June 26, 2023 • 35 mins
Flaviu Georgescu is arrested by DEA agents in Montenegro for brokering an illegal weapons deal on behalf of rebels in Colombia. But there’s a wrinkle the arresting agents didn’t consider: Flaviu claims he’s working for the CIA.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Sometimes, when federal law enforcement agencies investigate crimes, they unwittingly
target the informants or undercover agents of other agencies. This
season is one of those stories, a simmering alphabet soup
with the DEA, the CIA, and the FBI all mixed
(00:22):
up in the same case. Also as a warning, this
show includes uncensored undercover recordings that contain explicit language. It
is intended for adult audiences.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
It took a long time to meetium. How are you good?
Thank you for coming.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
How you.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
Okay?
Speaker 2 (00:47):
This is for you. I think I know you were coming.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
How are you?
Speaker 1 (00:57):
This may sound like small talk, but what you're hearing
is an illegal arms deal.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
One.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
It's December twenty fourteen, and two Romanian men are in
a hotel room in the country of Montenegro. They're meeting
with three Colombians. The Romanians are named Flavio georg Escu
and Christian Ventilla, and they've arranged for the Colombians to
buy millions of dollars in weapons and ammunition anti aircraft cannons,
(01:29):
rocket propelled grenades, and assault rifles.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
Yeah, I show him the contract. I was pushing to
sign the contract.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
This is Flavio and yeah, even illegal arms deeals use contracts. Anyway,
Flavio's got his paperwork together, but he's stressed.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
Christiano has tried to show him things on his laptop,
some specifications, anything, but for me is just to put
his signature and just leave me alone because I want
to get out. That's it. I'm done.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Flavio is at the finish line. He'd brokered the whole deal.
All he needs now is to close with a signature
from one of the Colombians. But the Colombians they're stalling.
They've told Flavio they represent the FARC, the Colombian paramilitary
(02:23):
group that, as this is happening, is a US designated
foreign terrorist organization. That's a big deal. It's what makes
this an illegal arms deal also a big deal. The
Romanians were explicitly told that the weapons would be used
to shoot down American helicopters. The lead Colombian is a
(02:48):
wide bellied, brash man with a bellowing voice, and he
says he's not signing, not yet.
Speaker 4 (02:58):
No, before he signed it, he said, I have to
talk with my people.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
The Colombian says he needs final approval from his superiors,
and he and his two associates step out of the
hotel room. Then agents with the United States Drug Enforcement
Administration burst through the door, guns drawn.
Speaker 4 (03:23):
You're on the wrist and the v handcuffs me and
I said, let me talk with you. Let me use
the bathroom.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
And this is where things get interesting. Flavio, handcuffed motions
with his head to one of the DEA agents. The
agent walks with Flavio into the bathroom. They're crowded together
in the small room. Flavio looks directly at the agent
(03:50):
and motions for him to step closer. In a soft voice,
Flavio tells him, I work for the CIA.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
When I said, I call it this center for CIA,
just call them.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
I'm Trevor Aronson from Western Sound and iHeart Podcasts. This
is Alphabet Boys. Each season of Alphabet Boys, we bring
you into the world of America's alphabet agencies, including the FBI, CIA, DEA,
and ATF. Using secret undercover recordings, we take you deep
(04:28):
inside a federal investigation. We dive into cases that raise
a common question. Are federal agents and their informants catching
bad guys or creating them? In season one, we went
to Denver, where FBI agents investigated racial justice activists during
(04:49):
the summer of twenty twenty.
Speaker 5 (04:51):
If you're trying to implicate that I'm a fucking snitch,
check this out.
Speaker 6 (04:55):
Three things.
Speaker 5 (04:56):
I ain't a punk, I ain't a bitch, and I
had a fucking snitch.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
In that case, the FBI's informant, Mickey Windecker, tried desperately
to preserve his cover after he was accused of being
an informant.
Speaker 5 (05:09):
You should ask who the real fucking punker bitches or
who the real fucking snitches.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
But now we have a very different story with some
very different federal agents in this season. The guy working
with the FEDS isn't trying to hold on to his cover.
He's trying to expose it, to reveal himself as a
government agent in order to save himself.
Speaker 7 (05:32):
In my mind that time was okay, as soon as
I'm going to reach United States CIA, they were going
to give me all the documents. It shows everything what
I did.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
Flavio Georgescu, Romanian American businessman, is arrested by the DEA
and tells those agents that he's collecting intelligence for the CIA.
Speaker 7 (05:51):
Step by step, not even one one step aside of
the line I didn't took money, I didn't jeopardize nobody
likes and I delivered everything, which I promise.
Speaker 6 (06:01):
But who is this guy Flavio? Who is he really?
Speaker 8 (06:05):
When I land, there's Flavio in a suit, It's like,
follow me?
Speaker 6 (06:10):
Is he CIA operative?
Speaker 8 (06:12):
And he slams down his badge in my passport and
they just stamp it and we walk to the next window,
and I'm like, something's going on here?
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Is he an international arms dealer?
Speaker 9 (06:28):
Then Romanian government on my as right now because they.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Think I'm bullshitting or maybe Flavio is something entirely different.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
I see movies with arm dealers on TV. But hold on,
I have to learn. I have to create a mindset. Okay,
I'm going there for c B. I'm gonna die.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
This is Alphabet Boys Season two, up and Arms, episode one.
I work for the CIA.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
No have a prepaid call.
Speaker 7 (07:19):
You will not be charged for this call.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
This car is from just an inmate at I said
with prison Hi.
Speaker 10 (07:27):
Flave you, Hello, good morning, mister Arson.
Speaker 6 (07:30):
Hey, thanks so much for calling.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
I'm so sorry I didn't realize that this two oh
two number was you this whole time.
Speaker 6 (07:35):
Sorry about that.
Speaker 10 (07:37):
It is not a problem it's not a problem.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
It's August twenty twenty and Flavio and I are talking
for the first time. He'd been trying to call me,
and I had mistakenly ignored his calls.
Speaker 10 (07:51):
Normally, when I tried to make new friends or to
meet somebody in my life, I don't call them from prison.
I wait for this call for probably the last or
Mosboro six.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
In case you haven't figured it out yet, let me
tell you Flavio was arrested, convicted, and imprisoned for what
happened in Montenegro, even though he told US officials that
he was working for the CIA. I get a lot
of calls, emails, and texts from people claiming to have
(08:24):
been railroaded by the government. They read my articles or
hear my podcasts about how federal law enforcement runs very
questionable sting operations, and they hope I'll cover their very
questionable cases. Most of the time, there's no there there,
but Flavio's different. I first heard of Flavio Georgescu in
(08:52):
twenty fifteen. His arrest for allegedly brokering a seventeen million
dollar arms deal for the FARC in Colombia stood out
to me. The deal included some serious weapons anti aircraft, cannons, RPGs,
assault rifles, the kind that caused misery and destruction in
the worlds more desperate corners. I wrote about Flavio's case
(09:16):
during his trial and after being set to prison, Flavio
started reading my previous work.
