 --> 0:01:37.200 sign the contract. 0:01:38.000 --> 0:01:45.360 This is Flavio and yeah, even illegal arms deeals use contracts. Anyway, 0:01:45.880 --> 0:01:49.440 Flavio's got his paperwork together, but he's stressed. 0:01:50.120 --> 0:01:52.400 Christiano has tried to show him things on his laptop, 0:01:52.480 --> 0:01:56.080 some specifications, anything, but for me is just to put 0:01:56.160 --> 0:01:59.440 his signature and just leave me alone because I want 0:01:59.440 --> 0:02:01.240 to get out. That's it. I'm done. 0:02:01.760 --> 0:02:06.600 Flavio is at the finish line. He'd brokered the whole deal. 0:02:07.680 --> 0:02:11.680 All he needs now is to close with a signature 0:02:12.080 --> 0:02:18.320 from one of the Colombians. But the Colombians they're stalling. 0:02:19.520 --> 0:02:23.760 They've told Flavio they represent the FARC, the Colombian paramilitary 0:02:23.760 --> 0:02:27.280 group that, as this is happening, is a US designated 0:02:27.600 --> 0:02:33.280 foreign terrorist organization. That's a big deal. It's what makes 0:02:33.320 --> 0:02:38.640 this an illegal arms deal also a big deal. The 0:02:38.720 --> 0:02:42.799 Romanians were explicitly told that the weapons would be used 0:02:42.880 --> 0:02:48.840 to shoot down American helicopters. The lead Colombian is a 0:02:48.880 --> 0:02:54.400 wide bellied, brash man with a bellowing voice, and he 0:02:54.520 --> 0:02:57.560 says he's not signing, not yet. 0:02:58.919 --> 0:03:00.840 No, before he signed it, he said, I have to 0:03:00.880 --> 0:03:02.280 talk with my people. 0:03:03.280 --> 0:03:06.279 The Colombian says he needs final approval from his superiors, 0:03:06.680 --> 0:03:09.520 and he and his two associates step out of the 0:03:09.520 --> 0:03:18.359 hotel room. Then agents with the United States Drug Enforcement 0:03:18.400 --> 0:03:21.800 Administration burst through the door, guns drawn. 0:03:23.000 --> 0:03:26.280 You're on the wrist and the v handcuffs me and 0:03:27.400 --> 0:03:28.880 I said, let me talk with you. Let me use 0:03:28.880 --> 0:03:29.760 the bathroom. 0:03:30.080 --> 0:03:37.720 And this is where things get interesting. Flavio, handcuffed motions 0:03:37.720 --> 0:03:40.640 with his head to one of the DEA agents. The 0:03:40.720 --> 0:03:45.480 agent walks with Flavio into the bathroom. They're crowded together 0:03:46.040 --> 0:03:50.120 in the small room. Flavio looks directly at the agent 0:03:50.640 --> 0:03:54.440 and motions for him to step closer. In a soft voice, 0:03:55.120 --> 0:03:59.160 Flavio tells him, I work for the CIA. 0:04:01.720 --> 0:04:04.360 When I said, I call it this center for CIA, 0:04:04.840 --> 0:04:07.840 just call them. 0:04:07.920 --> 0:04:11.840 I'm Trevor Aronson from Western Sound and iHeart Podcasts. This 0:04:12.320 --> 0:04:17.200 is Alphabet Boys. Each season of Alphabet Boys, we bring 0:04:17.240 --> 0:04:23.480 you into the world of America's alphabet agencies, including the FBI, CIA, DEA, 0:04:23.720 --> 0:04:28.239 and ATF. Using secret undercover recordings, we take you deep 0:04:28.279 --> 0:04:32.760 inside a federal investigation. We dive into cases that raise 0:04:32.800 --> 0:04:36.679 a common question. Are federal agents and their informants catching 0:04:36.720 --> 0:04:45.720 bad guys or creating them? In season one, we went 0:04:45.760 --> 0:04:49.760 to Denver, where FBI agents investigated racial justice activists during 0:04:49.800 --> 0:04:51.159 the summer of twenty twenty. 0:04:51.800 --> 0:04:53.960 If you're trying to implicate that I'm a fucking snitch, 0:04:54.400 --> 0:04:55.080 check this out. 0:04:55.640 --> 0:04:56.160 Three things. 