Declassified Untold Stories of American Spies_3of8_The Merchant of Death.Viktor Bout
Transcript
00:00In the 90s, there was chaos and conflict around the world.
00:13And if someone had the ingenuity and the drive, they can capitalize on the chaos in these
00:18conflict zones by supplying weapons.
00:22People were looking to see who was moving the weapons into the war-torn areas, and constantly
00:26the name Victor Boot came up.
00:28Victor poured gasoline on the conflicts and provided the weaponry so that the people in
00:33these countries could slaughter one another.
00:36What didn't bother him was to support the good guys or the bad guys, and if he had the
00:39opportunity to support both sides, that meant more money for him.
00:43This guy was the merchant of death, and nobody was able to touch him.
00:49As a former FBI agent and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, I had oversight
00:54of all 16 of our nation's intelligence agencies.
00:57My name is Mike Rogers.
01:01I had access to classified information gathered by our operatives, people who risked everything
01:06for the United States and our families.
01:09You don't know their faces or their names.
01:12You don't know the real stories from the people who lived the fear and the pressure until
01:17now.
01:24A worldwide hunt is on for a Russian weapons dealer who U.S. authorities fear is every
01:29bit as dangerous as Osama bin Laden.
01:33Victor Boot is one of these incredibly dangerous figures.
01:38They don't care who they do business with, and they provide lethal weapons to the cesspool
01:44of drug traffickers, terrorists, human traffickers.
01:47They're basically the engine behind those groups.
01:52He facilitates that death and destruction, and the deaths of many innocents.
02:00What he did is the worst thing that I've ever experienced as a DEA agent.
02:05You know, the drugs are one thing, because drugs can go away, but the weapons never go
02:09away.
02:10They live on.
02:11They continue to cause conflict, because nothing good comes out of a weapon.
02:16Victor Boot spread death and destruction all around the world with the weapons that he
02:21sold.
02:22Victor Boot's background is that he was part of the Soviet military machine, and that machine
02:27consisted of him attending a Soviet military school.
02:30Apparently, a very good athlete, very, very bright, conscripted and went into the service.
02:35He picked languages up very quickly, eventually went to the institute where you study languages
02:42in Russia.
02:43He was an army translator.
02:45He also was based in Angola and Mozambique.
02:48So he saw what was going on in Africa.
02:52He saw the regimes that were operating there.
02:55He saw the vulnerability, the fragile governance.
02:59So after the fall of the Soviet empire, through his time in the military and other connections
03:03that he had developed, he knew that he could access Russian aircraft to transport cargo.
03:08And in 1991, Victor Boot starts his import-export business.
03:13As the Cold War ended, all these planes were just laying around.
03:17And Victor saw an opportunity to move Western goods into the former Soviet bloc, goods such
03:23as TVs, Coca-Cola, flowers, chicken.
03:27And from making money from doing this is when he saw an opportunity to build up his fleet
03:31of former Russian planes, and it went from there.
03:38He bought his first plane at 25 years of age.
03:41And by 30, he was a millionaire.
03:43He became a transport king, in a sense.
03:47His access to planes, his ability with languages caused him to have this kind of meteoric rise
03:53and expand his network all around the world.
03:57As he brought merchandise, not arms necessarily, into conflict zones, he also made connections
04:03and individuals, sometimes the warlords or those in those countries that were in power,
04:10needed weapons.
04:11And he was very willing to satisfy that need.
04:14That's Africa.
04:15Africa is where you may start off doing legitimate cargo, and the next thing it is, someone's
04:19approaching you saying, oh, well, you have the ability to move goods from point A to
04:23point B. Can you move weapons?
04:26And in these areas of the former Soviet bloc countries, there's just tons and tons of weapons
04:33that are sitting over there that are no longer needed.
04:36So if you need weapons to go with the planes, we can provide that.
04:41And Victor saw an opportunity to make money.
04:43I mean, he was already operating there doing legitimate commodities and cargo.
04:49But when he saw an opportunity to move weapons into Africa, that was an ability to make more
04:54money.
04:55What didn't bother him was to support the good guys or the bad guys.
04:58And if he had the opportunity to support both sides, that meant more money for him.
05:03Victor Boot cared about money.
05:04Take Angola, for example.
05:07In 1994, Victor Boot sells weapons to both sides of the conflict in Angola.
05:12In 1995, Boot was selling weapons to the Taliban in Afghanistan.
05:17By 2000, Victor Boot had contracts with the government of Rwanda to arm and train their
05:22military personnel.