Speaker 10 (09:22):
What I was trying to talk with you. You study all
those cases, and I realized that, and I know how
much work you put and how much time.
Speaker 7 (09:31):
What I see, what's college?
Speaker 11 (09:32):
So a real prison what I see right now?
Speaker 10 (09:35):
After that much work, you didn't achieve anything because you
didn't make a change out.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
Okay, Flavio, go on, but my case.
Speaker 10 (09:49):
Is the same like everybody else, because the government use
a template and the way they approach people based on trust,
based on temptations, based on different ingredients. Everybody on all
the cases which you study, they buy the bait, they
get temptated, whatever they get played or whatever was the situation.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
He's not wrong. In many of these federal cases involving stings,
the target of the sting moves forward and tries to
or does commit the crime. Think of Post nine eleven
terrorism stings. A government agent gives a bomb to the
target and the target tries to detonate it, not knowing
the weapon is fake. Or here's another example. In twenty thirteen,
(10:38):
FBI undercover agents helped the White supremacists build a radiological
device that's the technical term for what he thought. He
was building a homemade death ray.
Speaker 4 (10:51):
Eighty four thousands, so.
Speaker 12 (10:54):
All four thousand, this machine, right of four thousand with
that machine that doesn't.
Speaker 6 (10:58):
Translated the chiefs from.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
And then once the supposed death ray was built, federal
agents rushed in guns drong. Flavio is trying to tell
me that his case started like that, but he didn't
fall into the trap myself.
Speaker 10 (11:23):
I didn't let myself to be played. I didn't lend
myself to touch the bait. My case is so unique
based on the facts and based on the evidence.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Flavio says he wasn't an arms dealer.
Speaker 6 (11:37):
He never was.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
He was the CIA's guy, and he got tangled in
a web of federal agencies, each with its own agenda.
None of those agendas included him.
Speaker 10 (11:51):
I was convicted for no reason, and having my case
compared with the thousand cases which you review them, all
of my case is the one. But you're gonna clear
your work and We're gonna put you in this country,
in the place which you deserve to be. You are
the only one. That's why I'm so impressed about your
(12:15):
work and everything, because you are the only one to
address the cause. You are the only one to point
the finger on the confidational sources and confinational informant.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
He's the good guy in all this, Flavia says, and
he insists there's no ambiguity about any of it. He
was working with the CIA the whole time, but in
the end he was hung out to dry. Flavio maintains
that he's innocent, completely innocent.
Speaker 10 (12:47):
First, I want to clear my name because as Romanians,
we are very proud people and I don't deserve to
be labeled as a false terrorist for the rest of
my life. I cannot do that.
Speaker 7 (13:00):
Said to die.
Speaker 10 (13:01):
Just put me to sleep, and that's it.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Flavia wants me to tell a story, and if I agree,
he promises to tell me everything.
Speaker 10 (13:13):
Thanks so much to talking. We need probably I don't
know hours and hours the way you write. I want
to be with you and start to choose the journey
which I start in this life. I want to start
to choose from two thousand that beep sound.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
It means the call is about to end. Federal inmates
can only talk on the phone for fifteen minutes at
a time.
Speaker 10 (13:36):
When I was arrested from Montenegro and take you with
me everywhere and you document everything, and yeah, we're gonna
be a change. Right now, we're gonna get I have
only fifteen minutes. I can pull it back in forty minutes.
Then you tell me your your opinions and we start
from death.
Speaker 6 (13:53):
Okay, great, I'll be here. I'll look for your call, transistent.
Speaker 10 (13:56):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
This would be the first of men he calls between
us more after the break.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
This college from an inmate at a set of a prison.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
This may seem pretty obvious to say now, but when
Flavio calls me back forty minutes later, I tell Flavio
that I'll do a story. I tell him that I
want to figure out the truth. But I also tell
him that I'm a journalist. I'll investigate a story and
I'll report what I find out. And he may not
(14:55):
like everything I discover. So where do I start to
understand Flavo and why he might have done the things
he says he did. It's important to understand the world.
He grew up in communist Romania. During the Cold War,
(15:15):
Romania was unique. It was part of the Eastern Bloc
but never officially part of the Soviet Union. Cold War
era Romania was dominated not by Moscow but by a
single man, Nikolai Chalceska, Doyeska.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
And Prime Movent.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
Chalcescu was a dictator who held on the power for
a quarter of a century through a massive police state,
brutal repression and mass surveillance. He used the assets of
the state to fund an opulent lifestyle. His bathrooms were
adorned in real gold. Even as many Romanians lived in poverty.
Speaker 11 (15:57):
Teochesku and his family extended their to every facet of
Romanian life. The secret police have terrified people for years.
Dissidents have been exiled or simply killed.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Chiscu's secret police, known as a Securitate, were all powerful.
Those who spoke out against the government could be pulled
from their beds in the middle of the night and
thrown in horrible prisons, never to be heard.
Speaker 9 (16:23):
From villaged positions.
Speaker 4 (16:25):
He held power through the ruthless.
Speaker 10 (16:27):
Depression of the people by means of his security forces,
a network of police and spies said to number one
in ten of the population.
Speaker 4 (16:34):
Amongst them was.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
One very Flavio's parents were both geologists, and his father
worked for the state mining company.
Speaker 6 (16:41):
Flavio was their only child.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
And he was in charge to They'd make a drill
in the ground, they put dynamite inside, and when they
detonate that thing, they record the seesmic movement and if
they sees like X ray, they see if he's oil
inside or gas or whatever.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Flavio's father worked with explosives, so the secret police kept
a particularly close eye on him.
Speaker 4 (17:11):
That means we were so search in our house by
the secret police and caps and everything, and we were
terrified all the time because my father did never do
anything wrong.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Flavio's dad would even have to watch how much he
drank during meals on the weekend.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
In Romania, we drink when you start to eat the.
Speaker 7 (17:32):
Main course.
Speaker 4 (17:33):
You drink homemade plums like a brandy okay or a
little glass while you were stopping Saturday, because Monday he
was going back to work, and if anything happened wrong
and they find alcohol in his blood, he was going
to jail for his life.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
The secure tat was an all consuming concern for Flavio
and his parents. It affected every part of their lives.
Speaker 4 (18:01):
Let me tell you something else.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
You know, I was growing up.
