The Underworld Podcast - Italy Clan Wars, Irish Gangster Politicians & Cartel Nigerian Breaking Bad: Stash House!

Episode Date: June 2, 2026

On this week's Stash House: A fugitive Dutch cocaine kingpin dodges capture off the coast of West Africa. An Irish gang boss trades gangland warfare for electoral politics. Mexican officials accused of working for the Sinaloa Cartel surrender to U.S. authorities. A violent mafia feud erupts in southern Italy. Nigerian authorities uncover an industrial-scale meth lab allegedly linked to Mexican cartel cooks. And with the World Cup approaching, Mexico’s cartels reportedly decide that protecting tourists is simply good business. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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When he goes in my tum-tum In theaters July 10th Welcome back, everyone to the best damn international organized crime podcast in the history of podcast. Maybe, maybe the only one worth a damn. I'm one of your host, Danny Gold. I am joined by Sean Williams, who cannot wait to update you all with the mundane details of his life. But he must be patient because we need to do an introduction because there's no cold open. We are two journalists who have reported on this sort of stuff all over the earth.

And now we do this audio visual program for you, our dear listeners, with a new episode every single week. It's really insane how we both pull this off. We both have other jobs, but Sean Williams, you're a fantastic man and a hard worker. Oh my God. That's not like the usual intro. Yeah, I mean, behind me is what looks like an art installation, but it's not. It's just a nice blinded window in a beautiful little house on a village on the English coast, so I'm on family holiday. So there's nothing to complain about. You might be out of hear that my speech is completely ruined, though, because I hate Iberia, never take an Iberia flight.

It was awful. It's made me sick forever. But at the moment, I'm enjoying, like, boating on the lake and tea and cakes. Yeah. I've got nothing to complain about, man. I know that's not really the podcast stick, but everything's good. Great stuff. No cold to open this week, like I said, we are bringing you guys.

the Stash House episode, which is a cute little term we use when we don't do one big story for the show, but instead just bring you guys some fun updates from big stories in the news when it comes to the world of international organized crime. Anyway, as always, you can support us at patreon.com slash an enorralpodcast or on Spotify or on iTunes or YouTube for bonus episodes ad free. Usually early drops too like the night before. Email loss at the Unworld Podcast at gmail.com for tips or advertising inquiries or compliments. And what else?

You know, t-shirts, merch at underworldpod.com. Why not buy one or five for your family for this coming summer? Starting off, we have a wild one in Ireland. All of you who listen to the show or just watch the news. Know who Daniel Kinnahan is, right? And his father, Christy Kinnahan. Irish Kingpin's first father, then son, who became the top guys importing drugs into Ireland,

and then rose up to the ranks to become the biggest cartel in Europe, bringing drugs into the continent, connections all over the world from South America to Iran. Daniel, the son, was just busted in Dubai where many thought he was invincible. We talked about it, I think, on the last stash house and a couple of episodes.

But before they went global, the Kenahan family needed to fight and win a war in Ireland. And their opponents in the war, actually it kind of happened after they went global, but it was still a war in the streets of Ireland. And their opponents in that war were the Hutch crime family

led by Jerry the Monk Hutch, who is now, instead of being a gang leader, he's looking to join the greatest criminal group in history. That's right, Sean. You know who I'm talking about, those crooks in Congress, although not Congress, but a central Dublin seat in Ireland's parliament. And much like my co-Shon Williams, after he gets a few pints in him, he's got some pretty spicy views. But first, who is Jerry the Monk Hutch? Glad you asked, because a story about an old guy running for election, just isn't that interesting without his background. Yeah, I might add, they are views that are finally shared in this part of the world. So that's refreshing.

Which part of the world are we talking about here, Ireland or South America or both? Oh, my views. No, no, no, no, just rural England. Yeah, they get that really well around here. Jerry Hutch is born in 1963, raised in the slums of Dublin, and he starts his life of crime at the young age 10, running with a gang of other juvenile delinquents called the Bugsy Malone gang. Now, I Google this, and Bugsy Malone is a gangster musical comedy from the 1970s, which is a weird thing to name yourself after if you're trying to be like a tough

group of young kids. But who am I to judge? All these guys in the gang, eventually they all end up dead or in jail. They're doing scams, burglaries, robberies, not much with the drug dealing, more like, you know, old school bank robbers that we've talked about in Ireland. That was a big thing. In no time, though, Jerry himself graduates to being a bank robber and a damn good one at that, although he's in and out of jail. Wait, I didn't clock this to begin with, but did you not know what Bugsie Malone was? No, I did not. Oh, man, that's like, oh, who did the guy who shot Reagan want to do it for? Who's that?

Jody Foster? Yeah, Jody Foster. It's like early Jody Foster, I think. And she's like a musical. It's incredible. You can't judge me I'm not seeing Bugsy Malone

where you haven't seen like Carlito's Way what else Bronx Tale You know like this Yeah Like come on Yeah

You know They goes both ways here And musical comedy Gangster films Has never really been my My thing Although Starring teenagers

I did see guys and dolls On Broadway When I was like Like 16 And it's pretty good man Good movie I mean good good Good play

I don't know if they I'm sure they've done A movie of it But guys and dolls Probably better as a movie, right? If you're going to see a Broadway play, highly recommended. Okay, where were you? In 1985, Jerry the Monk Hutch gets out of jail.

He goes on the straight and narrow. Kind of, or so he says. He comes out at, you know, changed man. He starts living in aesthetic lifestyle, whatever that means. He isn't flashy, and he's dubbed the monk. He also looks very cool. You know, he's got like the full beard and the long, flowing gray hair. Like, kind of looks like a monk, I guess.

But handsome men, very, very most interesting. man in the world look right there. He founds a boxing club. He starts getting in and out of property, stays away from the gangland stuff. All the rumors are saying he heads up an organization called the Hutch family gang, and let's be real here. He does. The rumors are

true. By all accounts, though, he does stay away from drugs. He starts running a car service that sometimes takes celebs around Ireland, including Mike Tyson, and he runs his boxing gym. But yeah, he's always rumored to be involved in all these big time robberies, bank heist, things like that.

