#CinemaJourney
#BuildingBad
#BuildingBad
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:01An audacious robbery in the Antwerp Diamonds Center in Belgium leaves authorities stunned.
00:07Somebody had done the impossible.
00:09Robbed one of the most sophisticated vaults ever created.
00:13A raid in a cartel warehouse in Guadalajara, Mexico, uncovers a shocking cache of automatic weapons.
00:20A closer look revealed that these assault rifles were built right there in a tiny warehouse from scratch.
00:25In southern Italy, mafia bosses built a series of underground hideouts to evade police.
00:32In villages like Chittanova or Platte, there was an entire maze of underground tunnels and bunkers.
00:40The world's most inventive criminal minds.
00:45Lawless ingenuity, born out of greed.
00:48From back alleys to the high seas.
00:51Secret structures, custom-built vehicles, high-tech innovation.
00:59What happens when engineering genies ends up on the wrong side of the law and starts building bad?
01:07On the morning of February 17, 2003, a concierge of the Antwerp Diamonds Center in Belgium
01:27descended two floors leading to an underground vault, widely considered one of the world's
01:33most secure spaces.
01:35What he discovered left him speechless.
01:40All the lights were on, and the massive vault door was wide open.
01:45109 of 189 safe deposit boxes had been broken into,
01:49and the floor was littered with millions of dollars worth of loose jewels, gold, and cash.
01:55Somebody had done the impossible.
01:57Robbed one of the most sophisticated vaults ever created.
02:00The Diamond Center is a 14-story building located within Antwerp's Diamond District,
02:08a roughly one kilometer square area through which 80% of the world's diamonds pass.
02:14It's only three city blocks, but contains 1,700 registered diamond companies providing income
02:22to over 10,000 people.
02:24Antwerp's history with the diamond business dates back to the 15th century,
02:29when gems from India began arriving in great quantity.
02:33The city developed into a renowned trading hub and gained a reputation
02:37as the prominent center in Europe for cutting and polishing diamonds.
02:41In 2003, $3 billion worth of jewel sales were conducted in the district,
02:47which would explain why it was one of the most heavily policed and surveilled areas on the planet.
02:5363 video cameras were watching every move, and there was around-the-clock police presence.
02:59So how did someone manage to break into the vault below the Diamond Center?
03:03Three years before the robbery, a charming Italian thief named Leonardo Notar Bartolo
03:10rented an office and safe deposit box in the Diamond Center and began masquerading as a jewel dealer.
03:18Notar Bartolo was a career criminal with ties to organized crime in Italy.
03:23He would later claim that he began stealing at the age of six,
03:27and whether or not that was true, by his 30s,
03:29there is no question he had become exceptionally good at pulling off these daring heists.
03:35He surrounded himself with this small gang of mostly Italian specialists,
03:39and they called themselves the School of Turin.
03:43Once he had established himself as a fixture in Antwerp's diamond community,
03:48Notar Bartolo set about robbing it blind.
03:51He would come to town a couple times a month,
03:54set up meetings with other dealers, and make minor purchases.
03:57But the real purpose of these meetings was to gain entry to their vault rooms,
04:03offices, and workshops to gather information.
04:06He'd then return in the middle of the night and help himself to their entire stash of jewels.
04:12Notar Bartolo's grift was providing him with a steady income,
04:16and he seemed to be going unnoticed by the authorities and fellow dealers.
04:20But an alleged meeting in a coffee shop proved that somebody had been paying attention.
04:25Notar Bartolo would later claim that he was approached by an acquaintance in the diamond business
04:31who asked him this very direct question.
04:34Is it possible to rob the vault below the diamond center?
04:39His immediate instinct was to say no.
04:42It was one of the most secure vaults in the world, after all.
04:45But the dealer offered him 100,000 euros just to do some surveillance,
04:49and it was too good an offer to refuse.
04:53Notar Bartolo went to work taking pictures in and around the diamond center vault,
04:59using a camera capable of storing 100 high-resolution images,
05:04disguised as a pen tucked into his breast pocket.
05:08Now, this might seem unimpressive by today's standards,
05:12but at that time, this was a James Bond-level, high-tech spy gadget.
05:17Using the pictures as evidence, Notar Bartolo told the man that robbing the vault
05:23simply wasn't possible, given the layers of security.
05:27The vault floor was three tons of steel a foot thick,
05:31designed to endure 12 hours of constant drilling.
05:35On top of that, any vibrations from a power tool would trip an embedded alarm.
