November 6, 2024 • 35 mins
The plot to cover up Daphne’s murder is thwarted by a series of shocking betrayals. A mysterious tip-off tells investigators that “17 Black” could be the key to solving the mystery of Daphne’s murder.
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 (00:00):
And O to the listeners. This episode contains a reference
to suicide.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Corruption, especially between the media and politicians. Eats away at
the heart of democracy.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
Cord in prison, Malta. Right here we will early twenty eighteen,
about six months after Daphne's murder. Daphne's free assassins, Vincent Lakoff,
Chinese George and Alfred the Bean have been held here
on pre trial detention since before Christmas. What follows is
(00:44):
a dramatization based on courtroom testimony by Vincent the kaff Muscat.
We provided color in places without changing any of the
material facts or allegations. The defendants are entitled to regular
meetings with their lawyer, and today one of the those
conferences is scheduled. The three of them are gathered here
in the meeting room, sitting alongside one another, a guard
(01:06):
by the door.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Three middle aged contract killers, no doubt familiar with the
frequent rituals of Malta's legal system when it comes to
organized crime, arrest, interrogation, delay, confinement, postponement and then all
too often temporary release which eventually becomes permanent.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
And are so often in prison life at the moment
they're stuck wasting their lawyer has so far failed to
show up.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Since the arrests, things have mostly been going in the favor.
In the outside world, the battle to uncover the plot
to kill Daphane has reached a stalemate. Public protests that
Daphanie's murder have become a permanent feature of Maltese politics,
but the government appears to be weathering them.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Jephane's family are trying to bring international political pressure to
bear on the Mall's government, and they're helping a team
of investigative journalists to reinvestigate loose ends in her stories,
but so far, nothing that's been published has led to
a breakthrough.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
The one man who does know all the details of
the plot, Melvin the Middleman, is struggling to keep his
life together under the strain of the secrets he carries.
He's drinking heavily, even contemplating ending it all, but so
far he is keeping his silence, and all the while,
the accused architect of the murder, Mister alleged Mastermind, remains
(02:35):
unnoticed by law enforcement. His wealth and influence probably allow
him to remain one step ahead of the authorities at
any time.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
So although the three men in this prison interview room
are locked up and under investigation for Daphanes's murder. They
have reason to be quietly confident. If they can just
stick together and keep their mouths shut, all his attention
should eventually go away, just like it did after all
the other car bomb assassinations in Malta.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
But on this day, for the first time, something's not right.
In fact, it's very very wrong. Ho Chinese George motions
Vincent the Cough to come closer, close enough so he
can whisper without the guard.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
Hearing Lisma station by that chilt mind continct with that
it's my child.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Chinese George tells Vincent that he didn't sleep a wink
last night. Something surprising was bothering him his ace. Vincent
listens with a straight face, unresponsive. Chinese George goes on,
does Vincent want to tell him something? Are you sure?
(03:57):
Because he thinks there's something Vincent should be telling him.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Again, Vincent the Cough doesn't respond, chance.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
It and there it is, the accusation spoken out loud. Vincent,
you want to speak at the depot. The depot is
multi slang for police headquarters. In other words, somehow George
has discovered that Vincent has begun speaking to the police.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Secretly, Chinese George is accusing his fellow murderer of breaking
the criminal code of silence after years of knowing each
other and working together from the Carmel Kirk Coop drive
by shooting to Daphne's murder. George believes that Vince is
snitching and snitching about the murder of Daphne Carona Calizzia.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
Before Vince can respond, their lawyer finally entered the role.
The meeting begins as if nothing has been said. But
from now on everything has changed between Chinese George and
Vincent de Kov. The betrayals have begun.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
From iHeart Podcasts, Topic Studios in Vespucci, I'm John Sweeney
and I'm Manuel Delia and this is Crooks Everywhere, Episode eight,
The Lion and the Mosquito.
Speaker 5 (05:34):
I was there for one of the earlier sittings, actually
present in the courtroom, and what impressed me was he
had George, the George Jaw, who sat in the middle.
His brother was sitting to his right side, I believe,
and Vince to his left, and there was this complete silence.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Kurt Sansone has watched Vincent Lakoff Muscat and the two
Di Giorgia brothers, Chinese George and Alfred the Bean in Court.
He is the executive editor of Malta Today and has
been covering the investigation into Daphnese murder for years.
Speaker 6 (06:16):
Given the dynamic between them, I would say Vince Muscat
was sort of the person who tagged along to the brothers.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
The junior partner, and perhaps he'd grown tired of all that,
or since that being the junior partner made him more vulnerable, disposable,
not part of the inner circle.
Speaker 6 (06:35):
They didn't give him all the information. I mean, they
just gave him the information that he needed to know. Listen,
we're going to do this. You'll be here at this time.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
After they're arrested. Vincent Lakoff may also have been under
greater financial pressure than the other two killers. We don't
know how much of the unwilling financial support from Melvin
the middleman reached Vincent. Certainly no one bought his family
member's pedigree dogs from China.
Speaker 6 (07:06):
It was mainly George, that GEORGEA and Alfred the Georgia
doing the dealings and making the arrangements which he would
then obviously willingly tag along and being involved in.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
Or maybe Vincent has realized that Daphne's murder had provoked
a backlash too large for any of them to ride
out in silence. If that theory is true, it's a
real tribute to the Maltese public, the ordinary people who
keep attending the demonstrations and protests in Daphne's memory for
(07:43):
month after month after month, refusing to let the story die,
and without knowing it, spooking her killers.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
Whatever Vincent's reasons, it begins to see greatly negotiating with
the police for a reduced sentence or a pardon in
exchange for a confession. And the first piece of information
he's offering in exchange for his freedom is the name
of the next guy up in the chain, the man
who hired him and the the Georgio brothers, Melvin Toma,
the increasingly panicy Middleman.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
But it turns out that an offering to become an informant,
Vincent the Cough is miscalculated in two crucial ways. He's
both underestimated and overestimated multice law enforcement. Underestimated because in fact,
the authorities are already close to finding out Melvin the
Middleman's identity. Anyway, the di Giorgio brothers constant demands for
(08:42):
donations from Melvin has left multiple clues that the authorities
are able to follow.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
Whenever Chinese George or Alfred de Bean called Mario de Georgio,
the police are listening, The brothers never refer to Melvin
by name, instead referring to him as dead guy. But
it's obvious to the police eavesdroppers that that guy is
a crucial connection to whoever else was involved in Daphnie's skinning.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
By the time Vincent Leakoff begins negotiating at the depot
that's the police headquarters, detectives are already watching Mario di
Giorgio's house, taking photos of Melvin when he visits.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
But Vincent d Koff has also overestimated moul dieselaw enforcement.