So him and the Kinnahans, they mostly stay out of each other's way, but the monk has a knucklehead nephew gangster who gets involved with the Kinnahans and allegedly becomes an informant after a drug shipment gone bad. This is around like 2013, 2014, 2015. There's rumors of monies on his head and his uncle, the monk, the guy running for election, is said to have made a deal with the Kahan's to buy his life back. But in 2015, the nephew was gunned down in Spain on Costa del Sol, you know, where all the gangsters hide out. And a war kicks off between the Hutch crime family led by the now aspiring politician versus the Kinnahan cartel. And you can kind of see where things are going to go when you're called a crime family versus something called a cartel. Cartel is generally going to have more resources. But bodies drop.

You've got cousins, brothers, uncles, soldiers, just keep popping up. Damn near every month in 2016. And the Hutch crime family does put up a good fight. But, you know, local heroes can't really compete with it. the top international drug cartel. They do almost get Daniel Kinnahan at a major boxing press conference. There's a thing with Balaclava's and getting interrupted. It's really wild.

A lot of it's on video. But the Kenahans, they're just too much. I mean, they're ordering international hitmen to Ireland and giving them hit list. Kind of fizzles out by 2019-ish, but the Kenahans are, you know, basically the victors. I think that 2016, was it 2016 that this kind of like Balaclava? AK's attack. That was the basis of one of our shows, right, earlier in the year

or maybe last year? I think it, no, I think that was the basis of our show in 23rd. Our first episode on the on the Hodge, Kenahan. That would have been back. Like third episode, I think. Fourth episode. People did, some people in Ireland got really mad about that one. They didn't like the sources we used. But, uh,

I don't know. Did we do something on the Balaklava stuff too? I feel like we did. Maybe it was in, um, I feel like it was in a more recent show because I think we did one. Oh, I tell you what it was. I was. I think it was the one with Ed Caesar that I did. Maybe at the start of

this year or the end of last about his reporting on it. But yeah, it's like fascinating stuff. Well, his reporting was on the Kinnanin' cartel, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, this brings us to Jerry Hutch's late career transition, which

you know, those are tough to do. So, props to him for getting back out there and trying to make something work, I think in his 60s or late 50s. He actually ran in 2024 and almost won a seat in the general election. And now the Guardian has tagged along with him as well as he canvases in Dublin. Big on anti-immigration, quote the Guardian, Jimmy McDade 77 said he would vote for Hutch to clean up drug dealing. Asked about Hutch's criminal record. McDade said that was in the past.

Everyone is entitled to a second chance. Look at the government. They're the gangster saying one thing and doing another. which, you know, it is funny. I mean, who has taken on drug dealers when it comes down to it in Ireland more than Jerry the Hutch, Jerry the Monk Hodge?

I mean, I guess he's got nephews and cousins and whatever doing it, but he did fight a war against the biggest drug cartel not only in Ireland, but in Europe. So I don't know if he wants to use that in like his campaign platform being like, I actually did.

You know, when you're talking about fighting drug dealing, I did, but, you know, it's a point he probably won't make. Yeah, yeah. It is looking like he probably won't win, not polling so great. Sounds like Sean he could use a little bit of that luck of the Irish. Back over to you, Sean Williams for sports and weather. Yeah, Irish against immigration.

That's a definition of a brass neck. Anyway, I'll be doing something slightly different today. My first story for today's stash house is from my adopted new home of Buenos Aires, where the cops have been going on on an absolute terror. Operation Tournamenta Negra or Operation Black Storm, involved over 1,500 officers raiding 16 of Buenos Aires' poorest neighborhoods with the objective of, quote, pacification and order. Dude, I got to say, Operation Black Storm, pretty good name,

but Operation Apparacion Tournamenta Negra is a sick name for an op. Like, that's pretty good. It's one of those rare ones that actually sounds really good in both languages. The raids, anyway, a lot of, of which have actually happened just a short walk from where I've been living, although due to extremely annoying bureaucracy, I don't know where I'm going to live after this trip. They have resulted in 27 arrests, four alleged criminal bunkers shut down, and 25 illegal front companies closed, which might seem like relative small fright in the scheme of things, but it's interesting

for a couple of reasons, right? Firstly, Buenos Aires doesn't make the news radars of many folks in Europe or North America, but it is a massive city. Actually, it's the second big of the biggest in South America, 16 million people, and the kind of biggest economic hub of the southern cone, which, yeah, it's the region that is at the end of South America. It attracts a huge number of migrants all over from Peru, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, even Venezuelans. Shout out to the guy from Caracas who sold me tacos the other night, who absolutely refused to walk down his insane accent, even though I couldn't understand any of it, so I genuinely appreciate that.

I'm kind of shocked by that. I didn't realize it was the second biggest city in Latin America, maybe, you know, wealthily uneducated, but would have expected Brazil to have, like, the top five. Yeah, I think it, I'm going to get this wrong, but I think it goes Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, Rio, and then Lima, maybe? I don't know, but yeah, it's really big. So the city might not be that consequential in the U.S., right?

But what happens here? It really matters for South America. And owing to the recent economic shop therapy, to signor presidenti milay and the illiterate leaders who went before him inflation is through the roof uh and homelessness and drug use are soaring too and you can actually see it like in the last three four months since i've lived there there has been a palpable increase of people sleeping rough it's pretty crazy actually well i thought inflation had been going down and like look i'm no libertarian but i feel like malay was handed the dumbest economy in south america for that's just

Decades and decades of the stupidest economic policies in Latin America, which is saying a lot. That is saying a lot, and it's also true. The inflation is like, it's pretty much stable to what it was before. So nothing has really changed yet and prices are going through. It's like really, I don't understand how people live there. In fact, the more I learned about Buenos Aires, I don't understand how it functions. It doesn't make anything. It has docs, but they're not huge.

I don't get why people. live there or what it does. If anyone can tell me, actually, that would help. They're the Italians of South America, dude. Do you think they want to, you know, go into the office? Yeah. And it's, they got three months off now. It's summer. That is true.

And they, uh, they probably eat enough ice cream to prop up a small country, which is pretty cool. Anyway, if, beef, beef and red wine. The two stables are well. Yeah, but none of it's in the city, right? None of it's anywhere near it.

I don't get what Buenos Aires does. That's all I'm saying. And it's really rich. Anyway, if potatio is hooked on anything besides gila and eating like asado, which is just amazing, it's usually on something called Paco, which has been around for a very long time. And if you're thinking of giving it a spin, here is an NPR article from back in 2009. Paco is a smokable drug made from bits of cocaine residue, industrial solvents and kerosene or rat poison. Those who smoke it are popularly known as Muelitos Bios or The Living Dead due to their emaciated appearance and short lifespan. So speaking of giving it a spin, Sean is actually going to be smoking it live on the Patreon for our higher tier subscriber.