Speaker 4 (18:04):
If you go to in the summer, were having a
vacation and we go to the Black Sea. If you
having a long hair, the cops they will stop you.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Chilchescu's agents who keep hair clippers on hand, they'd shave
an X in the back of any long haired man's head.
Speaker 4 (18:26):
If you have any jeans, okay, the cops there was
having scissors in the packet. Then those cutting your jeans
and your jacket because the jeens comes from the West,
from cowboys. And if you don't have cows, why do
you have to wear jeans?
Speaker 10 (18:45):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (18:46):
Actually, so many, so many crazy, crazy things.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Throughout all this, Flavio says he dreamed of another place.
Speaker 6 (18:55):
As a child.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
In the nineteen eighties, he was completely enamored with the
idea of the United States. A few friends showed him
how he could illegally listen to American broadcasts on his radio.
Networks like Radio Free Europe and Voice of America were
then and continue to be US government funded projects, a
(19:17):
form of propaganda intended to seduce listeners with American and
Western ideas, things like open societies, a free press, unrestricted expression,
and rock and roll.
Speaker 4 (19:28):
Which gives you their music the insights with the politics
and everything.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
And Flavio fell for it. He'd tune in as often
as he could. But one night Flavio's dad discovered him
listening to the American broadcast. He was horrified.
Speaker 4 (19:51):
He catched me one time, listened down one huh. He
didn't beat me up because they never hit me one time.
My mom over my dad. But I got so much
theory and explained to me the risk and everything to
listen to radio. I you Bob, listened radio for the
rest of my life.
Speaker 6 (20:11):
But then everything changed.
Speaker 8 (20:15):
Mister Gorbachev teared down this wall.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
In the late eighties, the Iron Curtain fell, revolutions erupted
in Eastern Europe. In Romania's was the bloodiest. Thousands of
people were killed. Chelchescu finally fell when the military turned
against him. Thousands poured into the streets of the capitol Bucharest,
chanting the national anthem as it had been written before
(20:47):
Chelchescu took power. Chelchescu and his wife were suddenly stripped
of power and arrested just before Christmas nineteen eighty nine,
they were both executed.
Speaker 12 (21:02):
The deposed Romanian leader, President Chowcescu and his wife have
been executed. State television tonight announced a military tribunal found
them guilty of genocide and undermining.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
The national Following the revolution, Romania began a decades long
process of political and economic reforms. Flavio is a natural talker.
It can be hard to get them to stop talking.
Speaker 6 (21:30):
Honestly.
Speaker 4 (21:31):
Read flag for me A boy was the respect was
put with some bitter taste in my mind. You don't
see me who I am? His father, and he grew
up everything like his friendly Right now there are multi
billionaires and everything. And he was staying in my house
for a few days.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
And he excelled at building relationships in Romania. As Romania
started changing, he went to work at an exclusive hotel
in Bucharest. He became known as a guy who could
get things done, who could get guests whatever they desired
in the city. Acting that's a kind of fixer. But
Romania wasn't changing as quickly as Flavia would have liked,
(22:08):
and he still dreamed of living in America. Flavio had
a cousin in Las Vegas who was running a gym
so he applied for a visa and arrived in the
United States in the late nineteen nineties. Flavia went to
Vegas initially to work for his cousin.
Speaker 4 (22:26):
Myself, I was fascinated about the shows. I was so
excited about the Hoover dam ranted those jet ski all
day long was beautiful. And what I loved so much
was the people. You see Vegas, it is a place
which everybody's happy. Nobody cries, nobody said. Even they lose money,
(22:51):
they win money, they are happy.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
Flavio had several odd jobs during those initial years in
the United States, but Flavio built relationships all around, just
as he had done in Bucharest years earlier, and Flavio
established a transnational reputation too. If a wealthy Romanian was
flying into Las Vegas for a good time, Flavio was
to go to contact. He would arrange just about anything,
(23:17):
shopping trips, exclusive access to casinos and restaurants, whatever could
be bought with money in Las Vegas, which is well everything.
Flavio's clients would fly to Las Vegas, find an obscenely
expensive car, take it for a test drive, and then
buy it. Flavio was responsible for finding a way to
(23:37):
get the car from Las Vegas to Romania.
Speaker 4 (23:43):
I was shipping things cars to Europe all the time,
and somebody said, it is a Romanian guy in la.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
And that's how Flavio would make a connection that would
prove life changing. Andy Georgescu ran a sho shipping company
in Los Angeles that prided itself on discretion. Andy didn't
ask a whole lot of questions about his cargo.
Speaker 4 (24:08):
Then I met him and I said, he's Romanian. We
have the same last name.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Flavio and Andy aren't related. George Escu is the most
common surname in Romania. It'd be like two unrelated Smiths
being friends. In the United States, Flavio was initially skeptical
of Andy and a shipping company, but over the years
he shipped a lot of cars with Andy.
Speaker 4 (24:32):
First of all, I don't want to get affiliated with
people which I don't know what they do. Those cars
expensive cars and has to be take care of in
a specific way, and with the insurance, with everything. With
more companies, they cannot offer those things. So no, give
him my chance. I was, okay, give you my chance.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
The two george Escus made a lot of money together.
They were both hustlers, Romanian immigrants who had made it
the United States. Their common heritage created such a strong
bond that they'd met each other's parents back in the
home country. Flavio had even visited Andy's ill father when
he was in the hospital in Romania. And one day
in twenty twelve, Andy has an idea, a new way
(25:13):
for them to make money, a lot of money. He
tells Flavio he knows a Colombian looking for a way
to buy millions of dollars in weapons. Just a cut
of that a commission would mean a big payday. So
Andy tells the Colombian that he knows a guy, a
(25:36):
guy who can make stuff happen, maybe even an arms deal.
Speaker 6 (25:44):
That's after the break.
Speaker 4 (26:02):
This is this is my plan.
Speaker 9 (26:04):
We have called a lot.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
We have tried to go this here. I'm there at
this point. I do want to see you. Let's see.
We got a regroup a little bit. I want to go.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
This is one the brash Colombian with the bellowing voice,
the guy who was in the hotel room with Flavio
just before he was arrested by the DEA. And if
there's a turning point in Flavio's story the place where
if this were a movie, the dramatic music starts low
and slow. It's probably this phone call. The call happens
(26:40):
on February nineteenth, twenty fourteen.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
I want to come to La maybe next week, Okay,
all right?
Speaker 6 (26:48):
Like a plan for at least two years.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
This guy, Juan has been talking to Andy georg Escu,
Flavio's friend in Los Angeles who runs the shipping company.