In spite of his knowledge of the crime world, he
clearly hopes that the police will be able to keep
his betrayal less secret.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
Perhaps he should have known better. Even by Maltese standards,
this is not a murder investigation that is secure or
anything like it. As we've heard, every important breakthrough in
the case is discussed in the presence of Prime Minister
Joseph Muscat, his chief of staff Keith Schembri and Jeopardy
(10:01):
Police Commissioner Sylvio val Letter. And as we've also heard,
those lasts who are both close personal friends of mister
alleged Mastermind himself, Keith Skembrie texts mister alleged Mastermind on
a near daily basis. Deputy Police Commissioner Silvio the Letter
will later share a family holiday with him.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
So it is not surprising that Vincent de Koff's betrayal
very quickly reaches mister alleged Mastermind, and then that information
quickly moves down the chain. According to Paul Karwna Galizia's book,
when mister Alleged Mastermind passes on the news to Melvin,
the middleman, he immediately panics, unable to believe it. It's
(10:44):
not true, it's not true about the cough.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
Melvin's already spent thousands of euros of his own money
paying for gifts and treats to keep the assassins happy
behind bars, trying to avoid exactly this outcome.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
But eventually he does believe it. Naturally, he doesn't hesitate
to pass the bad news further on down the line
to Chinese George and Alfred de Bean the contract killers
who are also being betrayed. They are amazed as well,
and then no doubt ready to take action. Melvin the
Middleman must know that by informing the the Georgia family
(11:23):
of Vincent de Kof's betrayal, he could well be triggering
further than the violence, that he could be signing another
man's death warrant. And perhaps that's what he intends. We
can't know, whatever the truth. It's soon after this that
Vincent de Koff receives that sinister warning while waiting for
(11:44):
his lawyer to arrive. And that's how Malta's circle of
corruption works, highly sensitive information apparently flowing from a top
secret police interrogation, to a high level police briefing, to
an alleged criminal mastermind, to a middlemen, and onto two
brutal underworld hitmen.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
After the warning, Vincent the Cough is well aware of
the danger he's in now. After all, he used to
be part of the death squad. He requests and gets
additional protection in the prison he's now guarded. When he eats,
separated from his fellow killers, he asks his family to
bring in food so he doesn't have to touch the
(12:37):
prison meals, who knows what strings that Georgia's might be
able to pull inside the prison kitchen, and.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
There are the strings they can pull outside. Later in
Quartron testimony, Vincent Kof said he received a warning that
his partner and their children might be killed in an
acid attack, So isn't just watching his own back.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
Jason, as a party Daphnese family lawyer, has experience of
what these kind of threats can be like. Years later,
as a party, cross examined Chinese George Georgio in court.
Chinese George didn't appreciate the line of questioning, so in
front of the judge, the police, in the entire court,
he stood up and began saying things that made Jason
(13:25):
as a party feel threatened.
Speaker 7 (13:29):
If I say it was an enjoyable experience, I would
be lying. George de Georgia was livid when when he
was looking at me, and I do remember his eyes,
I cold ice cold eyes looking at me, terribly angry,
using very foul language and yes threateningly, and I remember
(13:52):
you could hear a pin drop.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
After these courtroom threats, Jason as a part of the
receives offers of asistance from the police, and the threats
have never been carried out, but back in twenty eighteen,
Vincent d Kov's decision to turn informant has clearly painted
a target on his back. And it's not just the
Georgia Emily. He has to worry about the Talmaxar brothers.
(14:17):
The alleged bomb suppliers also allegedly make a friendly approach
to Vincent Dakoff's family, offering them money if the Cough
retracts the statements he's giving to the police. They too
appear fully informed about Vincentnakoff's confidential discussions with the police.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
After Vincent Nakov's decision to speak to the police, Melvin
the Middleman begins to feel in even greater danger. As
we heard, Melvin is already worried that he knows too
much about mister alleged Masterminds crimes. That is, in spite
of their closeness, he has become a liability to mister
alleged Mastermind. If Vincent the Cough gives Melvin's name to
(15:04):
the police, mister alleged Mastermind will have an even stronger
incentive to have his old friend disappeared. Melvin the Middleman's
drinking and drug taking accelerates. He's spiraling downwards.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
It is around this time that Melvin the Middleman drunkenly
climbs onto the roof of his own house and contemplates
ending at all, But instead he has a change of heart.
Instead of jumping, he decides to fight and to use
the secrets he's carrying to protect himself.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
Soon after, he purchases a second smartphone, but this phone
isn't for making calls. Instead, one day at home, he
switches on the new phone and sets it to silent,
an aeroplane mode. He needs to make sure that it
cannot receive a call or make a sound. His girlfriend's
daughter has shown him how to do this.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
More than technology isn't really his.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
Thing, Melvin the Middleman opens a voice recorder app on
the phone and sets it running, allowing the device to
record every sound in the room around him. His girlfriend's
daughter has shown him how to do this too. Now,
with the voice app running, he locks the phone and
slips it into his sock, where it stays hidden. From
(16:29):
now on, whenever he meets mister alleged Mastermind, every word
will be secretly recorded. Every incriminating remark will be stored
like the cough. Melvin the Middleman is breaking the ultimate
taboo of a moral faminalism. He's betraying family.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Melvin Hobbs dead. The tapes might just give him enough
leverage to keep himself alive.
Speaker 8 (17:00):
Bevin Toma was saying, Listen is very well connected, immensely rich.
I'm no one compared to him. I don't have friends
in high places, and so better take precautions.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
Years later, in court, Melvin Toma will describe mister alleged
Mastermind as a lion and himself as a mosquito in comparison,
a being that can be crushed without trace.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
And soon it is not just audio recordings. Melvin the
middle Man begins building an entire archive of evidence. It
includes the selfie of himself with the Prime Minister's chief
of Staff, Keith Skembrie, the two of them ah me
in ah during that bizarre tour of government offices organized
(17:48):
by mister alleged Mastermind.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
One taped conversation is particularly revealing. On the tape, mister
alleged Mastermind describes the moment when he informed Keith Kembri
that Daphne had been murdered on his alleged Mastermind's personal orders.