So definitely sign up for that. That's true. And I think this is a thing in Columbia too. I'm not sure if it's the exact same thing. But I remember Toby Mews telling me about it when I was visiting him in Columbia more than a decade ago. God, like 15, 15 years ago. And I think it was called basura, but it could be something different. Bassoor is obviously garbage.

But it was something about sort of the leftover parts of cocaine. I don't remember anything about, you know, kerosene or rat poison. But it was the thing that like all the really, really messed up and poor people smoked. Yeah, I was going to say like that description of the people could be any British community. But I think in, even when I was doing that story, I know, I know, but I've shut the window. It's fine. I think when I was doing that story in Nepal a few years ago, they smoked like the local version of this, which was basically opium base mixed in with various disgusting chemicals

from like factory processes. So I think every country has its version of this, but it's really widespread, actually, in Buenos Aires and across Argentina. And that 2009 piece says that in some shanties, which are known in Buenos Aires as Bias Miseria, area or villas, miseria, that's villa. Yeah, get that local accent. Up to half of men age between 13 and 30 are hooked on Pacal. So I'm going to do a show down the line about the most infamous Bijamizalia in the country soon,

Bija Mukica or Bija 31, which is only a couple of miles from where I've been living. It's crazy. Like, did you see the place where Peter Till has just moved into? Like, you could throw a baseball into that Bija from his backyard. So, like, the richest and the poorest. neighborhoods are like, that's all of Latin America, I thought. Isn't that all of Latin America? Well, yeah, I think it's like crazier here.

And the third world too. I mean, India's got those famous photos, right? Of like, you know. Oh, like the walls. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's just developing. Are we allowed to say third world anymore? I think, I don't, yeah, it's all the same fucking thing, isn't it?

Yeah. Developing, let's say developing. I don't know. Anyway, yeah, I'll do a show on that. It's like a really interesting place. I guess is Argentina, Argentina is not third world, right? Well, it kind of is both. It's really confusing.

It's like giant Parisian buildings right next to sort of favelas. I can't work it out. I cannot work Argentina out and I need to read more, which I probably won't do because I'm reading about Chinese gangsters half the time. Anyway, it's very dangerous. You need a local guide or you're going to get jacked like 100% in this place. And Paco is everywhere. So there is a real problem.

and increasingly more gangs from Brazil are sinking their teeth into Buenos Aires. Last year, a government official uncovered a network of almost 60 members of the First Capital Command or PCC in Portuguese, which came out of the 1990s prison system in Sao Paulo, and which Danny especially has done a lot about. The story of Latin American drugs over the past year is largely how the PCC especially has taken over a lot of the cocaine trade. And if you listen to my recent bonus with Peru-based reporter, Simeon Tegel, you'll know how they're cutting into the Amazon rainforests with drug production

too. So there is a real drug problem in BA and real gangsters are present, but there is also more to Operation Tormento Negra and it's wound into Argentina's difficult past. B.A. Mayor Jorge Macri, he's the cousin of conservative former president, Maurizio Macri, and he's grown closer to President Miele, a libertarian, like we said, but his political platform It's kind of veering off to the right in recent months. Like he's sort of like falling off the horse a bit. It's a bit strange, actually.

Macri has said that the quote, historic operation would protect so-called personas de bien, or good people, from bad people. And that kind of language, like, is straight out of the military dictatorship, which is between 1976 and 1983, when all kinds of bad things happened, especially to minorities, including indigenous groups, Latin American immigrants, and Jews.

and it's been ramping up in recent months too. Mille has even minted his own version of ice to turf out migrants from other part of the continent this year. He focused on the Buenos Aires suburb of Onsi, which is massively Peruvian, like amazing food down there. And while Miele himself usually sticks to either libertarian economic, like wonkish stuff or bonkers PR videos, his team, especially his sister, who if you want to know more about this stuff, she is really interesting. She is mad. Anyway, this is getting a bit too political, but I think what's happening there is really, really interesting. You've got this combination of a genuine drug addiction problem to a near endemic drug itself. You've got big gangs moving in.

The government not really looking in that direction at all. It's using crime instead as a spring ball for its agenda, which I think is like really similar to what I looked into in New Zealand, actually. People kind of look in the wrong way. And anyway, I find this really fascinating, and you should too, and that's why I organized crime. is really interesting, and you should listen to this podcast every week and listen to the Patreon and give us money. Is that right? Well done. Well done, bud. Thank you. Next up, we have a more classic of the genre. There is a clan war in Italy. I think someone on the IG actually alerted me to this. I had no idea about it. You know, it's funny at this point, like southern Italian crime,

whether it's the Camorra, the Sicilian mafia, even the Njongeta, though obviously, I mean, they're huge. I kind of feel like it almost goes in one year out the other when we do hear about it or that it doesn't hit the international news that much. There's just been so many wars, you know, throughout the decades, so many major takedowns. It's honestly kind of shocking to me if there's anyone left to have clan wars. But, Sean, there are. And interestingly, this one is not in the typical locations. I guess, I mean, southerly, it's all typical. But it's not in Naples.

It's not in Sicily. It's not in Calabria. It's in Bari, which is in the region of a point. Pudia, Puli. The Italian say a Pula, right? Everyone else is Pulaia. Apulia and then we just say Pulaia. Which is right on the water, the northern edge of the bottom of the boot.

The Adriatic Sea, though, not the Mediterranean. Somewhere I would much rather be right now, just eating tiny fried frisk, drinking a peroni, smoking cigarettes on the beach, you know? Yeah. Which is just how I imagine they actually spend most of their days there when they're not shooting each other. It is one of the nicest places I've ever been. I did two weeks in Pullier and it was the best holiday place in the world. I mean, when the locals aren't committing murder, but it is unreal.