Speaker 6 (26:57):
Juan and Andy have talked about a lot of stuff.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
They talked about a potential drug deal for cocaine, using
the code word pink stuff. They've talked about a money
laundering contact in Hong Kong, and they've talked about their
romantic relationships.
Speaker 6 (27:11):
But now Wan is.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
Asking Andy to put together something much bigger, a deal
to sell military grade weapons to the FARC, the Colombian
paramilitary group.
Speaker 6 (27:22):
At the time.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
FARC is officially a terrorist organization according to the US government.
Wan tells Andy he's a representative of the FARC. This
didn't come out of the blue. Juan first brought up
the possibility of a weapons deal to Andy in twenty twelve,
(27:43):
and Andy told Wan that he knows people who make
things happen. But by the time of this call in
twenty fourteen, nothing has materialized. It's all just a bunch
of talk. And Wan is frustrated, really straighted, so frustrated.
He's going to visit Andy in Los Angeles to get
(28:05):
things going.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
And maybe we can go to launch. Okay, all right,
and see what we can put together. Is especially back
in your home country or on that area for that matter.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
By home country one means Romania. He thinks Andy can
put together a weapons deal in Romania.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
All right, bro, I called you next week and we're
talking in person. All right, all right, I see that bye, Okay.
Preceding phone call, I mean the nine fifteen pm east
of the time in the US and the nineteenth of
February twenty fourteen be a sky to and your jesuis.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
What Andy doesn't know is Ons recording their phone calls,
and the next month, on March fourth, twenty fourteen, Ons
in Los Angeles. He's made arrangements for Andy to pick
him up near the airport.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
Well, hey there, hey, hey, I'm here at the budget
run a car of century like a like behind the
cross from the Mario Hotel. Can you marry here?
Speaker 9 (29:16):
Okay, oh yeah, I'll wait you here in about half
an hour because I'm.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
So started to have an argus I'm need to check
him out. The I called to Andy at eleven am
March four, twenty fourteen, and the youre adjustment.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
Andy picks up one and they meet to discuss a
possible arm steel. The global arms market is enormous, worth
more than one hundred billion dollars annually. Much of this
trade is legitimate and perfectly legal weapons sales to government
(29:59):
entities all done in accordance with international regulations, but illegal sales,
also known as arms trafficking, are estimated to be worth
one billion dollars annually. Brokers or middlemen are commonly involved
in weapons deals of all kinds. They connect the buyers,
usually foreign governments, with the sellers, usually arms manufacturers, and
(30:24):
collect a big commission. But some of these brokers and
manufacturers will sell both legally and illegally. Illegal sales are
often conducted with of veneer of legitimacy. An illegal buyer,
with the help of a broker, obtains documents that specify
a different destination for the weapons than the intended destination.
(30:46):
That's often how black market arms deals work. They end
up looking kind of gray, making it difficult to hold
arms traffickers and their enablers accountable.
Speaker 9 (30:59):
Anyway.
Speaker 6 (31:04):
Back to Indian One.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
By Maria Magdalena, Juan Is referring to Andy's girlfriend.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
We need to we lean that, we lean.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
That what's going on. We got hey, I never got
your heart, you.
Speaker 9 (31:26):
Know, No, I didn't send I didn't send it because
I'm waiting for the They didn't get back to me
on the one paper you.
Speaker 12 (31:33):
Got back to me for.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
Andy assures Wan that he has contacts who can broke
her an arms deel. He just needs a list of
the weapons that Wan wants to buy.
Speaker 9 (31:43):
So I just need to reconfie some things with him
and so I can put it down.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Okay, find out when we can meet at the place
that I told you. We can meet at the end place. Okay,
you on whoever you have on myself, you know, so
I can plan and and do that that go shopping.
Speaker 9 (32:03):
Definitely on that sage. Yeah, we need to know. I
mean we need to know. I mean I need to
explain exactly how the payment is gonna work and stuff
like that.
Speaker 3 (32:10):
No, well, this is it.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
We want to meet there and once we agree that
you can have two of these two d and two
of the other ones, you know whatever. Okay, then uh
I bring the money. I give you the money, right there,
No good, That's what I'm think.
Speaker 9 (32:26):
I can explain to them, and you know, we'll sit
down and discus. I don't want them to see too
many faces and you know stuff like that.
Speaker 4 (32:33):
That's fine.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
Whatever you call you call the shots.
Speaker 9 (32:36):
You just you, I mean nothing, you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (32:39):
Oh no, just me, just me? Oh yeah yeah yeah, yeah,
yeah yeah yeah. But I got the people on the standby,
and they will make the phones available for the for
the you know, for the stuff, our peace and all that. Okay,
that's right, all right, all right, okay, So I went
on not to hear from you.
Speaker 9 (33:00):
Will finalize that this this week, this weekend, this.
Speaker 10 (33:02):
Should be done.
Speaker 2 (33:03):
Brother, all right, thank you, say hello, say hello to
Maria Mondalina. I will, okay, okay, I will all right.
Uh hold on eleven six pm Eastern seventh time in
the US to uh Todays Days throws in March six,
(33:30):
twenty fourteen.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
What Wan doesn't know is that Andy is talking to Flavio,
and Flavio is the one Andy believes is going to
put together the arms deal for Wan. Andy expects to
get a cut of whatever deal comes from this. When
Andy says.
Speaker 9 (33:48):
You can't get back to me on the one paper
he got back to me for.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
A belief, he's referring to Flavio. Andy had called Flavio
in April twenty twelve and asked him if he could
put together the arms deal. Flavio said maybe he could,
but there's something that neither Wan nor Andy knows about.
Right after Andy first called Flavio about the arms deal,
(34:13):
Flavio called someone else, the Central Intelligence Agency, the CIA,
AH and the CIA. They were recording their calls too
good afternoon.
Speaker 3 (34:28):
How can I help you, Hi? Her mind is Flavio,
and I have an information for you, and I want
to be in touchly one of your agency overkill in
many order. I know you have an office now with Tria.
Speaker 6 (34:44):
That's in the next episode.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
This is up in arms, Season two.
Speaker 6 (34:49):
Of Alphabet Boys.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
Alphabet Boys is a production of Western Sound and iHeart Podcasts.
The show is reported, written and hosted by me Trevor Aaronson.
For more information about this series, we're going to drop
us a tip. Head to our website Alphabet Boys dot xyz.
You can contact me on Twitter or Instagram at Trevor Aaronson.
The show's instagram is Alphabetboys dot pod. If you're enjoying
(35:25):
Alphabet Boys, tell your friends about the show. Personal recommendations
are the best recommendations. And if you want to see
an illegal armstel from the inside again, it's Alphabet Boys
dot xyz. You'll find undercover recordings and documents related to
Flavio's case. Finally, you can help us ride the algorithms
by leaving a rating or review on your favorite podcast
(35:47):
app that helps other people find us.
