October 16, 2024 • 34 mins
A senior government minister is spotted drinking with a prime suspect just weeks after Daphne’s murder and a “surprise” raid turns out to be not much of a surprise after all. Do the killers have inside information on the investigation?
Crooks Everywhere is a production of iHeartPodcasts, Topic Studios and Vespucci.
The voice of Daphne Caruana Galizia is played by Sienna Miller.
The senior producer is Leo Hornak. The producer is Maddie Hickish.
The executive producers are: Christy Gressman for Topic Studios; Katrina Norvell and Nikki Ettore for iHeart Podcasts; Johnny Galvin and Daniel Turcan for Vespucci; and Sienna Miller.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Freedom of speech in a real democracy is something which
the people impose on the government, and not the other
way round. That's what is wrong with Malta. It's a
society in which freedom of speech has had to be
imposed on a public that rejects it because it doesn't
understand the imperatives that drive it.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
For the Record, interview with George de Georgia, fifth December
twenty seventeen.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
It's twenty four hours after the swat raid on the
potato shed on the Marsaki side and the arrest of
Daphne's three assassins, Chinese George de Georgio, his brother Alfred
de Bin de Georgio and Vincent the kop Moscat. We're
in a small interrogation room, one table in the futures
(01:06):
and on your recorder picking up everywhord. It's time for
Chinese George, the man who triggered the car bomb that
killed Dephanie, to be asked some questions.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
Chinese George looks like what he is, middle aged, thinning hair,
a squat, heavy set guy, maybe a little out of shape,
but still unmistakably an intimidating presence.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Think tony soprano, not so smart, not so tall, but
about as ruthless. It's not the first time he spent
a night in custody. This is a man who has
been in interrogation rooms like this many times before, and
one who has walked free before.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
Across the table from Chinese George is Inspector Keith Arnaud,
the leader of the investigation into Daphnese murder, one of
Malter's most experienced homicide investigators.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Also in the room is Inspector Zara, his colleague and.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
The warning this will be a somewhat one sided conversation.
Speaker 5 (02:07):
George, please, how old are you? I'll ask you again,
how old are you? George?
Speaker 4 (02:16):
What you're hearing our actions? And a recreation based on
lead transcripts from an interrogation at Multipolice ARGQ. We translated
it into English.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
And the unwritten code for Chinese George in this situation
is clear, don't talk to cops.
Speaker 5 (02:33):
In that case. What is your father's name? George?
Speaker 3 (02:37):
In fairness, Inspector are not does already have all this
information and much more. But this isn't about George's name
or his father. It's about who is really in control
in this interview room.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
As we told you yesterday, George, and as is written
on the arrest warrant, we have arrested you on suspicion
of the murder of the journalist Dafnie Carbona Galizia.
Speaker 5 (03:06):
Do you have anything to say to this?
Speaker 4 (03:11):
After the preliminaries, Inspector Arnau gets right to it. He
directly asks the first question that he doesn't yet know
the answer to.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
George, did you know that we were coming for you?
Speaker 4 (03:33):
From my hard podcast topic Studios in Vespucci, I'm.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
John Sweeney and I'm Manuel Delia.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
And this is Crooks Everywhere, Episode four, you knew we
were coming.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
In the interview room, Inspector Arnaut is feeling the heat
regardless of her conditioning. This is the biggest case of
his career and also maybe the riskiest. A lot of
people will be very unhappy if this case isn't solved,
not just in Malta but around the world, but some
very powerful people in Malta will probably also be unhappy
(04:15):
if it is solved. Both sides have a lot riding
on this.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
And if there are mistakes made, everyone will be looking
for someone to apply.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Exhibit KK three is a photo of a reproduction of
the device that triggered the bomb an electronic circuit connected
to a SIM card, with the card remotely activated by
text message. We have proof that you were the person
who sent this SMS?
Speaker 5 (04:47):
Is this true.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
And Inspector Arnold's favor is the mountain of forensic and
electronic data evidence, enabled by the assistance from the FBI
and other foreign forces, and supplemented with phone taps and
local CCDV at TODBT discoveries made after debate.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
Immediately after the arrest, police divers search the bottom of
the harbor next to the keyside by the potato shed,
and they found the seabed was littered with discarded phones,
including the phones used in Daphne's murder. Some of the
SIM cards still work and can have their call data
extracted from them. So what's the story behind the underwater
(05:35):
phone museum. It means that someone in the potato shed
has a routine when a burnaphone contains incriminating information and
the job's done, it's thrown over the keyside into the water.
The problem is, this isn't the open sea, so instead
of being washed away forever, all these phones are waiting
(05:57):
in the mud five feet down in the place for
the authorities to come and find them.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
It's a huge breakthrough for Inspact that are and the
FBI team helping him.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
As you can see, George, we are dealing with facts
here in controvertible technical evidence. No one will ever be
able to say I must have been confused, I misremembered.
Oh this actually means something else. Uh no, So I
think you'd be wiser to tell me what you have
(06:34):
to say.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
About all this. He's right. The phone evidence, both location
data and recording of cause is damning. And it's also
not the kind of evidence that witness intimidation can change.
That's one Inspector Arno is hinting at when he talks
(06:55):
to people becoming confused or misremembering on the witness stand.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
Witnesses often get forgetful in trials involving organized crime.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
But this brings Inspector arna back to his earlier question,
the question that he still can't figure out how the
criminals seemed to be expecting him and his offices in
the SWAT raid. There's a whole range of clues that
suggests this.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
What was the reason, for example, that we did not
find the keys to the room and.
Speaker 5 (07:29):
Your mobile phones? Your mobile phone disappeared.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
It turns out that all of the killers had conveniently
just lost their mobile phones when the raid took place.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Why did you have the phone number of your girlfriend
written on your arm, Georgia, on your wrist? Is it
normal for anyone to write the number of his woman
on his arm?
Speaker 5 (07:47):
Isn't that right?
Speaker 3 (07:49):
The mobile number of George's girlfriend is scrawled on his skin,
and pen Inspector Arno is right. It's a strange way
to keep important phone numbers. But if you know you
are about to be raided by the police and you
are planning to throw away your cell phone, then it
makes more sense.
Speaker 4 (08:09):
And then there is the dog that didn't bark. George
has a much which he usually keeps in the potato
shed to act as a guard dog. But on the
day of the swat rate, the guard dog with a wall.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
And what about the dog, the dog you usually take
to the potato shed.
Speaker 5 (08:26):
What happened to it? Why wasn't that dog tied up
in her usual place?