05:23He chose to do what he was doing and profit from it, and left behind societies that were
05:29Completely devastated.
05:31Children in Africa whose family networks were destroyed.
05:35Child soldiers.
05:36He facilitated that.
05:38Estimates of people that were killed in these genocidal episodes in Africa and elsewhere,
05:42well over a million.
05:43I know for myself and Wim, we spent a lot of time in Africa.
05:47We saw firsthand why Victor is so incredibly dangerous.
05:53So big governments like the United States and the United Kingdom, who were observing
05:59these atrocities, these movement of weapons from point A to point B, they felt a responsibility
06:05to address it.
06:06You know, it was such a big deal for the United States that the National Security Council
06:10got involved and NSA got involved, and through their intelligence, the name Victor Boot kept
06:14coming up, coming up, coming up.
06:16And people were like, who is this guy?
06:19He came under a lot of scrutiny, and his entire network was looked at.
06:23It was fleshed out.
06:24And there was a concern that he was a major destabilizing figure.
06:28He shipped everything from tanks to rifles into civil wars and conflicts in numerous
06:34countries across Africa and Asia.
06:36U.S., British, and United Nations officials believe that as payment, he took drugs from
06:41Afghan buyers and diamonds from Africans.
06:45There was definitely, I think, the will to try to do something.
06:48But there was nobody that had the ability to go after him in the areas that he was operating.
06:54The thing about Africa is, there is no governance in Africa.
06:58And then the fear of getting in trouble is even less, because who's going to cause you
07:02problems?
07:04People had to try to find a way to stop that.
07:07In 2000, the United Nations Security Council restricted Victor Boot's movements based upon
07:11his involvement with supplying weapons to Charles Taylor in Liberia.
07:16But Victor Boot was an elusive figure that had between five and seven different aliases,
07:20spoke multiple languages, so he was able to navigate restrictions on his travel.
07:25In 2005, Office of Foreign Asset Control, OFAC, announced the freezing of Victor Boot's
07:32assets.
07:34But going after assets doesn't put somebody in jail.
07:37So here, Victor Boot was still flying around, doing all the things that he wanted to do,
07:42with no fear of someone coming after him.
07:45How do you catch someone like that?
07:46And then who would catch him?
07:48DEA's Special Operations Division, or SOD, focused on extraterritorial or foreign transnational
07:54criminals.
07:55In June of 2007, we arrested Manzour Al-Qassar.
08:00Qassar was a drug trafficker and an arms trafficker.
08:03That definitely gave us the confidence to go forward with Victor Boot.
08:06We had the ability to penetrate them, and not wait for them to do more crimes, but to
08:10get involved and stop it.
08:12We're going to put Boots on the ground, we're going to find a way to infiltrate Victor Boot's
08:16organization, and demonstrate that nobody is untouchable.
08:30Victor Boot is one of the most notorious weapons traffickers in the world.
08:34The weapons that he moved fueled conflict, started wars.
08:40People killing each other, child soldiers operating.
08:45Many people don't realize it, because they don't see it, and they don't live it.
08:48I live in these areas.
08:49I see the conflict that is still going on today.
08:53So what he did as a person, is like the ultimate evil.
08:57As investigators, we wanted to roll up someone like that, and bring them to justice in a
09:02transparent U.S. court.
09:05For the DEA, the Victor Boot case kicked off at the end of 2007.
09:11Lou was our group supervisor at the time, and I was one of the senior agents in the
09:15group.
09:16At the beginning of any investigation, you're looking at the target, and trying to find
09:18a way to infiltrate his organization, get the evidence, and prosecute them in the United
09:22States.
09:23For the Boot case, we wanted to use the FARC scenario.
09:28The plan was to propose about a $15 to $20 million weapons deal with the FARC.
09:37The FARC was a designated foreign terrorist organization, based in Colombia, promoting
09:43Marxist ideology.
09:44And the FARC has a real need for weapons.
09:47And the FARC had kidnapped Americans, had killed Americans, had anti-American sentiment.
09:53The U.S. government was supporting the Colombian government to combat the FARC.
09:58And the FARC had regressed from a Marxist regime to one of the significant drug trafficking
10:03organizations operating globally.
10:06So the scenario that we put together was that the FARC needed a number of weapons, and specifically
10:11surface-to-air missiles, to counter the U.S. helicopters flying in South America.
10:15The FARC was looking for weapons.
10:17They had drug proceeds that they wanted to pay for weapons.
10:20The proceeds are in Europe.