05:40To open it, four numbers between 0 and 99 had to be dialed into a combination wheel,
05:47and the digits were only visible through this lens mounted on top,
05:50so that no one could peek over the guard's shoulder and see what numbers they were putting in.
05:54Now, it might seem like that's a pretty simple safe to crack.
05:58It's just four numbers, but 100 possible first numbers times 100 possible second numbers,
06:03that's 10,000 possible combinations.
06:05And by the time you have four numbers, we're talking about 100 million possible combinations,
06:11so you're never just going to guess this one.
06:14Two metal plates, one mounted on the door and one on the wall beside it,
06:18created a magnetic field that would set off an alarm when broken.
06:23It could only be disabled by entering a digital code into an adjacent keypad.
06:27Last but not least, a custom-made foot-long key that was virtually impossible to copy
06:33was needed to unlock the door.
06:35And of course, there was a video camera trained in the antechamber outside the vault recording 24-7.
06:44As if breaching the vault wasn't difficult enough,
06:48several other security measures awaited any potential intruders once inside.
06:53The interior was equipped with light, heat, motion detectors, and another video camera.
07:00Opening the safe deposit boxes presented another significant challenge.
07:05They were constructed with heavy-duty copper and steel
07:07and required a combination and key to open.
07:11There were over 17,000 possible combinations for each box.
07:18Noto Bertolo didn't hear from the dealer for five months after declaring the heist impossible.
07:23He went about his business thinking the notion of robbing the Diamond Center was dead and buried.
07:29He was wrong.
07:31One night, Noto Bertolo gets summoned to this abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of Antwerp,
07:36where he is shocked and quite impressed to find that the dealer and their team
07:41have built a replica of the Diamond Center's vault and the antechamber
07:45based only on the surveillance pictures.
07:48It was startlingly accurate, with no detail left out.
07:53Apparently, they had every intention of trying to pull this robbery off.
07:58And if they were going to do it, every detail had to be executed properly.
08:02Team members were introduced using nicknames straight out of a movie.
08:06There was the genius, who was the alarm expert.
08:10The monster, the expert lock picker and giant of a man.
08:15And the king of keys, a locksmith who was one of the best key replicators around.
08:22Noto Bertolo would later add his jumpy childhood friend, Stevi, to the crew
08:27against the wishes of the others.
08:30In the following months, the team memorized the layout of the vault
08:35and practiced in the dark, choreographing the movements and actions
08:39that would be required on the day of the robbery.
08:43Some time before the heist, Noto Bertolo accessed the vault
08:47in his usual guise as a Diamond dealer.
08:50The staff were familiar with him, so his visit didn't arouse any suspicion.
08:55But he was there with a singular purpose,
08:58to solve the first major problem facing the crew, opening the vault door.
09:04Noto Bertolo set up a tiny camera in a recessed light on the ceiling
09:08above the combination wheel on the vault door.
09:11That camera had a small antenna that sent the images to a receiver,
09:16which was hidden inside a fire extinguisher in a storage room next to the vault.
09:22When the guard came to open the vault the next morning,
09:26the camera above him captured the four-number combination in all its glory.
09:31It also recorded images of the footlong key for the king of keys
09:35to use as a reference point to build a replica.
09:39So far, so good.
09:40But there were still major hurdles standing in the way
09:44that needed to be addressed by Noto Bertolo and his team.
09:48One of them involved circumventing the heat and motion sensor inside the vault.
09:54The day before the robbery, Noto Bertolo was buzzed into the vault
09:58as part of his usual routine.
10:01Again, the guards were not paying attention to the video feed,
10:04but the police would later review the footage,
10:06and it showed him removing a small aerosol can from his pocket
10:10and spraying it on the heat and motion sensor.
10:14It was hairspray.
10:16In an ingenious low-tech hack,
10:18they somehow figured out that the oily residue
10:20would prevent the sensor from detecting body heat.
10:23And since the alarm would only go off
10:25if both heat and motion were detected,
10:28it rendered the entire system useless.
10:30Gaining access to the Diamond Center was surprisingly simple.
10:37The crew broke into a deserted office building
10:39with a garden area that backed onto the rear of the Diamond Center.
10:43Using a ladder tucked away in the days prior,
10:46they climbed onto a second-story balcony,
10:49bypassed an alarm, and slipped in through a window.
10:53In complete darkness,
10:55the men then made their way down two flights
10:57to the vault's anti-champer.
11:00They knew the combination to the door,
11:02and they had built a replica of the foot-long key,
11:04but there was still the matter
11:06of the magnetic sensors guarding the door frame.
11:09The genius pulled a piece of pre-cut aluminum
11:12out of his duffel bag
11:13and stuck double-sided tape to one side.