That the whole crime was his plan.
Speaker 9 (18:08):
Keach Cambrie froze, his face became white, eshen white. You
can hear him saying this to Melvin Tooma on tape
being secretly taped recorded by Melvin Tooma months after the murder.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
The implication is that Keach Cambrie wasn't in on the
plan to kill Daphne and wasn't even aware that alleged
Mastermind was responsible, and so, according to mister alleged Mastermind,
Keith's reaction to hearing this confession is shocked. Sch Caambree's
ashen white reaction suggests both his personal lack of involvement,
(18:47):
but also that he immediately realizes this might be an
unimaginable disaster for him politically, that he is now complicit
and the most famous murder in Malta's modern history.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
But if this is the case, keefs Gmbrie does not
denounce mister Alleged Mastermind. He does not contact Europe's police
agency europe On. He does not contact the Multi's police
with this breakthrough in the case. Instead, he pulls himself
together and continues working with his close friend mister Alleged Mastermind,
(19:25):
helping him to cover up the crime by allegedly sharing
confidential details of the investigation. To this day, keeps Gambrie
has denied any wrongdoing and denies leaking information. But in truth,
by now it is becoming too late for a successful
cover up. Never underestimate the mosquito.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
There's another reason why the cover up being ground. Alleged
mastermind might be unreveling. Just as Daphnese killers are beginning
to turn on each other, the Deafney Project, the international
team of journalists who gathered to follow up lose ends
in her stories, are continuing to.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
Work, searching, above all, for the story that might reveal
the motive for her murder.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
They get some impressive scoops. We've heard how the Definite
Project reported on Malta's passport sales scheme, its public hospital scandal,
and the shady deals with Azerbaijan, but so far still
nothing that seems linked to Daphne's murder.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
Then Jacob Borche, a Daphney Project reporter for the Terms
of Malta, gets an intriguing anonymous tip. The tip off
is to look up one phrase in Daphne's entire journalistic output,
seventeen Black along with Stephen Gray, a reporter from v
(21:00):
and it so happens a friend of ours. Jacob begins
searching through Daphne's archive for every mention.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
The first blog post to mention it is typical Daphne,
a cryptic, intriguing teaser. The whole post is just one
sentence long.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
February twenty second, twenty seventeen. Seventeen Black the name of
a company incorporated in Dubai.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
Underneath that sentence are some photos of politicians the key ones.
First a picture of the Prime Minister Joseph Moscat, second
a photo of Chief of Staff Keach Cambri, and finally
a photo of Health and Energy Minister Conrad Mitzi. And
that's it. What could be linking these powerful men with
a Dubai company called seventeen Black. Of course, the last
(21:46):
two men, she Cambria and Midsi, are the same politicians
Daphne had already identified in the Panama Papers as owning
secret shell companies and Panama. And when the Panama paper
scandal broke, some mysteries had remained unsolved. Schambrie and Midzi's
carefully hidden Panama companies had all hardly been used. What
secret assets had these politicians been expecting to receive.
Speaker 3 (22:10):
Most of the other seventeen Black blog posts don't seem
likely obvious place to finances though.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
February twenty second, twenty seventeen, I have discovered that this
clique is using a company called seventeen Black, which is
incorporated in the United Arab Emirates UAE and registered in Dubai,
to move large sums of money around. The ultimate beneficial
ownership of seventeen Black is concealed by nominees protected under
UAE law.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
Quick translation, the ultimate beneficial ownership is concealed means the
rill owner is a secret.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
In other words, definitely believe that seventeen Black was a
company acting as yet another tool to hide payments to
Maltese politicians and powerful men. She also found that the
Maltese financial authorities had investigated seventeen Black and found there
was quotes a reasonable suspicion of money laundering and all
the proceeds of crime on quotes. That is to say,
(23:08):
it looked pretty dodgy, but no action was taken by
the police. Dafely also didn't know who was behind seventeen Black.
She hadn't discovered who, let's say, was the alleged mastermind
of seventeen Black.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
And gradually the scandal of seventeen Black was overshadowed by
other scandals, even on Dafnew's on blog at this point
after her death, it still isn't clear why that anonymous
tipster had suggested looking into seventeen Black, but the Definitely
Project reporters aren't about to give up easily.
Speaker 10 (23:44):
A company called seventeen Black was playing in a really
important role in all of this, but we didn't have
a lot more and we didn't have proof, and so
we went back to the data.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
Bassi and Obermayer and the rest of the Daphne Project
organizers decided to take a fresh approach. They would re
examine some of the original leak files that had been
behind the Panama Papers scoop, and in this huge database
of files they find some leaked emails that hadn't seemed
important when Daphne was alive.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
In the middle of a haystack, a journalistic needle has appeared.
Speaker 10 (24:29):
We were looking inside that that part of data, and
we found this email which didn't say a lot, but
it said that there was a company called seventeen Black
and that Metro to receive money.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
That leaked email allows the Dafney project to confirm what
Deafhney had alleged but hadn't been able to prove. It
suggests that government ministers Conrad Mitzi and Keach Company had
been expecting to receive had been promised regular large amounts
of money moving into their Panama holding companies. All from
(25:06):
seventeen Black.
Speaker 4 (25:09):
Times of Mota eighty eight April twenty and eighty A
total of one point six million dollars one point three
million euros was transferred to seventeen Black to the BI
company listed as one of the target clients which would
pay in money to Keych Cambrees and Conrad Midsi's once
secret Panama companies. League to documents show.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
The definitely project breaking this story was huge. Midsi ande
Cambree deny wrongdoing, proof that in spite of all these denials,
the emails showed that Maltese politicians had planned to enrich
themselves secretly while in office, and they were going to
do so using a company that Maltese investigators considered under
(25:52):
suspicion for money laundering and criminal activity.
Speaker 10 (25:56):
And so this was the missing piece that helped to
connect the Panama papers and to the money right, and
so once we got puzzled that together we had a
strong lead.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
But there is still one big question unanswered. Around this time,
a group of demonstrators stage of protests outside government officers
with placards reading who owns seventeen black?
Speaker 1 (26:25):
Exactly?
Speaker 6 (26:26):
Who?