I would recommend anyone to go there. Yeah. But, you know, if you're looking for a story with the ingredients of a classic Italian mafia war, old blood feuds, ambitious young gangsters, nightclub shootings, revenge killings, in a city trying to reinvent itself as sort of like, you know, this hot vacation spot while organized crime threatens to drag it backwards. This, like I said, is a real classic of the genre. So these gangs are referred to as the Bari-Kamora. Is it Bari or Bari? Badi, I think. But I think they're using the term Camara, like we use the word mafia, so

don't think of it as Naples, you know, like a catch-all for gangs more so organized gangs. I don't think they're affiliated with the Napolitan Camara, who are the famous ones. Also, the clan thing is kind of funny to me because it sounds way more exotic than it's mostly just teenagers and windbreakers with terrible haircuts shooting each other, which actually, when it comes down to it, that's actually what a lot of organized crime and gang stuff is. But I bet these southern Italian ones do have great style, though. And you know what? They probably pull off the haircuts, if I'm being honest.

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Now, what's interesting, though, is while these Bari clans are considered Camorra, like I said, Apulia is actually home to what's typically dubbed the fourth mafia, though maybe the fifth mafia now after the Siddha, Sakada, Corona, Unita. And these clans are supposed to be independent of them. Investigators say that Bari's crime has gamorized, meaning it's more fluid and violence like the Naples' Camorra rather than following the SCU's model, which is like the Sicilian model. So it's been weeks of clashes there since April between these rival clans, the rising. God, this is going to be brutal. Strisid Giulio, Sir Sujulio, want to give it a shop?

I really wondered when I saw that one. Stris de Giulio and the historically powerful Capriotti clan. The Sistadulio clan often described as the most powerful and bloodthirsty in the area emerged in the late 1990s as an offshoot of the Capriotti. So you know there's going to be bad blood there. They focus on like the sort of branding of brutality and recruiting the really young people and teenagers

and all that sort of stuff. And the feud between them, it dates back to 1997 and has, according to prosecutors, never truly been resolved. Over the decades, it's claimed dozens of lives, which, you know, Italian mafia war isn't that much. The Capriotti clan has historically controlled parts of the old city, while the, God damn it, Sturio clan, led by the brothers, Domenico, and Sigismondo holds sway over the other neighborhoods. Well done. Yeah. Also, it sounds like a Phil Collins song, but, um, Yeah, congratulations on that.

That's genuinely one of your bad ones. I mean, dude, it's brutal. The current cycle of violence traces back to a brawl in a barry nightclub, which in March in 2024, one of the copriates gets a gun pulled on him during an argument, then a bunch of other copriottis go to the Strista Giulio neighborhood, and they shoot it up and they wound a few young guys. On April 1st of that year, which is Easter Monday, one high-ranking Capriotti is killed when two hit men on a motorcycle pull alongside his car,

and shoot him four times in the head, which is, you know, Southern Italians doing a hit on Easter Monday seems like a violation of many, many rules. But, well, I'm sure they found the appropriate saint and made amends to him afterwards. Well, they were really, one of the wars between the Stidda and the Cozanoastro, one of the biggest, like, mass killings was, I think also, either on Christmas Day or Easter Day, I don't know, something like this. Yeah. Brutal though. According to investigators, according to, yeah, you know, I don't know. I'm sure there's a, that you go, you do a couple of hair marries and, and, uh, nice thing about compilism, man. Yeah, get forgiven. Um, according to investigators, uh, this whole high profile

hit. It was ordered from prison by leaders of the Strister Julio clan, uh, shocks the city, signals a big power shift. And there ends up being surveillance footage of the killers who are high ranking Strisal Julio members. And apparently the guy killed had tried to act as a mediator between the clans, but his son have been up in the nightclub sort of starting trouble. Then we have the usual shootouts in broad daylight, innocents getting killed, lots of eventual nightclub violence, writes an Italian paper, quote, what makes this conflict especially dangerous is that it's being run by the old school bosses who traditionally impose discipline. Barri's chief prosecutor has argued that many of the historic leaders are either dead or in prison,

leaving younger gangsters to fight over territory. These younger members often lack the strain to previous generations and are more prone to impulse of violence. I mean, you just cannot do better in my day, schick, if you're like an Italian mafioso, can you? I mean, there was like whole wars in the 80s when they were gunning down, bombing civilians all through the decade. Like, nah, come on, man. It's fun to pretend they had better impulse control, but they did, did not.

Impulse control, Italy. No, those two things don't go to kill. Now, it's serious enough that the interior ministry of Italy is heading down there to check things out or did head down there recently. I think, Sean, we should also head over there and check things out. And by that, I mean, just eat, you know, tiny fried fish. I agree. I actually stopped over in Madrid for one day on this trip, and we had, like, a bucket of tiny fried fish, and it was the best thing ever. And we had the little Piemianteros padron.

Oh, my God. You know, you find I go to the Greek neighbors in New York and they do it, but they don't do the tiny ones. They do like sardines. You know, I'm talking about like the anchovies, like the ones that are like shoesting fries. That's really where it's at. I don't know if they do it where I'm going next month, which I'll probably announce on another show. But yeah, they surely will. One interesting note, by all accounts, these neighborhoods where it's happening, the shootouts have been like really transformed in the recent decades, genderified.

And they've become the hot tourist destinations with rest of the rest of. restaurants and beautiful streets, just a fabulous old city. But now authentic Southern Italy culture is being restored, you could say. It's an uplifting story, I think, this one, ultimately. Yeah, my second one this week features a recent start of the show. That is Joss or Joss Lydikas. I think it's Joss, right? Joss Lydikas, Bola Joss or Chubby Joss.

The Dutch Cocaine Kingpin, who hid out in the Sierra Leone and capital city of Freetown for years, getting its biggest political leaders on board and helping cement West Africa as one of the world's premier drug transshipment points. A couple of weeks ago, a Dutch court convicted the fugitive to eight years in prison for smuggling drugs from Sierra Leone to the Belgian port city of Antwerp. NL Times reports that, quote, According to the court, Joss Leidikas played a key role in the October 2023 trafficking operation that bought 11 tons of cocaine from Sierra Leone into the port of Antwerp, concealed in a shipment of Palm Colonel Mill. The cocaine was estimated to be worth 550 million euros on the street. Yeah, I didn't realize how big a deal he was until after the episode, he got a lot of comments from the Dutch about him. He seems to have like a urban legend sort

of heroic status among some people there. Yeah, I think because of the looks of him as well, it's kind of like big chubby guy with like gelled, spiky hair. It's like the most Dutch guy in history, which also plays us to it. Chubby Joss is still ensconced in Freetown, of course. He's married to the president's daughter, and as we go into the main show about him, he's got the government's security and poor chiefs in his pocket. A few days before this conviction in absentia,