0:04:56.160 --> 0:04:58.640 I ain't a punk, I ain't a bitch, and I 0:04:58.640 --> 0:04:59.600 had a fucking snitch. 0:05:00.200 --> 0:05:04.479 In that case, the FBI's informant, Mickey Windecker, tried desperately 0:05:04.520 --> 0:05:07.520 to preserve his cover after he was accused of being 0:05:07.680 --> 0:05:08.480 an informant. 0:05:09.000 --> 0:05:11.440 You should ask who the real fucking punker bitches or 0:05:11.440 --> 0:05:12.799 who the real fucking snitches. 0:05:13.720 --> 0:05:18.320 But now we have a very different story with some 0:05:18.600 --> 0:05:22.960 very different federal agents in this season. The guy working 0:05:22.960 --> 0:05:25.400 with the FEDS isn't trying to hold on to his cover. 0:05:25.839 --> 0:05:28.800 He's trying to expose it, to reveal himself as a 0:05:28.800 --> 0:05:31.600 government agent in order to save himself. 0:05:32.120 --> 0:05:34.960 In my mind that time was okay, as soon as 0:05:34.960 --> 0:05:37.480 I'm going to reach United States CIA, they were going 0:05:37.560 --> 0:05:40.520 to give me all the documents. It shows everything what 0:05:40.680 --> 0:05:41.080 I did. 0:05:41.720 --> 0:05:46.360 Flavio Georgescu, Romanian American businessman, is arrested by the DEA 0:05:46.680 --> 0:05:51.040 and tells those agents that he's collecting intelligence for the CIA. 0:05:51.120 --> 0:05:54.960 Step by step, not even one one step aside of 0:05:55.040 --> 0:05:58.360 the line I didn't took money, I didn't jeopardize nobody 0:05:58.480 --> 0:06:00.680 likes and I delivered everything, which I promise. 0:06:01.080 --> 0:06:05.280 But who is this guy Flavio? Who is he really? 0:06:05.800 --> 0:06:09.400 When I land, there's Flavio in a suit, It's like, 0:06:09.480 --> 0:06:09.919 follow me? 0:06:10.680 --> 0:06:11.960 Is he CIA operative? 0:06:12.839 --> 0:06:15.400 And he slams down his badge in my passport and 0:06:15.440 --> 0:06:17.360 they just stamp it and we walk to the next window, 0:06:18.160 --> 0:06:20.520 and I'm like, something's going on here? 0:06:25.120 --> 0:06:27.200 Is he an international arms dealer? 0:06:28.720 --> 0:06:34.680 Then Romanian government on my as right now because they. 0:06:34.600 --> 0:06:40.320 Think I'm bullshitting or maybe Flavio is something entirely different. 0:06:40.880 --> 0:06:44.560 I see movies with arm dealers on TV. But hold on, 0:06:45.200 --> 0:06:48.840 I have to learn. I have to create a mindset. Okay, 0:06:48.880 --> 0:06:52.680 I'm going there for c B. I'm gonna die. 0:06:57.200 --> 0:07:04.040 This is Alphabet Boys Season two, up and Arms, episode one. 0:07:04.720 --> 0:07:11.240 I work for the CIA. 0:07:17.640 --> 0:07:18.880 No have a prepaid call. 0:07:19.040 --> 0:07:20.800 You will not be charged for this call. 0:07:21.040 --> 0:07:26.080 This car is from just an inmate at I said 0:07:26.120 --> 0:07:27.720 with prison Hi. 0:07:27.680 --> 0:07:30.679 Flave you, Hello, good morning, mister Arson. 0:07:30.920 --> 0:07:32.360 Hey, thanks so much for calling. 0:07:32.520 --> 0:07:34.400 I'm so sorry I didn't realize that this two oh 0:07:34.480 --> 0:07:35.920 two number was you this whole time. 0:07:35.960 --> 0:07:36.600 Sorry about that. 0:07:37.880 --> 0:07:39.720 It is not a problem it's not a problem. 0:07:40.040 --> 0:07:42.840 It's August twenty twenty and Flavio and I are talking 0:07:42.920 --> 0:07:46.280 for the first time. He'd been trying to call me, 0:07:46.920 --> 0:07:49.760 and I had mistakenly ignored his calls. 