tv Declassified CNN November 18, 2023 10:00pm-11:01pm PST
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♪ -we tatalk about t the arms ra, yoyou know, bibig bombs and big g things that can k kill peoplele. and d they're vevery dangeror, anand we don't't ever want those ouout there. but, y you know, t the majoriy of p people in t the world are killlled from smsmall-arms . -in ththe last twowo decades, the dea a has defininitely witnd a large-e-scale convnvergence of weaponsns traffickiking and d terrorism.m. -at least t 60 people e are coconfirmed dedead in whahat is cleararly a pariris terror a attack -- gunfire,e, ak-47s, in mulultiple partrts of t the french h capital. -an ararms dealer r doesn't ce who o he sold ththe weapons o or w what they w were goingg to use t them for as l long as thehey were able to m make him a a profit. -when you'u're provididing weas to tererrorists ororganizatio, there's s nothing woworse than .
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the peopople doing i it are e horrible p people. -and if wewe don't do somethihing about i it, we'l'll lose thohousands anand thousandnds of livese. but t to try to o lock up an internrnational ararms traffic, yoyou know, yoyou're dancicg with t the devil.. -as a formrmer fbi agent and chairman of the house intelligence committee, i had oversight of all 16 of ourur nation'ss intelllligence agegencies. my name isis mike rogegers. i had d access to classifified informrmation gathered b by our opererative, people whoho risked eveverythg for the e united statates and ouour familieses. you u don't knowow their facs or theheir names.. yoyou don't knknow the reaeal ss from thehe people who lived d the fear and the prpressure untntil no. ♪ ♪ -in ththe late '7070s throrough the '8'80s,
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into t the '90s, all arouound the wororld, ththere were p proxy wars.. i i mean, lebabanon was rarag. therere were cononflicts throughoutut africa. the iriran-iraq wawar, ththe breakup p of yugoslala, the e breakup ofof czechoslolov- ththose all ococcurred becece sosomeone was s willing to sell l them weapopons. ththey createded havoc. millions o of people were e kil. -[ sobbibing ] -if f you're onene of the top grgray and blalack arms dedeas in the wororld, you can mamake fortunenes by disistributing g weapons to whatevever cause you wantnt to make m money o. they're bubusinessmen.n. ththey don't n necessarilyy have a a lot of rurules like you a and i do, but they r run a busininess. -m-monzer al-k-kassar was s e of the mosost elite global w weapons trarafficker. hehe's really y responsiblbe for r a lot of t the modern-ny
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armed d conflict throughohout the wororld. -he e started baback in the e , stealiling cars, moving s small amoununts of drs until hehe became ththis ininternationanal hashsh/heroin trtrafficker who o then blossssomed intoto one of ththe top five weapapons traffifickers in the wororld. he t thought he e was untoucuc. his s nickname w was the e proud peacacock, you k , "this s is my housuse. thisis is my palalace." -that estatate had a a shamrock p pool, tenninis c, basketballll courts, three lalarge floorsrs. it h had the elelements of lifestytyles of the r rich and fafamous anand a bond m movie. hehe actually y had a smalallg that h he would carry araround the c compoun. you can'n't make it t up. -h-he was so r rich, some e pe called himim the princnce, but few w would mimistake him m for royaltl. -h-he developeped relationonss with ambasassadors, intetelligence a agencies, security f forces,
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all in a an effort t to be abe to do o what he wawants to do and influeuence whwho he needsds to influeue. -h-he's, one w way or anotot, reresponsiblee fofor hundredsds of deathss with t the weaponsns and arms that he's s provided terrorist t organizatitions. -anybodydy that everer had anany businessss with himm willll tell youu he's a a despicablble person. -this isis the highehest evololution... ofof a criminanal thatat you couldld find. -s-sherlock hoholmes has his archch nemesis,, moriararty, you knknow. he w was kind ofof the momoriarty foror me. i mean, hehe was. hehe was one o of those gugs thatat got away.y. i wawas 19 when n i came inn as an n intern, and other r than beingng a cp fofor a few yeyears, i've been n with dea e ever si. haven'n't done anynything elsesr than realllly being a a dea ag. momonzer startrted surfacicg in deaea reportingng in the e early '70s.s. but t what happepened was, in the e early '80s,s, when i i was a yououng agent in new y york, running araround new y york,
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we startrted realizizing we h had a majoror problem inin the uniteted states,, the drugug trade. -hereroin -- the most d destructiveve narcoc maman has everer devised.. -this has s reached epidemicic portions.s. -newew york wass a gateteway city f for heroi. that's's where mononzer firsrsts pops upup. in 1984, i i was workiking a can some m middle eaststern traffif. at thehe culminatition of the e, we seized d a lot of h heroi. wewe arrested d a lot of p pe, and everyoyone of themem sai, "i want toto tell you u a stor" and ththey talked d about monz. what i learned over that period of time was monzer's organization was moving drugs to the united states, but monzer realized the infrastructure to move arms and drugs, atat that timeme, wewere essentitially the s s. and he hadad a very gogood abiy to movove stuff through h cargo shipips. so it wawas easy. he wasas able to g get himsef in the g gray armamements busin.