Lydica's brother Harry, 51, was arrested for the third time in Istanbul. There's always one brother that doesn't quite have the jersey, where both brothers had lived together before Joss has moved to Africa. continues annual times, quote, a total of 20 of justice accomplices were also convicted for the drug smuggling for Sierra Leone. The Dendamonda Criminal Court handed down sentences of 18 months, up to 10 years in prison,

the fines ranging from 4,000 to 80,000 euros, and several of those convicted received additional bans from accessing the port. I mean, yeah, if you're bringing in almost a billion dollars a product, you should probably get banned from hanging around the port. Wise move there from the Dutch. A few days ago, the Dutch newspaper to Telegraph revealed that Dutch special forces have twice come close to capturing Lydikas at sea. Quote, the operation was abandoned twice at the last moment this month and would have involved Dutch Marines and the nation's police special interventions unit seizing Lydikas in international waters off Sierra Leone as he traveled by boat to neighboring Liberia. Dude, I love a good sea capture. You ever see like those Coast Guard videos? I think it's of them boarding narcos.

subs and stuff like that, it just balls. Those guys are awesome. Yeah, well, those guys. These guys, less so. According to the report, the Netherlands government that initially rejected a plan to Nabilidikas in the second half of 2025, but it was approved this February in 20206, of course. Quote, in preparation, the Netherlands acquired a foreign registered private vessel to serve as an offshore base, as the long-term presence of a Dutch naval ship was considered too risky. Both the Marines and the DSI, those cops, trained day and night for the operation. One attempt, then, is allegedly Nix when Lydikas doesn't leave Sierra Leone as expected. There's no news on the second, but another Dutch outlet claims that momentum for a raid dies after

it fails. So they've gone to extraordinary lengths to put this in place, and then they just sort of give up when he doesn't show, which is not great. With Lidikers in such a powerful position in Sierra Leone, and because Sierra Leone doesn't extradite to the Netherlands, this is a situation. that could go on for some time. So watch this space. And if you haven't already, head back to our show from March 10

on the fugitive Dutch kingpin who took over an entire African nation. Yeah, actually, go listen to the last four episodes because our numbers have dropped on Spotify. And we like to get those markers, you know, the 50,000, 100,000, 200,000, we get them. Most of your favorite podcasts, they don't. You can go check this thing. But we've been slack in the last three or four episodes. So if you guys could go back and just keep playing those on Spotify over and over and over, it would really help our self-esteem.

Yeah, maybe because my face continually blows because I'm sitting in a small, like, bedroom in a rural village. Stop it. Stop it. You look great. Of course, we head to Mexico where wild times are happening because, of course, it really seems like things are ramping up there in a crazy way in terms of taking the fight to the cartels. I mean, the last few years, we've got Sinola falling apart, both factions, Mencho, all those extraditions. Look, it could be, what's it called? Recentcy bias?

What's the term? Recency bias, yeah. Is that a word? Recentcy is not a word, is it? It is now. I think you can thank football for that one. Yeah, but it really does seem like things are, am I wrong? You know, I don't know whether it's Trump administration pressure,

although I think some of those happened before. Shinebound just doing something. Who knows? All I know is that it. makes for a lot of podcast episode content for us. Yeah, we win as you do. But anyway, the pressure, it must be doing something because we aren't just getting your cartel higher up surrendering to Mexican forces or cutting deals with the Americans.

Now we've got a story of straight up high-level Mexico political officials surrendering, like at the border. Two former senior officials from the Mexican state of Sinaloa surrender to U.S. authorities to face allegations that they help the Sinaloa cartel while serving in government. One was a former security chief of the state and the other, the former finance finance minister. Quote, prosecutors say Marita Sanchez, who I think is the security one, took at least $100,000 a month from Los Chapitos, the sons of Joaquin El Chapoosman, tipping off cartelow raids and targeting rivals while overseeing Sinola State Police from 2023 to 2024. In 2023 alone, Marita Sanchez warned Los Chapitos about at least 10 upcoming raids on labs and safehouses where they store drugs, weapons and money. allowing them to remove personnel and evidence of criminal activity according to indictment

unsealed last month, which, you know, I feel like Sinaloa political officials helping the cartels is kind of like a, well, obviously, you know, like a Tuesday. Yeah. Yeah. But things really get interesting is that these two guys are members of current president, Claudia Scheimbaum's ruling Morena party. One of them, the security minister quite literally walked into Arizona and surrendered himself. I think the other did so in New York.

or maybe they transfer them to York. I'm not 100% sure on that. I saw different things. They had been charged last month when that big indictment of 10 government officials with ties to Sinaloa came down. You know, it made quite the splash

as it was very specific, not just taking bribes, but aiding the massive importation of drugs into the U.S. and also, of course, and went after the sitting governor of Sinaloa. Shinebaum isn't happy,

quoting the Guardian. On Monday, Shinebaum maintained her defined stance on national sovereignty and denied any links between her government and organized crime. We're not going to

cover for anyone under any circumstances she said. But why is the U.S. so interested in Mexico? They should address their own problems there first. They need to focus on their own issues. First and foremost, drug consumption and the flow of weapons. Weapons, you know, she's kind of, she's got us there. But drug consumption, like, kind of seems like that's exactly what they are doing. You can't have a fentanyl problem if there ain't no one bringing in fentanyl, you know?