Speaker 3 (08:31):
Of course, this is another thing that makes more sense
if you are expecting a heavily armed police rate. If
you know as what rate is coming, you would want
to make sure that your loyal guard dog is locked
away somewhere safe in advance, out of harm's way. One
thing is pretty clear and what has most high profile
murder investigation. Somehow the criminals already know every move the
(08:52):
law has planned before it happens. And the question is how.
Speaker 5 (08:58):
George known for a long time that we were coming.
Speaker 4 (09:11):
Even if George and the other killers appear cool under pressure,
the mood of the rest of the country is far
from calm at this time, both the Daphne's supporters and
her enemies.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
Let's start with the supporters. The initial wave of protests
centered around the Great Siege Monument isn't dying away. In fact,
around the time of the swat rate, it is growing
stronger and proving to be an even bigger source of
annoyance to the government. And Daphne's role as a groundbreaking
female journalist in Mota is particularly important to many protesters.
Speaker 6 (09:46):
Shortly after Daphanie I was killed, I was pulling the
news and the parliament resumed and the opposition wanted to
put on the table that they should have a debate about,
you know, the killing of Deafhnite.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
This is one of the protest leaders. French born Cleman s. Dujardin,
a software CEO who has lived in More since the
early two thousands. Someone I know a bit. We've been
married seven years.
Speaker 6 (10:15):
And as I'm watching that going on, the government to
refuses to have that debt on that day, and I'm
sitting there and I'm expecting a position to walk out
of Parliament, you know, in protests, and the opposition stayed there.
And I said no, I mean, if we don't even
have an opposition that is going to try to protect
this country and to step up and do something about it,
(10:38):
then we must do something about it. So I called
my friend Pi. I told Elisten pre and I'm going
to sleep in front of Castile Castill it's the office
of the Prime Minister. And I thought that that's where
I'm going to sleep, and she told me, okay, she
told me, I'll join you. We wanted women to protest
for the women that they killed.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
Multiic politics are still incredibly male dominated. But the protests
and definitely's memory, weren't.
Speaker 6 (11:09):
People understood that, you know, it needed to be led
by women. At first.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
I don't know.
Speaker 6 (11:14):
On Castile Square, maybe we may have had ten twelve tents,
so not many people but then people started coming. So
in the evening a lot of people came to the
square and started bringing food, bringing drinks. Actually, on the
(11:36):
first evening defn Kamana gal It's as family centers, a
stock of pizzas with the famous lorel leaves that simbolized
definitely now. And that's how it started, you know. And
the next day more people came with their tents and slaps,
and that's how it.
Speaker 7 (11:52):
Go This was the start of Malta's first female lad
and corruption movement, known as Occupy Justice.
Speaker 6 (12:03):
So it had gone in two thousands of people joining
in the evening on Saturday evening, the square was packed
and you know, and people were not necessarily sad, you know,
it wasn't happy, but you know, the renion of people
that needed to be there all to get all together
and have a sense of belonging, of doing something may
(12:23):
be useful.
Speaker 4 (12:30):
And Manuel, you were part of the wider protest movement.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Too, I was for many of us at the time.
The protests were one of the very few positive things
to come out of the whole tragedy. It did feel
like a great mass of people who had been silent
were now speaking up, attending protests and vigils, and there
were many more of us than we ever dreamed. And
so when news came of the swat trade and that
(12:53):
the police had three of Daphnie's assassins and custody, there
was both relief and anxiety, really because it seemed that
some kind of progress was being made, but anxiety because
many of us suspected even then that those three men
were just foot soldiers. Someone else must have given orders
to Chinese George de Georgio, Alfred de Bin de Georgio
(13:15):
and Vincent de Kov.
Speaker 4 (13:23):
So we're parked directly in front of a really sensationally
baroque church. And what's extraordinary is this. This isn't a
very very big place, but the church is magnificent.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
We're we're in Saint Nicholas Square in Sijiwi, which is
a village to the southwest of Valletta.
Speaker 4 (13:46):
There's a couple of tourists doing a selfie on a
stick just close by, but we're not here for the tourists,
and we're not here for the beautiful baroque church. We're
here because there's a rather sweet looking bar on the
corner and it's got a nice red awning which is
flickering a little bit in the afternoon summer's breeze, as
(14:08):
an old wooden blackboard thing something scribbled on it. I
quite fancy a drink? Can we go for a drink?
Speaker 5 (14:16):
Them?
Speaker 4 (14:16):
And will?
Speaker 3 (14:17):
I think I'll pass. The reason I wanted to show
it to you was not tourism. It's a bit of
a watering hole for all sorts of different people. But
a couple of French journalists, reporting about six months after
Daphne was killed, came here because they were pointed to
the place as a favorite of the the Georgio brothers.
(14:40):
They'd come drinking here, and they asked locals with hidden
microphones if they knew that the Georgia was They said
they did, and if they saw him drinking here, and
they said they did. And then they asked them if
they had notorious or famous friends. And the name that
(15:01):
came up was Chris Cardona, the economy minister.
Speaker 4 (15:06):
So I find this really incredible that you've got a
cabinet minister of a country who drinks with two hit men.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
He would he would have explained that away by saying
he was a lawyer that used to practicing the criminal courts.
One person who was here speaking to the reporters distinctly
remembered Chris Cardona and Alfred de Georgio having a sullen
conversation for about an hour in this bar, and then
(15:44):
they went out for a walk.
Speaker 4 (15:46):
When was the date of that conversation, Roughly it.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
Was a few days before the Georgias were arrested November
twenty seventeen.
Speaker 4 (15:55):
And when they're arrested, the evidence seems to be that
they knew that they were about to be raided, because,
for example, one of them had written his girlfriend's number
on his on his on his hand, on his skin.
Just the story at least suggests that the inside and
who tipped them off could have been Economics minister at
(16:16):
the time, Chris Cardona. What does Cardona himself say about this?
Speaker 3 (16:20):
Chris Cardona denies any and all wrongdoing and says he's
never had anything to do with the killing of defne
Caarona Galicia or the plotting of it. But he did
not try to explain away why he was drinking with
someone who a week later would be arrested and charged
with killing define Karona Galicia. We've heard about Chris cardoona before.
(16:47):
He is the same government minister that was noticed by
Dafne's sons and widower visiting the law courts as a
person of interest on the night of Dafnie's murder. He
chose not to respond to requests for an interview with
this podcast.