Speaker 1 (26:27):
Who was planning to bribe these politicians? That question on
the blucards is the question that everyone in more Thanao
once answered, everyone.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
Except mister alleged Mastermind. Mister alleged Mastermind can't afford for
that question to be answered, and he knows that the
closer the Daphne Project gets to his friend Keith Schenbury,
the closer they will get to him. Because you won't
be surprised to hear this, The real owner of seventeen
Black is our mister alleged Mastermind, and he must know
(27:01):
it might not be long before his real identity is
exposed and.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
The Deafnite Project are not his only problem now. Around
this time too, the spring of twenty eighteen, the Maltese
police investigation of the Dafnie murder begins to pick up
the pace, and for the first time, mister Alleged Mastermind
is mentioned by name. In the police investigation as a
(27:26):
person of interest, even a potential suspect. For the first time,
he is on the investigation's radar. For the first time,
his wealth and power are no longer shielding him. We
don't know for sure if he finds this out, but
given how he has a network that has told him
about every other detail of the investigation, it seems likely
(27:47):
he knows that the net is slowly closing in around him,
and so.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
Like Vincent the Cough and Melvin the Middleman before him,
mister alleged Mastermind begins to crash slowly on the pressure,
buckling under the stress of avoiding justice. First he turns
the cocaine his daily use, ballooning as he tries to
remain in control, and then he begins using tranquilizers to
(28:13):
calm himself down. Unlike Melvin the Middleman, he has private
doctors to supply him with as many pills as he
can take, but the drugs make him unstable, unpredictable, less
able to keep spinning all the plates.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
Then, around eighteen months later, in November twenty nineteen, it
happens again. A new Defnite project story is jointly published
by the Times of Malta and writers and this does
have all the answers.
Speaker 4 (28:44):
Thousand Mortar ninth November two thouy and nineteen exclusive seventeen
Black owner identified as local power station businessman. Local criminal
investigators have been handed an intelligence report aiming the electro
Gas power station director and businessman as the owner of
(29:05):
the mystery Dubai company seventeen Black.
Speaker 3 (29:11):
A story that fills in the final blanks that daphnely
didn't live long enough to complete.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
The Defney project identified the owner of seventeen Black as
one of Malta's richest entrepreneurs, the owner of luxury hotels,
casinos and real estate. And most importantly, he is also
the director of something called Electrogas, a company which built
and runs a brand new power station for the whole country.
(29:38):
And here's where the connections get interesting. Joseph mouscat Keach
Cambri and Conrad Mitzi's government have locked Maltese consumers into
buying electricity from the Electrogas power station, a decision which
is making alleged mastermind as director of electro Gas a
lot of money. Moscat, Mitzi, Schambri. They all said that
(30:01):
the new power station energy deal was fixed for the
benefit of the Maltese people and for Malta's future, that's
what they said. But it's a deal which some analysts
say costs ordinary Maltese people like me a lot of
money in increased bills. We are paying a private monopoly,
as some analysts put it, hand over fist, just to
(30:23):
turn the lights on. And now The Times of Malta,
Reuters and the Deafney Project are able to reveal that
Cambri and MIDSI were also expecting to receive huge private
payments to their secret Panama companies from the director of
this same power station company, that they've signed a deal
with what you might call, if you're being nice, a
(30:46):
serious conflict of interest when approving the project. Scambri and
MIDSI still deny all wrongdoing.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
The director of the electro Gas power Station Company is
the same man we have been calling mister alleged Mastermind
in this series up till now. He's a man who
loves to gamble and whose father's lucky number at roulette
was seventeen black. Not all gamblers turn out to be lucky.
(31:18):
And this is the same man who in twenty seventeen
stood to lose everything if Daphne Carojuana Galicia lived long
enough to complete her investigation of seventeen Black and connected
him and his projects to Malta's corruption scandals, and in
fact she became remarkably close to exposing the truth.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
We now know that a whistleblower had passed Daphne a
huge strove of league documents from within Electrogas, documents that
had the potential to reveal the full extent of the
corruption involved in the company's dealings with government and the
poor value it was actually offering the Maltese people. Daphnie
was working on this strove with her son Metew when
(31:59):
she was killed, and she never published her findings, but
there were hints in her blog posts that she was
close to the truth. Buried deep in the comment section
to that first mysterious seventeen Black blog post by Daphne
is a short conversation between two of Daphne's readers. This
was normal, The comment section was always lively on Dafany's blog.
(32:21):
Today we can't know everything that was said because one
of the commentators has since deleted his or her remarks, wisely,
perhaps for their own safety. But Deaphne was intrigued by
what the commenters had written about her post, and decided
to reply herself, thanking them for a useful idea. Her
reply marks what I believe to be the only time
(32:41):
she mentioned mister alleged Mastermind by name, and she connects
him with what she sarcastically calls Malta's magic New corruption
power station. Is just two sentences long, but it's all there.
Alleged mastermind's real name and an accusation of corruption involving
the electro Gas.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
Power station, a couple of the owners of their magic
new corruption power station, and it's Jorgan Fenek. So thanks
for this, because it really figures.
Speaker 3 (33:16):
His name is Jorgen Fenek, director of Electra Gas, owner
of seventeen Black, and the alleged mastermind of Japhne's murder.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
Her decision to include that name in this comment, probably
written without a second thought, might be what signed her
death warrant. It's just a few weeks later that prosecutors
believe Jorgan Fennec, mister alleged Mastermind, orders her assassination. But
even as he becomes an official suspect in Daphne's murder,
(33:55):
mister Fennec still has a few more roles of the
dice to play. That's Next. Crooks Everywhere is a production
of iHeart Podcasts, Topic Studios and Vespucci. It's reported and
(34:16):
hosted by me Manuel Delia and John Sweeney. The senior
producer is Leo Hornack. The producer is Maddie Hickish krish
Denesh 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 daf
(34:37):
Nick Rwana Galizia is played by Ciena Miller, acting direction
by Christopher Houten Maltese voices by Mikhaiel basma Jan and
Pierre staff Rach. The executive producers are Johnny Galvin and
Daniel Turkean at Vespucci, Christi Gressman at Topic Studios, Katina
Norvell and Niki Etoor at iHeart Podcasts, and Ciena Miller
(35:00):
Marketing lead as David Wassermann. Audio recording by Tom Berry
at Wardoor Studios. Audio mix and sound design by Joel Cox.