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hehe could provide arms, esespecially small arms,s, to afrfrica. hehe provided d weapons toto so. -l-lieutenant t colonel oliver n north devisesed a schememe to fininance the c contras by o overchargining iran fofor the weapapons. -the iraran-contra,, hehe not only y supplied w wes toto the iraninians, but he a also then t turned ard and supppplied smallll arms fofor the contntras. the e iran-iraq q war, he provivided weaponons to b both sides.s. october, 1 1985, monzer a al-kassar,, he hadad aligned h himself with t the palestitinian didissident grgroups. the papalestinian n liberationot wawanted to pipirate the italalian cruisese liner achille e lauro, take pasassengers hohostage so thehey can negogotiate with the i israeli govovernmet to relelease onone of theirir fighters.. monzer w was the supupplier ofof the weapopons. he b brought thehe weapons from pololand and d turned it t over to t the fighterers. -palalestinian t terroristss have h hijacked an italilian cruise e liner in the medediterraneanan
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anand are threreatening toto t executing g american p passeng. -four palelestinian fifightes separatedd the amerericans and jewishsh passengerers from all t the other p passeng. marilylyn and leonon klinghoff, a a jewish famamily from n new, were o on the vessssel. at one poioint, theyey were telllling people that they y were goingng to statart killingng passenges if they y didn't getet a safe pe toto bring thehe boat in.. during t the coursee of thehe negotiatitions, the fifighters actctually tok leonon klinghoffffer, who'o's wheelchahair-bound,, shot him a and then ththrew hm into the m mediterranenean. eventually, they gotot a safe plplace to bringng the boat t in. the fighghters got o off the ve. the hoststages were e release. the fighghters got o on the pl, and d they flew w out. they got a away. ♪ -he provovided the l logistis for the e hijacking g of the sp and providided the weaeapons.
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how w could you u be any y more invololved? and d how could d you not be consididered a tererrorist if y you're one e of the top arms d dealers in n the worl? ththose terrorists killeled an a american and ththrew him ofoff a ship. and nobodydy could tououch hi. -monzezer was a glglobal crimi. he livived in one e place. he b bought thinings fromom one otherer place. he sent ththem to a ththird pl. they'd e end up in a a fourth p. and d none of ththe countries had d jurisdictition over hi. to be e successfulul in going after a a global cririminal, yoyou need to o have a peperfect undederstandingg of h how he funcnctioned. ththe questionon was nevere, shouould he be i indicted? the questition was, could wewe get closese enough to indicict him?
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-aftfter the pirirating of the acachille laururo, monzer a al-kassar kept on n surfacing.g. he conontinued supupporting terrorisism around t the worl. and becaususe i was woworking hn for ththe longest t time in nenk and the e heroin wouould go from the m middle eastst into eitheher italy oror fran, i get trtransferred d to pari. that w was in 198888. i'i'm sitting in m my office, and i ststarted thininking, "i need d to get him." but we dididn't have a a case thatat we could d prove against alal-kassar. i i says, "welell, there's a t momore we knowow of what m monz, but what c could we prprove?"