Speaker 4 (17:00):
In twenty seventeen. Chris Cardooner has repeatedly denied any involvement
in the murder of Daphne Caroina Galiticia. However, he has
admitted to knowing Alfred de Bean de Georgia through his
previous work as a criminal lawyer.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
And Daphnie and mister Cardona also had a history. In fact,
Cardonah was one of the government politicians Daphne was most
famous for writing about, along with the Prime Minister Joseph
Moscat As Economy Minister. Cardona was a very senior minister
who was also a deputy leader of the ruling Labor Party,
so a key player, and Cardona has reason not to
(17:36):
be particularly the fond of Daphne.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
January thirtieth, twenty seventeen, breaking Malta's Economy Minister Labour Party
deputy leader in German Brothel Tonight.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
Issue Daphnie over one of her most famous stories Daphne's
report was posted while mister Cardona was still allegedly in
the brothel itself.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Malta's Minister for the Economy, Chris card is currently at
a brothel in the German town of Velbert, near Disseldorff.
Patrons pay eighty euros to get in through the door
at the FKK Akapulco are given food and drinks, but
must then pay for sex with the girls and women.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
Definitely claimed to have a source inside the brothel feeding
her information and definitely always prided herself on providing the
most embarrassing alleged details.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
The FKK Acapulco includes a sauna, and at one point,
at around eight pm, the Economy Minister emerged naked from
the shower, shouting alakesa Leima, God, damn, this water is cold.
At this time of night, no government spokesman or communications
aids are available to take questions on whether the Economy
Minister is in Germany on official government business and if so,
(18:48):
whether his visit to a brothel will be passed off
as travel expenses along with his mini bar bill.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
And from that moment on just the name of the brothel,
the Acapulco became a punchline in Malta.
Speaker 8 (19:05):
There were people who were thought that it was hilarious,
you know, like a minister being spotted in a brothel
in Germany is absolutely scandalous. What the hell is a
politician doing, like on government work abroad, but in a brothel.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
Nicole Malak is a journalist at Molta.
Speaker 8 (19:21):
Today and obviously when that broke, it had such an
impact in the news tycho when it broke, so it
was hard not to find out about it. Like even
if you weren't following local news at the time, you
knew that this happened and that this broke, and that
definite Karwana Galicia reported it, but.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
Definitely had more to say. The very next day she
posted a further.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
Update, breaking brothelgate. The Economy Minister went to the same
brothel again today. It's just occurred to me that the
minister and his consultant wouldn't have gone back for sex
this afternoon but for negotiation on making sure their backs
are covered. Given that the story had broken and the
minister had issued a press release of denial.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
It was one of the moments when her writing moved
beyond the niche of political blogging. In English to setting
the news agenda for the whole country, and as definitely mentioned,
Cardona fiercely denied the story from the start and has
ever since, but Defne, enjoying the fight, responded with more
posts and more details.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
My source, who saw rather too much of our naked
government minister at the Velbert brothel, has now specified that
the tattoo of Cheguraara's face is on Chris Cardona's right
shoulder to the back and is done in blue ink.
I asked whether he also has, say nipple ring or
one of those doodars they snip into the end of
their uncircumcised Frankfurt sausage, and was told sadly not.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
It was all the things that made Defnie and her
writing so popular and so different from mainstream Multese journalism, rude, chatty, scandalous,
insulting and completely unafraid of authority.
Speaker 4 (21:00):
And then she began reporting on the reporting of her story.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
The Minister for the Economy, who spent the evening of Monday,
the thirtieth of January in a brothel in Velbert, Germany,
is currently lying through his teeth on Reno Bujea's TVM
show des Set, except that his lies take a very
interesting form. Instead of lying about where he was, instead
of where he really was, he says it's all lies.
Like other journalists. Boujaya tried to press him a little
(21:26):
on where he was instead and got the stock answer,
I'll prove it in court, and then in the next breath,
the same reply he has given others. I don't have
to prove anything.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
She does.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
I'm surprised nobody seems to have noticed what's going on here.
He's refusing to present his proof to the media in
the here and now and says he will wait for
the court cases and prove it under oath, but then
says he doesn't have to prove anything because the burden
of proof in libel cases is on the other party.
Speaker 4 (22:00):
And here is where this story took a turn that
in most democracies would be unthinkable.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
February eighth, twenty seventeen, the Minister for the Economy and
his policy officer have frozen my bank accounts. My statement
issued to all media.
Speaker 7 (22:21):
Today.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
Both men took the exceptional measure of filing precautionary warrants
on my assets for the maximum libel damages that would
be payable to them should they win all four cases.
Eleven eight hundred and sixty five euros times four equals
forty seven, four hundred and sixty euros. My bank accounts
have consequently been frozen to this amount and will remain
(22:42):
frozen to that amount until the case is concluded, many
years from now.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
A quick summary, A journalist writes a story about a politician.
He sues her, but before the case can even begin,
all her personal bank guards stop working as part of
the court proceedings.
Speaker 4 (23:02):
It's an incredible show of power. Daphnie has been sued
for libel many times before, and defending those suits was
in itself a huge financial burden. But freezing her bank
accounts over a libel case that hadn't even begun. No
one could remember that ever happening to a journalist before.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
In Malta.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
The implications for democracy and for the freedom of the
press are terrible. There is no initial process of scrutiny
for civil libel suits, and politicians can sue on the
most frivolous basis. The system as it stands is ripe
for abuse by politicians who try to silence the journalists
who expose them so that their wrongdoing is not exposed.
(23:46):
It should be clear to anyone that the Minister for
the Economy and his EU Presidency policy officer wish to
harass me for what I have reported about them, obtain revenge,
punish me, and beyond that also silence others who have
picked the story. The idea is to create what the
European Court of Human Rights, in its judgments on freedom
of the press matters, calls a chilling effect.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
Daphne was murdered eight months later, and the reason she
left her house that day and got into her car,
not knowing there was a bomb in it, was because
she needed to go to an appointment with her bank
because her cards were frozen.
Speaker 4 (24:35):
The libel law in Malta has since been changed so
that this kind of financial throttling before a case is
even started cannot happen again.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
But remarkably, even Daphne's murder didn't end the legal battles
with Cardona. Under another quirk of Maltese law, libel cases
are passed on to your descendants in the event of
your death.
Speaker 4 (24:57):
So like a family heirloom, the have been inherited by
those she left behind.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
Daphne's grief stricken sons and with over found themselves appearing
in court and spending money to defend themselves from a
court action over blog posts that they had no part
in writing. It was just one of over forty cases
that were outstanding against Deafhanie at the time of her death,
and which then were passed on to her family.