11:16He then attached it to the two magnetic plates
11:19on the door and wall
11:20and loosened their bolts.
11:21The plates were loose,
11:24but the slab of aluminum was holding them together,
11:27allowing the genius to swing them
11:28out of the way of the door frame
11:30and stick them to the wall,
11:32maintaining the magnetic field between them.
11:34The police would later be amazed
11:36at this display of resourcefulness.
11:39With the sensors successfully bypassed,
11:41it was time for the king of keys
11:43to spring into action.
11:45Now, he had come prepared
11:46with his replica key that he'd built,
11:48but in another shocking security lapse,
11:51he wouldn't even need it
11:52because the original was just hanging there
11:55in a storage room nearby.
11:57And just like that, they were in.
11:59But before entering,
12:01they had to turn off the lights
12:02so that they didn't trip
12:03the light detection sensor in the vault.
12:06Then, in total darkness,
12:08the monster took 11 steps
12:10into the center of the room,
12:11just like he practiced
12:12at the replica at the warehouse.
12:15Using a pre-cut copper wire,
12:16the monster began the delicate task
12:19of rerouting the light sensor's
12:20electrical circuit in the pitch black.
12:23One false move,
12:24and he could cut a wire,
12:26tripping the alarm.
12:28All the practice paid off,
12:29and the monster successfully
12:31disabled the sensor.
12:33The crew rushed into the vault,
12:35leaving the lights off
12:36just to be cautious.
12:37But they still faced the challenge
12:39of breaking into the heavily fortified
12:42safe deposit boxes.
12:43The king of keys pulled out
12:46a custom-built hand-powered drill
12:48and inserted a long, narrow piece
12:51of metal into it.
12:52He then plunged it into the lock
12:54of one of the safe deposit boxes
12:56and began furiously cranking.
12:58After a few minutes,
13:00the lock gave way
13:01and the box broke open.
13:03They had done it.
13:05For the next several hours,
13:07the crew worked in the dark,
13:08emptying the contents
13:09of the safe deposit boxes,
13:10only occasionally turning
13:12on their flashlights
13:13for just a few seconds at a time.
13:15The loot was transported out
13:17through the rundown building
13:19that they had entered from,
13:20Notar Bartolo waiting
13:21in the getaway car.
13:23Neither he nor Speedy
13:25had participated
13:25in the actual robbery.
13:27Speedy had acted as a lookout.
13:30Reconvening back
13:31at Notar Bartolo's apartment
13:32after what they thought
13:33was the heist of the century,
13:35the crew had no time
13:36to celebrate.
13:37They had to hightail it
13:38out of Antwerp
13:39before the robbery
13:40was discovered
13:41when the Diamond Center
13:42opened for business
13:43the following morning.
13:46Notar Bartolo and Speedy
13:47fled town
13:48with a garbage bag
13:50full of incriminating evidence
13:51in the backseat
13:52of the rental car.
13:53Their plan was to burn
13:55the contents of that bag
13:56somewhere in France
13:57on their way back to Turin,
13:58but they made a fatal mistake.
14:02Speedy was a nervous type
14:04and he didn't want to risk
14:05driving to France
14:06with the evidence in his car,
14:07so he insisted
14:08on dumping it
14:09as soon as possible.
14:11They scattered the bag's contents
14:12in a forest
14:13off of a dirt road
14:14not that far from Antwerp.
14:18What they didn't know
14:19was that the land
14:20was privately owned
14:22by a man
14:22who liked to spend time there
14:24enjoying nature.
14:26He found the trash,
14:27which included envelopes
14:28labeled Diamond Center Antwerp.
14:31Then he notified the police
14:33who came running.
14:34The debris contained
14:37so much incriminating evidence
14:38that it didn't take
14:39the authorities very long
14:41to round up most of the crew.
14:43Notar Bartolo's name
14:45appeared on an invoice
14:46for a video surveillance system.
14:48A business card
14:49with the name
14:50Elio Donorio,
14:51a.k.a.
14:52The Genius,
14:53was also discovered.
14:54The monster was identified
14:56through security footage
14:58from a grocery store
14:59in Antwerp
15:00that connected him
15:01to salami packaging.
15:03After that,
15:05the dominoes fell
15:05pretty quickly.
15:07Leonardo Norbertola
15:08was found guilty
15:09of masterminding
15:10the Antwerp Diamond Center heist
15:12and sentenced to 10 years
15:14in a Belgian prison.
15:16Police estimated
15:17the value of the robbery
15:18to be around $100 million.
