Danny Gold

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Danny Gold

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Sean Williams

She was tired mostly.

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Sean Williams

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Danny Gold

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Danny Gold

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Danny Gold

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Sean Williams

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Danny Gold

Oh, my God. That's. That's not like the usual intro. Yeah, I mean, behind me is what looks like a art installation, but it's not. It's just a nice blinded window in a beautiful little house on a village on the English coast. So I'm on family holiday, so there's nothing to complain about. You might be able to hear that my speech is completely ruined, though, because I hate Iberia. Never take an Iberia flight. It was awful. It's made me sick forever. But at the moment I'm enjoying, like, boating on the lake and tea and cakes and. Yeah, I've got nothing to complain about, man. I know that's not really the podcast shtick, but everything's good.

Sean Williams

Great stuff. No cold open this week, like I said we are bringing you guys a stash house episode, which is a cute little term we use when we don't do one big story for the show, but instead just bring you guys some fun updates from big stories in the news when it comes to the world of international national organized crime. Anyway, as always, you can Support us@patreon.com podcast or on Spotify or on iTunes or YouTube for bonus episodes, ad free. Usually early drops too, like the night before. Email us at the Underworld podcast gmail.com for tips or advertising inquiries or compliments. And what else, you know, T shirts merch@underworldpod.com why not buy one or five for your family for this coming summer. Starting off, we have a wild one in Ireland. All of you who listen to the show or just watch the news know who Daniel Kinahan is, right? And his father, Christy Kinahan, Irish kingpin's first father, then son, who became the top guys importing drugs into Ireland and then rose up through the ranks to become the biggest cartel in Europe, bringing drugs into the continent. Connections all over the world from South America to Iran. Daniel the sun was just busted in Dubai, where many thought he was invincible. We talked about it, I think on the last stash house and a couple of episodes. But before they went global, the Kinahan family needed to fight and win a war in Ireland. And their opponents in the war actually kind of happened after they went global, but it was still a war in the streets of Ireland. And their opponents in that war were the Hutch crime family, led by Jerry the Monk Hutch, who is now, instead of being a gang leader, he's looking to join the greatest criminal group in history. That's right, Sean. You know who I'm talking about. Those crooks in Congress, although not Congress, but a central Dublin seat in the, in Ireland's parliament. And much like my CO Sean Williams, after he gets a few pints in him, he's got some pretty spicy views. But first, who is Jerry the Monkotch? Glad you asked, because a story about an old guy running for election just isn't that interesting without his background.

Danny Gold

Yeah, my ad, they are views that are finally shared in this part of the world. So that's refreshing. Which.

Sean Williams

Which part of the world are we talking about here? Ireland or South America or both?

Danny Gold

Oh, my views? No, no, no, Just rural England. Yeah, they go there really well around here.

Sean Williams

Jerry Hutch is born in 1963, raised in the slums of Dublin, and he starts his life of crime at a young age, 10 running with a gang of other juvenile delinquents called the Bugsy Malone Gang. Now, I Google this, and Bugsy Malone is a gangster musical comedy from the 1970s, which is a weird thing to name yourself after if you're trying to be, like, a tough group of young kids. But who am I to judge all these guys in the gang? Eventually, they all end up dead or in jail. They're doing scams, burglaries, robberies. Not much with the drug dealing. More like, you know, old school bank robbers. Like we've talked about in Ireland, that was a big thing. In no time, though, Jerry himself graduates to being a bank robber, and a damn good one at that. Although he's in and out of jail.

Danny Gold

Wait, I didn't clock this to begin with, but did you not know what Bugsy Malone was?

Sean Williams

No, I did not.

Danny Gold

Oh, man. That's like, oh, who did the guy who shot Reagan want to do it for? Who's that, Jodie Foster? Yeah, Jodie Foster. It's like early Jodie Foster, I think. And she hits like a musical. Is incredible.

Sean Williams

You can't judge me on not seeing Bugsy Malone. Where you haven't seen, like, Carlito's Way. What else? Bronx Tale. You know, like this. Yeah. Like, come on. Yeah. You know, it goes both ways here. And musical comedy, gangster films has never really been my. My thing.

Danny Gold

Although starring teenagers.

Sean Williams

I did see Guys and Dolls on Broadway when I was like. Like 16, and it's pretty good, man. Good movie. I mean, good, good, good play. I don't know if they did. I'm sure they've done a movie of it. But Guys and Dolls, it's probably better

Danny Gold

as a movie, right?

Sean Williams

If you're gonna see a Broadway play. Highly recommended. Okay, where were we? In 1985, Jerry the monk Hutch gets out of jail. He goes on the straight and narrow, kind of, or so he says. He comes out a, you know, changed man. He starts living an aesthetic lifestyle, whatever that means. He isn't flashy, and he's dubbed the Monk. He also looks very cool. You know, he's got, like, the full beard and the long, flowing gray hair. Like, kind of looks like a monk, I guess, but. But handsome man. Very, very most interesting man in the world. Look right there. He founds a boxing club. He starts getting in and out of property. Stays away from the gangland stuff, though all the rumors are saying he heads up an organization called the Hutch Family Gang. And let's be real here, he does. The rumors are true. By all accounts, though, he does stay away from drugs. He starts running a car service that sometimes takes celebs around Ireland, including Mike Tyson. And he runs his boxing gym. But yeah, he's always rumored to be involved in all these big time robberies, bank heist, things like that. So him and the Kinahans, they mostly stay out of each other's way. But the Monk has a knucklehead nephew, gangster who gets involved with the Kinahans and allegedly becomes an informant after a drug shipment gone bad. This is around like 2013, 2014, 2015. There's rumors of monies on his head. And his uncle, the Monk, the guy running for election, is said to have made a deal with the Ganhans to buy his life back. But in 2015, the nephew was gunned down in Spain on Costa del Sol, you know, where all the gangsters hide out. And a war kicks off between the Hutch crime family, led by the now aspiring politician, versus the Kinahan cartel. And you can kind of see where things are going to go when you're called a crime family versus something called a cartel. Cartel is generally going to, you know, have more resources, but bodies drop. You got cousins, brothers, uncles, soldiers just. Just keep popping up damn near every month in 2016. And the Hutch crime family does put up a good fight. But, you know, local heroes can't really compete with a top international drug cartel. They do almost get Daniel Kinahan at a major boxing press conference. There's a thing with balaclavas and getting interrupted. It's really wild. A lot of it's on video. But the Kinahans, they're just too much. I mean, they're ordering international hitmen to Ireland and giving them hit list kind of fizzles out by 2019ish. But the Kinahans are, you know, basically the victors.

Danny Gold

I think that 2016, was it 2016, that this kind of like Balaclava AK's attack, that. That was the basis of one of our shows, right? Earlier in the year or maybe last

Sean Williams

year, I think it.