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i wanteded to gatherer as muh as i couould on the e guy. of course,e, i talkedd to the i interpol pepeople. coconstantly,, his naname would p pop up. they all k knew him, and theyey all kneww he w was a majoror trafficker and a a terrorist.t. people w who had accccess to monzer's s propertieses gave us dodocuments and a lot t of good ininformatn about t him. as we rereviewed thehe documen, we could s show that m monzer was very m much involvlved wiwith all thehese palelestinian teterrorist grgr. he supupplied the e weapons for r the piratiting of t the achilllle lauro. we know w that hehe helped fifinance it becacause there e were movemes of m money in hihis account. so we wewere probingng him. we were hihitting him.m. we w were lockining up people that w were a partrt of t this organinization, at leastst in europepe. and d i felt thahat we got to be prpretty closese to make e the case against t al-kassar.r. atat this timeme, my oldesest dr was boborn in pariris.
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after shshe's born,, i leavave the hospspital toto go get sosome flowersr. a vevery well-drdressed middle easastern man p pops o, and hehe says, "mrmr. jim! mr.r" whenen i looked d at him, i knew w who he was.s. he was al-l-kassar's d driver when al-kakassar came e to par. why doeses he know w who i a? anand he says,s, "mr. al-k-kar wowould like t to congratutulau on the birirth of yourur daught" anand my daughghter was probablyly born, maybe,e, six hoursrs earlier. ththey knew. they k knew she hahad been bo. in the ' '80s, ththis organizization wass moving d drugs toto the uniteted states.. bubut then, his armsms business s took of. he w was livingg in mararbella, spapain. he made lolots of moneney. this guyuy was walkiking aroud in his p palatial esestate.
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he madade his liviving off f the ills o of other pepe. i i mean, he createded so much h havoc. you knowow, someone e had to o someththing about t it. and soso, the e spanish ararrested al-l-r for the pipirating of the acachille laururo. bebecause of m me having g ge ththrough a lolong period d ofe working g this invesestigatio, they asksked me to t testify in trial i in madrid.. i sat two o people away from hi. literalllly, i couldld reach out and toucuch him. several l members of his o organizatioion that were e going to testify, two of them werere killed. one of thehem, his kids were kikidnapped. eveventually, he gets kikilled,. and a a very crititical witnes. chchanged his s story. so, hehe was acquiuitted of t that chargege. we triried. but he wasas a very t treacherousus guy. noththing stuck k to him.
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once you h hear thatat he was reresponsiblee for the dedeaths of mamany peo, yoyou can't, l like, say,, "well,l, that doesesn't matte" i didn't't think we'e'd get anor opopportunity y at that popo. i realally didn't.t. no.. nono. -part of the problem was u.s. laws stated that people who operated between international boundaries, like monzer al-kassar, were unable to be prosecuted. -even in our own couountry, people dididn't undersrstand. yoyou know, ifif the bombsbse goining off in f france or g ge, it didn'n't really a affect usn the ununited statetes all thata. -[ s screaming ] ] itit wasn't ununtil 9/11 that we e actually r realized that we'e're all cononnected, absolutetely. -in a few w moments, i'll be e signing ththe u.s.. papatriot imprprovement and reauththorization n act. this is a really important piece of legislation.