Speaker 4 (25:22):
Again, none of this is something that would happen in
most other European democracies.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
Daphne's family wanted to fight the case, believing that phone
data would prove her version of events. After the court
ordered the phone company to preserve the data showing where
mister Cardona's phone had been that faithful night, he failed
to show up in court every time he was due
to testify. Eventually the case was dropped.
Speaker 4 (25:50):
So to summarize, Jaffney accused the minister visiting a brothel
while on government business. The minister sued her for libel,
freezing her bank accounts before the case had come to court. Then,
even after her murder, the case continued, with Japhane's sons
(26:12):
defending their mother's journalism and the minister refusing to appear
in court or present evidence to support his version of events,
even though he was bringing the case.
Speaker 3 (26:26):
Welcome to Malta. Cardona has claimed that he never dropped
the charges and that it was Daphane's family who moved
to have the charges dropped, And so a few months
after Daphane's death, that's where the ballad of Daphne and
Chris Cardona would have rested. Cardona certainly had a bitter
dispute with her, but their conflict seemed to have been
(26:46):
limited to the pages of her blog and the court system.
Speaker 4 (26:50):
But new bits of the story kept on coming out,
which is how we get back to the sleepy village
bar by the baroque church in Sijiwi and the question
of how Daphine's assassins somehow knew exactly when the police
were gonna come for them, And this is where even
the simplest facts become.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
Hazy again, Welcome to Malta. So a team of investigative
journalists from the French media Franz De and Radio Franz
had heard rumors that Cardona had some kind of connection
to at least one of the assassins, Alfred Deben the Georgio.
(27:33):
To test that out, they visited this Egeui bar undercover
and used hidden cameras to speak to regular drinkers there.
You can still watch the undercover footage online. Cardona at
first denied it all. He did quote not recall having
any discussions with any of the killers, and slightly denied
meeting them at the bar, but he conceded that he
(27:53):
was a regular at the bar, that it was possible
that the Georgio brothers might have been in attendance.
Speaker 4 (27:59):
Too, and that wasn't all. Gradually, more pieces of evidence
began to emerge, suggesting interactions between the killers and Chris Cardona.
For example, several eyewitnesses told the media that Alfred the
Bean and Chris Cardona had both been guessed at the
same bachelor party five months before Daphne's death. Cardona said
(28:21):
he couldn't remember seeing Alfred the Bean at the party
and had left after ten minutes anyway. He admitted that
he knew one of them, the Georgia brothers, from his
work as a criminal lawyer, but was not friends with
him in the sense that they would visit each other's houses.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
In a statement in twenty eighteen, Cardona responded in the
Times of Malta to the suggestion that he might be
involved in Daphne's murder. This extract from the statement is
read by an actor.
Speaker 9 (28:47):
I understand that the victims' families and indeed the public
swant for answers, but attempting at all costs to make
the public believe that there was any type of involvement
from my end, is purely absurd and unjust and will
definitely not help investigations, nor will it help to lead
to further answers, but will merely fuel the sensationalism surrounding
(29:11):
such a barbaric act, to the detriment of the public
and the investigation itself.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
Which takes us back to the central question for Inspector
Arnaut in the weeks after the Swat raid. How did
Dafnese killers know that the police were going to raid them?
Who warned them? And why Chris Cardona potentially had a
motive because of what definitely had written about him the
minister in the brothel story, and he could have warned
(29:39):
the killers. He knew at least one of the assassins
and they were seen together by a member of the
public with him the day before the raid. And as
a senior government minister in this particular Maltese government, it
is not far fetch to imagine he could have got
access to confidential information about the investigation, but fairm evidence
of any actual involvement is me.
Speaker 4 (30:04):
At this point, the investigation seems to have hit a
brick wall. The contract killers are in jail but maintaining
complete silence and clear leads as to who hired them,
who wanted Dafney dead is still missing, and Chris Cardener
is never charged with involvement in the murder. But there
(30:26):
is one other person involved with this story, however, a
man who becomes very important from this point on.
Speaker 3 (30:32):
A rich and powerful man who will go on to
be accused of ordering Daphnese murder, although the assassins were
not hired by him directly.
Speaker 4 (30:41):
After all, dealing directly with contract killers is a difficult business.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
Instead, this powerful man finds someone who can work on
his behalf to organize the killing, someone who can connect
the criminal underworld with the world of Multa's economic and
political elite, a go bit I mean a connection between
the highest and lowest sections of society. That man's name
is Melvin Toma, the Middleman, and so far no one
(31:16):
suspects his involvement in this crime at all. In December
twenty seventeen, around the time that Chinese George is being
interrogated at police headquarters in Valletta. Melvin the Middleman Toma
is here outside Malta's Hilton Hotel behind the wheel of
a taxi. His thin, dark haired lay thirties with a
(31:36):
scar across his forehead. Even with that scar, he's bland looking,
capable of fading into the background. As a taxi driver,
he has an unusual and extremely desirable gig permission to
tout folfairs outside the Hilton in the exclusive Port Tomaso
resort to the north of Valletta. A good earner with
good tips, but he's also a known face in the
(31:58):
criminal community, successful in the world of illegal gambling, horses
and black market lotteries.
Speaker 4 (32:06):
But now, as his engine ticks over outside the Hilton,
he's questioning his life choices and the aftermath of the
arrest of Chinese George. Alfred the Bean and Vincent Leacough
is beginning to feel exposed, and he's right to feel
that way. He knows that he knows too much, and
(32:28):
this murder has now proved to be bigger news than
he or anyone else involved. Imagioned as he waits for
the next rich foreign tourist to wave him over for
another fair Melvin, the middle man begins to sweat. Being
in the middle can be a dangerous place to be.