10:21We need to meet and discuss this.
10:23And these FARC members that he's going to meet with are actually undercover operatives.
10:28Sometimes you can use a DEA agent, but sometimes you have to use a source.
10:33My source, Carlos, was the right person for this case.
10:36He had the ability to talk the lingo of weapons.
10:39He had the ability to talk about money laundering.
10:41So he was able to pose as a FARC person, not as a FARC guerrilla, because FARC guerrillas
10:47operate in the jungle, they shoot people, they're on the front lines.
10:50But the FARC needs people to move money, to sell drugs, to travel.
10:55And Carlos had that ability to pose himself as a FARC supporter.
11:00If we could get Carlos in front of Victor Boot, we knew that he would be able to deliver.
11:04No doubt, Carlos was the king of sting.
11:07Dealing with DEA is a dangerous business.
11:10It's not a game.
11:13It's not a movie.
11:14It's real life.
11:16You can get killed.
11:18I am part of the DEA, but I am not a DEA agent.
11:23I am the source.
11:25The history of Carlos is that he grew up in Central America.
11:28He got involved with the military.
11:30And as what happens in many of these countries is the military, law enforcement, politicians
11:36somehow get caught up in corruption.
11:39And Carlos found himself in that situation.
11:43He was helping move money on behalf of the cartels.
11:46I was working with people who trafficked drugs.
11:51I didn't feel well.
11:53So on his own will, he went to DEA in this Central American country and said,
11:59this is what I'm doing and I want to make amends.
12:02It's helpful if they do have that background, where they understand the criminal networks
12:06and they've lived it.
12:09Because if you don't put the right source in front of a legitimate, knowledgeable bad guy,
12:15the target will sniff it out in a second.
12:18Do you know people who have been killed?
12:20Yes, I know.
12:21It's very easy to get killed on this type of job.
12:24You don't know if the other person sees that you are using a microphone.
12:30Anything can get wrong.
12:32These people are for real and they can kill you.
12:36For the Boot investigation, the big challenge was, how do we get close to them?
12:41Developing some sources, we were able to identify Andrew Simulian.
12:45Andrew Simulian was an old associate of Victor Boot's going back decades.
12:49And they had stayed in contact over the years, had worked together from time to time.
12:54And Victor Boot clearly trusted him.
12:56We had to devise a plan to get to Andrew Simulian.
13:00We did our research and we were able to develop a person of interest who we could approach
13:06as a potential source, a cooperator.
13:09And that person was a gentleman by the name of Mike Snow.
13:11And Mike Snow was a British pilot who had spent much of his time operating in Africa.
13:18Had never been a criminal, had been a member of the British Special Forces, but Mike Snow
13:22knew Andrew Simulian very well.
13:26And Mike agreed to cooperate with us.
13:29He saw the atrocities that took place in Africa.
13:32He flew in Africa, spent a lot of time there, and felt that there was a need for him to
13:36get involved and stop it.
13:40The approach that we were going to take was, Mike was going to reach out to Andrew Simulian
13:44and say, hey, are you still in contact with Victor?
13:48And if so, I have people that Victor would be very much interested in meeting.
13:56Mike is the type of guy to say, oh, I'll find out right now, and gets on the phone
14:00and spoke to Simulian, and Simulian said, yes, Boris is still out there.
14:06Boris is Victor Boot.
14:07That was his nickname.
14:10Andrew agreed to meet.
14:12Andrew flew into Curacao.
14:14It was a critical meeting for us because this was going to be the first time that Simulian
14:18met Carlos.
14:20And if Simulian didn't believe that Carlos was actually a FARC member, this wasn't going
14:24anywhere.
14:26Mike Snow would introduce Carlos to Simulian and propose a weapons deal that would be worth
14:30millions of dollars, hoping he would take it directly to Victor Boot.
14:43Someone could say something that sounds a little bit off, Simulian could become suspicious.
14:47So at every stage, the whole thing could fall apart.
14:56In January of 2008, our plan was to go to Curacao and have a meeting with Andrew Simulian,
15:04a first meeting.
15:08Carlos would be there representing the FARC as the FARC role player, his FARC associate,
15:12another operative, and Mike Snow.
15:14Mike Snow was a DEA source that knew Andrew Simulian and vouched for Carlos and the other
15:20FARC role player.
15:22DEA believed, I believed, we all believed, that Victor Boot would do arms business with
15:27anyone.
15:28An insurgent group, a terrorist group, whatever, needs weapons, he has no qualms about providing
15:34those weapons.
