up with the plan, in desperation, after Le Roux ordered him to kill Andrew Hahn. Felix Klaussen, on the other hand, claimed that Smith had concocted the plan. Le Roux himself also took credit for it, in USA v. Hunter, Document 580, April 5, 2018, at 397–98.

111 five kilograms of cocaine: Interview with anonymous former call center man- ager in the Philippines.

112 stories of Somali pirates: See, for example, Jeffrey Gettleman, “Somali Pirates Tell Their Side,” The New York Times, September 30, 2008; and Arthur Brice, “Somali Piracy Threatens Trade, Boosts Terrorists,” CNN.com, October 1, 2008.

112 scaring off the foreign fishing boats: In this, Le Roux was right. “During the 1990s, IUU [illegal, unregistered, and unregulated] fishing became an initial justification for pirate attacks on foreign fishing vessels,” one environmental organization report later concluded. “Piracy became such a risk that distant water fleets (DWF) targeting tuna and tuna-like species dramatically altered their fishing habits and effectively withdrew from Somali waters during the mid-2000s.” From Sarah M. Glaser et al., Securing Somali Fisheries (One Earth Future Foundation, 2015), xiv, 21.

112 schools of tuna: Indian Ocean Tuna Commission, “Examination of the Ef- fects of Piracy on Fleet Operations and Subsequent Catch and Effort Trends,” November 12, 2013.

113 Klaussen found himself in Nairobi: Most of the details regarding the opera- tion in Somalia derive from interviews with Felix Klaussen. I have confirmed them with dozens of documents and photographs from the project that I per- sonally reviewed, as well as from an independent U.N. investigation into the project (U.N. Monitoring Group Report at 267–72), an interview with the lead investigator on that report, Aurélien Llorca, testimony from USA v. Hunter (Documents 576, 580, 581, April 4, 5, 9, 2018), and interviews with two other individuals who witnessed the project in action on the ground.

113 after a U.S.-backed invasion by Ethiopia: For a full account see Jeremy Sca- hill, “Blowback in Somalia,” The Nation, September 7, 2011.

113 NGOs limited their presence: interviews with Aurélien Llorca and a Somali from Galmudug, Sahal Abdulle.

114 Klaussen tracked the president down: In addition to Klaussen’s account, Sahal Abdulle told me he attended meetings between Klaussen and the president.

114 the agreement stated: I obtained a copy of this agreement, with Southern Ace listed at an address in Hong Kong, and signed by one of Le Roux’s “dum- mies,” Edgar van Tonder.

114 Liban Mohamed Ahmed: U.N. Monitoring Group Report, at 267. When I contacted him, he would say only, “The investigators from the U.N., they got it all wrong,” referring to a 2011 U.N. monitoring group report on the inci- dents involving Le Roux and Klaussen. “I need some recognition that I was innocent, that I was not part of this.”

114 white with fringes of sky blue: Per photographs of the compound.