Speaker 3 (32:52):
That's next time. Crooks Everywhere is a production of iHeart Podcasts,
Topic Studios and Vespucci. It's reported and hosted by me
Manuel Delia and John Sweeney. The singer producer is Leo Hornack,
(33:14):
The producer is Maddi Hickish. Krish Denes Kumar is the
assistant producer. The story editors are Emma Federill, Matt Willis
and Philippa Geering. The managing producers are Thomas Curry and
Rachel Byrne. The voice of Dafnie Carmana Galizia is played
by Ciena Miller, acting direction by Christopher Houghten. Multese voices
(33:36):
by Mikhael basma Jan and Pierre Staffrach. The executive producers
are Johnny Galvin and Daniel Turken at Vespucci, Christi Gressman
at Topic Studios, Katina Norvel and Nikki Etoor at iHeart
Podcasts and Ciena Miller. Marketing lead is David Wessemann. Audio
recording by Tom Berry at Wardoor Studios. Audio mix and
(33:58):
sound designed by Joel Cox. Special thanks to Andrew Botchcardona,
Alessandra di Crespo, Eddie Isles, and Andrew Carvana, Galicia
Freedom of speech in a real democracy is something which
the people impose on the government, and not the other
way round. That's what is wrong with Malta. It's a
society in which freedom of speech has had to be
imposed on a public that rejects it because it doesn't
understand the imperatives that drive it.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
For the Record, interview with George de Georgia, fifth December
twenty seventeen.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
It's twenty four hours after the swat raid on the
potato shed on the Marsaki side and the arrest of
Daphne's three assassins, Chinese George de Georgio, his brother Alfred
de Bin de Georgio and Vincent the kop Moscat. We're
in a small interrogation room, one table in the futures
(01:06):
and on your recorder picking up everywhord. It's time for
Chinese George, the man who triggered the car bomb that
killed Dephanie, to be asked some questions.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
Chinese George looks like what he is, middle aged, thinning hair,
a squat, heavy set guy, maybe a little out of shape,
but still unmistakably an intimidating presence.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Think tony soprano, not so smart, not so tall, but
about as ruthless. It's not the first time he spent
a night in custody. This is a man who has
been in interrogation rooms like this many times before, and
one who has walked free before.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
Across the table from Chinese George is Inspector Keith Arnaud,
the leader of the investigation into Daphnese murder, one of
Malter's most experienced homicide investigators.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Also in the room is Inspector Zara, his colleague and.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
The warning this will be a somewhat one sided conversation.
Speaker 5 (02:07):
George, please, how old are you? I'll ask you again,
how old are you? George?
Speaker 4 (02:16):
What you're hearing our actions? And a recreation based on
lead transcripts from an interrogation at Multipolice ARGQ. We translated
it into English.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
And the unwritten code for Chinese George in this situation
is clear, don't talk to cops.
Speaker 5 (02:33):
In that case. What is your father's name? George?
Speaker 3 (02:37):
In fairness, Inspector are not does already have all this
information and much more. But this isn't about George's name
or his father. It's about who is really in control
in this interview room.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
As we told you yesterday, George, and as is written
on the arrest warrant, we have arrested you on suspicion
of the murder of the journalist Dafnie Carbona Galizia.
Speaker 5 (03:06):
Do you have anything to say to this?
Speaker 4 (03:11):
After the preliminaries, Inspector Arnau gets right to it. He
directly asks the first question that he doesn't yet know
the answer to.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
George, did you know that we were coming for you?
Speaker 4 (03:33):
From my hard podcast topic Studios in Vespucci, I'm.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
John Sweeney and I'm Manuel Delia.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
And this is Crooks Everywhere, Episode four, you knew we
were coming.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
In the interview room, Inspector Arnaut is feeling the heat
regardless of her conditioning. This is the biggest case of
his career and also maybe the riskiest. A lot of
people will be very unhappy if this case isn't solved,
not just in Malta but around the world, but some
very powerful people in Malta will probably also be unhappy
(04:15):
if it is solved. Both sides have a lot riding
on this.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
And if there are mistakes made, everyone will be looking
for someone to apply.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Exhibit KK three is a photo of a reproduction of
the device that triggered the bomb an electronic circuit connected
to a SIM card, with the card remotely activated by
text message. We have proof that you were the person
who sent this SMS?
Speaker 5 (04:47):
Is this true.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
And Inspector Arnold's favor is the mountain of forensic and
electronic data evidence, enabled by the assistance from the FBI
and other foreign forces, and supplemented with phone taps and
local CCDV at TODBT discoveries made after debate.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
Immediately after the arrest, police divers search the bottom of
the harbor next to the keyside by the potato shed,
and they found the seabed was littered with discarded phones,
including the phones used in Daphne's murder. Some of the
SIM cards still work and can have their call data
extracted from them. So what's the story behind the underwater
(05:35):
phone museum. It means that someone in the potato shed
has a routine when a burnaphone contains incriminating information and
the job's done, it's thrown over the keyside into the water.
The problem is, this isn't the open sea, so instead
of being washed away forever, all these phones are waiting
(05:57):
in the mud five feet down in the place for
the authorities to come and find them.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
It's a huge breakthrough for Inspact that are and the
FBI team helping him.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
As you can see, George, we are dealing with facts
here in controvertible technical evidence. No one will ever be
able to say I must have been confused, I misremembered.
Oh this actually means something else. Uh no, So I
think you'd be wiser to tell me what you have
(06:34):
to say.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
About all this. He's right. The phone evidence, both location
data and recording of cause is damning. And it's also
not the kind of evidence that witness intimidation can change.
That's one Inspector Arno is hinting at when he talks
(06:55):
to people becoming confused or misremembering on the witness stand.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
Witnesses often get forgetful in trials involving organized crime.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
But this brings Inspector arna back to his earlier question,
the question that he still can't figure out how the
criminals seemed to be expecting him and his offices in
the SWAT raid. There's a whole range of clues that
suggests this.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
What was the reason, for example, that we did not
find the keys to the room and.
Speaker 5 (07:29):
Your mobile phones? Your mobile phone disappeared.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
It turns out that all of the killers had conveniently
just lost their mobile phones when the raid took place.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Why did you have the phone number of your girlfriend
written on your arm, Georgia, on your wrist? Is it
normal for anyone to write the number of his woman
on his arm?
Speaker 5 (07:47):
Isn't that right?
Speaker 3 (07:49):
The mobile number of George's girlfriend is scrawled on his skin,
and pen Inspector Arno is right. It's a strange way
to keep important phone numbers. But if you know you
are about to be raided by the police and you
are planning to throw away your cell phone, then it
makes more sense.
Speaker 4 (08:09):
And then there is the dog that didn't bark. George
has a much which he usually keeps in the potato
shed to act as a guard dog. But on the
day of the swat rate, the guard dog with a wall.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
And what about the dog, the dog you usually take
to the potato shed.
Speaker 5 (08:26):
What happened to it? Why wasn't that dog tied up
in her usual place?
Speaker 3 (08:31):
Of course, this is another thing that makes more sense
if you are expecting a heavily armed police rate. If
you know as what rate is coming, you would want
to make sure that your loyal guard dog is locked
away somewhere safe in advance, out of harm's way. One
thing is pretty clear and what has most high profile
murder investigation. Somehow the criminals already know every move the
(08:52):
law has planned before it happens. And the question is how.