15:37That's why Victor is so incredibly dangerous.
15:42My goal was to convince Simulian that we are for real, that we are from the FARC, that
15:48way he can go on and tell Victor Boot about us.
15:51Andrew Simulian was a target.
15:53Simulian has no idea that the DEA is nearby, that Carlos is working with us.
15:58Simulian has no idea.
16:00It was a critical meeting for us because this is going to be the first time that Simulian
16:04met Carlos.
16:05And if Simulian didn't bite it, if he didn't believe that Carlos was actually a FARC member,
16:11this wasn't going anywhere.
16:12There was a lot of pressure.
16:13If we failed in that, the whole thing would go down the drain.
16:18The meeting took place in one of the hotels on Curaçao.
16:25We went to one of the restaurants that was outside on the beach.
16:29So there was a perfect place to talk about business.
16:32When Simulian met with Carlos and they had that initial meeting, he looked at Carlos
16:36and said, well, you don't look like a FARC guy.
16:39What happened is that we are in the middle of the jungle and we get a little bit, not
16:46And that's when Carlos relayed back to him, like, no, I don't look like a FARC guy, but
16:52I'm a guy that supports the FARC.
16:53I go off and I collect the money.
16:56I help get the weapons and put the orders in.
16:59Andrew Simulian was testing the waters.
17:01At any moment, the whole thing could fall apart.
17:05Someone could say something that sounds a little bit off.
17:08Simulian could become suspicious.
17:10Victor definitely had coached Simulian to be very careful.
17:13So there was a lot riding on it.
17:15We had several meetings down in Curacao between Andrew, Mike Snow and our two sources, Carlos
17:21and El Comandante.
17:22The Comandante played the role of a FARC commander, a military guy who was operating in the jungles
17:28fighting the Colombian government.
17:30He is another DEA source, former drug trafficker, knows an awful lot about the FARC, knows an
17:35awful lot about weapons and drug trafficking, and is a very, very believable jungle leader.
17:43And he talked about what weapons were needed, type of ammunition, and the list went on.
17:48It was a deal that would definitely pique Victor's interest.
17:51And we knew from our experience that a deal of this size would not take place unless they
17:57looked each other in the eye, they shook hands, and they knew who they were dealing with.
18:02We had to push it that Simulian go to Russia and actually meet with Boot to make it happen.
18:09And Simulian bought the FARC role players as members of the FARC.
18:13Simulian was very interested in the deal.
18:14So after Curacao, the plan was for Simulian to go to Moscow, we believed, to meet with
18:20Victor Boot and discuss this proposed deal.
18:22And what we agreed to do was meet Simulian in Copenhagen to see what, we hoped, Victor
18:28Boot thought about the deal.
18:32Once we got to Copenhagen, Carlos was in contact with Simulian.
18:36Simulian said that he was returning from Russia.
18:39There was a meeting that was set up.
18:40I met him in Copenhagen, and he told me that the person who's going to bring the weapons
18:47to us, that he wanted to know is where for real.
18:50In Russia, Victor presented pictures to Andrew Simulian and said, OK, which one of these
18:55FARC commanders did you meet with?
19:10Of course, there was no pictures in there, but Simulian convinced him that we was from
19:16the FARC and that we're going to need weapons.
19:20So Simulian was the one who really vouched for me.
19:23He trusted me completely.
19:25The sources had done their job and convinced them enough that Simulian felt comfortable
19:30enough to do that.
19:31Carlos had the unassuming personality where people felt comfortable with him.
19:36When we needed to get the difficult statements during recordings with the bad guys, he would
19:41find a way to address it and get it across the finish line.
19:45After the meeting, Carlos said, hey, he pulled me aside when we were walking back from a
19:50meal and said who we went to see.
20:02I don't know, he was trying to impress me.
20:05But it also, in his mind, showed that he had a righteous arms trafficker that could
20:11supply to them.
20:12And he would get some percentage of whatever the deal was going to be.
20:16Once Simulian said Victor Boot, then we knew that we were in.
20:20But that's only part of it.
20:22We could have all the meetings with Andrew Simulian, but if we don't have a sit down
20:26meeting with Victor Boot, we're not going to get what we need.
20:29All their efforts from that moment on were to get Victor to come in and have a meeting
20:34with Carlos and Comandante.
20:37And that's where we encountered some curveballs.
20:48The investigation against Victor Boot, it has to be one of the most significant ones
20:52because here's a guy selling weapons to conflict areas and knowing exactly what his weapons
21:00are being used for.
