The Outlaws Inc. Under the Radar and on the Black Market with the World's Most Dangerous Smugglers

by Potter, Matt

• ISBN13: 9781608195305
• ISBN10: 1608195309
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-08-30
• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA

Summary

On assignment in Serbia, reporter Matt Potter came across a spectacle that changed the course of his career. In his words, it was "an orgy of black marketeering, mafia violence, smuggling and sanctions-busting. I asked myself, and anyone I met: 'How is this possible?' " It was in this manner that Potter came to know Yuri and his crew, a gang of Belorussian military men who, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, found themselves without work or prospects. So, they bought a decommissioned Soviet plane--at liquidation prices, straight from the Russian government--and started a shipping business. It wasn't long before Yuri, and many pilots like him, found themselves at the center of global politics. Men like him are paid by the US, the Taliban, and even the Vatican to bring supplies--some legal, some not--across dangerous borders. In a feat of reportage, Potter gets onto the flight deck with these outlaws and tells the story of their fearless missions. Dodging gunfire, Potter buckles up as he is taken from place to place, trafficking illegal weapons, liquor, and drugs, making enemies everywhere but no reliable friends. As the world changes, we see the options for this crew first explode, then slowly diminish, until, in a desperate maneuver, they move their operations to the most lawless corners of Africa, where they operate to this day. The story of these outlaws is a microcosm of the world since the end of the Cold War: secret contracts, guerrilla foreign policy, and conflicts too thorny to be handled in public. Potter uses the story of these men to articulate an underground history of the globalized world. At once thrilling, provocative, and morally circumspect, this book is a must-read for anyone with an interest in espionage or military history.

Author Biography

Matt Potter is a journalist, editor and broadcaster. He has reported for BBC Radio from Eastern Europe, Afghanistan and Southeast Asia, and co-presented Radio 1's award-winning global travel shows. As a journalist, his nose for the unusual has seen his writing appear in places as diverse as the Daily Telegraph, Golf Monthly, Esquire, Sunday Telegraph, Jack, Maxim, the Irish Examiner and Q, and his stories on cocaine trafficking in Latin America have been published in Russian, Spanish and English. As a journalist in Belgrade, he broke the story of the NATO 'spy' giving away secrets to Serb forces on the web. He speaks a handful of languages but attempts to speak at least twenty more. Matt is 39 and lives in London.

Table of Contents

Prologue	p. 1
Good Men Are Hard To Find: The Crew
The Devil's Greatest Trick: Over Kabul	p. 5
What Am I Doing Here? Serbia, 1998	p. 16
Everything You Know is Wrong: The USSR
The Lost Boys: Soviet Union, 1992	p. 23
The Machine: Post-Soviet Russia, Early 1990s	p. 34
The Birth of the Global Network: Russia, 1993	p. 47
The Warlord Is Always Right: The Caucasus, 1994	p. 55
Rogue State: Yugoslavia, 1994-1996	p. 64
Gold Fever: The Middle East And Africa
The Men with No Names: The Arab Gulf, 1995-1997	p. 79
This Is How You Disappear: West Africa, 1995-1999	p. 94
Plunder in the Jungle: The Congo, 1997-2000	p. 106
Men of Wealth and Taste: Millan, 2000	p. 117
High and Wild: Afghanistan To Iraq
The Boys Are Back in Town: Afghanistan, 2001	p. 129
Afghan Black: The Drug Pipeline, 2002-2010	p. 144
There Are Huge Forces: Afghanistan, 1995 and 2010	p. 152
Back to the Jungle: Central America and the Horn of Africa
High Times on the Costa Coca: Central America, 1999-2008	p. 167
Welcome to Little Minsk: Africa, 2003	p. 175
Russian Rain Keeps Falling: The Congo, 2005-2009	p. 187
Just Drop the Cash out of the Plane: Uganda, 2009	p. 207
Getting Your Kicks on Route Il-76: Central Asia and the Caucasus, 2009	p. 226
The Journey Home: East Africa and Russia
The Ghost Factory: Russia, 2008	p. 253
Death and Taxes: Entebbe to Ekaterinburg, 2010	p. 263
The Gathering Darkness: Russia, 2010	p. 276
Author's Note	p. 297
Acknowledgments	p. 301
Bibliography	p. 303
Index	p. 309
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