Special thanks to Andrew Watchcardona, Alessandra di Crespo, Eddie Isles,
and Andrew Carvana Galizia,
And O to the listeners. This episode contains a reference
to suicide.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Corruption, especially between the media and politicians. Eats away at
the heart of democracy.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
Cord in prison, Malta. Right here we will early twenty eighteen,
about six months after Daphne's murder. Daphne's free assassins, Vincent Lakoff,
Chinese George and Alfred the Bean have been held here
on pre trial detention since before Christmas. What follows is
(00:44):
a dramatization based on courtroom testimony by Vincent the kaff Muscat.
We provided color in places without changing any of the
material facts or allegations. The defendants are entitled to regular
meetings with their lawyer, and today one of the those
conferences is scheduled. The three of them are gathered here
in the meeting room, sitting alongside one another, a guard
(01:06):
by the door.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Three middle aged contract killers, no doubt familiar with the
frequent rituals of Malta's legal system when it comes to
organized crime, arrest, interrogation, delay, confinement, postponement and then all
too often temporary release which eventually becomes permanent.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
And are so often in prison life at the moment
they're stuck wasting their lawyer has so far failed to
show up.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Since the arrests, things have mostly been going in the favor.
In the outside world, the battle to uncover the plot
to kill Daphane has reached a stalemate. Public protests that
Daphanie's murder have become a permanent feature of Maltese politics,
but the government appears to be weathering them.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Jephane's family are trying to bring international political pressure to
bear on the Mall's government, and they're helping a team
of investigative journalists to reinvestigate loose ends in her stories,
but so far, nothing that's been published has led to
a breakthrough.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
The one man who does know all the details of
the plot, Melvin the Middleman, is struggling to keep his
life together under the strain of the secrets he carries.
He's drinking heavily, even contemplating ending it all, but so
far he is keeping his silence, and all the while,
the accused architect of the murder, Mister alleged Mastermind, remains
(02:35):
unnoticed by law enforcement. His wealth and influence probably allow
him to remain one step ahead of the authorities at
any time.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
So although the three men in this prison interview room
are locked up and under investigation for Daphanes's murder. They
have reason to be quietly confident. If they can just
stick together and keep their mouths shut, all his attention
should eventually go away, just like it did after all
the other car bomb assassinations in Malta.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
But on this day, for the first time, something's not right.
In fact, it's very very wrong. Ho Chinese George motions
Vincent the Cough to come closer, close enough so he
can whisper without the guard.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
Hearing Lisma station by that chilt mind continct with that
it's my child.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Chinese George tells Vincent that he didn't sleep a wink
last night. Something surprising was bothering him his ace. Vincent
listens with a straight face, unresponsive. Chinese George goes on,
does Vincent want to tell him something? Are you sure?
(03:57):
Because he thinks there's something Vincent should be telling him.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Again, Vincent the Cough doesn't respond, chance.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
It and there it is, the accusation spoken out loud. Vincent,
you want to speak at the depot. The depot is
multi slang for police headquarters. In other words, somehow George
has discovered that Vincent has begun speaking to the police.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Secretly, Chinese George is accusing his fellow murderer of breaking
the criminal code of silence after years of knowing each
other and working together from the Carmel Kirk Coop drive
by shooting to Daphne's murder. George believes that Vince is
snitching and snitching about the murder of Daphne Carona Calizzia.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
Before Vince can respond, their lawyer finally entered the role.
The meeting begins as if nothing has been said. But
from now on everything has changed between Chinese George and
Vincent de Kov. The betrayals have begun.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
From iHeart Podcasts, Topic Studios in Vespucci, I'm John Sweeney
and I'm Manuel Delia and this is Crooks Everywhere, Episode eight,
The Lion and the Mosquito.
Speaker 5 (05:34):
I was there for one of the earlier sittings, actually
present in the courtroom, and what impressed me was he
had George, the George Jaw, who sat in the middle.
His brother was sitting to his right side, I believe,
and Vince to his left, and there was this complete silence.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Kurt Sansone has watched Vincent Lakoff Muscat and the two
Di Giorgia brothers, Chinese George and Alfred the Bean in Court.
He is the executive editor of Malta Today and has
been covering the investigation into Daphnese murder for years.
Speaker 6 (06:16):
Given the dynamic between them, I would say Vince Muscat
was sort of the person who tagged along to the brothers.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
The junior partner, and perhaps he'd grown tired of all that,
or since that being the junior partner made him more vulnerable, disposable,
not part of the inner circle.
Speaker 6 (06:35):
They didn't give him all the information. I mean, they
just gave him the information that he needed to know. Listen,
we're going to do this. You'll be here at this time.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
After they're arrested. Vincent Lakoff may also have been under
greater financial pressure than the other two killers. We don't
know how much of the unwilling financial support from Melvin
the middleman reached Vincent. Certainly no one bought his family
member's pedigree dogs from China.
Speaker 6 (07:06):
It was mainly George, that GEORGEA and Alfred the Georgia
doing the dealings and making the arrangements which he would
then obviously willingly tag along and being involved in.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
Or maybe Vincent has realized that Daphne's murder had provoked
a backlash too large for any of them to ride
out in silence. If that theory is true, it's a
real tribute to the Maltese public, the ordinary people who
keep attending the demonstrations and protests in Daphne's memory for
(07:43):
month after month after month, refusing to let the story die,
and without knowing it, spooking her killers.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
Whatever Vincent's reasons, it begins to see greatly negotiating with
the police for a reduced sentence or a pardon in
exchange for a confession. And the first piece of information
he's offering in exchange for his freedom is the name
of the next guy up in the chain, the man
who hired him and the the Georgio brothers, Melvin Toma,
the increasingly panicy Middleman.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
But it turns out that an offering to become an informant,
Vincent the Cough is miscalculated in two crucial ways. He's
both underestimated and overestimated multice law enforcement. Underestimated because in fact,
the authorities are already close to finding out Melvin the
Middleman's identity. Anyway, the di Giorgio brothers constant demands for
(08:42):
donations from Melvin has left multiple clues that the authorities
are able to follow.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
Whenever Chinese George or Alfred de Bean called Mario de Georgio,
the police are listening, The brothers never refer to Melvin
by name, instead referring to him as dead guy. But
it's obvious to the police eavesdroppers that that guy is
a crucial connection to whoever else was involved in Daphnie's skinning.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
By the time Vincent Leakoff begins negotiating at the depot
that's the police headquarters, detectives are already watching Mario di
Giorgio's house, taking photos of Melvin when he visits.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
But Vincent d Koff has also overestimated moul dieselaw enforcement.