Danny Gold

I think.

Sean Williams

No, I think that was the basis of our show in 2013. Our first episode on the. On the hell. That would have been like third episode, I think, fourth episode. People didn't. Some people in Ireland got really mad about that one. They didn't like the sources we used. But I don't know. Did we do something on the balaclava stuff too?

Danny Gold

I feel like we did. Maybe it was in. I feel like it was in a more recent show because I think we did one yeah, no, I think it was the one with Ed Caesar that I did maybe at the start of this year or the end of last about his reporting on it. But, yeah, it's like fascinating stuff.

Sean Williams

Well, his reporting was on the Kinhan cartel, right?

Danny Gold

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Sean Williams

Anyway, this brings us to Jerry Hutch's late career transition, which, you know, those are tough to do. So props to him for getting back out there and trying to make something work. I think in his 60s or late 50s, he actually ran in 2024 and almost won a seat in the general election. And now the Guardian has tagged along with him as well as he canvases in Dublin big on anti immigration, quote, The Guardian, Jimmy McDade, 77, said he would vote for Hutch to clean up drug dealing. Asked about Hutch's criminal record, McDade said, that was in the past. Everyone is entitled to a second chance. Look at the government. They're the gangster saying one thing and doing another, which, you know, it is funny. I mean, who has taken on drug dealers when it comes down to it, in Ireland more than Jerry the Hutch? Jerry the Monk Hutch. I mean, I guess he's got nephews and cousins and whatever doing it, but he did fight a war against the biggest drug cartel, not only in Ireland, but. But in Europe. So he. I don't know if he wants to use that in, like, his campaign platform, being like, I actually did, you know, when you're talking about fighting drug dealing. I did, but, you know, it's a point he probably won't make. Yeah, yeah, it is looking like he probably won't win. Not polling so great. Sounds like Sean, he could use a little bit of that. Luck of the Irish. Back over to you, Sean Williams for sports and weather.

Danny Gold

Yeah, Irish Against Immigration. That is. That's a definition of a brass neck. Anyway, I'll be doing something slightly different today. My first story for today's stash house is from my adopted new home of Buenos Aires, where the cops have been going on an absolute tear up. Operacion Tormenta Negra, or Operation Black storm, involved over 1500 officers raiding 16 of Buenos Aires, poorest neighborhoods with the objective of, quote, pacification and order.

Sean Williams

Dude, I gotta say, Operation Blackstorm, pretty good name, but Operation Operation Tortimenta Negra is a sick name for an op. Like, that's really good.

Danny Gold

It's one of those rare ones that actually sounds really good in both languages. The raids, anyway, a lot of which have actually happened just a short walk from where. Where I've been Living. Although due to extremely annoying bureaucracy, I don't know where I'm going to live after this trip. They have resulted in 27 arrests, four alleged crim bunkers shut down, and 25 illegal front companies closed. Which might seem like relative small fright in the scheme of things, but it's interesting for a couple of reasons. Right. Firstly, Buenos Aires doesn't make the news radars of many folks in Europe or North America, but it is a massive city. Actually, it's the second biggest in South America. 16 million people. And the kind of biggest economic hub of the Southern cone, which, yeah, it's. It's the region that is at the end of South America. It attracts a huge number of migrants all over from Peru, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, even Venezuelans. Shout out to the guy from Caracas who sold me tacos the other night, who absolutely refused to walk down his insane accent, even though I couldn't understand any of it. So I genuinely appreciate that.

Sean Williams

I, I'm kind of shocked by that. I didn't realize it was the second biggest city in Latin America. Maybe, you know, woefully uneducated, but would have expected Brazil to have like the top five.

Danny Gold

Yeah, I think it, I'm going to get this wrong, but I think it goes Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, Rio and then Lima maybe, I don't know. But yeah, it's. It's really big. So the city might not be that consequential in the U.S. right. But what happens here, it really matters. For South America, and owing to the recent economic shock therapy, thanks to Senor Presidente Milei and the illiterate leaders who went before him, inflation is through the roof. And homelessness and drug use are soaring too. And you can actually see it like in the past three, four months since I've lived there, there has been a palpable increase of people sleeping rough. It's pretty crazy, actually.

Sean Williams

Well, I thought inflation had been going down and like, look, I'm, I'm no libertarian, but I feel like Malay was handed the dumbest economy in South America for.

Danny Gold

That's true.

Sean Williams

Decades and decades of the stupidest economic policies in, in Latin America, which is saying a lot.

Danny Gold

That is saying a lot. And it's also true. The inflation is like, it's pretty much stable to what it was before, so nothing has really changed yet. And prices are going through. It's like, really, I don't understand how people live there. In fact, the more I learned about Buenos Aires, I don't understand how it functions. Like, it doesn't make anything. It has docks, but they're not huge. I don't get why people live there or what it does. If anyone could tell me, actually, that would help.

Sean Williams

They're the Italians of South America, dude. You think they want to, you know, go into the office and it's. They got three months off. Now it's summer.

Danny Gold

Yes, that is true.

Sean Williams

And they.

Danny Gold

They probably eat enough ice cream to prop up a small country, which is pretty cool anyway.

Sean Williams

Beef and. Beef and red wine. The two states.

Danny Gold

Yeah, but none of it's in the city. Right, but none of it's anywhere near it. I don't get what Buenos Aires does. That's all I'm saying. And it's really nice. Anyway, if potatoes are hooked on anything besides gelato and eating like, asado, which is just amazing, it's usually on something called Paco, which has been around for a very long time. And if you're thinking of giving it a spin, here is an NPR article from back in 2009. Quote, Paco is a smokable drug made from bits of cocaine residue, industrial solvents, and kerosene, or rat poison. Those who smoke it are popularly known as muertos bibos, or the living dead, due to their emaciated appearance and short lifespan.

Sean Williams

So, speaking of giving it a spin, Sean is actually going to be smoking it live on the Patreon for our higher tier subscribers. So definitely sign up for that.

Danny Gold

True.

Sean Williams

And I think this is a thing in Colombia, too. I'm not sure if it's the exact same thing, but I remember Toby Muse telling me about it when I was, you know, visiting him in Colombia, like more than a decade ago. God, like 15, 15 years ago. And I think it was called Basura, but I. It could be something different. Basura is obviously garbage, but it was something about sort of the leftover parts of cocaine. I don't remember anything about, you know, kerosene or rat poison, but it was the thing that, like, all the really, really messed up and poor people smoked.