0:07:51.080 --> 0:07:53.920 Normally, when I tried to make new friends or to 0:07:54.000 --> 0:07:56.480 meet somebody in my life, I don't call them from prison. 0:07:56.960 --> 0:08:00.280 I wait for this call for probably the last or 0:08:00.280 --> 0:08:02.160 Mosboro six. 0:08:03.440 --> 0:08:05.840 In case you haven't figured it out yet, let me 0:08:05.840 --> 0:08:11.320 tell you Flavio was arrested, convicted, and imprisoned for what 0:08:11.440 --> 0:08:15.960 happened in Montenegro, even though he told US officials that 0:08:16.040 --> 0:08:20.440 he was working for the CIA. I get a lot 0:08:20.680 --> 0:08:24.080 of calls, emails, and texts from people claiming to have 0:08:24.160 --> 0:08:27.320 been railroaded by the government. They read my articles or 0:08:27.360 --> 0:08:31.240 hear my podcasts about how federal law enforcement runs very 0:08:31.440 --> 0:08:36.319 questionable sting operations, and they hope I'll cover their very 0:08:36.400 --> 0:08:42.240 questionable cases. Most of the time, there's no there there, 0:08:44.080 --> 0:08:52.800 but Flavio's different. I first heard of Flavio Georgescu in 0:08:52.840 --> 0:08:57.440 twenty fifteen. His arrest for allegedly brokering a seventeen million 0:08:57.480 --> 0:09:01.079 dollar arms deal for the FARC in Colombia stood out 0:09:01.120 --> 0:09:07.360 to me. The deal included some serious weapons anti aircraft, cannons, RPGs, 0:09:07.679 --> 0:09:11.680 assault rifles, the kind that caused misery and destruction in 0:09:11.720 --> 0:09:16.360 the worlds more desperate corners. I wrote about Flavio's case 0:09:16.400 --> 0:09:19.840 during his trial and after being set to prison, Flavio 0:09:20.160 --> 0:09:21.600 started reading my previous work. 0:09:22.360 --> 0:09:25.280 What I was trying to talk with you. You study all 0:09:25.360 --> 0:09:27.960 those cases, and I realized that, and I know how 0:09:28.040 --> 0:09:30.120 much work you put and how much time. 0:09:31.240 --> 0:09:32.720 What I see, what's college? 0:09:32.720 --> 0:09:35.520 So a real prison what I see right now? 0:09:35.559 --> 0:09:41.400 After that much work, you didn't achieve anything because you 0:09:41.440 --> 0:09:44.160 didn't make a change out. 0:09:45.120 --> 0:09:49.559 Okay, Flavio, go on, but my case. 0:09:49.720 --> 0:09:52.320 Is the same like everybody else, because the government use 0:09:52.400 --> 0:09:55.959 a template and the way they approach people based on trust, 0:09:56.000 --> 0:10:02.720 based on temptations, based on different ingredients. Everybody on all 0:10:02.800 --> 0:10:06.080 the cases which you study, they buy the bait, they 0:10:06.160 --> 0:10:09.920 get temptated, whatever they get played or whatever was the situation. 0:10:12.600 --> 0:10:16.200 He's not wrong. In many of these federal cases involving stings, 0:10:16.559 --> 0:10:19.280 the target of the sting moves forward and tries to 0:10:19.960 --> 0:10:24.000 or does commit the crime. Think of Post nine eleven 0:10:24.080 --> 0:10:27.360 terrorism stings. A government agent gives a bomb to the 0:10:27.400 --> 0:10:31.400 target and the target tries to detonate it, not knowing 0:10:31.559 --> 0:10:37.679 the weapon is fake. Or here's another example. In twenty thirteen, 0:10:38.040 --> 0:10:41.959 FBI undercover agents helped the White supremacists build a radiological 0:10:42.040 --> 0:10:46.320 device that's the technical term for what he thought. He 0:10:46.400 --> 0:10:50.439 was building a homemade death ray. 0:10:51.000 --> 0:10:52.520 Eighty four thousands, so. 0:10:54.640 --> 0:10:57.400 All four thousand, this machine, right of four thousand with 0:10:57.480 --> 0:10:58.719 that machine that doesn't. 0:10:58.480 --> 0:10:59.840 Translated the chiefs from. 0:11:02.800 --> 0:11:06.360 And then once the supposed death ray was built, federal 0:11:06.400 --> 0:11:16.160 agents rushed in guns drong. Flavio is trying to tell 0:11:16.160 --> 0:11:20.520 me that his case started like that, but he didn't 0:11:20.880 --> 0:11:23.199 fall into the trap myself. 