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itit is a piecece of legisisln that's vitital to win t the war on n terror and d to protectct the amamerican peoeople. -s-so there wewere new lawas thatat were creaeated that allowowed the e united statates governrt to pursusue extrataterritorialal targets who residede outside the unitited statess anand prosecute them within thehe united ststates. -we, as s a country,y, have to d sosome kind ofof message t t, ifif you're gogoing to comommits againsnst americanans, you're g going to faface some d of c charges. the spspecial opererations divin at dea wasas developeded to help a a group of s senior ininvestigatorors enforce e the. -in speciaial operatioions, they develeloped the bilalateral invevestigativet to s specificalllly gogo out and t touch ththe untouchahables. so, we wenent out and d targed those inindividualss thatat were opererating outside ththe united s states that a affected ththe united s . -so byby 2006, we had newew laws on t the boo, anand we get t the opportutuy toto do a casese like thiss
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fifind out whahat monzer i is g and find a a way to prprosecute. -i t think the f first challle alalways with h a terrorisist, how w do we get t close? the dea a would workrk with o our local c counterpars and devevelop sourceces of infnformation.. their woworking withth sourcs was a vevery large part of d dea successss worldwide. and you u can't realally make a a good casese if you d don't have e a good so. and in thihis particulular ca, we're talklking about t a terrot in anotherer country with assocociates all over t the world.. he d definitely y was cautios on who wouould get clolose and d who he wouould talk to. so, hohow do we fifind a sourcrt can get toto this inner circle? -jim h had a relatationship with a higigh-level sosource ththat had beeeen utilizedd by thehe dea for apprproximately y 20 year. his naname was samamir. in new yorork, in the e early 1,
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jim arreststed samir for narcrcotics trafaffickin. -we arreststed him, anand i kw he was preretty important. he wasas palestininian by bir, well-educated,d, well-readad, multilingual, phenomenally bright. and i knew he woululd be useful because he underststood ththe global criminal networks. as a a source, he had thehe capabilitities of followiwing throughgh. i i first met t samir in '84 or early '85.5. back in them days, we could p pull a prisisoner out to i interview them, but he n never said d anythin. and d i receiveded my lunchh in frontnt of him. i used to o buy ththe kebab sasandwiches and stufuff right bebefore i i walked in n there, soso you couldld smell the food, , you know.. i alwaways broughtht enough fof. i said, "w"would you l like so" he wouldn'n't say anytything. he just sasat there. after, likike, i don't't kno, seseveral of t these thingn, he f finally saiaid to me, "whahat do you w want from m "
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i told h him, "i"i want you u to cooperara, and we neeeed informatation on t traffickersrs." ♪ so, ththat's when n i first stsd working wiwith him. and ththen, over t the years, we jusust, you knonow, wewe worked onon a lot ofof differentnt projects s tog. -we were looooking to dedevelp a weaknessss withinin monzer's s organizati. samir's jojob was to b broker a meeting g with monzezer, but there were a n number of s s ththat had to o happen firir. if monzer's the e hub ofof the wheelel, the spokeses are closese associs thatat monzer hahad developed in hisis criminal l activitie. one of thohose spokess was tatareq al-ghahazi. tarereq al-ghazizi had a a long histotory ofof arms trafafficking inin pd with m monzer al-k-kassar. samir neneeded to pepenetrate his inner r circle by y establig a relatitionship with tareqeq al-ghazii and eventutually set u up a meeteting with m monzer al-ka.
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-at this point, i'd beenen working w with samr for a a lot of yeaears. and i said, "do you understand, if you decide to do this, that your life will change forever? you'll never be the same again." he said, "i'll do it." i said, "n"no." i made him sleleep on it.. "go. come back tomorrow. let's talk tomorrow." kassar would not take it lightly. and we're not in the business of getting anybody hurt. ♪ -so in b beirut, lebebanon, ouour confidenential sourcrce, , was s able to memeet tareq a al, develop a relatitionship over the coursee of apppproximatelyly one yea. he was a able to gaiain al-g-ghazi's trurust, and, eventntually, samamir asd the millllion-dollarar questi, whicich is, "can you g get a weapopons del with monzer al-kassasar for me" criminalals are alwaways cautis becacause the dedea has built a lalarge humann intelllligence netetwork.
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soso it was exextremely hahd to s set up a memeeting with mononzer al-kasassar. but,t, eventually, he w was successssful in b being able e to do that. but t samir came to us inin july of 2 2006 anand stated t that momonzer had r requested that an enend user cerertifice be provideded beforere he would d meet with . we knew that could potentially be a problemem. in t the arms trtrafficking g , inin order to o make a weaeas tranansaction lelegitimate,, it statarts with an end useser certificicate. an end u user certifificate is a documument producuced by a countntry or military or police force ththat statess that t the items l listed onon the certitificate are for ththeir sole u use and that t these goodsds wowould not bebe resold to a third party.. monznzer could shohow this certificatate and say,y, "i was acting in g good faithh inin conductining this traransa"
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we came e up with a a few counts thatat would be e likely canands whwho could prproduce anan end user certificatate for. our r office in n managua had a greaeat working g relatiop with the n nicaraguan n offici. so i i went downwn to nicarara in j july of 200006. our r dea officece there setep a memeeting for r me to m meet with t the general. it was an n older buililding. itit didn't eveven have elelect. wewe met in a a dark, cacandlelit roroom. a buncnch of genererals were s d around a l large tablele, and d all i coululd make out was brbrief outlinines of facs througugh the cigagar smoke. i i went over r what we wewe lookoking for, what weaeapons we wewere lookg to putut on the end d user certitificate, snipiper rifles,s, rpg-7 7 grenades l launchers, susurface-to-a-air missilel, and asked d for their r assista.
