he said, and Le Roux would be none the wiser. He prevailed on McConnell to hold $150,000 of the “borrowed” money for him, in a Hong Kong account that McConnell controlled. McConnell reluctantly agreed.

Smith also confided that he had been paying contacts in the Philippine police force to manufacture cases against Le Roux— tipping them off to his drug shipments coming into the country— then having Le Roux pay to make them go away. It was a dangerous two-sided game that allowed him to skim off the differ- ence. “I think he started taking drugs, and that's probably why he started being loose and spending the stuff,” McConnell said. “He was pissed off because he wasn't really making much money, and he was doing so much.”

For Felix Klaussen in Somalia, the confiscation of the M/V Ufuk in August 2009 was only a distant curiosity in the face of more press- ing concern: pirates. Over the previous six months, Klaussen had laid the groundwork for the tuna-fishing operation. He'd known before arriving that he would need the cooperation of pirates op- erating along the coast. And to Le Roux, collaborating with pi- rates was part and parcel of his approach. “For him it was very convenient,” Klaussen said. “Pirates, they're businessmen, you can do business with them. You can ask for their protection, and in return he gives them protection.”

Now, with the inland compound established and secured in Galkayo, it was time to go and get that cooperation. Liban, his local point man, had made arrangements for the head of a pirate syndicate to travel to the compound for a meeting in the summer of 2009. Le Roux, ever the micromanager, sent detailed notes on exactly how he expected Klaussen to conduct business:

It is good you have an opening with them, as u know (i under- stand u already discussed the matter with dave) we are not there just for fishing, u need to become self-sufficient (in terms of