0:11:23.559 --> 0:11:26.800 I didn't let myself to be played. I didn't lend 0:11:26.800 --> 0:11:31.040 myself to touch the bait. My case is so unique 0:11:31.440 --> 0:11:33.760 based on the facts and based on the evidence. 0:11:34.640 --> 0:11:37.240 Flavio says he wasn't an arms dealer. 0:11:37.960 --> 0:11:39.320 He never was. 0:11:40.320 --> 0:11:43.760 He was the CIA's guy, and he got tangled in 0:11:43.800 --> 0:11:48.480 a web of federal agencies, each with its own agenda. 0:11:48.800 --> 0:11:51.000 None of those agendas included him. 0:11:51.920 --> 0:11:55.720 I was convicted for no reason, and having my case 0:11:56.320 --> 0:11:59.760 compared with the thousand cases which you review them, all 0:11:59.800 --> 0:12:04.240 of my case is the one. But you're gonna clear 0:12:04.679 --> 0:12:09.240 your work and We're gonna put you in this country, 0:12:09.520 --> 0:12:11.840 in the place which you deserve to be. You are 0:12:11.880 --> 0:12:15.320 the only one. That's why I'm so impressed about your 0:12:15.360 --> 0:12:17.840 work and everything, because you are the only one to 0:12:17.960 --> 0:12:21.320 address the cause. You are the only one to point 0:12:21.360 --> 0:12:24.440 the finger on the confidational sources and confinational informant. 0:12:25.520 --> 0:12:28.680 He's the good guy in all this, Flavia says, and 0:12:28.720 --> 0:12:32.800 he insists there's no ambiguity about any of it. He 0:12:32.960 --> 0:12:36.960 was working with the CIA the whole time, but in 0:12:37.000 --> 0:12:42.440 the end he was hung out to dry. Flavio maintains 0:12:42.440 --> 0:12:45.800 that he's innocent, completely innocent. 0:12:47.160 --> 0:12:51.840 First, I want to clear my name because as Romanians, 0:12:52.200 --> 0:12:55.000 we are very proud people and I don't deserve to 0:12:55.000 --> 0:12:58.120 be labeled as a false terrorist for the rest of 0:12:58.160 --> 0:12:59.520 my life. I cannot do that. 0:13:00.120 --> 0:13:00.960 Said to die. 0:13:01.200 --> 0:13:02.960 Just put me to sleep, and that's it. 0:13:06.000 --> 0:13:09.120 Flavia wants me to tell a story, and if I agree, 0:13:09.520 --> 0:13:11.920 he promises to tell me everything. 0:13:13.240 --> 0:13:17.640 Thanks so much to talking. We need probably I don't 0:13:17.679 --> 0:13:20.400 know hours and hours the way you write. I want 0:13:20.400 --> 0:13:23.720 to be with you and start to choose the journey 0:13:23.720 --> 0:13:26.400 which I start in this life. I want to start 0:13:26.440 --> 0:13:29.520 to choose from two thousand that beep sound. 0:13:30.000 --> 0:13:32.760 It means the call is about to end. Federal inmates 0:13:32.760 --> 0:13:35.200 can only talk on the phone for fifteen minutes at 0:13:35.240 --> 0:13:35.560 a time. 0:13:36.320 --> 0:13:39.080 When I was arrested from Montenegro and take you with 0:13:39.200 --> 0:13:43.720 me everywhere and you document everything, and yeah, we're gonna 0:13:43.720 --> 0:13:46.360 be a change. Right now, we're gonna get I have 0:13:46.440 --> 0:13:49.160 only fifteen minutes. I can pull it back in forty minutes. 