In spite of his knowledge of the crime world, he
clearly hopes that the police will be able to keep
his betrayal less secret.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
Perhaps he should have known better. Even by Maltese standards,
this is not a murder investigation that is secure or
anything like it. As we've heard, every important breakthrough in
the case is discussed in the presence of Prime Minister
Joseph Muscat, his chief of staff Keith Schembri and Jeopardy
(10:01):
Police Commissioner Sylvio val Letter. And as we've also heard,
those lasts who are both close personal friends of mister
alleged Mastermind himself, Keith Skembrie texts mister alleged Mastermind on
a near daily basis. Deputy Police Commissioner Silvio the Letter
will later share a family holiday with him.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
So it is not surprising that Vincent de Koff's betrayal
very quickly reaches mister alleged Mastermind, and then that information
quickly moves down the chain. According to Paul Karwna Galizia's book,
when mister Alleged Mastermind passes on the news to Melvin,
the middleman, he immediately panics, unable to believe it. It's
(10:44):
not true, it's not true about the cough.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
Melvin's already spent thousands of euros of his own money
paying for gifts and treats to keep the assassins happy
behind bars, trying to avoid exactly this outcome.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
But eventually he does believe it. Naturally, he doesn't hesitate
to pass the bad news further on down the line
to Chinese George and Alfred de Bean the contract killers
who are also being betrayed. They are amazed as well,
and then no doubt ready to take action. Melvin the
Middleman must know that by informing the the Georgia family
(11:23):
of Vincent de Kof's betrayal, he could well be triggering
further than the violence, that he could be signing another
man's death warrant. And perhaps that's what he intends. We
can't know, whatever the truth. It's soon after this that
Vincent de Koff receives that sinister warning while waiting for
(11:44):
his lawyer to arrive. And that's how Malta's circle of
corruption works, highly sensitive information apparently flowing from a top
secret police interrogation, to a high level police briefing, to
an alleged criminal mastermind, to a middlemen, and onto two
brutal underworld hitmen.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
After the warning, Vincent the Cough is well aware of
the danger he's in now. After all, he used to
be part of the death squad. He requests and gets
additional protection in the prison he's now guarded. When he eats,
separated from his fellow killers, he asks his family to
bring in food so he doesn't have to touch the
(12:37):
prison meals, who knows what strings that Georgia's might be
able to pull inside the prison kitchen, and.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
There are the strings they can pull outside. Later in
Quartron testimony, Vincent Kof said he received a warning that
his partner and their children might be killed in an
acid attack, So isn't just watching his own back.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
Jason, as a party Daphnese family lawyer, has experience of
what these kind of threats can be like. Years later,
as a party, cross examined Chinese George Georgio in court.
Chinese George didn't appreciate the line of questioning, so in
front of the judge, the police, in the entire court,
he stood up and began saying things that made Jason
(13:25):
as a party feel threatened.
Speaker 7 (13:29):
If I say it was an enjoyable experience, I would
be lying. George de Georgia was livid when when he
was looking at me, and I do remember his eyes,
I cold ice cold eyes looking at me, terribly angry,
using very foul language and yes threateningly, and I remember
(13:52):
you could hear a pin drop.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
After these courtroom threats, Jason as a part of the
receives offers of asistance from the police, and the threats
have never been carried out, but back in twenty eighteen,
Vincent d Kov's decision to turn informant has clearly painted
a target on his back. And it's not just the
Georgia Emily. He has to worry about the Talmaxar brothers.
(14:17):
The alleged bomb suppliers also allegedly make a friendly approach
to Vincent Dakoff's family, offering them money if the Cough
retracts the statements he's giving to the police. They too
appear fully informed about Vincentnakoff's confidential discussions with the police.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
After Vincent Nakov's decision to speak to the police, Melvin
the Middleman begins to feel in even greater danger. As
we heard, Melvin is already worried that he knows too
much about mister alleged Masterminds crimes. That is, in spite
of their closeness, he has become a liability to mister
alleged Mastermind. If Vincent the Cough gives Melvin's name to
(15:04):
the police, mister alleged Mastermind will have an even stronger
incentive to have his old friend disappeared. Melvin the Middleman's
drinking and drug taking accelerates. He's spiraling downwards.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
It is around this time that Melvin the Middleman drunkenly
climbs onto the roof of his own house and contemplates
ending at all, But instead he has a change of heart.
Instead of jumping, he decides to fight and to use
the secrets he's carrying to protect himself.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
Soon after, he purchases a second smartphone, but this phone
isn't for making calls. Instead, one day at home, he
switches on the new phone and sets it to silent,
an aeroplane mode. He needs to make sure that it
cannot receive a call or make a sound. His girlfriend's
daughter has shown him how to do this.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
More than technology isn't really his.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
Thing, Melvin the Middleman opens a voice recorder app on
the phone and sets it running, allowing the device to
record every sound in the room around him. His girlfriend's
daughter has shown him how to do this too. Now,
with the voice app running, he locks the phone and
slips it into his sock, where it stays hidden. From
(16:29):
now on, whenever he meets mister alleged Mastermind, every word
will be secretly recorded. Every incriminating remark will be stored
like the cough. Melvin the Middleman is breaking the ultimate
taboo of a moral faminalism. He's betraying family.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Melvin Hobbs dead. The tapes might just give him enough
leverage to keep himself alive.
Speaker 8 (17:00):
Bevin Toma was saying, Listen is very well connected, immensely rich.
I'm no one compared to him. I don't have friends
in high places, and so better take precautions.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
Years later, in court, Melvin Toma will describe mister alleged
Mastermind as a lion and himself as a mosquito in comparison,
a being that can be crushed without trace.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
And soon it is not just audio recordings. Melvin the
middle Man begins building an entire archive of evidence. It
includes the selfie of himself with the Prime Minister's chief
of Staff, Keith Skembrie, the two of them ah me
in ah during that bizarre tour of government offices organized
(17:48):
by mister alleged Mastermind.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
One taped conversation is particularly revealing. On the tape, mister
alleged Mastermind describes the moment when he informed Keith Kembri
that Daphne had been murdered on his alleged Mastermind's personal orders.