Danny Gold

Yeah, I was going to say, like, that description of the people could be any British community. But I. I think in. Even when I was doing that story. I know, I know, but I've shut the windows. It's fine. I think when I was doing that story in Nepal a few years ago, they smoked like, the local version of this, which was basically opium base mixed in with various disgusting chemicals from, like, factory processes. So I think every country has its version of this, but it's. It's really widespread, actually, in Buenos Aires and across Argentina. And that 2009 piece says that in some shanties which are known in Buenos Aires as Bijas Miseria or Villas Miseria, that's Villa. Yeah, get that local accent. Up to half of men aged between 13 and 30 are hooked on Paco. So I'm going to do a show down the line about the most infamous Bija Mizalia in the country soon. Bija Mujica or Bija31, which is only a couple of miles from where I've been living. It's crazy. Like, did you see the place where Peter Till has just moved into? Like you could, you could throw a baseball into that bisha from his backyard. So like the richest and the poorest neighborhoods are like that's, that's all of

Sean Williams

Latin America to back. Isn't that all?

Danny Gold

Well, yeah, it's. I think it's like crazier here. It like.

Sean Williams

And the Third World too. I mean India's got those famous photos, right, of like, you know. Oh, like the wolves. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Danny Gold

That's just.

Sean Williams

Yeah, that's just developing. Third, are we allowed to say Third World?

Danny Gold

I think. I don't. Yeah, it's all the same fucking thing, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, developing, let's say developing. I don't know. Anyway, yeah, I'll do a show on that. It's like a really interesting thing is Argentina.

Sean Williams

Argentina's not Third World, right?

Danny Gold

Well, it kind of. It's both. It's really confusing. It's like giant Parisian buildings right next to sort of favelas. I can't work it out. I cannot work Argentina out. And I need to read more, which I probably won't do because I'm reading about Chinese gangsters half the time anyway. It's very dangerous. You need a local guide or you're going to get jacked like 100% in this place. And Paco is everywhere. So there is a real problem. Increasingly more gangs from Brazil are sinking their teeth into Buenos Aires. Last year a government official uncovered a network of almost 60 members of the First Capital Command, or PCC in Portuguese, which came out of the 1990s prison system in Sao Paulo and which Danny especially has done a lot about. The story of Latin American drugs over the past year is largely how the PCC especially has taken over a lot of the cocaine trade. And if you listen to my recent bonus with Peru based reporter Simeon Taegel, you'll know how they're cutting into the Amazon rainforest with drug production too. So there is a real drug problem in BA and real gangsters are Present. But there is also more to Operacion tormenta negra, and it's wound into Argentina's difficult past. BA Mayor Jorge Macri. He's the cousin of conservative former President Maurizio Macri. And he's grown closer to President Milei, a libertarian, like we said, but whose political platform is kind of veering off to the right in recent months. Like, he's sort of like falling off the horse a bit. It's a bit strange, actually. Macri has said that the, quote, historic operation would protect so called Personas debien, or good people from bad people. And that kind of language, like, is straight out of the military dictatorship, which is between 1976 and 1983, when all kinds of bad things happened, especially to minorities, including indigenous groups, Latin American immigrants and Jews. And it's been ramping up in recent months, too. Milei has even minted his own version of ICE to surf out migrants from other part of the continent. This year, he focused on the Buenos Aires suburb of Ontzi, which is massively Peruvian. Like, amazing food down there. And while Milei himself usually sticks to either libertarian economic, like, wonkish stuff or bonkers PR videos, his team, especially his sister, who, if you want to know more about this stuff, she is really interesting. She is mad. Anyway, this is getting a bit too political, but I think what's happening there is really, really interesting. You've got this combination of a genuine drug addiction problem to a near endemic drug itself. You've got big gangs moving in and the government not really looking in that direction at all. It's using crime instead as a springboard for its agenda, which I think is like, really similar to what I looked into in New Zealand, actually. People kind of looking the wrong way. And anyway, I find this really fascinating and you should too. And that's why organized crime is really interesting. And you should listen to this podcast every week and listen to the Patreon and give us money. Is that. Is that right?

Sean Williams

Well done. Well done, bud.

Danny Gold

Thank you.

Sean Williams

Next up, we have a more classic of the genre. There is a clan war in Italy. I think someone on the IG actually alerted me to this. I had no idea about it. You know, it's funny at this point, like southern Italian crime, whether it's the Camorra, the Sicilian Mafia, even the Njonghetta, though, obviously. I mean, they're, they're huge. I kind of feel like it almost goes in one ear, out the other when we do hear about it, or that it doesn't hit the. The international news that much. There's just been so many wars, you know, throughout the decades, so many major takedowns. It's honestly kind of shocking to me if there's anyone left to have clan wars. But, Sean, there are. And interestingly, this one is not in the typical locations, I guess. I mean, southern Italy, it's all typical. But it's not in Naples, it's not in Sicily, it's not in Calabria. It's in Bari, which is in the region of Apudia. Puglia. Puglia. The Italians say a Puglia. Right.

Danny Gold

Everyone else is Puglia. And then we just say Puglia, which

Sean Williams

is right on the water. The northern edge of the bottom of the boot. The Adriatic Sea, though, not the Mediterranean somewhere. I would much rather be right now just eating tiny fried frisks, drinking a Peroni, smoking cigarettes on the beach, you know?

Danny Gold

Yeah.

Sean Williams

Which is just how I imagine they actually spend most of their days there when they're not shooting each other.

Danny Gold

It is one of the nicest places I've ever been. I did two weeks in Puglia, and it was the best holiday place in the world. I mean. I mean, when the locals aren't committing murder. But it is unreal. I would recommend anyone to go there. Yeah.

Sean Williams

But, you know, if you're looking for a story with the ingredients of a classic Italian mafia war, old blood feuds, ambitious young gangsters, nightclub shootings, revenge killings, and a city trying to reinvent itself as sort of like, you know, this hot vacation spot while organized crime threatens to drag it backwards. This, like I said, is a real classic of the genre. So these gangs are referred to as the Bari Kamora. Body. Is it Body or Bari Bari, I think, but I think they're using the term kimura like we use the word Mafia. So don't think of it as Naples, you know, like a catch all for. For gangs, more so organized gangs. I don't think they're affiliated with the Napolitan Camorra, who are the famous ones. Also, the clan thing is kind of funny to me because it sounds way more exotic than. It's mostly just teenagers and windbreakers with terrible haircuts shooting each other. Which actually, when it comes down to it, that's actually what a lot of organized crime and gang stuff is.

Danny Gold

But. Yeah, correct.