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so alolong with ththe certific, what the n nicaraguansns were ablble to do is prorovide a telelephone that someoeone could l later c, meanining monzer or one o of his associates, in ordrder to verirify the e authenticicity of t the end useser certificie that came out ofof nicaraguau. once monzezer receiveded the end user certitificate frorom t, he agrgreed to a m meeting in beirut,t, lebanon,, inin december r of 2006. the dedea had been investigagag monzer al-kassssar sincnce its inceception in the 197970s. now wewe had a chahance toto arrest hihim and convnvicm and d be able to keep hihim behind b bars. and the way that we had set this deal up was just strange enough to be believable.
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monzer agreed to a meeting with tareq and samir in beirut, lebanon in december of 2006. and the way that we had set this deal up was just s strange enonough to be believevable. -in ororder to buiuild the investigatation against monzer, we had to cacatch him rered-han. toto infiltratate a teterrorist ororganization, you go aftfter them with grereat sourceses.
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i i had just f finished woworg an investitigation in n guatem, where e i had someme prettyty high-levevel source, cacarlos and l luis. so, , the plan w was to intrtre mymy sources a as potentiaial b. we wananted to havave my two s s play roleses as farc m member. -t-the farc isis a guerrilillap that traransitioned d into a teterrorist ororganization that i is deeply r rooted inin the colomombian cocaiaine . the farcrc is in opppposition of the c colombian g governmet and d those govevernments that are s supporting g it. so witith the scenenario ththat we put t together,, the fafarc needed d these weaps toto shoot dowown amererican helicicopters. when you l look at mononzer, hehe's a finanancial guy,, and he's's looking a about dodoing it foror money, bubut there wawas a big inintt to be in o oppositionn against ththe united s state. -so samimir met with monzer and tarereq in beirurut, leban. we neededed samir toto develp sufficieient trust w with monr
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in ordrder to convince him to meet our sources. -goingng into a sisituation with any s source, it's a a very dangngerous actiy fofor them. al-kassar hahad to belieieve the soururces were legitimate bad guyuys that were lookining to do a lelegitimate " "transactio" for weaponons. -in anany first memeeting ththat takes p place between babad guy and d bad g, there's s always a t testing. it's to knknow how knonowledgee the peperson is about whatat they're d doing, whetheher it's to o find out, are theyey working for the e governmentnt, or two, dodo they realally knw what thehey're doingng, and d how can i i get one ovr on t the them?
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-once samimir had estatablishd hihis credentitials wiwith monzer in beirut,t, monzer invnvited luis and carls to his residence in marbella, spain. -the d dicey part t came, is when hehe actuallyy totook copiess of theheir passpororts, righ? ththey have toto use ththeir real i identity. i meanan, we couldldn't affordrm to come ininto spain with fraraudulent dodocuments and get t arrested.. yeah, yeah.. -monzer al-kassar wanted money. you know, it's all about business. we k knew we hadad to have m y that we e could wire transnsfer to himim toto show him m that the i infos were l legitimate e bad guys.
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-monzer stood to make $10 million to $20 million based off of the a amounts of f weapons that we were talking about. soso, we neededed 100,000 0 ins as a down n payment for the weweapons. -we hahad to navigigate getttting governrnment money and d figuring o out how we ee goining to wire e it internanaty that it dididn't look k like its transfsferred fromom the fed to a bank k to monzer r al-kas. -a-and so our r sources tate the e train downwn into marbra while wewe stay in b barcelon. -w-we knew it t would be a high-r-risk operatation. monzerer was very y good at p picking up p somethingg thatat was unususual for hihis normal p patterns and how hehe operatedd in his c criminal enenterpris. anand monzer w was extremely violent. people wound up deadad. oncece, a witnesess became parad afafter a missssile was fifid into their apapartment in n leb.