Speaker 5 (08:58):
George known for a long time that we were coming.
Speaker 4 (09:11):
Even if George and the other killers appear cool under pressure,
the mood of the rest of the country is far
from calm at this time, both the Daphne's supporters and
her enemies.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
Let's start with the supporters. The initial wave of protests
centered around the Great Siege Monument isn't dying away. In fact,
around the time of the swat rate, it is growing
stronger and proving to be an even bigger source of
annoyance to the government. And Daphne's role as a groundbreaking
female journalist in Mota is particularly important to many protesters.
Speaker 6 (09:46):
Shortly after Daphanie I was killed, I was pulling the
news and the parliament resumed and the opposition wanted to
put on the table that they should have a debate about,
you know, the killing of Deafhnite.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
This is one of the protest leaders. French born Cleman s. Dujardin,
a software CEO who has lived in More since the
early two thousands. Someone I know a bit. We've been
married seven years.
Speaker 6 (10:15):
And as I'm watching that going on, the government to
refuses to have that debt on that day, and I'm
sitting there and I'm expecting a position to walk out
of Parliament, you know, in protests, and the opposition stayed there.
And I said no, I mean, if we don't even
have an opposition that is going to try to protect
this country and to step up and do something about it,
(10:38):
then we must do something about it. So I called
my friend Pi. I told Elisten pre and I'm going
to sleep in front of Castile Castill it's the office
of the Prime Minister. And I thought that that's where
I'm going to sleep, and she told me, okay, she
told me, I'll join you. We wanted women to protest
for the women that they killed.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
Multiic politics are still incredibly male dominated. But the protests
and definitely's memory, weren't.
Speaker 6 (11:09):
People understood that, you know, it needed to be led
by women. At first.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
I don't know.
Speaker 6 (11:14):
On Castile Square, maybe we may have had ten twelve tents,
so not many people but then people started coming. So
in the evening a lot of people came to the
square and started bringing food, bringing drinks. Actually, on the
(11:36):
first evening defn Kamana gal It's as family centers, a
stock of pizzas with the famous lorel leaves that simbolized
definitely now. And that's how it started, you know. And
the next day more people came with their tents and slaps,
and that's how it.
Speaker 7 (11:52):
Go This was the start of Malta's first female lad
and corruption movement, known as Occupy Justice.
Speaker 6 (12:03):
So it had gone in two thousands of people joining
in the evening on Saturday evening, the square was packed
and you know, and people were not necessarily sad, you know,
it wasn't happy, but you know, the renion of people
that needed to be there all to get all together
and have a sense of belonging, of doing something may
(12:23):
be useful.
Speaker 4 (12:30):
And Manuel, you were part of the wider protest movement.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Too, I was for many of us at the time.
The protests were one of the very few positive things
to come out of the whole tragedy. It did feel
like a great mass of people who had been silent
were now speaking up, attending protests and vigils, and there
were many more of us than we ever dreamed. And
so when news came of the swat trade and that
(12:53):
the police had three of Daphnie's assassins and custody, there
was both relief and anxiety, really because it seemed that
some kind of progress was being made, but anxiety because
many of us suspected even then that those three men
were just foot soldiers. Someone else must have given orders
to Chinese George de Georgio, Alfred de Bin de Georgio
(13:15):
and Vincent de Kov.
Speaker 4 (13:23):
So we're parked directly in front of a really sensationally
baroque church. And what's extraordinary is this. This isn't a
very very big place, but the church is magnificent.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
We're we're in Saint Nicholas Square in Sijiwi, which is
a village to the southwest of Valletta.
Speaker 4 (13:46):
There's a couple of tourists doing a selfie on a
stick just close by, but we're not here for the tourists,
and we're not here for the beautiful baroque church. We're
here because there's a rather sweet looking bar on the
corner and it's got a nice red awning which is
flickering a little bit in the afternoon summer's breeze, as
(14:08):
an old wooden blackboard thing something scribbled on it. I
quite fancy a drink? Can we go for a drink?
Speaker 5 (14:16):
Them?
Speaker 4 (14:16):
And will?
Speaker 3 (14:17):
I think I'll pass. The reason I wanted to show
it to you was not tourism. It's a bit of
a watering hole for all sorts of different people. But
a couple of French journalists, reporting about six months after
Daphne was killed, came here because they were pointed to
the place as a favorite of the the Georgio brothers.
(14:40):
They'd come drinking here, and they asked locals with hidden
microphones if they knew that the Georgia was They said
they did, and if they saw him drinking here, and
they said they did. And then they asked them if
they had notorious or famous friends. And the name that
(15:01):
came up was Chris Cardona, the economy minister.
Speaker 4 (15:06):
So I find this really incredible that you've got a
cabinet minister of a country who drinks with two hit men.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
He would he would have explained that away by saying
he was a lawyer that used to practicing the criminal courts.
One person who was here speaking to the reporters distinctly
remembered Chris Cardona and Alfred de Georgio having a sullen
conversation for about an hour in this bar, and then
(15:44):
they went out for a walk.
Speaker 4 (15:46):
When was the date of that conversation, Roughly it.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
Was a few days before the Georgias were arrested November
twenty seventeen.
Speaker 4 (15:55):
And when they're arrested, the evidence seems to be that
they knew that they were about to be raided, because,
for example, one of them had written his girlfriend's number
on his on his on his hand, on his skin.
Just the story at least suggests that the inside and
who tipped them off could have been Economics minister at
(16:16):
the time, Chris Cardona. What does Cardona himself say about this?
Speaker 3 (16:20):
Chris Cardona denies any and all wrongdoing and says he's
never had anything to do with the killing of defne
Caarona Galicia or the plotting of it. But he did
not try to explain away why he was drinking with
someone who a week later would be arrested and charged
with killing define Karona Galicia. We've heard about Chris cardoona before.
(16:47):
He is the same government minister that was noticed by
Dafne's sons and widower visiting the law courts as a
person of interest on the night of Dafnie's murder. He
chose not to respond to requests for an interview with
this podcast.