Sean Williams

I bet these Southern Italian ones do have great style, though, you know. And you know what? They probably pull off the haircuts. If I'm being honest, guys, when you're working outside in the springtime, it means you're dealing with chilly mornings, hot afternoons, and Everything in between. Not to mention you got mud, rain, and whatever else the weather decides to throw at you. You need workwear that can keep up with the changing conditions. And TrueWerk has you covered. You know, most workwear you get, it's made from cotton blends. It restricts your movement, gets soaked after a few raindrops and just doesn't get dry. True Work uses advanced performance fabrics to build products designed specifically for work on the job site. Springtime is the perfect season for the T2 work pant, which keeps you comfortable over a wide range of conditions for all the stuff you're going to face. Plus also it's got four way stretch for bending, kneeling and climbing, a water resistant finish to shed rain, and nine intelligent pockets that keep tools just where you need them. They've been tested and validated for over 10 years by Real trade pros working in real job site conditions. With over 15,000 five star reviews, it's worth experiencing the difference for yourself. I've used them, you know, when I go upstate and you're clearing out the yard, just doing a little bit of stuff up there, I use it. It really, really works well. You're not getting, you know, you're not getting all messed up from the weather. You're not getting, it's not too hot, it's not too cold, you're not getting soaked, especially when you bend down and like the grass and everything like that. You know, cheap gear, it makes the job harder. Pants that, that wear out, you got to buy new ones all the time. There's no stretch, so it's uncomfortable. You know, you're getting, you're chafing and all that sort of stuff. T2 work pant. It's going to make everything better. The work doesn't stop just because the weather changes. Upgrade to the T2 work pan and stay comfortable no matter what the day brings. Get 15% off your first order at truework.com with code Underworld. That's T R U E W E-R-K.com code Underworld. True work. Built like it matters because it does. Security program on spreadsheets, new regulations piling

Danny Gold

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Sean Williams

now what's interesting though is while these Bari clans are considered Kamora, and like I said, Apulia is actually home to what's typically dubbed the fourth mafia, though maybe the fifth mafia now after the Stidda, Sakura Corona unita. And these clans are supposed to be independent of them. Investigators say that Bari's crime has gamorized, meaning it's more fluid and violent like the Naples Gamora, rather than following the SCU's model, which is like the Sicilian model. So it's been weeks of clashes there since April between these rival clans. The rising. God, this is going to be brutal.

Danny Gold

I really wondered when I saw that one.

Sean Williams

And the historically powerful Capriati clan, the Julio clan, often described as the most powerful and bloodthirsty in the area, emerged in the late 1990s as an offshoot of the Capriatis. So, you know, there's gonna be bad blood there. They focus on like the sort of braining of brutality and recruiting the really young young people and teenagers and all that sort of stuff. And the feud between them, it dates back to 1997 and has, according to prosecutors, never truly been resolved. Over the decades, it's claimed dozens of lives, which, you know, Italian mafia war isn't that much. The Capriati clan has historically controlled parts of the old city, while the God damn it Julio clan, led by the brothers Domenico and Sigismondo, hold sway over the other neighborhoods.

Danny Gold

Well done. Yeah, also that's a. It sounds like a Phil Collins song, but yeah, congratulations on that. That's one of that. Genuinely one of your ones.

Sean Williams

I mean, dude, it's brutal. The current cycle of violence traces back to a brawl in a Bari nightclub, which in March 2024, one of the copyrightes gets a gun pulled on him during an argument. Then a bunch of other copyrightes go to the Strista Giulio neighborhood and they shoot it up and they wound a few young guys. On April 1st of that year, which is Easter Monday, one high ranking Capriati is killed when two hitmen on a motorcycle pull alongside his car and shoot him four times in the head. Which is, you know, southern Italians doing a hit on Easter Monday. Seems like a violation of many, many rules, but, well, I'm sure they, they found the appropriate saint and made amends. To him afterwards.

Danny Gold

Well, one of the wars between a stida and the Cosa Nostra, one of the biggest, like mass killings was, I. I think also either on Christmas day or Easter day, I don't know. Something like this.

Sean Williams

Yeah. Brutal though.

Danny Gold

Yeah.

Sean Williams

According to investigators. According to. Yeah, you know, I don't know. I'm sure there's a. That you go, you do a couple Hail Marys and. And. Nice thing about Catholicism, man. Yeah. Get forgiven. According to investigators, this whole high profile hater was ordered from prison by leaders of the Julio clan. It shocks the city, signals a big power shift and there ends up being surveillance footage of the killers who are high ranking Julio members. And apparently the guy killed had tried to act as a mediator between the clans, but his son had been up in the nightclubs sort of starting. Starting trouble. Then we have the usual shootouts in broad daylight, innocents getting killed, lots of eventual nightclub violence. Writes an Italian paper. Quote, what makes this conflict especially dangerous is that it's being run by the old school bosses who traditionally impose discipline. Bari's chief prosecutor has argued that many of the historic leaders are either dead or imprisoned, leaving younger gangsters to fight over territory. These younger members often lack the restraint of previous generations and are more prone to impulsive violence.

Danny Gold

I mean, you just cannot do better in my day, shtick, if you're like an Italian mafioso, can you? I mean, there was like whole wars in the 80s when they were gunning down bombing civilians all through the decade. Like, nah, come on, man.

Sean Williams

Yeah, it's fun. It's fun to pretend they had better impulse control, but they did. Did not.

Danny Gold

Impulse control, yeah. Italy. No, those two things don't go together.

Sean Williams

Now it's serious enough that the interior ministry of Italy is heading down there to check things out or did head down there recently. I think, Sean, we should also head over there and. And check things out. And by that I mean just eat, you know, tiny fried fish.

Danny Gold

I agree. I actually stopped over in Madrid for one day on this trip and we had like a bucket of tiny fried fish and it was the best thing ever. And we had the little pimientros padron. Oh, my God.

Sean Williams

You know, you find I go to the Greek neighbors in New York and they do it, but they don't do the tiny ones. They do like sardines, you know, I'm talking about like the anchovies. Like the ones that like that are like shoestring fries. That's really where it's at.

Danny Gold

I wonder if they do it where I'M going next month, which I'll probably announce on another show. But, yeah, they surely will.

Sean Williams

One interesting note, by all accounts, these neighborhoods where it's happening, the shootouts have been like, really transformed in the recent decades. Gentrified. And they've become the hot tourist destinations with restaurants and beautiful streets. Just a fabulous old city. But now authentic southern Italy culture is being restored, you could say.

Danny Gold

It's a. It's an uplifting story, I think this one, ultimately. Yeah. My second one this week features a recent star of the show that is Joss or Jos Leidkers. I think it's Joss, right? Joss Leidkers Bolajos or Chubby Joss, the Dutch cocaine kingpin who hid out in the Sierra Leonean capital city of Freetown for years, getting its biggest political leaders on board and helping cement West Africa as one of the world's premier drug transshipment points. A couple of weeks ago, a Dutch court convicted the fugitive to eight years in prison for smuggling drugs from Sierra Leone to the Belgian port city of Antwerp. Nl Times reports that, quote, according to the court, Jos Lydekers played a key role in the October 2023 trafficking operation that bought 11 tons of cocaine from Sierra Leone into the port of Antwerp. Concealed in a shipment of palm kernel meal. The cocaine was estimated to be worth 550 million euros on the street.