Speaker 6 (35:50):
And thanks for listening.
Sometimes, when federal law enforcement agencies investigate crimes, they unwittingly
target the informants or undercover agents of other agencies. This
season is one of those stories, a simmering alphabet soup
with the DEA, the CIA, and the FBI all mixed
(00:22):
up in the same case. Also as a warning, this
show includes uncensored undercover recordings that contain explicit language. It
is intended for adult audiences.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
It took a long time to meetium. How are you good?
Thank you for coming.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
How you.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
Okay?
Speaker 2 (00:47):
This is for you. I think I know you were coming.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
How are you?
Speaker 1 (00:57):
This may sound like small talk, but what you're hearing
is an illegal arms deal.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
One.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
It's December twenty fourteen, and two Romanian men are in
a hotel room in the country of Montenegro. They're meeting
with three Colombians. The Romanians are named Flavio georg Escu
and Christian Ventilla, and they've arranged for the Colombians to
buy millions of dollars in weapons and ammunition anti aircraft cannons,
(01:29):
rocket propelled grenades, and assault rifles.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
Yeah, I show him the contract. I was pushing to
sign the contract.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
This is Flavio and yeah, even illegal arms deeals use contracts. Anyway,
Flavio's got his paperwork together, but he's stressed.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
Christiano has tried to show him things on his laptop,
some specifications, anything, but for me is just to put
his signature and just leave me alone because I want
to get out. That's it. I'm done.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Flavio is at the finish line. He'd brokered the whole deal.
All he needs now is to close with a signature
from one of the Colombians. But the Colombians they're stalling.
They've told Flavio they represent the FARC, the Colombian paramilitary
(02:23):
group that, as this is happening, is a US designated
foreign terrorist organization. That's a big deal. It's what makes
this an illegal arms deal also a big deal. The
Romanians were explicitly told that the weapons would be used
to shoot down American helicopters. The lead Colombian is a
(02:48):
wide bellied, brash man with a bellowing voice, and he
says he's not signing, not yet.
Speaker 4 (02:58):
No, before he signed it, he said, I have to
talk with my people.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
The Colombian says he needs final approval from his superiors,
and he and his two associates step out of the
hotel room. Then agents with the United States Drug Enforcement
Administration burst through the door, guns drawn.
Speaker 4 (03:23):
You're on the wrist and the v handcuffs me and
I said, let me talk with you. Let me use
the bathroom.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
And this is where things get interesting. Flavio, handcuffed motions
with his head to one of the DEA agents. The
agent walks with Flavio into the bathroom. They're crowded together
in the small room. Flavio looks directly at the agent
(03:50):
and motions for him to step closer. In a soft voice,
Flavio tells him, I work for the CIA.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
When I said, I call it this center for CIA,
just call them.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
I'm Trevor Aronson from Western Sound and iHeart Podcasts. This
is Alphabet Boys. Each season of Alphabet Boys, we bring
you into the world of America's alphabet agencies, including the FBI, CIA, DEA,
and ATF. Using secret undercover recordings, we take you deep
(04:28):
inside a federal investigation. We dive into cases that raise
a common question. Are federal agents and their informants catching
bad guys or creating them? In season one, we went
to Denver, where FBI agents investigated racial justice activists during
(04:49):
the summer of twenty twenty.
Speaker 5 (04:51):
If you're trying to implicate that I'm a fucking snitch,
check this out.
Speaker 6 (04:55):
Three things.
Speaker 5 (04:56):
I ain't a punk, I ain't a bitch, and I
had a fucking snitch.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
In that case, the FBI's informant, Mickey Windecker, tried desperately
to preserve his cover after he was accused of being
an informant.
Speaker 5 (05:09):
You should ask who the real fucking punker bitches or
who the real fucking snitches.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
But now we have a very different story with some
very different federal agents in this season. The guy working
with the FEDS isn't trying to hold on to his cover.
He's trying to expose it, to reveal himself as a
government agent in order to save himself.
Speaker 7 (05:32):
In my mind that time was okay, as soon as
I'm going to reach United States CIA, they were going
to give me all the documents. It shows everything what
I did.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
Flavio Georgescu, Romanian American businessman, is arrested by the DEA
and tells those agents that he's collecting intelligence for the CIA.
Speaker 7 (05:51):
Step by step, not even one one step aside of
the line I didn't took money, I didn't jeopardize nobody
likes and I delivered everything, which I promise.
Speaker 6 (06:01):
But who is this guy Flavio? Who is he really?
Speaker 8 (06:05):
When I land, there's Flavio in a suit, It's like,
follow me?
Speaker 6 (06:10):
Is he CIA operative?
Speaker 8 (06:12):
And he slams down his badge in my passport and
they just stamp it and we walk to the next window,
and I'm like, something's going on here?
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Is he an international arms dealer?
Speaker 9 (06:28):
Then Romanian government on my as right now because they.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Think I'm bullshitting or maybe Flavio is something entirely different.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
I see movies with arm dealers on TV. But hold on,
I have to learn. I have to create a mindset. Okay,
I'm going there for c B. I'm gonna die.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
This is Alphabet Boys Season two, up and Arms, episode one.
I work for the CIA.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
No have a prepaid call.
Speaker 7 (07:19):
You will not be charged for this call.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
This car is from just an inmate at I said
with prison Hi.
Speaker 10 (07:27):
Flave you, Hello, good morning, mister Arson.
Speaker 6 (07:30):
Hey, thanks so much for calling.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
I'm so sorry I didn't realize that this two oh
two number was you this whole time.
Speaker 6 (07:35):
Sorry about that.
Speaker 10 (07:37):
It is not a problem it's not a problem.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
It's August twenty twenty and Flavio and I are talking
for the first time. He'd been trying to call me,
and I had mistakenly ignored his calls.
Speaker 10 (07:51):
Normally, when I tried to make new friends or to
meet somebody in my life, I don't call them from prison.
I wait for this call for probably the last or
Mosboro six.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
In case you haven't figured it out yet, let me
tell you Flavio was arrested, convicted, and imprisoned for what
happened in Montenegro, even though he told US officials that
he was working for the CIA. I get a lot
of calls, emails, and texts from people claiming to have
(08:24):
been railroaded by the government. They read my articles or
hear my podcasts about how federal law enforcement runs very
questionable sting operations, and they hope I'll cover their very
questionable cases. Most of the time, there's no there there,
but Flavio's different. I first heard of Flavio Georgescu in
(08:52):
twenty fifteen. His arrest for allegedly brokering a seventeen million
dollar arms deal for the FARC in Colombia stood out
to me. The deal included some serious weapons anti aircraft, cannons, RPGs,
assault rifles, the kind that caused misery and destruction in
the worlds more desperate corners. I wrote about Flavio's case
(09:16):
during his trial and after being set to prison, Flavio
started reading my previous work.