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it was very dangerous for our informants, and if something had happenened to themem, we wereren't in a a position to come in and resescue them.. -t-this kind o of operatioions agagainst evererything yoyou've ever r been taughgt as a cop, , being in u under co. you u always wanant to meett in a n neutral plalace, and d you want t to have conol ofof the situauation. and herere we are. we're gogonna have n no contrl of thehe situationon at all. we're e just hopining that everybody y can get t out of thehere safelyy and cocome home. ♪ we had t to send thehem withth recordingng equipment. we needed d evidence.. so thahat was the e risk ththat we tookok. -we were gonna show him ththat we werere legit and that we meant to do busisiness. so, eveverything h had to wok with prerecision. -they y had to havave conversass with kassar about hihis weapons and ways t they can asassist pee in k killing amemericans.
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-we say, "look it. this is s where we need to be. this i is the evididence we need to getet. i'm going to rely onon you toto get us ththere," and, hopefully, they cross that line. thisis was the b best opportrty wewe had to geget monzer al-kas. if the meeting didn't go in the right t direction... we were gogoing to losose hi. as much as you'd like to think that kassar has dropped hihis guard and d is super c comfortable, and buying into everything you're doing, he's the kind of bad guy that's never going to o do tha. -we heard d monzer asksking numerous queuestions ababout the fafarc. he was trying to test the sources.
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-if you're going to play a farc role, then you better knowow someththing about t the farc. -it is a a chess gamame. it's's a game ofof cat and m m. -you're alalways walkiking the e of, "h"he's believeving me." "b"but is he r really?" "is he goioing to contntinue to d do businessss with me? oror is he goioing to take me out t back and s shoot me?""
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-our confidentiaial sourcess were a at monzer's's house in marbebella, spainin, acququiring evididence recorded v via concealaled devs that werere carriedd by luiuis and carlrlos. -at the same time, we were e in barcelona, waititing for anany feedback that w we could geget. there e was not gogoing to be any cocommunicatioion from monzezer's housee until l they got b back. -butut it's a gagame of c cat and mououse.
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monzer al-kassar is extremely dangerous.. he's both acted as a terroristt and susupported terrorist t organizatitions throughohout the wororld. -you're alalways walkiking the e wire of, "is s he going t to continue to do bubusiness witith me? or is he g going to tatake me ouout back andnd shoot me?e" -the sources went in the house knowing that they had to collect evidencnce. and theyey had to hahave convnversations with kassar about spececific weapopons, whwhat the weaeapons wouldd be usesed for, what kinind of weapopons so, you knknow, you can build the case. -so, we wanted to put a package together that would be enticing to monzer, but also help build a case against him -- ak-47s, sniper rifles,s, rpgs, and surface-to-air missileles. and surface-to-air missiles charges
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are a minimum mandatory of 20 years. this was thehe evidencee we needed to get. and d that's notot outside the realalm of belieievabilit, fofor the farcrc needing surface-toto-air missisiles becaususe the u.s.s. had hehelicopters s down ther, eradicatining fields.. -b-but also, we neededed to have e them discscuss howw the missssils cocould be usesed toto shoot dowown americican helicopopters in coca anand kill amemericans. -mononzer knew e exactly whatat was goingng on,
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the ququantity of f the weapo, what t type of weaeapons they y, and whatat they werere going g to be useded for. -so,o, we had grgreat evidene becaususe of how h he talked about t how his bubusiness wits could lelead to amererican dea. -s-so at that t point, we had a c case againsnst hi. -butut we had to get kassar to leaeave spain.. -becausese we knew that he h had contactcts within t the spanishsh governm. you u know, theyey look at what hahappened in n the pa. he wasas able to g get out of a number of these a arrests andnd tria. you know, , is he goining to walalk away frorom this? -we had to come up with reasons onon why monzezer had to m mes outside ofof the countntry of s. so, we hadad told monzer that one of the highest members of the farc was travaveling spececificaly to meet t with monzezer. ♪ and our r story was s that ththe farc heaead
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woululd release e the moneyy if he e personallyly saw monzr and knew t that monzerer was ininvolved in n the deal.. -we tried to s set up the meeting g in romaniaia. it w was a countntry wherere the extrtradition prprs was veryry short andnd efficie, anand we'd donone a lot t of investitigations with the r romanians over the y years, and wewe were hopiping that's se monzer wouould be arrerested. -butut monzer wawas always c ca. -at thatat point, we felt ththings were e not gono the way wewe were hopiping, and he w was resistiting meetg with u us or traveling.