Sean Williams

Yeah. I didn't realize how big a deal he was until after the episode. We got a lot of comments from the Dutch about him. He seems to have like a urban legend sort of heroic status among some people there.

Danny Gold

Yeah, I think because of the looks of him as well. He's kind of like big, chubby guy with, like gelled, spiky hair. It's like the most Dutch guy in history, which also plays into it. Chubby Joss is still ensconced in Freetown. Of course, he's married to the president's daughter. And as we go into the. In the main show about him, he's got the government security and poor chiefs in his pocket. A few days before this conviction in absentia, Lydeker's brother Harry, 51, was arrested for the third time in Istanbul. There's always one brother. It doesn't quite have the have the JSA where both brothers had lived together before Jos moved to Africa. Continues. Nl Times quote, a total of 20 of Joss accomplices were also convicted for the drug smuggling for Sierra Leone. The Dendemonda Criminal Court handed down sentences of 18 months, up to 10 years in prison. With fines ranging from 4,000 to €80,000. And several of those convicted received additional bans from accessing the port. I mean, yeah, if you're bringing in almost a billion dollars of product, you should probably get banned from hanging around the port. Wise move there from the Dutch. A few days ago, the Dutch newspaper to Telegraph revealed that Dutch special forces have twice come close to capturing Lydekkers at sea. Quote, the operation was abandoned twice at the last moment this month and would have involved Dutch Marines and the nation's Police Special Interventions Unit seizing Lydekers in international waters off Sierra Leone as he traveled by boat to neighboring Liberia.

Sean Williams

Dude, I love a good sea capture. You ever see like those coast guard videos? I think it's of them boarding narco subs and stuff like that. It. It just rules. Those guys are awesome.

Danny Gold

Yeah, well, those guys, These guys, less so. According to the report, the Netherlands government had initially rejected a plan to nab lydekkers in the second half of 2025, but it was approved this February. In 2026, of course. Quote. In preparation, the Netherlands acquired a foreign registered private vessel to serve as an offshore base. As the long term presence of a Dutch naval ship was considered too risky, both the Marines and the dsi, those cops, trained day and night for the operation. One attempt then is allegedly nixed when Lydicus doesn't leave Sierra Leone. As expected, there's no news on the second, but another Dutch outlet claims that momentum for a raid dies after it fails. So they've like gone to extraordinary lengths to put this in place. And then he just sort of give up when he doesn't show, which is not great with Leydekkers in such a powerful position in Sierra Leone and because Sierra Leone doesn't extradite to the Netherlands. And this is a situation that could go on for some time. So watch this space and if you haven't already, head back to our show from March 10 on. The Fugitive Dutch kingpin who took over an entire African nation.

Sean Williams

Yeah, actually go listen to the last four episodes because our numbers have dropped on Spotify and we need, we like to get those markers, you know, the 50,0001-000002-00000. We get them. Most of your favorite podcasts, they don't. You can go check this thing, but we've been slacking the last three or four episodes, so if you guys could go back and just keep playing those on Spotify over and over and over, it would really help our self esteem.

Danny Gold

Yeah, maybe because my face continually blurs because I'm sitting In a small, like, bedroom in a, in a rural village, but.

Sean Williams

Stop it, stop it. You look great. Of course we head to Mexico where wild times are happening, because, of course, it really seems like things are ramping up there in a crazy way. And terms of taking the fight to the cartels, I mean, the last few years, we've got Caloa falling apart, both factions, Mencho, all those extraditions. Look, I, I, it could be re, what's it called? Recent Recency bias. What's the term?

Danny Gold

Recency bias. Yeah.

Sean Williams

Is that a word? Recency. Is that a word?

Danny Gold

Is, is now. I think you can thank football for that one.

Sean Williams

Yeah. But it really does seem like things are. Am I wrong? You know, I don't know whether it's Trump administration pressure, although I think some of those happened before Sheinbaum just doing something. Who knows? All I know is that it makes for a lot of podcast episode content for us.

Danny Gold

Yeah, we win, as usual.

Sean Williams

But anyway, the pressure, it must be doing something because we aren't just getting your cartel higher up, surrendering to Mexican forces or cutting deals with the Americans. Now we've got a story of straight up high level Mexico political officials surrendering, like, at the border. Two former senior officials from the Mexican state of Sinaloa surrendered to US Authorities to face allegations that they helped the Sinaloa cartel while serving in government. One was a former security chief for the state and the other, the former finance. Finance minister. Quote. Prosecutors say Marita Sanchez, who I think is the security one, took at least a hundred thousand dollars a month from Los Chapitos, the sons of Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, tipping off cartel raids and targeting rivals while overseeing Sinaloa state police from 2023 to 2024. In 2023 alone, Marita Sanchez warned Los Chapitos about at least 10 upcoming raids on labs and safe houses where they store drugs, weapons and money, allowing them to remove personnel and evidence of criminal activity, according to indictment unsealed last month, which, you know, I feel like Sinaloa political officials helping the cartels is kind of like a. Well, obviously, you know, like a Tuesday. Yeah, yeah. But things really get interesting is that these two guys are members of current President Claudia Sheinbaum's ruling Morena party. One of them, the security minister, quite literally walked into Arizona and surrendered himself. I think the other did so in New York. Maybe they transferred him to York. I'm not 100% sure on that. I saw different things. They had been charged last month when that big indictment of 10 government officials with ties to Sin Loa came down. You know, it made quite the splash as it was very specific, not just taking bribes, but aiding the massive importation of drugs into the US and also, of course, and went after the sitting governor of Sinaloa. Shine Baum is unhappy. Quoting the Guardian on Monday, Sheinbaum maintained her defiant stance on national sovereignty and denied any links between her government and organized crime. We're not going to cover for anyone under any circumstances, she said. But why is the US So interested in Mexico? They should address their own problems there first. They need to focus on their own issues. First and foremost, drug consumption and the flow of weapons. Weapons, you know, she's kind of, she's got us there. But drug consumption, like, kind of seems like that's exactly what they are doing. You can't have a fentanyl problem if there ain't no one bringing in fentanyl. You know, the CSIS has a good paper on it and it kind of walks through all the pressure the Trump administration is putting on Mexico with regards to cracking down since Sheinbaum took office. And there is a lot. Here's them on the latest round quote. Yet none of these actions address the White House's central and growing concern, the resilience of the criminal political nexus. Since the outset of the Trump administration, the White House had been pushing for Mexico to dismantle what it described as an intolerable alliance between transnational criminal organizations and the political structures that shelter them. By April 2026, the White House had crossed the Rubicon. A US agency was now formally seeking to apprehend a sitting governor on Mexican soil.