Speaker 4 (17:00):
In twenty seventeen. Chris Cardooner has repeatedly denied any involvement
in the murder of Daphne Caroina Galiticia. However, he has
admitted to knowing Alfred de Bean de Georgia through his
previous work as a criminal lawyer.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
And Daphnie and mister Cardona also had a history. In fact,
Cardonah was one of the government politicians Daphne was most
famous for writing about, along with the Prime Minister Joseph
Moscat As Economy Minister. Cardona was a very senior minister
who was also a deputy leader of the ruling Labor Party,
so a key player, and Cardona has reason not to
(17:36):
be particularly the fond of Daphne.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
January thirtieth, twenty seventeen, breaking Malta's Economy Minister Labour Party
deputy leader in German Brothel Tonight.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
Issue Daphnie over one of her most famous stories Daphne's
report was posted while mister Cardona was still allegedly in
the brothel itself.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Malta's Minister for the Economy, Chris card is currently at
a brothel in the German town of Velbert, near Disseldorff.
Patrons pay eighty euros to get in through the door
at the FKK Akapulco are given food and drinks, but
must then pay for sex with the girls and women.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
Definitely claimed to have a source inside the brothel feeding
her information and definitely always prided herself on providing the
most embarrassing alleged details.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
The FKK Acapulco includes a sauna, and at one point,
at around eight pm, the Economy Minister emerged naked from
the shower, shouting alakesa Leima, God, damn, this water is cold.
At this time of night, no government spokesman or communications
aids are available to take questions on whether the Economy
Minister is in Germany on official government business and if so,
(18:48):
whether his visit to a brothel will be passed off
as travel expenses along with his mini bar bill.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
And from that moment on just the name of the brothel,
the Acapulco became a punchline in Malta.
Speaker 8 (19:05):
There were people who were thought that it was hilarious,
you know, like a minister being spotted in a brothel
in Germany is absolutely scandalous. What the hell is a
politician doing, like on government work abroad, but in a brothel.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
Nicole Malak is a journalist at Molta.
Speaker 8 (19:21):
Today and obviously when that broke, it had such an
impact in the news tycho when it broke, so it
was hard not to find out about it. Like even
if you weren't following local news at the time, you
knew that this happened and that this broke, and that
definite Karwana Galicia reported it, but.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
Definitely had more to say. The very next day she
posted a further.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
Update, breaking brothelgate. The Economy Minister went to the same
brothel again today. It's just occurred to me that the
minister and his consultant wouldn't have gone back for sex
this afternoon but for negotiation on making sure their backs
are covered. Given that the story had broken and the
minister had issued a press release of denial.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
It was one of the moments when her writing moved
beyond the niche of political blogging. In English to setting
the news agenda for the whole country, and as definitely mentioned,
Cardona fiercely denied the story from the start and has
ever since, but Defne, enjoying the fight, responded with more
posts and more details.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
My source, who saw rather too much of our naked
government minister at the Velbert brothel, has now specified that
the tattoo of Cheguraara's face is on Chris Cardona's right
shoulder to the back and is done in blue ink.
I asked whether he also has, say nipple ring or
one of those doodars they snip into the end of
their uncircumcised Frankfurt sausage, and was told sadly not.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
It was all the things that made Defnie and her
writing so popular and so different from mainstream Multese journalism, rude, chatty, scandalous,
insulting and completely unafraid of authority.
Speaker 4 (21:00):
And then she began reporting on the reporting of her story.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
The Minister for the Economy, who spent the evening of Monday,
the thirtieth of January in a brothel in Velbert, Germany,
is currently lying through his teeth on Reno Bujea's TVM
show des Set, except that his lies take a very
interesting form. Instead of lying about where he was, instead
of where he really was, he says it's all lies.
Like other journalists. Boujaya tried to press him a little
(21:26):
on where he was instead and got the stock answer,
I'll prove it in court, and then in the next breath,
the same reply he has given others. I don't have
to prove anything.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
She does.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
I'm surprised nobody seems to have noticed what's going on here.
He's refusing to present his proof to the media in
the here and now and says he will wait for
the court cases and prove it under oath, but then
says he doesn't have to prove anything because the burden
of proof in libel cases is on the other party.
Speaker 4 (22:00):
And here is where this story took a turn that
in most democracies would be unthinkable.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
February eighth, twenty seventeen, the Minister for the Economy and
his policy officer have frozen my bank accounts. My statement
issued to all media.
Speaker 7 (22:21):
Today.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
Both men took the exceptional measure of filing precautionary warrants
on my assets for the maximum libel damages that would
be payable to them should they win all four cases.
Eleven eight hundred and sixty five euros times four equals
forty seven, four hundred and sixty euros. My bank accounts
have consequently been frozen to this amount and will remain
(22:42):
frozen to that amount until the case is concluded, many
years from now.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
A quick summary, A journalist writes a story about a politician.
He sues her, but before the case can even begin,
all her personal bank guards stop working as part of
the court proceedings.
Speaker 4 (23:02):
It's an incredible show of power. Daphnie has been sued
for libel many times before, and defending those suits was
in itself a huge financial burden. But freezing her bank
accounts over a libel case that hadn't even begun. No
one could remember that ever happening to a journalist before.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
In Malta.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
The implications for democracy and for the freedom of the
press are terrible. There is no initial process of scrutiny
for civil libel suits, and politicians can sue on the
most frivolous basis. The system as it stands is ripe
for abuse by politicians who try to silence the journalists
who expose them so that their wrongdoing is not exposed.
(23:46):
It should be clear to anyone that the Minister for
the Economy and his EU Presidency policy officer wish to
harass me for what I have reported about them, obtain revenge,
punish me, and beyond that also silence others who have
picked the story. The idea is to create what the
European Court of Human Rights, in its judgments on freedom
of the press matters, calls a chilling effect.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
Daphne was murdered eight months later, and the reason she
left her house that day and got into her car,
not knowing there was a bomb in it, was because
she needed to go to an appointment with her bank
because her cards were frozen.
Speaker 4 (24:35):
The libel law in Malta has since been changed so
that this kind of financial throttling before a case is
even started cannot happen again.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
But remarkably, even Daphne's murder didn't end the legal battles
with Cardona. Under another quirk of Maltese law, libel cases
are passed on to your descendants in the event of
your death.
Speaker 4 (24:57):
So like a family heirloom, the have been inherited by
those she left behind.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
Daphne's grief stricken sons and with over found themselves appearing
in court and spending money to defend themselves from a
court action over blog posts that they had no part
in writing. It was just one of over forty cases
that were outstanding against Deafhanie at the time of her death,
and which then were passed on to her family.
Speaker 4 (25:22):
Again, none of this is something that would happen in
most other European democracies.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
Daphne's family wanted to fight the case, believing that phone
data would prove her version of events. After the court
ordered the phone company to preserve the data showing where
mister Cardona's phone had been that faithful night, he failed
to show up in court every time he was due
to testify. Eventually the case was dropped.