Speaker 10 (09:22):
What I was trying to talk with you. You study all
those cases, and I realized that, and I know how
much work you put and how much time.
Speaker 7 (09:31):
What I see, what's college?
Speaker 11 (09:32):
So a real prison what I see right now?
Speaker 10 (09:35):
After that much work, you didn't achieve anything because you
didn't make a change out.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
Okay, Flavio, go on, but my case.
Speaker 10 (09:49):
Is the same like everybody else, because the government use
a template and the way they approach people based on trust,
based on temptations, based on different ingredients. Everybody on all
the cases which you study, they buy the bait, they
get temptated, whatever they get played or whatever was the situation.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
He's not wrong. In many of these federal cases involving stings,
the target of the sting moves forward and tries to
or does commit the crime. Think of Post nine eleven
terrorism stings. A government agent gives a bomb to the
target and the target tries to detonate it, not knowing
the weapon is fake. Or here's another example. In twenty thirteen,
(10:38):
FBI undercover agents helped the White supremacists build a radiological
device that's the technical term for what he thought. He
was building a homemade death ray.
Speaker 4 (10:51):
Eighty four thousands, so.
Speaker 12 (10:54):
All four thousand, this machine, right of four thousand with
that machine that doesn't.
Speaker 6 (10:58):
Translated the chiefs from.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
And then once the supposed death ray was built, federal
agents rushed in guns drong. Flavio is trying to tell
me that his case started like that, but he didn't
fall into the trap myself.
Speaker 10 (11:23):
I didn't let myself to be played. I didn't lend
myself to touch the bait. My case is so unique
based on the facts and based on the evidence.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Flavio says he wasn't an arms dealer.
Speaker 6 (11:37):
He never was.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
He was the CIA's guy, and he got tangled in
a web of federal agencies, each with its own agenda.
None of those agendas included him.
Speaker 10 (11:51):
I was convicted for no reason, and having my case
compared with the thousand cases which you review them, all
of my case is the one. But you're gonna clear
your work and We're gonna put you in this country,
in the place which you deserve to be. You are
the only one. That's why I'm so impressed about your
(12:15):
work and everything, because you are the only one to
address the cause. You are the only one to point
the finger on the confidational sources and confinational informant.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
He's the good guy in all this, Flavia says, and
he insists there's no ambiguity about any of it. He
was working with the CIA the whole time, but in
the end he was hung out to dry. Flavio maintains
that he's innocent, completely innocent.
Speaker 10 (12:47):
First, I want to clear my name because as Romanians,
we are very proud people and I don't deserve to
be labeled as a false terrorist for the rest of
my life. I cannot do that.
Speaker 7 (13:00):
Said to die.
Speaker 10 (13:01):
Just put me to sleep, and that's it.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Flavia wants me to tell a story, and if I agree,
he promises to tell me everything.
Speaker 10 (13:13):
Thanks so much to talking. We need probably I don't
know hours and hours the way you write. I want
to be with you and start to choose the journey
which I start in this life. I want to start
to choose from two thousand that beep sound.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
It means the call is about to end. Federal inmates
can only talk on the phone for fifteen minutes at
a time.
Speaker 10 (13:36):
When I was arrested from Montenegro and take you with
me everywhere and you document everything, and yeah, we're gonna
be a change. Right now, we're gonna get I have
only fifteen minutes. I can pull it back in forty minutes.
Then you tell me your your opinions and we start
from death.
Speaker 6 (13:53):
Okay, great, I'll be here. I'll look for your call, transistent.
Speaker 10 (13:56):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
This would be the first of men he calls between
us more after the break.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
This college from an inmate at a set of a prison.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
This may seem pretty obvious to say now, but when
Flavio calls me back forty minutes later, I tell Flavio
that I'll do a story. I tell him that I
want to figure out the truth. But I also tell
him that I'm a journalist. I'll investigate a story and
I'll report what I find out. And he may not
(14:55):
like everything I discover. So where do I start to
understand Flavo and why he might have done the things
he says he did. It's important to understand the world.
He grew up in communist Romania. During the Cold War,
(15:15):
Romania was unique. It was part of the Eastern Bloc
but never officially part of the Soviet Union. Cold War
era Romania was dominated not by Moscow but by a
single man, Nikolai Chalceska, Doyeska.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
And Prime Movent.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
Chalcescu was a dictator who held on the power for
a quarter of a century through a massive police state,
brutal repression and mass surveillance. He used the assets of
the state to fund an opulent lifestyle. His bathrooms were
adorned in real gold. Even as many Romanians lived in poverty.
Speaker 11 (15:57):
Teochesku and his family extended their to every facet of
Romanian life. The secret police have terrified people for years.
Dissidents have been exiled or simply killed.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Chiscu's secret police, known as a Securitate, were all powerful.
Those who spoke out against the government could be pulled
from their beds in the middle of the night and
thrown in horrible prisons, never to be heard.
Speaker 9 (16:23):
From villaged positions.
Speaker 4 (16:25):
He held power through the ruthless.
Speaker 10 (16:27):
Depression of the people by means of his security forces,
a network of police and spies said to number one
in ten of the population.
Speaker 4 (16:34):
Amongst them was.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
One very Flavio's parents were both geologists, and his father
worked for the state mining company.
Speaker 6 (16:41):
Flavio was their only child.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
And he was in charge to They'd make a drill
in the ground, they put dynamite inside, and when they
detonate that thing, they record the seesmic movement and if
they sees like X ray, they see if he's oil
inside or gas or whatever.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Flavio's father worked with explosives, so the secret police kept
a particularly close eye on him.
Speaker 4 (17:11):
That means we were so search in our house by
the secret police and caps and everything, and we were
terrified all the time because my father did never do
anything wrong.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Flavio's dad would even have to watch how much he
drank during meals on the weekend.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
In Romania, we drink when you start to eat the.
Speaker 7 (17:32):
Main course.
Speaker 4 (17:33):
You drink homemade plums like a brandy okay or a
little glass while you were stopping Saturday, because Monday he
was going back to work, and if anything happened wrong
and they find alcohol in his blood, he was going
to jail for his life.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
The secure tat was an all consuming concern for Flavio
and his parents. It affected every part of their lives.
Speaker 4 (18:01):
Let me tell you something else.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
You know, I was growing up.
Speaker 4 (18:04):
If you go to in the summer, were having a
vacation and we go to the Black Sea. If you
having a long hair, the cops they will stop you.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Chilchescu's agents who keep hair clippers on hand, they'd shave
an X in the back of any long haired man's head.