The CSIS has a good paper on it, and it kind of walks through all the pressure the Trump administration's been putting on Mexico with regards to cracking down since Shinebound took office. And there is a lot. Here's them on the latest round. Quote, yet none of these actions address the White House essential and growing concern. The resilience of the criminal political nexus. Since the outset of the Trump administration, the White House had been pushing for Mexico

to dismantle what it's described as an intolerable alliance between transnational criminal organizations and the political structures that shelter them. By April 2026, the White House had crossed the rubric. on. A U.S. agency was now formally seeking to apprehend a sitting governor on Mexican soil. Yeah, it's a liberal alliance. Isn't that one of the reviews we got one time? That's pretty good. I don't think someone was creative enough to say that, but that's a pretty solid insult. Like, you got to give that credit right there. Yeah, yeah. And I know what you guys are thinking. Haven't there been plenty of Mexican politicians that have already gone down for links to the

cartels and drug trafficking? And the answer to that question is obviously, of course, for decades. But this seems different. For one, it's a sitting governor, and you've got two high-level state officials surrendering by turning themselves into the U.S., which I mean, they're going to talk. If I was in that political party and I had those connections,

I would be looking at Moscow apartments right now. Here's more from CSIS. The Trump administration has moved beyond targeting drug flows, the primary focus of prior U.S. administrations, and is now targeting the political infrastructure that enables them. Disrupting fentanyl precursor supply chains or arresting cartel commanders, however consequential does not address what the U.S. government argues is a structural reality that a number of elected officials in Mexico allegedly protect, fund, and depend on the

organizations producing those flows. That is the argument embedded in the Southern District of New York's indictment, and it represents a fundamental expansion of the scope of U.S. security demands on Mexico, which sounds serious. And maybe like the U.S. should have done this a long time ago. Sean, I mean, you hate America. What's the argument that charging corrupt politicians to facilitate drugs being imported into your country and cartels getting more powerful is actually bad? That sounds fine.

Can we bring your guys over for other crimes? They go both ways. But yeah, it's fine. Yeah, I mean, I think you were talking about like a shipping gun to Mexico. So, yeah, 100%, they should be doing that. But is it, I think it's the U.S. citizens by them and the Mexicans ship them into. Either way, those organizations should 100% be tracked down. Yeah.

I would be okay. I mean, I would be okay with Mexicans wanting to prosecute U.S. citizens who are involved in that from the U.S. That probably would be controversial, though. Yeah, anyway. Cool. All right. Well, you know, I guess we agree. Yeah, let's move on to those sports that we mentioned up the top of the show.

It's World Cup season. Everyone in this house is talking about it. I'm trying to get back on track with Kerry about football. So I am going to finish off my roundup today with the good, the bad and the ugly of the beautiful game. And I'm not just talking about a hundred dollar train rides, am I right? Okay, so I'm nice. I'm going to start with the good, which is that according to Owen Grillo's crash-out media, despite the recent upticking cartel violence that has included,

what your post-Menscho, deaf, CJNG, mini-war, torch buildings across Raynosa by the Gulf Cartel and even more mass graves discovered in Halisco, Mexico's top narcos have allegedly told their operatives not to mess with the waves of tourists coming to cheer their boys on at the World Cup. Called it, you know, they called it, I think, on the last. There's just too much money to be made from selling packets

to all the young Sean Williams on holiday. It makes no sense. to interrupt the biggest sales extraabaganza of the decade for them. But I think this is an appropriate time to tell you some big news. So I'm actually, I'm going

to the World Cup finals, like the final game in the medal. Oh yeah. You're going to the final. Going to the World Cup final. Apparently it's a big deal in like a Europe and Latin America to go to this game. It's like marginally

big, yeah. But but I'm kidding. I'm going to use that joke over and over just to make people mad because it's funny. But now, I'm going to the game. How, who, what, how have you got that? I'll talk you about it, not on the, not of the show, but I am going to, like, the tickets, it's a, I mean, look, you know, the world is, is mysterious. Things could go wrong. Who knows?

But as of right now, I have a ticket to the World Cup final. Who, I, uh, you feel like, yeah. Yeah, I wanted to see your reaction. I wanted everyone to see your reaction at what I told you that. That's, uh, I, uh, I have. Okay. All right, I'll compose myself because that's... Yeah, I just wanted to see. How was that fucking happened?

Right, okay. We'll talk about it when the episode's over, but I'm going to tell me after we record this. It's happening. I just, I hope it's not two European, like, France thing. Who wants to see that? I want to see at least Brazil or Argentina in there. You know, something spicy.

No, that's not going to happen. If it is England, though, it would be, you know, how, dude, it would be so... I'll FaceTime you from it if England's in the game. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. However, owing to certain logistical issues, I probably won't be able to speak to you for

like weeks anyway, which we will talk about in another show. Yeah. Yeah. I'm really, I'm really happy for you. I'll give you, I'll give you some stuff to brush up on, on World Cup stuff. Yeah. I'm so happy for you. I think my, my overriding sentiment is, it is happiness.

That's what I'm feeling right now. You don't sound genuine right now. I'm really, I'm really, you're tone and your heart. It's not matching your words. It's great. I think anyone watching this, Danny, could tell how overjoyed I am for you that you're going to see the biggest. I'm glad I saved it for the show and didn't.

When I found out I wanted to WhatsApp you, but I was like, other people should witness your reaction. When you found out, it wasn't even acted, when you found out you were going to, what's that. Okay, all right. I'm going to send you like a million messages after. Anyway. Okay. Right, where were we?

Yeah. World Cup, you're going, you're going to the World Cup. Should we end? Not the World Cup, I'm going to the World Cup finals. The final game. The final, the final game. That's great. That is, that's great.

Anyway, according to two Mexican security officials, right, we're doing a podcast, interviewed by Crash Out, the cartel, you're going to the World Cup final. The cartels have seen that peace is better and for they've walked that. I've literally, I can't even, I'm not even doing it now. The peace is better for their bottom line than war. Quote, they don't want to bring more trouble on themselves, so they'll Hisco, police commander. They're intelligent in how they operate.

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Fans don't just listen to music. They feel seen by it like it belongs to them. So when your brand shows up on Spotify, that's who you're talking to. And you're right next to artists like me, Lizzo. So, are you ready to talk to fans? Spotify Advertising. You're among fans.

Welcome to the I Can't Sleep Podcast with Benjamin Boster. If you're tired of sleepless nights, you'll love the I Can't Sleep podcast. I help quiet your mind by reading random articles from across the web to bore you to sleep with my soothing voice. Each episode provides enough interesting content to hold your attention, and then your mind lets you drift off. Find it wherever you. you get your podcasts. That's I Can't Sleep with Benjamin Boster. Halisco State Capitol Guadalajara will be under the sharpest spotlight, having been

the scene of CJNG leader El Mencho's death this February, followed by a rash of revenge attacks, I think Owen called it the Menchassal, that even encroached on Hellisco's tourist sites, but cops spawned the biggest threat to visitors isn't from cocaine kingpins, but petty criminals. Once CJNG tells Crash Out strict orders that have been handed down not to hurt foreigners, while cops, right Owen, quote, are instead watching out of trouble from regular criminals who are not part of these cartels but could try to steal from tourists. They will be countering this threat with a huge police presence. Yeah, I think you could damn well bet, too, that the cartels will be doling out street justice as well.