Danny Gold

Yeah, intolerable alliance. Isn't that one of the reviews we got one time?

Sean Williams

That's pretty good. If someone, actually, I don't think someone was creative enough to say that, but that's pretty, that's a pretty solid insult. Like, you got to give that credit right there.

Danny Gold

Yeah, yeah.

Sean Williams

And I know what you guys are thinking. Haven't there been plenty of Mexican politicians that have already gone down for links to cartels and drug trafficking? And the answer to that question is obviously, of course, for decades. But this seems different. For one, it's a sitting governor and you got two high level state officials surrendering by turning themselves into the U.S. which, I mean, you know, they're going to talk. If I was in that political party and I had those connections, I would be looking at Moscow apartments right now. Here's more from csis. The Trump administration has moved beyond targeting drug flows, the primary focus of prior US Administrations and is now, targeting the political infrastructure that enables them, disrupting fentanyl precursor supply chains or arresting cartel commanders, however consequential, does not address what the US Government argues is a structural reality that a number of elected officials in Mexico allegedly protect, fund and depend on the organizations producing those flows. That is the argument embedded in the Southern district of New York's indictment. And it represents a fundamental expansion of the scope of US Security demands on Mexico. Which sounds serious and maybe like the US should have done this a long time ago. Sean. I mean, you. You hate America. What's the argument? That charging corrupt politicians who facilitate drugs being imported into your country and cartels getting more powerful is actually bad?

Danny Gold

That sounds fine. Can we bring your guys over for other crimes? Does it go both ways? But yeah, it's fine. Yeah.

Sean Williams

I mean, I think you. You were talking about like a shipping guns into Mexico and yeah, 100 they should be doing that. But is it. I think it's the U. S. Citizens buy them and the Mexicans ship them into. Either way, those. Those organizations should 100 be. Be. Be tracked down. And I, Yeah, I would be okay. I mean, I would be okay with Mexicans wanting to prosecute U.S. citizens who are involved in that from the U.S. that probably would be controversial though.

Danny Gold

Yeah.

Sean Williams

Anyway, Cool.

Danny Gold

All right, well, you know, I guess we agree. Yeah. Let's move on to those sports that we mentioned at the top of the show. It's World cup season. Everyone in this house is talking about it. I'm trying to get back on track with caring about football. So I am going finish off my roundup today with the good, the bad and the ugly of the beautiful game. And I'm not just talking about $100 train rides. Am I right? Okay, so I'm nice. I'm going to start with the good, which is that according to Owen Grillo's crash out media, despite the recent uptick in cartel violence that has included what your post men show death CJNG mini war torch buildings across Reynosa by the Gulf cartel and even more mass graves discovered in Jalisco. Mexico's top narcos have allegedly told their operatives not to mess with the waves of tourists coming to cheer their boys on at the World Cup.

Sean Williams

Called it. You know I called it. I think on the last episode. There's just too much money to be made from selling packets to all the young Sean Williams on holiday. It makes no sense to interrupt the biggest sales extravaganza of the decade for them. But yeah, I think this is inappropriate time to tell you some. Some big news. So I'm actually. I'm going to the World cup finals, like the final game in. In the medal.

Danny Gold

Oh, yeah, you're going to the final.

Sean Williams

Going to the World cup final. Apparently it's a big deal in like a Europe and Latin America to go to this game.

Danny Gold

It's. It's like marginally, but.

Sean Williams

But I'm gonna. I'm gonna use that joke over and over just to. Just to make people mad because it's funny, but, you know, I'm going to the game.

Danny Gold

How? Who.

Sean Williams

What?

Danny Gold

How have you got that about it?

Sean Williams

Not on. Not on the show. But I am going to like the tickets. It's a. I mean, look, you know, the world is. Is mysterious. Things could go wrong. Who knows? But as of right now, I have a ticket to the World cup final.

Danny Gold

Who

Sean Williams

you like? Yeah. Yeah. I wanted to see your reaction. I wanted everyone to see your reaction

Danny Gold

when I told you that that's okay. All right, I'll compose myself because that's.

Sean Williams

Yeah, I just wanted to try.

Danny Gold

How was that? Okay, we'll talk about it.

Sean Williams

It's happening. I just. I hope it's not too European, like Franc. Who wants to see that? I want to see at least Brazil or Argentina in there. You know, something spicy.

Danny Gold

No, that's not gonna happen.

Sean Williams

If it is England, though, it would be you. How. Oh, dude, it would. You'd be. So. I'll FaceTime you from it if England's in the game.

Danny Gold

Thank you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. However, owing to certain logistical issues, I probably won't be able to speak to you, like weeks anyway, which we will talk about in another show.

Sean Williams

Yeah, yeah.

Danny Gold

I'm really. I'm really happy for you. I'll give you. I'll give you some stuff to. To brush up on. On World cup stuff.

Sean Williams

Yeah.

Danny Gold

I'm so happy for you. I think my, my overriding sentiment is, is. Is happy. That's what I'm feeling right now.

Sean Williams

You don't sound genuine right now.

Danny Gold

Really.

Sean Williams

You're tone in your face. It's not. It's not great. It's not matching your words.

Danny Gold

It's great. I think anyone watching this, Danny, could tell how overjoyed I am for you that you're going to see the biggest.

Sean Williams

I'm glad I saved it for the show and didn't. When I found out, I wanted to WhatsApp you, but I was like, other people should witness your reaction when you found out.

Danny Gold

It wasn't even active. When you found out you were going to. What's happened. Okay. All right. I'm going to send you like a million messages after anyway. Okay. Right. Where were we? Yeah. World Cup. You're going, you're going to the World Cup.

Sean Williams

Should we end the fight? Not the World Cup. I'm going to the World cup finals. The final game.

Danny Gold

The final. The final.

Sean Williams

Final game.

Danny Gold

That's great. That is. That's great. Anyway, according to two Mexican security officials. Right. We're doing a podcast. Interviewed by Crash out the cartel. You're going. You're going to the World Cup. Finally, the cartels have seen that peace is better for their. What? Literally? I can't even. I'm not even doing now that peace is better for their bottom line than war. Quote they don't want to bring more trouble on themselves, said his go police commander. They are intelligent in how they operate. They are going to be prudent.

Sean Williams

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Danny Gold

specialoffer Jalisco State Capital Guadalajara will be under the sharpest spotlight, having been the scene of CJNG leader El Mencho's death this February, followed by a rash of revenge attacks. I think Owen called it the minchaso that even encroached on Jalisco's tourist sites. But cops warn the biggest threat to visitors isn't from cocaine kingpins, but petty criminals. One CJNG tells Crash out strict orders have been handed down not to hurt foreigners, while cops, right, Owen, quote, are instead watching out for trouble from regular criminals who are not part of these cartels but could try to steal from tourists. And they will be countering this threat with a huge police presence.