15:21No money or diamonds
15:23were ever recovered.
15:24On October 7, 2014,
15:36a warehouse
15:37in Guadalajara, Mexico
15:38was raided by the authorities
15:40under the cover of night.
15:43Four suspects
15:44from a violent drug cartel
15:46were arrested
15:46and the cops
15:48seized a large cache
15:50of automatic weapons.
15:51But it wasn't
15:52the arsenal of AR-15s
15:54that stunned police.
15:56They also found
15:57a massive industrial mill.
15:59That's a machine
15:59that's used to create
16:00custom-made items
16:02out of metal.
16:03Authorities also found
16:04hundreds of aluminum
16:05gun parts
16:06all around the mill.
16:09A closer look revealed
16:11that these assault rifles
16:12were built right there
16:13in the tiny warehouse
16:14from scratch.
16:15The inventiveness
16:16and skill required
16:17are pretty impressive,
16:18not to mention
16:19the technical
16:19and industrial knowledge.
16:21This was no
16:21fly-by-night operation.
16:24The raid was the first
16:27evidence of a drug cartel
16:28making their own firearms.
16:32But it was just
16:33a small window
16:34into what police
16:35would soon discover
16:36was an enormous network
16:38of illegal gun manufacturing
16:39that was confounding lawmakers
16:41and contributing
16:42to the body count
16:44between rival gangs.
16:45four men arrested
16:48at the warehouse
16:48were all members
16:49of the JNGC
16:51or the Jalisco
16:52New Generation Cartel
16:54which first emerged
16:56around 2010
16:57which not coincidentally
16:59is exactly when
17:00the state of Jalisco
17:01experienced this massive spike
17:03in violent crime.
17:05The JNGC's brand
17:08of violence
17:08wasn't limited
17:09to inter-gang warfare.
17:11They routinely terrorized
17:13police and government
17:14institutions
17:14with coordinated attacks.
17:16On one occasion
17:17they downed
17:18a military helicopter
17:20with a rocket-propelled grenade
17:22killing six soldiers.
17:25The main goal
17:26of any cartel
17:26is control
17:27of the entire
17:28illegal drug trade
17:29by any means necessary
17:30including intimidation
17:32and terror.
17:33But as the Jalisco crew grew
17:35so did their influence
17:36over other criminal activity
17:37like oil theft,
17:39extortion
17:39and human trafficking.
17:40Think of it as
17:41diversifying your portfolio.
17:44But the main determinant
17:45of which drug cartel
17:46ends up on top
17:47is firepower.
17:48It's always been firepower.
17:52It all comes down
17:54to who can get their hands
17:55on the most guns
17:56most efficiently.
17:58The weapon of choice
17:59for most cartels
18:00is the AR-15.
18:02That's an automatic
18:02machine-fed rifle
18:04that's relatively lightweight
18:05and can take a beading.
18:07The majority of those weapons
18:08are manufactured
18:09in the United States.
18:11One of the main challenges
18:13to accessing AR-15s
18:15was the increasingly strict
18:16firearm laws
18:18and regulations
18:18in both the U.S.
18:20and Mexico.
18:22Some U.S. states
18:23have more permissive policies
18:24around gun ownership
18:25than others.
18:27Dozens of cartels
18:28began to exploit this
18:29by setting up
18:30secret networks
18:31of gunrunners.
18:34It worked just like
18:35a terrorist cell.
18:37When the cartels
18:37needed guns,
18:38they activated
18:39a phone tree
18:39and they contacted
18:41accomplices living
18:42in lax states
18:43like Kentucky
18:43or Wisconsin.
18:45They'd pay these contacts,
18:46known as straws,
18:47to buy weapons
18:48from stores and dealers
18:50across the country.
18:51The straws would then
18:54hand them off
18:54to brokers and couriers
18:56who would ship themselves
18:57to the Mexican border
18:58and if all went well,
18:59across that border
19:01without detection
19:02into the hands
19:03of the drug lords.
19:06The main problem
19:08with the pipeline method
19:09of smuggling
19:09off-the-shelf guns
19:11is that they can be tracked
19:12and traced back
19:13to their place of origin.
19:14All firearms
19:17officially registered
19:18at the U.S. Bureau
19:19of Alcohol,
19:20Tobacco,
19:20and Firearms
19:21have a serial number
19:22embedded right
19:23into the machinery,
19:24revealing where
19:25it was manufactured
19:26and sold.
19:27So a seized weapon
19:29can tell police a lot
19:30about how it got
19:30into the hands
19:31of the bad guys.