21:05It wasn't for peacekeeping purposes.
21:07It was for death and destruction.
21:11So we felt it was really important that once we started taking ground, we needed to get
21:15it done as quickly as we could.
21:18In Copenhagen, after Simulian had relayed that yes, it was Victor Boot, that he was
21:23interested in pursuing the sale with Simulian and the FARC, we devised a meeting location
21:30because for DEA to get the investigation done, we needed to have a sit down meeting with
21:35Victor Boot.
21:37So we chose Romania for that meeting.
21:39There were a bunch of benefits.
21:41If we made an arrest in Romania, they have a solid extradition treaty and they had very
21:46good judicial capabilities to monitor phones.
21:49So that was our first thing, to meet with the Romanian counterparts.
21:54Once we did that, we set the time, Simulian came into Romania, Carlos was in Romania,
22:00the other FARC role player, Comandante, was in Romania.
22:03All their efforts from that moment on were to get Victor to come in.
22:09And that's where we encountered some curveballs in getting Victor to Romania.
22:17When we are in Romania waiting for Victor, we talked to him on the phone and we told
22:21him that we need the weapons, that we got the money and we need to meet face to face
22:26with him to finalize the business.
22:29One of the things that we did say to Victor was that we had money in Romania.
22:34It was millions of dollars in cash and that cash was waiting for him in Romania.
22:38That actually made the deal sweeter because Victor wouldn't want money in a bank going
22:43to him to pay for this because he's already been sanctioned.
22:46He wanted the cash.
22:48So that was the enticing carrot to get to Romania.
22:52And one thing that you can count on from people like Victor Buu is that it's all about money.
22:56He said that he's going to try to get to Romania and he's trying to get the visa.
23:01Victor was trying to get a visa, but it wasn't that easy.
23:03He was told that he can get it in a couple of days and then this progressed for another
23:07day.
23:08And then Victor said, it might be easier if you just go across the border.
23:11And we couldn't do that.
23:12So we had to come up with an excuse and then another excuse because we just don't have
23:16the ability to go across a border.
23:18These things have to be coordinated.
23:20And there was a lot of discussion with Buu on other locations.
23:22If you can't meet in Romania, and he kept coming up with places that were bad for us.
23:26Cuba, Nicaragua, Vietnam.
23:30We were worried because every time he came up with something to make it easy, we came
23:34back and said, well, it's not that easy for us.
23:37And mostly bad guys will change the way that they do things to get it across the finish
23:42line.
23:43We did not have that ability because we can only work in certain countries that will support
23:47our efforts.
23:48I was just thinking I have to convince him to come and finish the deal.
23:55And what we heard next was the most shocking part.
23:58Someone told Victor, it's not safe for you to go to Romania.
24:02That was like the kill switch.
24:03That was like, this is going down the tubes immediately and it's going down fast and we're
24:09going to lose this.
24:10Our big concern was like, is he playing us?
24:14Because he couldn't get the visa, because people were telling him that it's not safe
24:18for him to go to Romania, we needed to regroup.
24:21The team and I discussed what our next move would be.
24:24And we collectively decided that while risky, the right thing to do and the most realistic
24:29thing to do was to leave Romania and walk away.
24:34It would plant a seed in Buu's mind that, well, maybe they're going to find another
24:37arms trafficker.
24:38This may put more pressure on Victor to close the deal.
24:42And before the source left, Carlos had a conversation with Victor on the phone.
25:00Carlos made it clear, he said, I have to leave, let's be back in touch.
25:04The risk when we left was that he was going to walk away and the case would just die.
25:10It was a calculated risk.
25:21Carlos provided an email to Andrew Smulyan to give to Victor and said to contact him
25:26on that when Victor was ready.
25:27It was a risk to leave Romania.
25:30We could have stayed there longer, but it just wouldn't look right.
25:32Cops would wait.
25:33Cops would wait till whenever.
25:34You'd wait.
25:35But we were like, at some point, if we're real, we've got to get out of there.
25:41When we left Romania, we were completely frustrated with ourselves.
25:46The sources were frustrated.
25:48We were trying our best to get it across the finish line.
25:51We were unsure about what the next step was to make this investigation successful.
25:56I was worried we would never hear from Victor again.
26:03When we left Romania and went back to the United States, forget how long it was, maybe
26:08a week or so, an email came in.
26:10It says, this is a friend of Andrew.
26:13And the email address was registered to Victor Boot.
26:17We were all like, this is not possible.