I mean, they've done this before when regular petty criminals mess with terrorists in their zones. it's pretty well to take that risk thinking about it if you're like a, you know, a Mexican criminal not affiliated with the cartels like that. Or if you are, you know, just not only dealing with Mexican cops, but like C, JNG guys who aren't going to be happy, like you got to be real, real desperate to go against both those, you know, both those groups. Yeah, I want to also say a huge thanks to the person in the comments who mentioned a certain cartel video that I was at a low ebb and I decided to search

it online and I found it and I wish I never had. So that was a great night of my life. Anyway, yeah, I guess, did the police lie in Mexico? Yes. Did narco sometimes lie? Maybe. I don't know. I don't want to pass judgment on anyone.

But yeah, I think this definitely falls into your side of the argument about this, Danny, where the cartels are just going to be too practical to lay waste to what, I guess, might be the biggest wave of recreational cocaine users in global history. Where are the Scots playing? Because that is going to get in. saying. Okay, you want the bad. Here's one. The owners of the shirt sponsor of Scottish Premier League Team Motherwell, a firm called DX Home Improvements, were jailed last month for running a $16 million cocaine rate. I know you know all about Motherwell already, Danny, what with your tickets in

hand. But for the handful of listeners who don't, this is not some tiny little club in the Highlands. They're one of Scotland's biggest sides, suburb of Glasgow, finished fourth in the league. this year and they qualify for Europe. I mean, that sounds massive. What are they worth like 20,000 pounds? It's all about 250 jerseys a year. Scotland's fourth biggest team. Here we go.

Okay. I mean, you got your World Cup final ticket and you're joining in now, are you? Right. That's nice. Anyway, yeah, this is a big team. And DX Home Improvements, the company that's a front for a cocaine smuggling operation, it's been the club's shirt sponsor since August 2024, pitch side advertising, promo deals with players, the works.

Back then, Motherwell said it was, quote, fantastic to be working with another local business who were truly invested in the club's success and share our community values. The company's directors, David Stephen and Sean Brown, added that, quote, this collaboration aligns perfectly with our values of community, excellence and growth.

We are proud of our history and experience which will use to support the team's future success. We call that in the game, foreshadowing. It turns out the history and experience Stephen and Brown are describing is, since March 2020, putting together a narco business using drumroll the EncroTrat encrypted messaging service. Yes, it is another Encro chat hack story, the gift that keeps giving to this podcast specifically. Stephen in this used is the handle Narrow Ninja, while Brown goes by a simple bull and Castle Nut. Yeah, for those that don't know,

encro chat was an encrypted chat app, I think specifically set up and sold to criminals, right? It got hacked. Pretty much. It wasn't the one that the Fed set up themselves, right? It was a different one. It was the OJ, yeah. There was another Canadian one as well, I think, but this is the big one. Anyway, this thing got hacked by law enforcement.

There have been massive cases made from the chat logs for years now all across the world. And there's a huge backlog. Like, there's going to be way, way more coming out of the encro chat hack. for like years to come. So these two guys, the leaders of the company, they exchange almost 12,000 messages running the total of 125 kilos of gear by 2025, so that's five years, around Glasgow, which is not exactly a city lacking drug diggers.

I mean, I guess if you type Glasgow into the search of our shows, you're going to find quite a lot. A less than brilliant move is to send your fellow drug smuggler detailed spreadsheets of all the deals you're making, which is exactly what Stephen sends Brown, really enough purchase is worth six figures at a time. Here is the good old BBC for more, quote. The pair remain managing directors of their DX home improvement business,

but later messages revealed the duo was struggling to pay their suppliers, but continued to live a lavish lifestyle, often boasting on social media about luxury goods, expensive cars and first-class flights. One picture showed the duo with matching Lamborghinis. As well as the partnership with Motherwell FC, the company also sponsored a family race night at Hamilton Park. They were caught by police shortly after Stephen had traveled from Dubai to Scotland.

And if you are playing organized crime bingo, you would have already got a full house by this point. There's so much stuff in here. Lots of scoreboy errors besides. Although I guess everyone was out of work during COVID, right? And this was when both men were age 25. So we got, don't Instagram your crimes. Definitely don't sign a sponsorship deal with a major football club, then send details spreadsheets about your crimes.

Doesn't quite have the same ring, but I guess it's a new twist. And moving on to Football's Ugly this week, that honour goes to ADI predictstreet, or I guess rather to FIFA, for its recent deal with ADI predict street, which is an obscure blockchain prediction market company backed by the UAE royal family. Not quite as cut and dry gangster stuff as the previous one, but there is a lot of fishy stuff going on here, and shout out to friend of the pod, Philippe O'Clair, and the team at Jossimar magazine, who as usual, I've done a dig in on this one where few are willing to dig. If you like read about the darker side of Joggo Bonito, definitely subscribe to them.

And Philippe, if you're listening, yeah, I am going to go to that test match with you in a couple of weeks. It can be great. Like a desperate cat at a fly tip, let's pour our way through this pile of fish bits. Jesus, I don't even know what to say anymore when you drop stuff like that. Loss for words. I will be throwing stuff that bad into every episode going forward as well. FIFA announces its partnering with ADI predict street on April 2nd, but the company is just hot air at this point.

It says it's going to launch on April 9, but its Twitter account launched the previous month, posts for the first time only on March 26th, which is a week before the announcement, and it has all of 135 followers. That is surprising enough when giants like Kalshi and Pollymarket don't have prediction market deals with FIFA, especially in a World Cup year. So what is going on? I'm going to go ahead and say that FIFA is corrupt, like maybe the most corrupt organization ever. That's probably what's going on.