19:33Acquiring guns
19:34was no longer
19:35the problem,
19:36but finding weapons
19:37without any
19:38incriminating identification
19:39still presented
19:41a challenge.
19:43To solve the issue,
19:45the cartels
19:45once again
19:46looked for weak links
19:47in the U.S. system
19:48of regulation.
19:49But this time,
19:50the solution hinged
19:51on a seeming technicality.
19:53What officially counted
19:55as a firearm?
19:57According to the ATF,
19:59a gun isn't really
20:00a firearm
20:01while it's still
20:01in a state of manufacture.
20:02That is,
20:03if it has less
20:04than 80%
20:05of all the working
20:06parts it needs.
20:08A gun legally
20:10becomes a firearm
20:11only when the gun's
20:12main cavity,
20:13called a lower receiver,
20:15is properly machined
20:16to house
20:17a working firing mechanism.
20:19This distinction
20:20provided the cartels
20:22all they needed to know
20:23to adapt their existing
20:24gun pipeline
20:25from the U.S.
20:27Instead of smuggling
20:28completed,
20:29functioning weapons,
20:30several cartels
20:31started to import
20:32the parts separately
20:33and assemble them
20:35in secret warehouses
20:36around Mexico.
20:38The result was called
20:40a ghost gun,
20:41a powerful replica
20:42of a rifle or gun
20:44that was put together
20:45from separate parts,
20:46none of which
20:47had a proper firing mechanism
20:49when purchased.
20:50So they were not
20:51actually firearms
20:52in the eyes of the law
20:53and had no serial number,
20:56totally untraceable.
20:57For a brief period,
21:01these ghost guns
21:02became the go-to weapon
21:03of choice.
21:04But while it was fairly easy
21:06to assemble them
21:06one at a time,
21:07building hundreds of rifles
21:08on a mass-produced schedule
21:10quickly and cheaply,
21:11and without raising suspicion,
21:13that was going to take
21:13a lot more work.
21:15The cartels needed to invent
21:17a more efficient way
21:18to mass-produce
21:20untraceable weapons.
21:21So while they were building
21:22ghost guns from parts
21:24smuggled into Mexico,
21:25they began to wonder
21:26if they could produce
21:27the guns themselves
21:28from scratch.
21:30To fashion an intricate gun part
21:32like the lower receiver,
21:34they would need
21:35computer technology
21:36and industrial-sized
21:37engineering tools.
21:40The authorities
21:41would later reveal
21:42that the industrial mill
21:43discovered in the warehouse
21:44in Guadalajara
21:45was a CNC,
21:47or Computer Numerical Control.
21:51A CNC mill
21:53is an industrial tool
21:54that rotates
21:55on one or more axes
21:56while extracting
21:58intricate objects
21:59from large pieces
22:00of base metal,
22:01such as aluminum.
22:03It's an extremely precise
22:05and exacting process.
22:07In this case,
22:08the aluminum block
22:09is mounted to a table,
22:11and the table rotates
22:13on different planes
22:14so the tool can work
22:16at many angles.
22:17Some CNC mills
22:19have five or more axes
22:20of motion
22:21for complex shapes,
22:23like the parts of an AR-15.
22:24and also to avoid
22:26having to move
22:27the workpiece
22:28to a separate machine.
22:30The CNC is entirely
22:31programmable, too.
22:33It reads digital files,
22:34which can be entered by hand.
22:35That means the object
22:36you're creating
22:37can be tweaked
22:37and altered as you go
22:38until you get
22:39the perfect model.
22:40Then it's just a matter
22:41of rinse and repeat.
22:43The CNC mill
22:44didn't come cheap.
22:45One unit costs
22:46about $25,000 US dollars,
22:48but that is chump change
22:50to a drug cartel.
22:51And besides,
22:52it didn't take long
22:52for the JNGC
22:53to get a nice return
22:54on their investment.
22:55By the time
22:56the warehouse
22:57was fully operational,
22:59they had the capacity
23:00to produce 200
23:01untraceable AR-15s
23:03every month.
23:06Most of the weapons
23:07were then slipped out
23:08of the warehouse
23:09and into the hands
23:10of JNGC members
23:12as quickly as possible.
23:14Unfortunately for the cartel,
23:16the Mexican authorities
23:17eventually put an end
23:18to that after just two months.
23:22While the authorities
23:23continue to look for ways
23:25to crack down even further,
23:27like putting serial numbers
23:28on all gun parts,
23:30gangs like the JGNC
23:32will likely continue
23:34churning out homemade,
23:35untraceable automatic weapons.