0:13:49.200 --> 0:13:52.320 Then you tell me your your opinions and we start 0:13:52.360 --> 0:13:52.760 from death. 0:13:53.080 --> 0:13:56.280 Okay, great, I'll be here. I'll look for your call, transistent. 0:13:56.320 --> 0:13:56.640 Thank you. 0:13:58.040 --> 0:14:00.800 This would be the first of men he calls between 0:14:00.880 --> 0:14:04.120 us more after the break. 0:14:26.760 --> 0:14:32.040 This college from an inmate at a set of a prison. 0:14:33.320 --> 0:14:35.920 This may seem pretty obvious to say now, but when 0:14:35.920 --> 0:14:39.760 Flavio calls me back forty minutes later, I tell Flavio 0:14:40.480 --> 0:14:43.440 that I'll do a story. I tell him that I 0:14:43.440 --> 0:14:47.120 want to figure out the truth. But I also tell 0:14:47.200 --> 0:14:51.560 him that I'm a journalist. I'll investigate a story and 0:14:51.600 --> 0:14:55.280 I'll report what I find out. And he may not 0:14:55.440 --> 0:15:01.600 like everything I discover. So where do I start to 0:15:01.760 --> 0:15:05.000 understand Flavo and why he might have done the things 0:15:05.080 --> 0:15:08.960 he says he did. It's important to understand the world. 0:15:09.040 --> 0:15:15.440 He grew up in communist Romania. During the Cold War, 0:15:15.840 --> 0:15:19.400 Romania was unique. It was part of the Eastern Bloc 0:15:20.000 --> 0:15:24.040 but never officially part of the Soviet Union. Cold War 0:15:24.120 --> 0:15:28.280 era Romania was dominated not by Moscow but by a 0:15:28.360 --> 0:15:35.760 single man, Nikolai Chalceska, Doyeska. 0:15:35.120 --> 0:15:35.880 And Prime Movent. 0:15:38.640 --> 0:15:41.280 Chalcescu was a dictator who held on the power for 0:15:41.360 --> 0:15:44.240 a quarter of a century through a massive police state, 0:15:44.920 --> 0:15:49.360 brutal repression and mass surveillance. He used the assets of 0:15:49.400 --> 0:15:52.720 the state to fund an opulent lifestyle. His bathrooms were 0:15:52.720 --> 0:15:57.640 adorned in real gold. Even as many Romanians lived in poverty. 0:15:57.920 --> 0:16:01.040 Teochesku and his family extended their to every facet of 0:16:01.120 --> 0:16:04.760 Romanian life. The secret police have terrified people for years. 0:16:05.160 --> 0:16:08.080 Dissidents have been exiled or simply killed. 0:16:09.120 --> 0:16:15.000 Chiscu's secret police, known as a Securitate, were all powerful. 0:16:15.760 --> 0:16:18.400 Those who spoke out against the government could be pulled 0:16:18.400 --> 0:16:20.320 from their beds in the middle of the night and 0:16:20.480 --> 0:16:23.880 thrown in horrible prisons, never to be heard. 0:16:23.680 --> 0:16:25.440 From villaged positions. 0:16:25.560 --> 0:16:27.760 He held power through the ruthless. 0:16:27.320 --> 0:16:30.080 Depression of the people by means of his security forces, 0:16:30.320 --> 0:16:33.200 a network of police and spies said to number one 0:16:33.240 --> 0:16:34.400 in ten of the population. 0:16:34.840 --> 0:16:35.600 Amongst them was. 0:16:35.600 --> 0:16:39.120 One very Flavio's parents were both geologists, and his father 0:16:39.240 --> 0:16:40.640 worked for the state mining company. 0:16:41.360 --> 0:16:43.360 Flavio was their only child. 0:16:44.080 --> 0:16:48.400 And he was in charge to They'd make a drill 0:16:48.440 --> 0:16:52.440 in the ground, they put dynamite inside, and when they 0:16:52.600 --> 0:16:57.080 detonate that thing, they record the seesmic movement and if 0:16:57.120 --> 0:17:00.800 they sees like X ray, they see if he's oil 0:17:00.880 --> 0:17:02.640 inside or gas or whatever. 