Speaker 4 (25:50):
So to summarize, Jaffney accused the minister visiting a brothel
while on government business. The minister sued her for libel,
freezing her bank accounts before the case had come to court. Then,
even after her murder, the case continued, with Japhane's sons
(26:12):
defending their mother's journalism and the minister refusing to appear
in court or present evidence to support his version of events,
even though he was bringing the case.
Speaker 3 (26:26):
Welcome to Malta. Cardona has claimed that he never dropped
the charges and that it was Daphane's family who moved
to have the charges dropped, And so a few months
after Daphane's death, that's where the ballad of Daphne and
Chris Cardona would have rested. Cardona certainly had a bitter
dispute with her, but their conflict seemed to have been
(26:46):
limited to the pages of her blog and the court system.
Speaker 4 (26:50):
But new bits of the story kept on coming out,
which is how we get back to the sleepy village
bar by the baroque church in Sijiwi and the question
of how Daphine's assassins somehow knew exactly when the police
were gonna come for them, And this is where even
the simplest facts become.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
Hazy again, Welcome to Malta. So a team of investigative
journalists from the French media Franz De and Radio Franz
had heard rumors that Cardona had some kind of connection
to at least one of the assassins, Alfred Deben the Georgio.
(27:33):
To test that out, they visited this Egeui bar undercover
and used hidden cameras to speak to regular drinkers there.
You can still watch the undercover footage online. Cardona at
first denied it all. He did quote not recall having
any discussions with any of the killers, and slightly denied
meeting them at the bar, but he conceded that he
(27:53):
was a regular at the bar, that it was possible
that the Georgio brothers might have been in attendance.
Speaker 4 (27:59):
Too, and that wasn't all. Gradually, more pieces of evidence
began to emerge, suggesting interactions between the killers and Chris Cardona.
For example, several eyewitnesses told the media that Alfred the
Bean and Chris Cardona had both been guessed at the
same bachelor party five months before Daphne's death. Cardona said
(28:21):
he couldn't remember seeing Alfred the Bean at the party
and had left after ten minutes anyway. He admitted that
he knew one of them, the Georgia brothers, from his
work as a criminal lawyer, but was not friends with
him in the sense that they would visit each other's houses.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
In a statement in twenty eighteen, Cardona responded in the
Times of Malta to the suggestion that he might be
involved in Daphne's murder. This extract from the statement is
read by an actor.
Speaker 9 (28:47):
I understand that the victims' families and indeed the public
swant for answers, but attempting at all costs to make
the public believe that there was any type of involvement
from my end, is purely absurd and unjust and will
definitely not help investigations, nor will it help to lead
to further answers, but will merely fuel the sensationalism surrounding
(29:11):
such a barbaric act, to the detriment of the public
and the investigation itself.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
Which takes us back to the central question for Inspector
Arnaut in the weeks after the Swat raid. How did
Dafnese killers know that the police were going to raid them?
Who warned them? And why Chris Cardona potentially had a
motive because of what definitely had written about him the
minister in the brothel story, and he could have warned
(29:39):
the killers. He knew at least one of the assassins
and they were seen together by a member of the
public with him the day before the raid. And as
a senior government minister in this particular Maltese government, it
is not far fetch to imagine he could have got
access to confidential information about the investigation, but fairm evidence
of any actual involvement is me.
Speaker 4 (30:04):
At this point, the investigation seems to have hit a
brick wall. The contract killers are in jail but maintaining
complete silence and clear leads as to who hired them,
who wanted Dafney dead is still missing, and Chris Cardener
is never charged with involvement in the murder. But there
(30:26):
is one other person involved with this story, however, a
man who becomes very important from this point on.
Speaker 3 (30:32):
A rich and powerful man who will go on to
be accused of ordering Daphnese murder, although the assassins were
not hired by him directly.
Speaker 4 (30:41):
After all, dealing directly with contract killers is a difficult business.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
Instead, this powerful man finds someone who can work on
his behalf to organize the killing, someone who can connect
the criminal underworld with the world of Multa's economic and
political elite, a go bit I mean a connection between
the highest and lowest sections of society. That man's name
is Melvin Toma, the Middleman, and so far no one
(31:16):
suspects his involvement in this crime at all. In December
twenty seventeen, around the time that Chinese George is being
interrogated at police headquarters in Valletta. Melvin the Middleman Toma
is here outside Malta's Hilton Hotel behind the wheel of
a taxi. His thin, dark haired lay thirties with a
(31:36):
scar across his forehead. Even with that scar, he's bland looking,
capable of fading into the background. As a taxi driver,
he has an unusual and extremely desirable gig permission to
tout folfairs outside the Hilton in the exclusive Port Tomaso
resort to the north of Valletta. A good earner with
good tips, but he's also a known face in the
(31:58):
criminal community, successful in the world of illegal gambling, horses
and black market lotteries.
Speaker 4 (32:06):
But now, as his engine ticks over outside the Hilton,
he's questioning his life choices and the aftermath of the
arrest of Chinese George. Alfred the Bean and Vincent Leacough
is beginning to feel exposed, and he's right to feel
that way. He knows that he knows too much, and
(32:28):
this murder has now proved to be bigger news than
he or anyone else involved. Imagioned as he waits for
the next rich foreign tourist to wave him over for
another fair Melvin, the middle man begins to sweat. Being
in the middle can be a dangerous place to be.
Speaker 3 (32:52):
That's next time. Crooks Everywhere is a production of iHeart Podcasts,
Topic Studios and Vespucci. It's reported and hosted by me
Manuel Delia and John Sweeney. The singer producer is Leo Hornack,
(33:14):
The producer is Maddi Hickish. Krish Denes Kumar is the
assistant producer. The story editors are Emma Federill, Matt Willis
and Philippa Geering. The managing producers are Thomas Curry and
Rachel Byrne. The voice of Dafnie Carmana Galizia is played
by Ciena Miller, acting direction by Christopher Houghten. Multese voices
(33:36):
by Mikhael basma Jan and Pierre Staffrach. The executive producers
are Johnny Galvin and Daniel Turken at Vespucci, Christi Gressman
at Topic Studios, Katina Norvel and Nikki Etoor at iHeart
Podcasts and Ciena Miller. Marketing lead is David Wessemann. Audio
recording by Tom Berry at Wardoor Studios. Audio mix and
(33:58):
sound designed by Joel Cox. Special thanks to Andrew Botchcardona,
Alessandra di Crespo, Eddie Isles, and Andrew Carvana, Galicia
Hosts And Creators
Manuel Delia
John Sweeney
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