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-monzer dodoesn't wantnt to trl to romomania. so now e everybody's's stressed. we h had to adjujust. wewe had to hahave a seconond . planan "b" was f for him toto be arreststed in madrdd which wowould be mucuch more of a challllenge for u us. -o-our fear wawas that mononzs cocontacts werere worldwidi, and ifif someone t told him about ouour internatational ararrest warrarants, he would f find a way y out of n withthout being g seen, and hehe could getet to a plae that w would neverer extraditet. we knenew that whahat motivatd monznzer al-kassssar was mono. and we believe he had promised the arms manufacturers that thihis weapons s deal ws going toto go througugh. so that t if he wasnsn't able to put t this deal t togethe, he w would actuaually be l losing facece.
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soso monzer agagreed to gogo tod to meeeet the farcrc, who he belelieved hadd to be e convinced d by him in order t to release e the moy that wouould fund the reremaining papart of t the weaponsns transactit. -we wewere able to have e it confirmrmed that he e did get onon the fli. and d then we wewere waitingng m upon arrrrival at mamadrid airt wiwith the spspanish natitional polici. so, wewe're all wawaiting atat the airpoport. everytything was s set up. the spspanish natitional polie werere supposedd to o observe himim gettining off the e gate. we w were watchihing monzer rk ininto the bagaggage claimim . then, , all of a s sudden, over the r radio, we h heard, "we've l lost him.""
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the small business bonus. for a limited time you can get up to a $1000 prepaid card with qualifying internet. yep, $1000. so switch to business internet from the company with the largest fastest reliable network and that powers more businesses than anyone else. learn how you can get $1000 back for your business today. comcast business. powering possibilities. -so we're e all waitining at thehe airport.. we w were watchihing monzerr gettining off the e gate. then, , all of a s sudden, ovover the radadio, wewe heard, "w"we've lost t h" and d we thoughtht that he had cauaught onto u us and d that he hahad escapedd out ththe side doooor. and d then everyrybody gogot into a p panic mode,, runnining around, , nervous ab, "w"where is hehe? where isis " and d even the d dea agentss were r running aroround in the bagaggage claimim are, trying to o locate himim. johnhn and i werere going from pointnt a to poinint b, and d then, all l of a sudde, herere comes mononzer.
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he walkeked out of t the bathr. -once he a arrived in baggagege claim, the fufugitive sququad of t the spanishsh national l e put hihim under ararrest. ♪ -i'm'm here todaday to a announce ththe arrest of intnternationalal arms dear monzerer al-kassarar on c charges of f terrorismm and ararms trafficicking. yeyesterday's s arrest marard the e culminatioion of a long-g-term dea undercoverer investigagation that s spanned thehe globe and finanally broughght one e of the wororld's most prorolific armsms traffics to justicece. -it was s awesome that we ararrested kasassar. it's a grereat feelingng to knonow that now w he's in jajail based on our ininternationanal arrest w t and held i in spain. -he knew t that he hadad no conl in t the united d states. he cououldn't buy y his way o. hehe couldn't t maneuver his way y out. and ththat was hisis last str, was s to fight i it in spain. hehe had a lotot of contacts in g government.t. he was t trying to b bribe peo, supppposedly.
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he was t threateningng peopl. quite honenestly, i was not t 100% suree we wouldld be able to get himim out of spspain. -he was fighting ththe extraditition. that w was the onlnly leg ththat he had d to stand o . soso he was gogoing to takae everery option,, make everyry move thatat he cod to getet out of ththe proces. -it was a little over a year before the extradition was granted. -there's a formal procedure to turn over a person that's b being extraradited, ri? you know, , interpol s spain had d to turn ovover these docucuments you u had to . so, ththat morningng, we're to, "be e at the airirport at t this point.t." we didn't t know whwhat was goioing to happpp. we s said, "maybybe they'll l e their mindnd," you knonow. then, all l of a suddeden, we heaear the helilicopters coc. they b brought himim in byby helicopteter. [ mimimics helicopopter blade] the e helicopterer lands. he thoughtht he was bebeing mod to anonother prisoson. and hehe gets off f the copte, and d he's shackckled. and he statarts comingng ove, and he seeees us all l lined p with ourur dea jackekets. yoyou know whahat i mean?? and hehe got a litittle emotio.