0:17:03.720 --> 0:17:07.800 Flavio's father worked with explosives, so the secret police kept 0:17:07.840 --> 0:17:10.840 a particularly close eye on him. 0:17:11.160 --> 0:17:14.840 That means we were so search in our house by 0:17:14.880 --> 0:17:19.239 the secret police and caps and everything, and we were 0:17:19.400 --> 0:17:22.399 terrified all the time because my father did never do 0:17:22.520 --> 0:17:23.200 anything wrong. 0:17:24.240 --> 0:17:26.159 Flavio's dad would even have to watch how much he 0:17:26.240 --> 0:17:27.840 drank during meals on the weekend. 0:17:28.680 --> 0:17:30.840 In Romania, we drink when you start to eat the. 0:17:32.440 --> 0:17:33.040 Main course. 0:17:33.760 --> 0:17:39.399 You drink homemade plums like a brandy okay or a 0:17:39.440 --> 0:17:44.159 little glass while you were stopping Saturday, because Monday he 0:17:44.240 --> 0:17:47.080 was going back to work, and if anything happened wrong 0:17:48.240 --> 0:17:51.240 and they find alcohol in his blood, he was going 0:17:51.280 --> 0:17:52.359 to jail for his life. 0:17:53.520 --> 0:17:57.080 The secure tat was an all consuming concern for Flavio 0:17:57.200 --> 0:18:01.280 and his parents. It affected every part of their lives. 0:18:01.680 --> 0:18:03.000 Let me tell you something else. 0:18:03.040 --> 0:18:04.199 You know, I was growing up. 0:18:04.240 --> 0:18:07.040 If you go to in the summer, were having a 0:18:07.119 --> 0:18:10.960 vacation and we go to the Black Sea. If you 0:18:11.760 --> 0:18:15.840 having a long hair, the cops they will stop you. 0:18:17.160 --> 0:18:21.760 Chilchescu's agents who keep hair clippers on hand, they'd shave 0:18:22.080 --> 0:18:25.480 an X in the back of any long haired man's head. 0:18:26.480 --> 0:18:31.119 If you have any jeans, okay, the cops there was 0:18:31.160 --> 0:18:34.919 having scissors in the packet. Then those cutting your jeans 0:18:34.920 --> 0:18:37.719 and your jacket because the jeens comes from the West, 0:18:37.840 --> 0:18:41.199 from cowboys. And if you don't have cows, why do 0:18:41.280 --> 0:18:44.960 you have to wear jeans? 0:18:45.240 --> 0:18:45.600 Yeah? 0:18:46.280 --> 0:18:50.679 Actually, so many, so many crazy, crazy things. 0:18:51.440 --> 0:18:54.760 Throughout all this, Flavio says he dreamed of another place. 0:18:55.880 --> 0:18:56.480 As a child. 0:18:56.520 --> 0:19:00.159 In the nineteen eighties, he was completely enamored with the 0:19:00.200 --> 0:19:03.560 idea of the United States. A few friends showed him 0:19:03.800 --> 0:19:07.440 how he could illegally listen to American broadcasts on his radio. 0:19:09.560 --> 0:19:12.640 Networks like Radio Free Europe and Voice of America were 0:19:12.680 --> 0:19:17.520 then and continue to be US government funded projects, a 0:19:17.520 --> 0:19:21.439 form of propaganda intended to seduce listeners with American and 0:19:21.480 --> 0:19:27.120 Western ideas, things like open societies, a free press, unrestricted expression, 0:19:27.560 --> 0:19:28.520 and rock and roll. 0:19:28.720 --> 0:19:33.000 Which gives you their music the insights with the politics 0:19:33.000 --> 0:19:33.960 and everything. 0:19:34.520 --> 0:19:39.960 And Flavio fell for it. He'd tune in as often 0:19:40.000 --> 0:19:44.520 as he could. But one night Flavio's dad discovered him 0:19:44.560 --> 0:19:50.520 listening to the American broadcast. He was horrified. 