23:38In March of 2024,
23:41almost a decade
23:41after the raid,
23:43Mexico launched
23:44a $10 billion lawsuit
23:45against six American
23:47gun manufacturers
23:48for negligent regulation practices.
23:51Win or lose,
23:52it's unlikely to do anything
23:54to stem the tide
23:55of cartel violence.
23:56April 2006.
24:13In a small West Bengal village
24:15near Kolkata, India,
24:17police acting on a tip
24:19raided a small processing plant.
24:21What they found
24:23confirmed the shocking rumors
24:24from the community,
24:26hundreds of human bones
24:27and skulls were scattered
24:28on the floor
24:29in an organized ordering system.
24:33The police conducting
24:34the raid had said
24:35they could smell
24:36the stench of rotting flesh
24:38from over a mile away.
24:40When they arrived,
24:42there were sections
24:42of human spine
24:43hanging from the rafters
24:45strung together with twine.
24:46It was like something
24:48from a horror movie.
24:49In addition to the skeletal
24:51body parts,
24:52police also discovered
24:54buckets of hydrochloric acid
24:55as well as two barrels
24:57of a corrosive chemical
24:58that they couldn't identify.
25:00The tip to the police
25:02involved reports
25:03of two men drinking
25:04at a bar,
25:05boasting that they had been hired
25:07to dig up bodies.
25:09Villagers who heard the rumor
25:11dragged the two men
25:12to the police,
25:13where the grave robbers
25:14confessed to the crime.
25:16In their confession,
25:17the two men shared
25:18the name of the man
25:19who'd hired them,
25:20Mukti Biswas.
25:21Biswas was the owner
25:23of the processing plant,
25:24which had been in an operation
25:25as a family business
25:27for over a hundred years,
25:28as a bone factory.
25:31The harvesting, processing,
25:33and selling of human skeletons
25:34was in fact a massive industry
25:37going back generations.
25:39But the practice
25:39had been illegal in India
25:41for over 20 years,
25:42which meant those profiting
25:44from the lucrative trade
25:45had to come up
25:46with ingenious,
25:47covert methods
25:48to escape detection.
25:51The history of Indian bone factories
25:53is basically the history
25:55of Western countries
25:56needing skeletons
25:57for their medical schools
25:58and for their medical supply companies.
25:59You can't study anatomy
26:01without access to anatomy.
26:04You need real skeletons
26:05that are clean,
26:05that are intact,
26:06and that are accurate.
26:08A plastic or synthetic copy
26:09just won't cut it.
26:11India emerged as the leading exporter
26:15of bones in the 1800s,
26:17mostly because of the high demand
26:19of England's medical schools.
26:21And since India was the jewel
26:23in the crown of the British Empire,
26:25the area around Calcutta
26:27became the bone exporting capital
26:28of the world.
26:29Over time,
26:32it wasn't just England
26:33that relied on India.
26:35The United States,
26:37Canada,
26:37and most of the European medical schools
26:40all had to look outside
26:42their own borders.
26:44And this is because,
26:45generally speaking,
26:46the cremation and burial customs
26:48of Western cultures
26:49made it difficult
26:50to access high numbers
26:52of fully formed skeletons.
26:55Exactly how the thousands
26:57of Indian skeletons
26:58were harvested
26:58has always been fraught
26:59with unrest
27:00and community outrage.
27:02No one wants to learn
27:03their deceased relative
27:04has been exhumed
27:05or pulled from a funeral pyre
27:06for profit.
27:08But the critical point
27:09is that the export
27:10of unclaimed bodies
27:11and skeletons in India
27:12was entirely legal
27:13until the mid-80s.
27:16In March of 1985,
27:18a bone trader
27:19was caught and arrested
27:20for exporting
27:21over a thousand
27:22child skeletons.
27:24When the press learned
27:25of the crime,
27:26massive public outcry
27:28forced the Indian government
27:29to change the existing laws.
27:32There were reports
27:33at the time
27:34that the trader
27:34and his associates
27:35had kidnapped
27:36and killed those children
27:37since child skeletons
27:39were much more difficult
27:40to come by
27:41and worth more money.
27:43While the Indian laws
27:45around the export
27:45of human tissue changed,
27:47the demand
27:48for skeletons continued.
27:50Suddenly,
27:50a lucrative industry
27:51based in rural parts
27:53of India
27:53was wiped out.
27:57The question
27:58of how to acquire
27:59thousands of bodies
28:00was answered
28:00by the age-old method
28:02of grave robbing.
28:05Cemeteries and grave sites
28:06were not monitored
28:07or under surveillance
28:08by the police.
28:09And once the body
28:10was removed from the grave,
28:12who's going to report it?