Sean Williams

Yeah, I think you could damn well bet too that the cartels will be doling out street justice as well. I mean, they've done this before. When regular petty criminals mess with terrorists in their zones, it's pretty wild to take that risk. Thinking about it, if you're like a, you know, a Mexican criminal not affiliated with the cartels like that. If you are, you know, just not only dealing with Mexican cops, but like CJNG guys who aren't going to be happy. Like you got to be real, real desperate to go against both those, you know, both those groups. Yeah.

Danny Gold

I want to also say a huge thanks to the person in the comments who mentioned a certain cartel video that I was at a low eb and I decided to search it online and I found it and I wish I never had. So that was a. That was a great night of my life anyway. Yeah, I guess. Do the police lie in Mexico? Yes. Did narco sometimes lie? Maybe. I don't know. I Don't want to pass judgment on anyone, but, yeah, I think this definitely falls into your side of the argument about this, Danny, where the cartels are just going to be too practical to lay waste to. What I guess might be the biggest wave of recreational cocaine users in global history. Where are the Scots playing? Because that is going to get insane. Okay, you want the bad. Here's one. The owners of the shirt sponsor of Scottish Premier League team Motherwell, a firm called DX Home Improvements, were jailed last month for running a $16 million cocaine rain. I know you know all about Motherwell already, Danny, what with your tickets in hand, but for the handful of listeners who don't, this is not some tiny little club in the Highlands. They're one of Scotland's biggest sides. Suburb of Glasgow, finished fourth in the league this year and they qualified for Europe.

Sean Williams

I mean, that sounds massive. What are they worth, like £20,000? Sell about 250 jerseys a year. Scotland's fourth biggest team. Here we go.

Danny Gold

Okay. I mean, you know, you got your World cup final ticket and you're joining in now, are you? Right, that's nice. Anyway, yeah, this is a big team. And DX Home Improvements, the company that's a front for a cocaine smuggling operation, it's been the club's shirt sponsor since August 2024. Pitch side advertising, promo deals with players, the works. Back then, Motherwell said it was, quote, fantastic to be working with another local business who are truly invested in the club's success and share our community values. The company's directors, David seven and Sean Brown, added that this collaboration aligns perfectly with our values of community, excellence and growth. We are proud of our history and experience, which we'll use to support the team's future success. We call that in the game Foreshadowing. It turns out the history and experience Stephen and Brown are describing is since March 2020, putting together a narco business using Drum Roll, the Encro Trat encrypted messaging service. Yes, it is another Encro Chat hack story. The gift that keeps giving to this podcast specifically, Stephen initially used is the handle Narrow Ninja, while Brown goes by a simple ball and castle nut.

Sean Williams

Yeah. For those that don't know, Encro Chat was an encrypted chat app, I think, specifically set up and sold to criminals. Right. It got hacked, pretty much. It wasn't the one that the. The Fed set up themselves.

Danny Gold

Right.

Sean Williams

It was a different, different one.

Danny Gold

It was. There was the og. Yeah, there was another Canadian one as well, I think, but yeah, specifically.

Sean Williams

Anyway, this thing got hacked by law enforcement. There have been massive cases made from the chat logs for years now all

Danny Gold

across the world and there's a huge backlog. Like there's going to be way, way more coming out of the Encro chat hack for like years to come. So these two guys, the leaders of the company, they exchange almost 12,000 messages running a total of 125 kilos of gear by 2025. So that's five years around Glasgow, which is not exactly a city lacking drug dealers. I mean, I guess if you type Glasgow into the search of our shows, you're going to find quite a lot. A less than brilliant move is to send your fellow drug smuggler detailed spreadsheets of all the deals you're making, which is exactly what Stephen sends Brown reeling off purchases worth six figures at a time. Here is the good old BBC for more. The pair remained managing directors of their DX home improvement business. But later messages revealed the duo was struggling to pay their suppliers, but continued to live a lavish lifestyle, often boasting on social media about luxury goods, expensive cars and first class flights. One picture showed the duo with matching Lamborghinis as well as the partnership with Motherwell fc. The company also sponsored a family race night at Hamilton Park. They were caught by police shortly after Stephen had traveled from Dubai to Scotland. And if you are playing organized crime bingo, you would have already got a full house by this point. There's so much stuff in here, lots of schoolboy errors besides. Although I guess everyone was out of work during COVID right? And this was when both men were age 25. So we got don't Instagram your crimes, definitely don't sign a sponsorship deal with a major football club, then send detailed spreadsheets about your crimes. It doesn't quite have the same ring, but I guess it's a new twist. And moving on to football's ugly this week that honor goes to Adi Predict street. Or I guess rather to FIFA for its recent deal with Adi Predict street, which is an obscure blockchain prediction market company backed by the UAE royal family. Not quite as cut and dry gangster stuff as the previous one, but there is a lot of fishy stuff going on here. And shout out to friend of the pod, Filippo, Claire and the team at Jossimar magazine who as usual have done the digging on this one where few are willing to dig. If you like, read about the darker side of Jogo Bonito, definitely subscribe to them. And Philippe, if you're listening, yeah, I am going to go to that test match with you in a couple of weeks. It's gonna be great. Like a desperate cat fly tip. Let's pour our way through this pile of fish bits.

Sean Williams

Jesus, I don't even know what to say anymore when you drop stuff like that. Loss for words.

Danny Gold

I will be throwing stuff that bad into every episode going forward as well. FIFA announces it's partnering with Adi Predict street on April 2, but the company is just hot air at this point. It says it's going to launch on April 9, but its Twitter account launched the previous month posts for the first time only on March 26, which is a week before the announcement and it has all of 135 followers. That is surprising enough when giants like Kalshi and Polymarket don't have prediction market deals with FIFA, especially in a World cup year. So what is going on?

Sean Williams

I'm going to go ahead and say that FIFA is corrupt, like maybe the most corrupt organization ever. That's probably what's going on. I mean, they literally let Qatar bribe them for the World Cup. If FIFA was just a front for cocaine dealing like our Scottish friends, they'd be less corrupt than they actually are.