0:19:51.480 --> 0:19:55.119 He catched me one time, listened down one huh. He 0:19:55.160 --> 0:19:57.640 didn't beat me up because they never hit me one time. 0:19:57.640 --> 0:20:01.320 My mom over my dad. But I got so much 0:20:02.400 --> 0:20:05.240 theory and explained to me the risk and everything to 0:20:05.320 --> 0:20:09.359 listen to radio. I you Bob, listened radio for the 0:20:09.359 --> 0:20:11.040 rest of my life. 0:20:11.280 --> 0:20:14.560 But then everything changed. 0:20:15.280 --> 0:20:19.080 Mister Gorbachev teared down this wall. 0:20:24.480 --> 0:20:29.360 In the late eighties, the Iron Curtain fell, revolutions erupted 0:20:29.560 --> 0:20:34.960 in Eastern Europe. In Romania's was the bloodiest. Thousands of 0:20:34.960 --> 0:20:39.400 people were killed. Chelchescu finally fell when the military turned 0:20:39.400 --> 0:20:43.440 against him. Thousands poured into the streets of the capitol Bucharest, 0:20:44.040 --> 0:20:47.600 chanting the national anthem as it had been written before 0:20:47.680 --> 0:20:55.240 Chelchescu took power. Chelchescu and his wife were suddenly stripped 0:20:55.280 --> 0:21:00.200 of power and arrested just before Christmas nineteen eighty nine, 0:21:00.359 --> 0:21:01.879 they were both executed. 0:21:02.880 --> 0:21:06.879 The deposed Romanian leader, President Chowcescu and his wife have 0:21:07.000 --> 0:21:11.600 been executed. State television tonight announced a military tribunal found 0:21:11.640 --> 0:21:14.440 them guilty of genocide and undermining. 0:21:14.000 --> 0:21:17.480 The national Following the revolution, Romania began a decades long 0:21:17.560 --> 0:21:28.679 process of political and economic reforms. Flavio is a natural talker. 0:21:29.160 --> 0:21:30.639 It can be hard to get them to stop talking. 0:21:30.800 --> 0:21:31.200 Honestly. 0:21:31.560 --> 0:21:34.600 Read flag for me A boy was the respect was 0:21:34.680 --> 0:21:36.440 put with some bitter taste in my mind. You don't 0:21:36.440 --> 0:21:38.920 see me who I am? His father, and he grew 0:21:39.000 --> 0:21:41.679 up everything like his friendly Right now there are multi 0:21:41.680 --> 0:21:44.480 billionaires and everything. And he was staying in my house 0:21:44.520 --> 0:21:45.080 for a few days. 0:21:45.080 --> 0:21:48.640 And he excelled at building relationships in Romania. As Romania 0:21:48.680 --> 0:21:52.199 started changing, he went to work at an exclusive hotel 0:21:52.320 --> 0:21:55.080 in Bucharest. He became known as a guy who could 0:21:55.119 --> 0:21:58.760 get things done, who could get guests whatever they desired 0:21:58.760 --> 0:22:04.399 in the city. Acting that's a kind of fixer. But 0:22:04.520 --> 0:22:07.480 Romania wasn't changing as quickly as Flavia would have liked, 0:22:08.119 --> 0:22:15.919 and he still dreamed of living in America. Flavio had 0:22:15.960 --> 0:22:18.160 a cousin in Las Vegas who was running a gym 0:22:18.359 --> 0:22:20.320 so he applied for a visa and arrived in the 0:22:20.400 --> 0:22:23.440 United States in the late nineteen nineties. Flavia went to 0:22:23.520 --> 0:22:26.160 Vegas initially to work for his cousin. 0:22:26.760 --> 0:22:31.359 Myself, I was fascinated about the shows. I was so 0:22:31.480 --> 0:22:36.200 excited about the Hoover dam ranted those jet ski all 0:22:36.320 --> 0:22:42.040 day long was beautiful. And what I loved so much 0:22:42.240 --> 0:22:45.920 was the people. You see Vegas, it is a place 0:22:45.960 --> 0:22:51.320 which everybody's happy. Nobody cries, nobody said. Even they lose money, 0:22:51.400 --> 0:22:52.760 they win money, they are happy. 