28:13Only a relative
28:14who happened to notice
28:15a physical change
28:16in the grave site
28:17would be in a position
28:18to go to the police.
28:20Even then,
28:21most local police
28:22didn't have the resources
28:23to pursue those complaints,
28:24or they just looked
28:25the other way
28:26and let the matter drop.
28:27And some police
28:28were even paid off
28:29by the grave robbers
28:30themselves
28:31to keep quiet.
28:34Bribery was rampant
28:35in the illegal
28:36bone trade industry.
28:38Many grave robbers
28:39actually paid morgue owners
28:40to harvest bodies
28:42without the family's permission.
28:43Other practices included
28:47faking cremation permits
28:49to conceal the movement
28:50and storage of bodies
28:52or pulling a corpse
28:54from a burning funeral pyre
28:56just minutes
28:57after the grieving family
28:58had left the site.
29:01The next challenge
29:02facing bone thieves
29:04was how to process
29:05the high number of corpses
29:06quickly, efficiently,
29:08and discreetly.
29:10It's not easy
29:11to remove flesh from bone
29:12on any life form.
29:14To do so
29:14on a scale of mass production
29:16without attracting attention
29:17is next to impossible.
29:19Before the laws changed,
29:21India was exporting
29:22up to 60,000 skeletons a year.
29:25India had established itself
29:27as a supplier
29:27of high-quality
29:29medical-grade skeletons.
29:31And in practical terms,
29:32that means those bones
29:33are immaculate.
29:34They're bleached white
29:35and there is not
29:36an ounce of flesh on them.
29:39Skeletons that could be
29:40exported intact.
29:41So a complete skeleton
29:43with all of its original bones
29:44still connected
29:45were worth more money
29:47than composites.
29:48The bone factory workers
29:50devised ingenious methods
29:52to speed up the natural process
29:54of human decomposition.
29:56Most of the so-called
29:58processing plants
29:59were little more
30:00than bamboo huts
30:01covered with tarps
30:03close to the river.
30:04So the first step
30:06was to wrap the corpse
30:07in netting
30:08and anchor it
30:09under the water
30:10of the river
30:11where bacteria
30:12and fish
30:13would eat away
30:14at most of the human flesh.
30:18After that,
30:18the factory workers
30:19collected the bones,
30:20took them back to the plant
30:21and scrubbed them down.
30:23Then,
30:23they boiled them
30:24in a cauldron
30:24filled with water
30:25and caustic soda
30:26which dissolved
30:27any remaining flesh.
30:28At this stage,
30:30the bones
30:30are still tinted yellow.
30:32To make the calcium surfaces white,
30:34the bones are left
30:35in the sunlight
30:35for a week
30:36and then they're soaked
30:37in hydrochloric acid.
30:41The owners
30:42of India's bone factories
30:43did not export
30:44the finished product themselves.
30:46To complete the process,
30:48the owners sold the bones
30:49to black market vendors
30:50and distributors
30:51in West Bengal.
30:53Increased law enforcement
30:54plus growing scrutiny
30:56from the local community
30:57made it much more difficult
30:59to ship the bones
31:00to their final destination overseas.
31:03So these distributors
31:04had to stay underground
31:06either with a fake cover
31:08or by bribing the authorities.
31:12One of the largest
31:13and busiest distributors
31:14was a company
31:15called Young Brothers.
31:16They started their business
31:17when it was entirely legal
31:19but after the 1985 ban,
31:21they simply continued to trade
31:22in a disheveled,
31:24rusted out warehouse.
31:25To prepare the scale
31:26skeletons for the medical market,
31:27distributors wire
31:28all the bone pieces together,
31:30they paint on medical labels
31:32and sometimes
31:33they saw a way
31:34at sections of the skull
31:36to reveal the internal structure.
31:40Distributors like the Young Brothers
31:41sold their finished skeletons
31:42around the world
31:43bringing in sales
31:44of roughly $15,000 per month.
31:48Since India's ban
31:49only extended
31:50to exporting human tissue,
31:52it was and continues to be
31:54entirely legal
31:55for countries
31:56like Canada
31:57and the United States
31:58to import the bones
31:59for their medical schools.
32:02The fact remains,
32:03there is a need
32:04for skeletons
32:05to train doctors
32:06and dentists
32:07and other medical professionals.
32:08So where should
32:10those skeletons come from?
32:12Should families
32:13of the deceased
32:13get paid
32:14for those skeletons
32:15or would that create
32:17perverse incentives
32:18with other ethical repercussions?