26:19Like, if a guy as notorious as Victor Boot is most wanted, why would he ever register
26:24an email address under his own name?
26:26It sounds stupid.
26:28Certainly does.
26:29We all thought it was stupid.
26:30So after the email came in, there was some communication between Carlos and Victor to
26:35try to figure out where a meeting could take place.
26:39And we knew that Russians didn't need a visa to get into Thailand.
26:43We had a great office in Thailand, we had great counterparts, and there was an extradition
26:47treaty there.
26:49So our decision was to have Carlos tell Victor, I'm going to be in Thailand early in March.
26:56Can you meet me there?
26:58When Carlos got the word back that he agreed, it was like, elation for all of us.
27:03I mean, we were just like, now we can maybe get this across the finish line.
27:07So we traveled over to Thailand, briefed up the ties, and waited to see if Victor would
27:14show up.
27:16We still thought at any stage, he could get spooked, he might not get in, it's all talk,
27:21he's not going to come.
27:22You don't want it to fall apart when you've come this close.
27:28Victor agreed to meet in Bangkok.
27:31We set the meeting for March 6, 2008.
27:35We hoped that Victor would show up.
27:37We still thought at any stage, he could get spooked, he might not get in, it's all talk,
27:42he's not going to come.
27:43That creates some anxiety, and you don't want it to fall apart when you've come this close.
27:49But we had people at the airport doing surveillance, and we were able to get a hold of Victor.
27:55But we had people at the airport doing surveillance, and then we got word that he had landed and
27:59got off the plane, and we knew at that point that we were very close.
28:04Once Victor arrived in Thailand, he was with another individual, and we learned that that
28:09individual was his bodyguard.
28:11And both those individuals, Victor and the bodyguard, were surveilled from the time that
28:15they exited the plane to the time that they arrived at the Sofitel Hotel.
28:19I received a call from Wim, he told me that Victor arrived, get ready.
28:26There was adrenaline inside me, I'm going to have the merchant of death in front of me.
28:31I have to do everything right to get him in jail.
28:35So once they arrived at the hotel, arrangements were made for Victor to meet with Carlos.
28:42Carlos was located in the Mezzanine area, and Victor came up and sat down with Carlos
28:48and with Andrew, and with his bodyguard, and proceeded to do introductions.
28:55And I think one of the first things that came out from Victor to Carlos was,
29:00I'm sorry about your loss.
29:03The FARC had just lost one of their senior commanders in Colombia, and Victor had done
29:08his research on this, and was testing the source, and Carlos was sharp enough to say
29:13yes, thank you very much, and he mentioned the commander's name during that conversation,
29:18which probably put Victor at ease.
29:22We were sitting on the bar, we were drinking tea, so we started talking a little bit,
29:28and we decided it was a good place to have this type of conversation.
29:33Victor said, let's go up to the 27th floor, there's a business center up there,
29:37and they go up to the meeting room to have the meeting there.
29:40Carlos' safety and the safety of the other sources is one of our number one concerns.
29:45Victor is one of the most ruthless arms traffickers in the world.
29:48Weapons certainly could be smuggled in through Russian criminal networks in Thailand,
29:52which are rampant.
29:54So we had no idea if Victor was bringing a gun to that meeting.
29:58There are so many unknowns.
30:01So they went up to the conference room, and what was going to take place next was,
30:05the commandante, the other source, was going to come into the meeting
30:08and really talk about what was needed on the ground with the FARC.
30:12It would draw out the discussion of what particular weapons were needed,
30:16what the conflict was about, and what Victor could do to support the needs of the FARC.
30:22To arrest Boot, we had to establish probable cause, that there was a conspiracy,
30:25that he knew who the FARC was, that he knew he was entering into a weapons deal with them,
30:30he knew these weapons were going to be used to kill Americans and kill officers
30:34and other officials in the U.S. government,
30:36that he knew that he was going to be acquiring and using surface-to-air missiles,
30:40and those were the guidelines of what we had to establish.
30:45So, the commandante explained that he was fighting against the Americans,
30:49the Americans were killing his people, they were helping the Colombian government,
30:52and Boot said, this is my fight too, they are my enemy also.
30:57The commandante really brought it home.
31:00They talked about how they needed these surface-to-air missiles to shoot down the American Apache helicopters,
31:05how they needed to kill these Americans.
31:08They explained that they needed sniper rifles with sights,
31:11so that the FARC could, as they described, blow the heads off the American pilots.
31:30He knew that we were fighting against the United States.