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his lilips starteded quiverin. and then h he starts s sayin, "viva la s spain," or r whatev. at that t point, thehe spanih take off t their shackckles, so we shshackle himm and brbring him ononto the pla. it probabably took u us less tn 10 m minutes to o be up and d, you knknow, 'causese we wantd to getet out of ththere. -w-when we gotot on the plpl, wewe all had o our music that w we intendeded on listetening to. we werere doing ouour own thig and wawatching tv.v. he cououldn't helplp, but wawant to talklk to us. monzer's's personalility is th, he c can't be igignored. -so o he's talkiking, and, y yo, he's kind d of blamingng jim sos for r everythingng, you know. that's me. he hadn'n't seen me e in year. he wasas saying i i lied. i i did this. . i did all.l. you knknow, i'm a a terrible p , all that a and all thehe craz. i wawasn't payining attention to a any of it.. i was sisitting up f front. -i think m monzer realalized ththat his time was s up. but he nevever changeded his cos becacause he wasas still that littltle proud pepeacoc. you u know, whwhen he was s on the plalane,, he wasas the guy that wasas in controrol, despite hehe had shackckles o.
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-so at o one point, , i get u. i'veve got to gogo to the babat. he's's ranting a and raving, and d wim brown,n, being g the jokestster that he, he says, " "why don't t you tetell jim soioiles that?? he's r right here.e." anand he looksks up at me,, and i i take off m my glasse. h-h-he g got visiblyly... "youou, you!" ---- i thoughtht s going toto have a heheart atta. he said, " "hey, easy,y, monz. relax. i it's a longng fligh. just takake it easy.y. shshut up and d watch the e mo" -i-it was the e end of a l long, but, at t that time,e, we stitill knew ththat we had to successssfully prososecute m in a u.s.s. court. -of cocourse, we've stilill got to t try hi. everytything we'veve done wawas going toto play out t in . -ultimatelely, he was s chargd with mataterial supppport to a t terrorist o organizati, trtrying to acacquire susurface-to-a-air missilels anand trying t to kill cititis of the uninited stateses. -we e went to trtrial inin the fall l of 2008. and a lalarge part o of our cass us c combating h his defense
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so t that we couould show what hisis true intetent was. if his d defense wasas, hehe knew it wasn't t a legitimamate de, why y would he h have ever gonene through w with it in the firirst place?? -ultimimately, he e was found dy onon all chargrges. -mononzer was coconvicted and, eveventually, s sentencd to 30 yeyears in fedederal pri. ♪ -after the trial, i'll tell you, i was relieveded, knowining that he e got convicd onon all the c charges. you knowow why i wasas happy? becaususe it's impmportant for closurure fofor a lot ofof differentnt p. he had c created hararm all over t the place.. the klklinghoffer r daughters were s sitting thehere when he e got convicicted, i m, it w was importatant to them. -it sends a clear message ththat you canan run, but you cacan't hide.. this terrororist is fifinally gogonna be putut away for r 30 , anand he won't't be able to plan anand plot any morere murders..
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-the b biggest parart was the reliefef because e we had spepent a lolot of time,e, a lot ofof resourceses. and it w was good knknowing ththat we did d it, just gooood knowing g that wewe did it, that w we finisheded it. -this wasnsn't just, y you kn, another r drug deal.l. this was t taking a huge weaeapons trafffficker ofoff the playaying field.. this was g getting monzer al-l-kassar. it was t to stop evivil from s spreading, , i think. -everyrybody thougught we coult puput a case t together. everybybody thoughght that we couldn'n't get him.m. but wewe thought w we could, and we thohought we wowould, anand we did.. -i-i used to t tell agentst, in t this job, you're onlnly limitedd by youour imaginatation... and d your energrgy. energy a and imaginanation willll create luluck. okay?? but t you've gotot to be perers. ththat's what t it comes d dow. you've gotot to be outut ther, swingingng. anand you may y miss a a 1,000 timemes. but ththat 1,001 t time, yoyou're goingng to hit ththat, and it's g going to gogo over thehe fence. right?
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