Danny Gold

Yeah, that's correct. I mean, FIFA is incredible. And like everything in the world of FIFA, the FIFA cinematic universe, what is going on here is a big old pile of cash. So ADI is only licensed in Gibraltar, which is a British colony, slash territory, Lo siento Las Malvinas on the southern tip of Spain that has made its thing in the British tax haven, cinematic universe, online gambling and the like. Only that license is only granted on April 1, which is a day before FIFA's announcement. And according to Gibraltarian Justice Minister Nigel Theatum, yes, that post exists. Quote, it was granted with record timing even a week before the company's proposed launch on April 16. It's doing nothing. 0. More fishy business arrives when Josimar reports that Predict Street's money laundering report officer Colin Pirie had accepted a two year ban from Gibraltar's financial watchdog in 2018. I mean this is like being banned by the Digital Ombudsman in Myanmar. It's like crazy. And I guess a two year you could do a Piri Piri. I'm trying to find a Piri Piri Pun, but it's not working. Anyway, what's more, Josamar writes the Predict Street CEO Demetrios Sarakis is a former aide to Eva Cayley who is a big player in the so called Qatar gate scandal where the tiny Gulf nation was Bribing mountains of lawmakers and other figures in Europe. So here's where the money leads, right? Predict street is part of a web of holding companies that all lead back to the UAE and the International holding company, or IHC of the Abu Dhabi royal family. Its blockchain system is run by the Adi foundation, which is in turn founded by Sirius International holding, which again is under ihc. IHC is chaired by Sheikh Tanun bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a brother of Abu Dhabi's president. Another of those brothers owns Manchester City, New York City FC and others. For a separate web of ferns. Want to go a little further?

Sean Williams

Kind of. I mean, you kind of lost me already, but I mean I can't stop you at this point.

Danny Gold

Yeah, you can probably press that skip button a couple of times if you don't want to hear more. Anyway, last year, after the inauguration of US President Donald Trump, Tanoon made a secret $500 million deal for 49% of the Trump's family crypto world Liberty Financial. A few months later, Trump greenlights a deal for the UAE to purchase hundreds of thousands of of US made AI chips. And look, this cuff goes on and on and on. The money goes everywhere. But let's just stick our necks out like we've said and suggest that maybe not all of the weird cash swilling around. FIFA is going to go on grassroots football like its chief Gianni Infantino says it is, which is the most bold faced bullshit in the world. He just doesn't care anymore, that guy. Since all of this, Predict street has dipped its toes in the market the market is supposed to be in. But several crypto experts says it resembles exactly the kind of rug pull scam that is basically now half of the crypto industry today. So a fishy prediction market with almost no operations, run by characters implicated in massive fraud, backed by a government pouring millions into FIFA and the US leader's crypto scheme. I mean it's not as sexy as a pair of Glasgow drug dealers, but it's worth a lot more digging and it just shows what a complete show FIFA is. Follow the money. This World Cup's going to be so much fun. Especially.

Sean Williams

Yeah, I'm gonna have a great time. Gonna have a great time.

Danny Gold

That's really, that's really not me for six. That one. Yeah. Anyway, carry on speaking.

Sean Williams

Speaking of things that Sean loves, we're going to talk about meth and Nigeria. That's right, a major meth lab is busted in the region next to Lagos, Nigeria. In a deeply forested area involving Transnational syndicates with three Mexicans busted there sound kind of sounds like a sick Netflix spinoff of Breaking Bad. But we're talking industrial scale quantities of meth.

Danny Gold

Yeah, that would be the greatest Nollywood spinoff of all time. I would watch that immediately.

Sean Williams

Quote, According to the statement, the operation resulted in the seizure of 2.4 tons of chemical materials, including methamphetamine, worth 480 billion naira, which is $363 million and two vehicles. It's the Anno Chile Innocent drug trafficking organization. That's the head of the cartel Anno Chile Innocent, which incredible name for a cartel boss that has just been busted. From the photos in Nigeria's premium Times newspaper, it doesn't look too sophisticated, but I guess it really had to be.

Danny Gold

Yeah, I mean, I guess this is a country where every scam artist, gangster and rogue preacher's first name is like blessed, perfect or heavenly. So I guess he's fitting in pretty well.

Sean Williams

Solid. Solid. The police official headed up the bus said, quote, we are fully aware of the shifting tactics of these cartels, including the disturbing trend of hiring South American cartel specialists to set up production factories in our rural communities. Let it be known that no matter how deep into the bush you hide, no matter how secure your gated estate is, the ndlea Nigerian police will hunt you down, disrupt your networks and seize your ill gotten wealth, he said, which is badass. Quote. Also, surprisingly, not the first time Mexican cartel meth cooks have been busted in Nigeria in a clandestine Lab. Happened in 2016 as well. Now, obviously Africa has a drug market, the entire continent. And in the elite circles, or maybe even just folks getting some money in places like Cape Town, Nairobi, Dakar, Lagos. I'm sure there's plenty of coke and other more, you know, wealth, wealthy margin drugs. And there's obviously drugs all over. Cheaper drugs like crack. I think Capticons made some inroads, you know, all sorts of stuff. Yeah. And these transnational groups traffic drugs there, though I think they do mostly use it as a stepping stone to Europe and other places, but. Yeah. So Africa, specifically West Africa, though the east as well, has mostly served as a transshipment point for drugs to Europe. And I guess the assumption here that I would make is them just saying, let's cut out the Atlantic leg. Let's set up a shop producing in Africa itself and then ship. But yeah, you know, save on the transportation cost and bribe cost, you know, manufacturing, though, is a big step. A transit route can be packed up and abandoned, but a production operation requires infrastructure, chemicals, logistics, networks, local partners and protection. And it requires serious investment.

Danny Gold

It.

Sean Williams

Criminal organizations don't just build facilities like that unless they're expected to be around for a while. It is, you know, globalization, Sean. Offshoring. They're taking away Mexican jobs.

Danny Gold

Yeah, I don't want to indulge in too many cheap stereotypes today, although I definitely have. But a country where one politician once said that she had not stolen the equivalent of a hundred thousand dollars, but in fact a snake had eaten it. You can probably pay off the right people if you're manufacturing drugs in Nigeria. I'm just saying.

Sean Williams

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I assume there is a local market as well, though I would assume the local market is not as big as $363 million worth across the entire continent, probably. And that the margins, the profit margins aren't there. That, you know, it makes more sense to ship it to Europe where you can charge a much more inflated price. But, you know, interesting to watch how that sort of stuff develops and whether we'll see clandestine labs being set up more across Africa. I'm sure there are more for drug processing.

Danny Gold

Oh, yes.

Sean Williams

As well as. Well, I think that about does it for. For this episode of Stash House and the podcast patreon.com world podcast Spotify, iTunes. You know, support us. Support the show. Keep it, Keep it going.

Danny Gold

Yeah, Danny's really struggling. He can't. He can only get World cup final tickets.

Sean Williams

See you guys. Oh, you think I paid for them? Come on, bud. You know who I am. We'll see you guys next episode.

Danny Gold

Sam. Sa.

Sean Williams

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