31:33He didn't care if we were going to kill Americans.
31:36He was happy that we were going to use his weapons to kill the Americans.
31:40That was when we believed that we got all the evidence that we needed against him.
31:47As the meeting was taking place on the 27th floor,
31:50one of the members of the commandant's office,
31:52who was in charge of the meeting,
31:55As the meeting was taking place on the 27th floor,
31:58Wim, the other agents, and I were waiting with the Thai counterparts in this hotel room.
32:03We were waiting for a predetermined phone call from Carlos that the negotiations were wrapping up,
32:09all the points had been hit,
32:11and it was now time for the Thai counterparts to go up and make the arrest.
32:16After he agreed, I made the call to tell that we finished the deal.
32:21And the agents said, we need more time, we need more time, what room are you in?
32:25And that information never got relayed.
32:27We knew they were on the 27th floor, but we just didn't know which room.
32:31And I don't know which room it was.
32:33I just told them I was in the conference room.
32:35There was a moment of panic.
32:39So myself, Lou, and all the other Thai arresting officers made our way up in the elevator,
32:45and I'm sitting in the back of this group as they're walking down this hallway,
32:49and I'm sitting in the back of this group as they're walking down this business center with all these doors.
32:54And they all walk by this one door that was shut,
32:56and I remember I opened up the door, I stuck my head in, and I could see Victor Boot right there.
33:01And I immediately shut the door, and I'm like, guys, over here, over here, they're here.
33:06And they all had to turn around, and that's when they made the entry into the room.
33:10Hands up.
33:12Police, you are under arrest.
33:14Everybody, hands up.
33:16Hands up!
33:17The lead Thai cops had their guns drawn,
33:20and told Victor and Andrew and everyone else in English to get their hands up.
33:25And Victor was frozen, was stunned. His hands were in a bag, his bag.
33:30And when the head Thai commander was telling Victor, let me see your hands, let me see your hands,
33:35and Victor was very hesitant about taking his hands out of his briefcase.
33:41And I really thought at one point that Thai officer was going to just light him up.
33:47The Thai cops were absolutely dialed in on him and his hands,
33:53and gave the commands again.
33:55Hands up, hands up!
33:57And then everyone complied.
34:00Everybody was put up against the wall and handcuffed,
34:02and then the arrests were made.
34:06After he got arrested, he was brought to the Thai police station,
34:09and we sat down with him, and we explained to him
34:12about who the people that he had been meeting with,
34:15and that they were all sources of the DEA.
34:17And his first response was, I guess you hold all the cards.
34:21He knew that he'd been beat.
34:23And when the Thais, when they arrest somebody,
34:25they never just do a very quiet arrest.
34:28They put the bad guys in front of TV cameras,
34:31and that's exactly what happened the next day.
34:33It was on television. There were hundreds of people there.
34:36It was a circus atmosphere.
34:38He was laid out in front of everyone, in front of all the media.
34:42They announced the charges.
34:47And then we began the extradition process.
34:53But Victor knows an awful lot,
34:55so there was that concern
34:57that someone would not want him to cooperate
35:00and could have him killed
35:02before we could get him back to the United States to face justice.
35:17Today's arrest marked the culmination
35:19of a long-term DEA undercover investigation
35:22that spanned the globe,
35:24and it marks the end of the reign
35:26of one of the world's most wanted arms traffickers.
35:31Through the whole investigation,
35:33you're worried that this is not going to get across the finish line.
35:36And that worry even existed after Victor Boot got arrested,
35:40because he's still pending extradition.
35:42You can arrest somebody and say,
35:44oh, I did a great job, I arrested him,
35:46but that doesn't get you across the finish line.
35:49A successful investigation against Victor Boot
35:52doesn't take place until he sits in a courtroom
35:54and he's successfully prosecuted.
35:56We knew it would take some time,
35:58but there ended up being an awful lot of meddling,
36:01pressure from Russia,
36:03behind-the-scenes attempts at corruption.
36:05I mean, literally, there were times with women, the agents,
36:08where they would call me and say, are we going to lose this?
36:11Because it was very touch-and-go.
36:13And it's a big deal,
36:14because now we're not talking about a cartel guy,
36:17we're talking about Victor Boot.
36:20Here's a guy selling weapons to conflict areas,
36:23knowing that these weapons are going to be used
36:25for people to kill each other,
36:26and knowing that these weapons will never go away.
36:28He was an accessory to violence on a scale
36:31that is beyond comprehension.