Speaker 4 (18:26):
If you have any jeans, okay, the cops there was
having scissors in the packet. Then those cutting your jeans
and your jacket because the jeens comes from the West,
from cowboys. And if you don't have cows, why do
you have to wear jeans?
Speaker 10 (18:45):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (18:46):
Actually, so many, so many crazy, crazy things.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Throughout all this, Flavio says he dreamed of another place.
Speaker 6 (18:55):
As a child.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
In the nineteen eighties, he was completely enamored with the
idea of the United States. A few friends showed him
how he could illegally listen to American broadcasts on his radio.
Networks like Radio Free Europe and Voice of America were
then and continue to be US government funded projects, a
(19:17):
form of propaganda intended to seduce listeners with American and
Western ideas, things like open societies, a free press, unrestricted expression,
and rock and roll.
Speaker 4 (19:28):
Which gives you their music the insights with the politics
and everything.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
And Flavio fell for it. He'd tune in as often
as he could. But one night Flavio's dad discovered him
listening to the American broadcast. He was horrified.
Speaker 4 (19:51):
He catched me one time, listened down one huh. He
didn't beat me up because they never hit me one time.
My mom over my dad. But I got so much
theory and explained to me the risk and everything to
listen to radio. I you Bob, listened radio for the
rest of my life.
Speaker 6 (20:11):
But then everything changed.
Speaker 8 (20:15):
Mister Gorbachev teared down this wall.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
In the late eighties, the Iron Curtain fell, revolutions erupted
in Eastern Europe. In Romania's was the bloodiest. Thousands of
people were killed. Chelchescu finally fell when the military turned
against him. Thousands poured into the streets of the capitol Bucharest,
chanting the national anthem as it had been written before
(20:47):
Chelchescu took power. Chelchescu and his wife were suddenly stripped
of power and arrested just before Christmas nineteen eighty nine,
they were both executed.
Speaker 12 (21:02):
The deposed Romanian leader, President Chowcescu and his wife have
been executed. State television tonight announced a military tribunal found
them guilty of genocide and undermining.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
The national Following the revolution, Romania began a decades long
process of political and economic reforms. Flavio is a natural talker.
It can be hard to get them to stop talking.
Speaker 6 (21:30):
Honestly.
Speaker 4 (21:31):
Read flag for me A boy was the respect was
put with some bitter taste in my mind. You don't
see me who I am? His father, and he grew
up everything like his friendly Right now there are multi
billionaires and everything. And he was staying in my house
for a few days.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
And he excelled at building relationships in Romania. As Romania
started changing, he went to work at an exclusive hotel
in Bucharest. He became known as a guy who could
get things done, who could get guests whatever they desired
in the city. Acting that's a kind of fixer. But
Romania wasn't changing as quickly as Flavia would have liked,
(22:08):
and he still dreamed of living in America. Flavio had
a cousin in Las Vegas who was running a gym
so he applied for a visa and arrived in the
United States in the late nineteen nineties. Flavia went to
Vegas initially to work for his cousin.
Speaker 4 (22:26):
Myself, I was fascinated about the shows. I was so
excited about the Hoover dam ranted those jet ski all
day long was beautiful. And what I loved so much
was the people. You see Vegas, it is a place
which everybody's happy. Nobody cries, nobody said. Even they lose money,
(22:51):
they win money, they are happy.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
Flavio had several odd jobs during those initial years in
the United States, but Flavio built relationships all around, just
as he had done in Bucharest years earlier, and Flavio
established a transnational reputation too. If a wealthy Romanian was
flying into Las Vegas for a good time, Flavio was
to go to contact. He would arrange just about anything,
(23:17):
shopping trips, exclusive access to casinos and restaurants, whatever could
be bought with money in Las Vegas, which is well everything.
Flavio's clients would fly to Las Vegas, find an obscenely
expensive car, take it for a test drive, and then
buy it. Flavio was responsible for finding a way to
(23:37):
get the car from Las Vegas to Romania.
Speaker 4 (23:43):
I was shipping things cars to Europe all the time,
and somebody said, it is a Romanian guy in la.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
And that's how Flavio would make a connection that would
prove life changing. Andy Georgescu ran a sho shipping company
in Los Angeles that prided itself on discretion. Andy didn't
ask a whole lot of questions about his cargo.
Speaker 4 (24:08):
Then I met him and I said, he's Romanian. We
have the same last name.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Flavio and Andy aren't related. George Escu is the most
common surname in Romania. It'd be like two unrelated Smiths
being friends. In the United States, Flavio was initially skeptical
of Andy and a shipping company, but over the years
he shipped a lot of cars with Andy.
Speaker 4 (24:32):
First of all, I don't want to get affiliated with
people which I don't know what they do. Those cars
expensive cars and has to be take care of in
a specific way, and with the insurance, with everything. With
more companies, they cannot offer those things. So no, give
him my chance. I was, okay, give you my chance.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
The two george Escus made a lot of money together.
They were both hustlers, Romanian immigrants who had made it
the United States. Their common heritage created such a strong
bond that they'd met each other's parents back in the
home country. Flavio had even visited Andy's ill father when
he was in the hospital in Romania. And one day
in twenty twelve, Andy has an idea, a new way
(25:13):
for them to make money, a lot of money. He
tells Flavio he knows a Colombian looking for a way
to buy millions of dollars in weapons. Just a cut
of that a commission would mean a big payday. So
Andy tells the Colombian that he knows a guy, a
(25:36):
guy who can make stuff happen, maybe even an arms deal.
Speaker 6 (25:44):
That's after the break.
Speaker 4 (26:02):
This is this is my plan.
Speaker 9 (26:04):
We have called a lot.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
We have tried to go this here. I'm there at
this point. I do want to see you. Let's see.
We got a regroup a little bit. I want to go.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
This is one the brash Colombian with the bellowing voice,
the guy who was in the hotel room with Flavio
just before he was arrested by the DEA. And if
there's a turning point in Flavio's story the place where
if this were a movie, the dramatic music starts low
and slow. It's probably this phone call. The call happens
(26:40):
on February nineteenth, twenty fourteen.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
I want to come to La maybe next week, Okay,
all right?
Speaker 6 (26:48):
Like a plan for at least two years.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
This guy, Juan has been talking to Andy georg Escu,
Flavio's friend in Los Angeles who runs the shipping company.
Speaker 6 (26:57):
Juan and Andy have talked about a lot of stuff.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
They talked about a potential drug deal for cocaine, using
the code word pink stuff. They've talked about a money
laundering contact in Hong Kong, and they've talked about their
romantic relationships.