That the whole crime was his plan.
Speaker 9 (18:08):
Keach Cambrie froze, his face became white, eshen white. You
can hear him saying this to Melvin Tooma on tape
being secretly taped recorded by Melvin Tooma months after the murder.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
The implication is that Keach Cambrie wasn't in on the
plan to kill Daphne and wasn't even aware that alleged
Mastermind was responsible, and so, according to mister alleged Mastermind,
Keith's reaction to hearing this confession is shocked. Sch Caambree's
ashen white reaction suggests both his personal lack of involvement,
(18:47):
but also that he immediately realizes this might be an
unimaginable disaster for him politically, that he is now complicit
and the most famous murder in Malta's modern history.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
But if this is the case, keefs Gmbrie does not
denounce mister Alleged Mastermind. He does not contact Europe's police
agency europe On. He does not contact the Multi's police
with this breakthrough in the case. Instead, he pulls himself
together and continues working with his close friend mister Alleged Mastermind,
(19:25):
helping him to cover up the crime by allegedly sharing
confidential details of the investigation. To this day, keeps Gambrie
has denied any wrongdoing and denies leaking information. But in truth,
by now it is becoming too late for a successful
cover up. Never underestimate the mosquito.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
There's another reason why the cover up being ground. Alleged
mastermind might be unreveling. Just as Daphnese killers are beginning
to turn on each other, the Deafney Project, the international
team of journalists who gathered to follow up lose ends
in her stories, are continuing to.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
Work, searching, above all, for the story that might reveal
the motive for her murder.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
They get some impressive scoops. We've heard how the Definite
Project reported on Malta's passport sales scheme, its public hospital scandal,
and the shady deals with Azerbaijan, but so far still
nothing that seems linked to Daphne's murder.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
Then Jacob Borche, a Daphney Project reporter for the Terms
of Malta, gets an intriguing anonymous tip. The tip off
is to look up one phrase in Daphne's entire journalistic output,
seventeen Black along with Stephen Gray, a reporter from v
(21:00):
and it so happens a friend of ours. Jacob begins
searching through Daphne's archive for every mention.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
The first blog post to mention it is typical Daphne,
a cryptic, intriguing teaser. The whole post is just one
sentence long.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
February twenty second, twenty seventeen. Seventeen Black the name of
a company incorporated in Dubai.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
Underneath that sentence are some photos of politicians the key ones.
First a picture of the Prime Minister Joseph Moscat, second
a photo of Chief of Staff Keach Cambri, and finally
a photo of Health and Energy Minister Conrad Mitzi. And
that's it. What could be linking these powerful men with
a Dubai company called seventeen Black. Of course, the last
(21:46):
two men, she Cambria and Midsi, are the same politicians
Daphne had already identified in the Panama Papers as owning
secret shell companies and Panama. And when the Panama paper
scandal broke, some mysteries had remained unsolved. Schambrie and Midzi's
carefully hidden Panama companies had all hardly been used. What
secret assets had these politicians been expecting to receive.
Speaker 3 (22:10):
Most of the other seventeen Black blog posts don't seem
likely obvious place to finances though.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
February twenty second, twenty seventeen, I have discovered that this
clique is using a company called seventeen Black, which is
incorporated in the United Arab Emirates UAE and registered in Dubai,
to move large sums of money around. The ultimate beneficial
ownership of seventeen Black is concealed by nominees protected under
UAE law.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
Quick translation, the ultimate beneficial ownership is concealed means the
rill owner is a secret.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
In other words, definitely believe that seventeen Black was a
company acting as yet another tool to hide payments to
Maltese politicians and powerful men. She also found that the
Maltese financial authorities had investigated seventeen Black and found there
was quotes a reasonable suspicion of money laundering and all
the proceeds of crime on quotes. That is to say,
(23:08):
it looked pretty dodgy, but no action was taken by
the police. Dafely also didn't know who was behind seventeen Black.
She hadn't discovered who, let's say, was the alleged mastermind
of seventeen Black.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
And gradually the scandal of seventeen Black was overshadowed by
other scandals, even on Dafnew's on blog at this point
after her death, it still isn't clear why that anonymous
tipster had suggested looking into seventeen Black, but the Definitely
Project reporters aren't about to give up easily.
Speaker 10 (23:44):
A company called seventeen Black was playing in a really
important role in all of this, but we didn't have
a lot more and we didn't have proof, and so
we went back to the data.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
Bassi and Obermayer and the rest of the Daphne Project
organizers decided to take a fresh approach. They would re
examine some of the original leak files that had been
behind the Panama Papers scoop, and in this huge database
of files they find some leaked emails that hadn't seemed
important when Daphne was alive.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
In the middle of a haystack, a journalistic needle has appeared.
Speaker 10 (24:29):
We were looking inside that that part of data, and
we found this email which didn't say a lot, but
it said that there was a company called seventeen Black
and that Metro to receive money.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
That leaked email allows the Dafney project to confirm what
Deafhney had alleged but hadn't been able to prove. It
suggests that government ministers Conrad Mitzi and Keach Company had
been expecting to receive had been promised regular large amounts
of money moving into their Panama holding companies. All from
(25:06):
seventeen Black.
Speaker 4 (25:09):
Times of Mota eighty eight April twenty and eighty A
total of one point six million dollars one point three
million euros was transferred to seventeen Black to the BI
company listed as one of the target clients which would
pay in money to Keych Cambrees and Conrad Midsi's once
secret Panama companies. League to documents show.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
The definitely project breaking this story was huge. Midsi ande
Cambree deny wrongdoing, proof that in spite of all these denials,
the emails showed that Maltese politicians had planned to enrich
themselves secretly while in office, and they were going to
do so using a company that Maltese investigators considered under
(25:52):
suspicion for money laundering and criminal activity.
Speaker 10 (25:56):
And so this was the missing piece that helped to
connect the Panama papers and to the money right, and
so once we got puzzled that together we had a
strong lead.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
But there is still one big question unanswered. Around this time,
a group of demonstrators stage of protests outside government officers
with placards reading who owns seventeen black?
Speaker 1 (26:25):
Exactly?
Speaker 6 (26:26):
Who?