36:35Having traveled to many of these countries,
36:37whether it was Sierra Leone,
36:39where you're seeing people with their hands cut off
36:41because they didn't want them to use weapons against them,
36:44or countries like Kenya, everybody has an AK-47.
36:47Those weapons are still there, causing more and more conflict.
36:55After more than two years of extradition proceedings,
36:58a Thai court ordered Boot extradited to the United States.
37:02After the extradition had been approved,
37:05we flew in to fly him out.
37:07He was transferred from the prison.
37:09There was certainly a big security risk,
37:11because Victor knows an awful lot.
37:13So there was that concern
37:15that someone would not want him to cooperate
37:18and potentially could have him killed.
37:21The Russian government, concerned about his intimate knowledge
37:24of military and intelligence operations,
37:27fought for his return to Russia.
37:31So when he was transferred from the prison,
37:34the Thai counterparts and our agents over there
37:36sent a decoy team,
37:38and then another team was sent with Victor to the plane.
37:41The formal transfer took place,
37:43and we got him on the plane, got him situated, and we flew back.
37:48We had him on the plane,
37:50and he acted like a complete gentleman.
37:52He was very articulate, didn't cause any problems.
37:55He just sat there, did his thing.
37:57It's not entirely game over, but I think from their perspective,
38:00they realize once your wheel's up leaving that country
38:03and you're heading back to the United States,
38:05they can't bribe their way out, they can't maneuver.
38:07They're in for the long haul now.
38:11When we got off the plane, got him into an armored vehicle,
38:15and then caravanned down to Manhattan Correctional Facility,
38:19processed him, and turned him over to the Bureau of Prisons,
38:23then left and had a drink.
38:30I was happy that everything was finished,
38:32that we got the evidence.
38:34We did everything that we planned to do.
38:38We went around the world chasing Victor Booth,
38:41and we did it.
38:44We captured the most notorious armed dealer in the world,
38:50Victor Booth.
38:54October 12, 2011.
38:59Lasted approximately three weeks,
39:01Andrew Smullyan decided to cooperate,
39:03pled guilty, and testified in open court against Victor Booth.
39:07Smullyan was ultimately sentenced to five years in prison.
39:10At the trial, I testified against Victor Booth.
39:14There was something nice to see him on court.
39:18He was sitting in front of me when I was testifying against him.
39:21Booth has long denied any connection to arms dealing,
39:24saying he was simply in the air transport business.
39:27Whatever the case, this businessman once said to be untouchable.
39:31Now awaits his fate in federal court.
39:34The jury came back, I believe it was November 2, 2011,
39:38after a few hours of deliberating,
39:40and announced a unanimous verdict, guilty on all counts.
39:46Conspiracy to kill Americans,
39:48conspiracy to kill officers and other United States officials,
39:51conspiracy to acquire and use surface-to-air missiles,
39:54and conspiracy to provide material support
39:57to a designated foreign terrorist organization.
40:02And when he got sentenced and he turned around
40:05and pointed at myself and the other agent and said,
40:08your time will come.
40:10Did you perceive that as a threat?
40:12Yes. I mean, that actually shook me up
40:14because, you know, in all my time of law enforcement
40:17and all my time of arresting individuals,
40:19I've never actually felt that way before.
40:22And we're not talking about some little fish.
40:25We're talking about Victor Booth.
40:28He was sentenced April 2012 to 25 years, a mandatory minimum.
40:34Putting a guy like Victor Booth behind bars for 25 years,
40:38I feel good about it.
40:42I live in Africa.
40:44I see day in and day out how Victor Booth
40:48had done so much damage in that continent,
40:51and that damage continues today.
40:55I was in Mozambique not too long ago
40:58where there was a terrorist attack that took place
41:00in a city that was just in the day before,
41:02and this was done with weapons, probably provided by Victor Booth.
41:05Will it solve this very complicated problem? Completely no.
41:09But it's a lot better than just talking about it.
41:11At least we did something with it.
41:15I constantly remind myself and say,
41:17you know what, I did something to try to counter that.
41:20And knowing that people were trying to stop this individual for years
41:24and didn't have the ability,
41:26yet a small group of individuals all banded together
41:30to take down somebody as notorious as Victor Booth.
41:34And I'm very proud of what the team did.
41:45This conviction, the case, sends a message
41:48to all the transnational criminals throughout the world.
41:51The Mansour Al-Qassars, the Victor Booths,
41:53the other transnational criminals that we've investigated
41:56and successfully prosecuted,
41:58that nobody is untouchable.