0:22:53.680 --> 0:22:56.080 Flavio had several odd jobs during those initial years in 0:22:56.080 --> 0:23:01.000 the United States, but Flavio built relationships all around, just 0:23:01.040 --> 0:23:04.520 as he had done in Bucharest years earlier, and Flavio 0:23:04.600 --> 0:23:08.560 established a transnational reputation too. If a wealthy Romanian was 0:23:08.600 --> 0:23:12.000 flying into Las Vegas for a good time, Flavio was 0:23:12.040 --> 0:23:16.480 to go to contact. He would arrange just about anything, 0:23:17.359 --> 0:23:21.800 shopping trips, exclusive access to casinos and restaurants, whatever could 0:23:21.800 --> 0:23:26.840 be bought with money in Las Vegas, which is well everything. 0:23:27.960 --> 0:23:30.760 Flavio's clients would fly to Las Vegas, find an obscenely 0:23:30.800 --> 0:23:34.199 expensive car, take it for a test drive, and then 0:23:34.240 --> 0:23:37.680 buy it. Flavio was responsible for finding a way to 0:23:37.680 --> 0:23:41.119 get the car from Las Vegas to Romania. 0:23:43.359 --> 0:23:45.880 I was shipping things cars to Europe all the time, 0:23:46.359 --> 0:23:49.520 and somebody said, it is a Romanian guy in la. 0:23:49.960 --> 0:23:53.720 And that's how Flavio would make a connection that would 0:23:53.720 --> 0:24:00.560 prove life changing. Andy Georgescu ran a sho shipping company 0:24:00.560 --> 0:24:05.720 in Los Angeles that prided itself on discretion. Andy didn't 0:24:05.720 --> 0:24:07.480 ask a whole lot of questions about his cargo. 0:24:08.400 --> 0:24:11.240 Then I met him and I said, he's Romanian. We 0:24:11.359 --> 0:24:12.680 have the same last name. 0:24:13.280 --> 0:24:17.080 Flavio and Andy aren't related. George Escu is the most 0:24:17.119 --> 0:24:20.920 common surname in Romania. It'd be like two unrelated Smiths 0:24:21.000 --> 0:24:25.680 being friends. In the United States, Flavio was initially skeptical 0:24:25.760 --> 0:24:28.920 of Andy and a shipping company, but over the years 0:24:28.960 --> 0:24:31.320 he shipped a lot of cars with Andy. 0:24:32.480 --> 0:24:34.960 First of all, I don't want to get affiliated with 0:24:35.000 --> 0:24:37.280 people which I don't know what they do. Those cars 0:24:37.400 --> 0:24:40.199 expensive cars and has to be take care of in 0:24:40.200 --> 0:24:42.920 a specific way, and with the insurance, with everything. With 0:24:43.160 --> 0:24:46.080 more companies, they cannot offer those things. So no, give 0:24:46.119 --> 0:24:48.160 him my chance. I was, okay, give you my chance. 0:24:48.760 --> 0:24:51.240 The two george Escus made a lot of money together. 0:24:51.720 --> 0:24:54.560 They were both hustlers, Romanian immigrants who had made it 0:24:54.560 --> 0:24:57.920 the United States. Their common heritage created such a strong 0:24:57.960 --> 0:25:00.240 bond that they'd met each other's parents back in the 0:25:00.280 --> 0:25:04.399 home country. Flavio had even visited Andy's ill father when 0:25:04.440 --> 0:25:07.880 he was in the hospital in Romania. And one day 0:25:08.480 --> 0:25:13.240 in twenty twelve, Andy has an idea, a new way 0:25:13.280 --> 0:25:18.960 for them to make money, a lot of money. He 0:25:19.040 --> 0:25:22.160 tells Flavio he knows a Colombian looking for a way 0:25:22.200 --> 0:25:26.280 to buy millions of dollars in weapons. Just a cut 0:25:26.280 --> 0:25:32.000 of that a commission would mean a big payday. So 0:25:32.080 --> 0:25:36.159 Andy tells the Colombian that he knows a guy, a 0:25:36.240 --> 0:25:40.000 guy who can make stuff happen, maybe even an arms deal. 0:25:44.160 --> 0:25:44.960 That's after the break. 0:26:02.200 --> 0:26:03.600 This is this is my plan. 0:26:04.240 --> 0:26:05.480 We have called a lot. 0:26:05.720 --> 0:26:10.040