Speaker 6 (27:11):
But now Wan is.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
Asking Andy to put together something much bigger, a deal
to sell military grade weapons to the FARC, the Colombian
paramilitary group.
Speaker 6 (27:22):
At the time.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
FARC is officially a terrorist organization according to the US government.
Wan tells Andy he's a representative of the FARC. This
didn't come out of the blue. Juan first brought up
the possibility of a weapons deal to Andy in twenty twelve,
(27:43):
and Andy told Wan that he knows people who make
things happen. But by the time of this call in
twenty fourteen, nothing has materialized. It's all just a bunch
of talk. And Wan is frustrated, really straighted, so frustrated.
He's going to visit Andy in Los Angeles to get
(28:05):
things going.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
And maybe we can go to launch. Okay, all right,
and see what we can put together. Is especially back
in your home country or on that area for that matter.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
By home country one means Romania. He thinks Andy can
put together a weapons deal in Romania.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
All right, bro, I called you next week and we're
talking in person. All right, all right, I see that bye, Okay.
Preceding phone call, I mean the nine fifteen pm east
of the time in the US and the nineteenth of
February twenty fourteen be a sky to and your jesuis.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
What Andy doesn't know is Ons recording their phone calls,
and the next month, on March fourth, twenty fourteen, Ons
in Los Angeles. He's made arrangements for Andy to pick
him up near the airport.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
Well, hey there, hey, hey, I'm here at the budget
run a car of century like a like behind the
cross from the Mario Hotel. Can you marry here?
Speaker 9 (29:16):
Okay, oh yeah, I'll wait you here in about half
an hour because I'm.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
So started to have an argus I'm need to check
him out. The I called to Andy at eleven am
March four, twenty fourteen, and the youre adjustment.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
Andy picks up one and they meet to discuss a
possible arm steel. The global arms market is enormous, worth
more than one hundred billion dollars annually. Much of this
trade is legitimate and perfectly legal weapons sales to government
(29:59):
entities all done in accordance with international regulations, but illegal sales,
also known as arms trafficking, are estimated to be worth
one billion dollars annually. Brokers or middlemen are commonly involved
in weapons deals of all kinds. They connect the buyers,
usually foreign governments, with the sellers, usually arms manufacturers, and
(30:24):
collect a big commission. But some of these brokers and
manufacturers will sell both legally and illegally. Illegal sales are
often conducted with of veneer of legitimacy. An illegal buyer,
with the help of a broker, obtains documents that specify
a different destination for the weapons than the intended destination.
(30:46):
That's often how black market arms deals work. They end
up looking kind of gray, making it difficult to hold
arms traffickers and their enablers accountable.
Speaker 9 (30:59):
Anyway.
Speaker 6 (31:04):
Back to Indian One.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
By Maria Magdalena, Juan Is referring to Andy's girlfriend.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
We need to we lean that, we lean.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
That what's going on. We got hey, I never got
your heart, you.
Speaker 9 (31:26):
Know, No, I didn't send I didn't send it because
I'm waiting for the They didn't get back to me
on the one paper you.
Speaker 12 (31:33):
Got back to me for.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
Andy assures Wan that he has contacts who can broke
her an arms deel. He just needs a list of
the weapons that Wan wants to buy.
Speaker 9 (31:43):
So I just need to reconfie some things with him
and so I can put it down.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Okay, find out when we can meet at the place
that I told you. We can meet at the end place. Okay,
you on whoever you have on myself, you know, so
I can plan and and do that that go shopping.
Speaker 9 (32:03):
Definitely on that sage. Yeah, we need to know. I
mean we need to know. I mean I need to
explain exactly how the payment is gonna work and stuff
like that.
Speaker 3 (32:10):
No, well, this is it.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
We want to meet there and once we agree that
you can have two of these two d and two
of the other ones, you know whatever. Okay, then uh
I bring the money. I give you the money, right there,
No good, That's what I'm think.
Speaker 9 (32:26):
I can explain to them, and you know, we'll sit
down and discus. I don't want them to see too
many faces and you know stuff like that.
Speaker 4 (32:33):
That's fine.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
Whatever you call you call the shots.
Speaker 9 (32:36):
You just you, I mean nothing, you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (32:39):
Oh no, just me, just me? Oh yeah yeah yeah, yeah,
yeah yeah yeah. But I got the people on the standby,
and they will make the phones available for the for
the you know, for the stuff, our peace and all that. Okay,
that's right, all right, all right, okay, So I went
on not to hear from you.
Speaker 9 (33:00):
Will finalize that this this week, this weekend, this.
Speaker 10 (33:02):
Should be done.
Speaker 2 (33:03):
Brother, all right, thank you, say hello, say hello to
Maria Mondalina. I will, okay, okay, I will all right.
Uh hold on eleven six pm Eastern seventh time in
the US to uh Todays Days throws in March six,
(33:30):
twenty fourteen.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
What Wan doesn't know is that Andy is talking to Flavio,
and Flavio is the one Andy believes is going to
put together the arms deal for Wan. Andy expects to
get a cut of whatever deal comes from this. When
Andy says.
Speaker 9 (33:48):
You can't get back to me on the one paper
he got back to me for.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
A belief, he's referring to Flavio. Andy had called Flavio
in April twenty twelve and asked him if he could
put together the arms deal. Flavio said maybe he could,
but there's something that neither Wan nor Andy knows about.
Right after Andy first called Flavio about the arms deal,
(34:13):
Flavio called someone else, the Central Intelligence Agency, the CIA,
AH and the CIA. They were recording their calls too
good afternoon.
Speaker 3 (34:28):
How can I help you, Hi? Her mind is Flavio,
and I have an information for you, and I want
to be in touchly one of your agency overkill in
many order. I know you have an office now with Tria.
Speaker 6 (34:44):
That's in the next episode.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
This is up in arms, Season two.
Speaker 6 (34:49):
Of Alphabet Boys.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
Alphabet Boys is a production of Western Sound and iHeart Podcasts.
The show is reported, written and hosted by me Trevor Aaronson.
For more information about this series, we're going to drop
us a tip. Head to our website Alphabet Boys dot xyz.
You can contact me on Twitter or Instagram at Trevor Aaronson.
The show's instagram is Alphabetboys dot pod. If you're enjoying
(35:25):
Alphabet Boys, tell your friends about the show. Personal recommendations
are the best recommendations. And if you want to see
an illegal armstel from the inside again, it's Alphabet Boys
dot xyz. You'll find undercover recordings and documents related to
Flavio's case. Finally, you can help us ride the algorithms
by leaving a rating or review on your favorite podcast
(35:47):
app that helps other people find us.
Speaker 6 (35:50):
And thanks for listening.
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