Speaker 1 (26:27):
Who was planning to bribe these politicians? That question on
the blucards is the question that everyone in more Thanao
once answered, everyone.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
Except mister alleged Mastermind. Mister alleged Mastermind can't afford for
that question to be answered, and he knows that the
closer the Daphne Project gets to his friend Keith Schenbury,
the closer they will get to him. Because you won't
be surprised to hear this, The real owner of seventeen
Black is our mister alleged Mastermind, and he must know
(27:01):
it might not be long before his real identity is
exposed and.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
The Deafnite Project are not his only problem now. Around
this time too, the spring of twenty eighteen, the Maltese
police investigation of the Dafnie murder begins to pick up
the pace, and for the first time, mister Alleged Mastermind
is mentioned by name. In the police investigation as a
(27:26):
person of interest, even a potential suspect. For the first time,
he is on the investigation's radar. For the first time,
his wealth and power are no longer shielding him. We
don't know for sure if he finds this out, but
given how he has a network that has told him
about every other detail of the investigation, it seems likely
(27:47):
he knows that the net is slowly closing in around him,
and so.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
Like Vincent the Cough and Melvin the Middleman before him,
mister alleged Mastermind begins to crash slowly on the pressure,
buckling under the stress of avoiding justice. First he turns
the cocaine his daily use, ballooning as he tries to
remain in control, and then he begins using tranquilizers to
(28:13):
calm himself down. Unlike Melvin the Middleman, he has private
doctors to supply him with as many pills as he
can take, but the drugs make him unstable, unpredictable, less
able to keep spinning all the plates.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
Then, around eighteen months later, in November twenty nineteen, it
happens again. A new Defnite project story is jointly published
by the Times of Malta and writers and this does
have all the answers.
Speaker 4 (28:44):
Thousand Mortar ninth November two thouy and nineteen exclusive seventeen
Black owner identified as local power station businessman. Local criminal
investigators have been handed an intelligence report aiming the electro
Gas power station director and businessman as the owner of
(29:05):
the mystery Dubai company seventeen Black.
Speaker 3 (29:11):
A story that fills in the final blanks that daphnely
didn't live long enough to complete.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
The Defney project identified the owner of seventeen Black as
one of Malta's richest entrepreneurs, the owner of luxury hotels,
casinos and real estate. And most importantly, he is also
the director of something called Electrogas, a company which built
and runs a brand new power station for the whole country.
(29:38):
And here's where the connections get interesting. Joseph mouscat Keach
Cambri and Conrad Mitzi's government have locked Maltese consumers into
buying electricity from the Electrogas power station, a decision which
is making alleged mastermind as director of electro Gas a
lot of money. Moscat, Mitzi, Schambri. They all said that
(30:01):
the new power station energy deal was fixed for the
benefit of the Maltese people and for Malta's future, that's
what they said. But it's a deal which some analysts
say costs ordinary Maltese people like me a lot of
money in increased bills. We are paying a private monopoly,
as some analysts put it, hand over fist, just to
(30:23):
turn the lights on. And now The Times of Malta,
Reuters and the Deafney Project are able to reveal that
Cambri and MIDSI were also expecting to receive huge private
payments to their secret Panama companies from the director of
this same power station company, that they've signed a deal
with what you might call, if you're being nice, a
(30:46):
serious conflict of interest when approving the project. Scambri and
MIDSI still deny all wrongdoing.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
The director of the electro Gas power Station Company is
the same man we have been calling mister alleged Mastermind
in this series up till now. He's a man who
loves to gamble and whose father's lucky number at roulette
was seventeen black. Not all gamblers turn out to be lucky.
(31:18):
And this is the same man who in twenty seventeen
stood to lose everything if Daphne Carojuana Galicia lived long
enough to complete her investigation of seventeen Black and connected
him and his projects to Malta's corruption scandals, and in
fact she became remarkably close to exposing the truth.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
We now know that a whistleblower had passed Daphne a
huge strove of league documents from within Electrogas, documents that
had the potential to reveal the full extent of the
corruption involved in the company's dealings with government and the
poor value it was actually offering the Maltese people. Daphnie
was working on this strove with her son Metew when
(31:59):
she was killed, and she never published her findings, but
there were hints in her blog posts that she was
close to the truth. Buried deep in the comment section
to that first mysterious seventeen Black blog post by Daphne
is a short conversation between two of Daphne's readers. This
was normal, The comment section was always lively on Dafany's blog.
(32:21):
Today we can't know everything that was said because one
of the commentators has since deleted his or her remarks, wisely,
perhaps for their own safety. But Deaphne was intrigued by
what the commenters had written about her post, and decided
to reply herself, thanking them for a useful idea. Her
reply marks what I believe to be the only time
(32:41):
she mentioned mister alleged Mastermind by name, and she connects
him with what she sarcastically calls Malta's magic New corruption
power station. Is just two sentences long, but it's all there.
Alleged mastermind's real name and an accusation of corruption involving
the electro Gas.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
Power station, a couple of the owners of their magic
new corruption power station, and it's Jorgan Fenek. So thanks
for this, because it really figures.
Speaker 3 (33:16):
His name is Jorgen Fenek, director of Electra Gas, owner
of seventeen Black, and the alleged mastermind of Japhne's murder.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
Her decision to include that name in this comment, probably
written without a second thought, might be what signed her
death warrant. It's just a few weeks later that prosecutors
believe Jorgan Fennec, mister alleged Mastermind, orders her assassination. But
even as he becomes an official suspect in Daphne's murder,
(33:55):
mister Fennec still has a few more roles of the
dice to play. That's Next. Crooks Everywhere is a production
of iHeart Podcasts, Topic Studios and Vespucci. It's reported and
(34:16):
hosted by me Manuel Delia and John Sweeney. The senior
producer is Leo Hornack. The producer is Maddie Hickish krish
Denesh 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 daf
(34:37):
Nick Rwana Galizia is played by Ciena Miller, acting direction
by Christopher Houten Maltese voices by Mikhaiel basma Jan and
Pierre staff Rach. The executive producers are Johnny Galvin and
Daniel Turkean at Vespucci, Christi Gressman at Topic Studios, Katina
Norvell and Niki Etoor at iHeart Podcasts, and Ciena Miller
(35:00):
Marketing lead as David Wassermann. Audio recording by Tom Berry
at Wardoor Studios. Audio mix and sound design by Joel Cox.
Special thanks to Andrew Watchcardona, Alessandra di Crespo, Eddie Isles,
and Andrew Carvana Galizia,
Hosts And Creators
Manuel Delia
John Sweeney
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