Yes. They literally let Qatar bribe them for the World Cup. If FIFA was just a front for cocaine dealing, like our Scottish friends, they'd be less corrupt than they actually are. Yeah, that's correct. I mean, FIFA is incredible. And like everything in the world of FIFA, the FIFA Cinematic Universe, what is going on here is a big old pile of cash. So ADI is only licensed in Gibraltar, which is a British colony slash territory Los Sienaulhas, Malvinus, on the southern tip of Spain. That has made its thing in the British

Tax Haven Cinematic Universe online gambling and the like. Only, that license is only granted on April 1st, which is a day before FIFA's announcement. And according to Gibraltarian Justice Minister Nigel Fetum, yes, that post exists, quote, it was granted with record timing. Even a week before the company's proposed launch on April 16, it's doing nothing. Zero. More fishy business arrives when Jossama reports that predict streets money laundering report officer Colin Piri had accepted a two-year ban from Gibraltar's financial watchdog in 2018. I mean, this is like being banned by the digital ombudsman in Myanmar. It's like crazy. And I guess a two-year you could do a piri-piri. I'm trying to find a piri-peery-pun, but it's not working. Anyway,

What's more, Josimar writes that Pridic Street's CEO, Demetrius Saracchus, is a former aide to Eva Kali, who is a big player in the so-called Qatar Gate scandal, where the tiny Gulf nation was bribing mountains of lawmakers and other figures in Europe. So here's where the money leads, right? Pridic Street is part of a web of holding companies that all lead back to the UAE and the International Holding Company, or IHC, of the Abidavirioil family. Its blockchain system is run by the ADI Foundation, which is in turn founded by Sirius International Holding, which again is under IHC. IHC is chaired by Sheikh Tanun bin Zayyad Al-Nayan, a brother of Abu Dhabi's president. Another of those brothers owns Manchester City, New York City FC, and others for a separate web of ferns. Want to go a little further?

Kind of. I mean, you kind of lost me already, but I mean, I can't say. stop you at this point. Yeah, you can probably press that skip button a couple of times if you don't want to hear more. Anyway, last year, after the inauguration of US President Donald Trump, Tanoon made a secret $500 million deal for 49% of the Trump's family crypto, World Liberty Financial. A few months later, Trump greenlights a deal for the UAE to purchase hundreds and thousands of US-made AI chips. And look, this cuff goes on and on and on. The money goes everywhere. But let's just stick our necks out, like we've said, and suggest that maybe not all of the weird cash swilling around FIFA is going to go on grassroots football,

like its chief Gianni Infantino says it is, which is the most bold-faced bullshit in the world. He just doesn't care anymore that guy. Since all of this, predicts Street has dipped its toes in the market. The market is supposed to be in. But several crypto experts says it resembles exactly the kind of rugpole scam that is basically now half of the crypto industry today. So, a fishy prediction market with almost no operations run by characters implicated in massive fraud, backed by a government pouring millions into FIFA and the US leaders crypto scheme.

I mean, it's not as sexy as a pair of Glasgow drug dealers, but it's worth a lot more digging. And it just shows what a complete shit show FIFA is. Follow the money. This World Cup's going to be so much fun, especially for you. Yeah, we'll have a great time. Gonna have a great time. That's really, that's really not me for six, that one. Anyway, carry on.

Speaking of things that Sean loves, we're going to talk about meth and Nigeria. That's right. A major meth lab is busted in the region next to Lagos, Nigeria in a deeply forested area, involving transnational syndicates with three Mexicans busted there. It kind of sounds like a sick Netflix spinoff of Breaking Bad. But we're talking industrial scale quantities of meth. Yeah, that would be the greatest Nollywood spin-off of all time. I would watch that immediately.

Quote, according to the statement, the operation resulted in the seizure of 2.4 tons of chemical materials, including methamphetamine, worth 480 billion Naira, which is $363 million in two vehicles. It's the Ano-Chile Innocent Organization. That's the head of the cartel, Ano-Chile Innocent, which incredible name for a cartel boss that has just been busted. From the photos in Nigeria's Premium Times newspaper, it doesn't look too sophisticated. but I guess it really had to be. Yeah, I mean, I guess this is a country where every scam artist, gangster, and rogue preacher's first name is like, blessed, perfect, or heavenly. So I guess he's fitting him pretty well.

Solid, solid. The police official headed up the bus said, quote, we are fully aware of the shifting tactics of these cartels, including the disturbing trend of hiring South American cartel specialists to set up production factories in our rural communities. Let it be known that no matter how deep into the bush you hide, no matter how secure your gate of the state is, The NDLEA, Nigerian police will hunt you down, disrupt your networks and seize your ill-god and wealth, he said, which is badass quote.

Also, surprisingly, not the first time Mexican cartel meth cooks have been busted in Nigeria in a clandestine lab, happened in 2016 as well. Now, obviously, Africa has a drug market, the entire continent, and in the elite circles, or maybe even just folks getting some money in places like Cape Town, Nairobi, Dakar, Lagos. I'm sure there's plenty of Coke and other more, you know, wealthy margin drugs. And there's obviously drugs all over, cheaper drugs like crack. I think Capdicons made some inroads, you know, all sorts of stuff. Yeah. And these transnational groups traffic drugs there, though I think they do mostly use it as a stepping stone to Europe and other places. But yeah, so Africa, specifically West Africa, though the East as well has mostly served as a transshipment point for drugs to Europe.

And I guess the assumption here that I would make is them just saying, let's cut out the Atlantic leg, let's set up a shop producing in Africa itself, and then ship. But yeah, you know, save on the transportation cost and bribe cost. You know, manufacturing, though, is a big step. A transit route can be packed up and abandoned, but a production operation requires infrastructure, chemicals, logistics networks, local partners, and protection, and it requires serious investment. Criminal organizations don't just build facilities like that unless they're expensive. expected to be around for a while. It is, you know, globalization, Sean, offshoring. They're taking away Mexican jobs.

Yeah, I don't want to indulge in too many cheap stereotypes today, although I definitely have. But a country where one politician once said that she had not stolen the equivalent of $100,000, but in fact, a snake had eaten it. You can probably pay off the right people if you're manufacturing drugs in Nigeria. I'm just saying. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I assume there is a local market as well.

though I would assume the local market is not as big as as 363 million dollars worth across the entire continent probably and that the margins the profit margins aren't there that you know it makes more sense to ship it to Europe where you can charge a much more inflated price but you know interesting to watch how that sort of stuff develops and whether we'll see clandestine labs being set up more across Africa I'm sure there are more for drug processing facilities as well as well um think that about does it for this episode of Stash House and the podcast. Patreon.com, Central World Podcasts, Spotify, iTunes, you know, support us, support the show, keep it, keep it going. Yeah, Danny's really struggling. He can only get World Cup final tickets. See you guys.

Oh, you think I paid for them? Come on, buddy. You know who I am. We'll see you guys next episode. Thank you.