32:20It's a tricky question
32:21but clearly
32:22the answer
32:22cannot be
32:23to have a warehouse
32:24full of rotting corpses
32:26that you can smell
32:27from a mile away.
32:30As for Mukti Biswas,
32:32the owner
32:32of the processing plant
32:33that was raided
32:34in 2006,
32:36although he was arrested,
32:37he was released
32:38after two days in jail.
32:40The owner
32:41of Young Brothers,
32:42Vinesh Iran,
32:43was also arrested
32:45after the
32:45Kolkata Health Department
32:47found two rooms
32:49worth of human bones
32:51in his warehouse.
32:53Like Biswas,
32:54he was released
32:55after just a few days
32:56in custody.
32:58As long as there
32:59is a profit to be made,
33:01the export of rare skeletons
33:02for educational purposes
33:04will continue to thrive
33:06so long as the owners
33:07of India's bone factories
33:09keep inventing ways
33:11to skirt the authorities.
33:17In October of 2008,
33:25Italian police
33:26apprehended fugitive
33:27Antonio Pelle
33:28in a sophisticated,
33:30custom-built
33:31underground bunker
33:32in the countryside.
33:33The high-tech hideout
33:35was accessed
33:36through a trap door
33:37that opened
33:38by remote control.
33:40Pelle was connected
33:41to a notorious incident
33:42that took place
33:43a year earlier
33:44when six men
33:45were gunned down
33:46in cold blood
33:46in the streets
33:47of Duisburg, Germany.
33:50German authorities
33:51were stunned
33:51by the brazen martyrs,
33:53but what they found
33:54in the jacket
33:54of one of the victims
33:55left them even more baffled.
33:59The police reached
34:00into the pocket
34:01of the dead man
34:02and found a picture
34:03of the Roman Catholic saint,
34:05St. Michael.
34:07In the center
34:07of the picture
34:08had a small hole
34:10burnt through it
34:11as if someone
34:12had stubbed out
34:13a cigarette.
34:14The picture
34:16turned out
34:17to be a major clue
34:18that helped police
34:19make sense
34:20of the crime scene.
34:21It was a signature
34:22calling card
34:23left by the killers.
34:28Police learned
34:29that the killers
34:29were members
34:30of a mysterious crime ring
34:31called Inderangueta,
34:33a powerful faction
34:34based in Italy's
34:34southern tip.
34:35Little Laos was known
34:36since the Inderangueta
34:37had eluded
34:38Italian police
34:39through sheer inventiveness
34:40and cunning
34:41for generations.
34:43The Inderangueta
34:44first emerged
34:45in the 19th century
34:47when southern Italy's
34:48feudal economy
34:49was giving way
34:50to capitalism.
34:52The growing free market
34:54extended to crime
34:55and the Inderangueta
34:56established themselves
34:58as one of the most
34:59effective and deadly
35:00of the mafia families
35:01to come out
35:02of that period.
35:03A big part
35:04of their success
35:05was a result
35:06of geography.
35:07Calabria was an isolated
35:09mountainous part
35:10of the country
35:10and the Inderangueta
35:12leveraged that
35:13by embedding themselves
35:14in an area
35:15called Aspermonte
35:17meaning harsh mountain.
35:19By the turn
35:20of the century
35:21the Inderangueta
35:22was involved
35:23in a wide range
35:24of criminal activities
35:25including smuggling,
35:27extortion
35:27and abduction.
35:29Their campaign
35:30of kidnappings
35:31was also successful
35:33since it was easy
35:34to hide the victims
35:35in the isolated
35:36mountain range
35:37where police
35:37couldn't find them.
35:40The most famous
35:41example was the
35:42abduction of
35:43multi-millionaire
35:44J. Paul Getty
35:46in 1973.
35:48The Getty's
35:48paid a ransom
35:49of $3 million
35:50after the Inderangueta
35:52sent the Getty family
35:54a severed part
35:55of Paul's ear.
35:56These guys
35:57were not to be trifled
35:58with.
35:59In the 1980s
36:01the Inderangueta
36:02expanded into
36:03the literate
36:04of illegal drug trade.
36:05Unlike the
36:07Cosa Nostra family
36:08who cornered
36:08the market
36:09on heroin
36:09the Inderangueta's
36:10drug of choice
36:11was cocaine.
36:14All across Italy
36:15law enforcement
36:16increased resources
36:17and manpower
36:18to locate and arrest
36:19not just members
36:20of the mafia
36:20but specifically
36:21the mafia bosses
36:22themselves
36:23who controlled
36:24all the operations.
36:25many mafia bosses
36:28were forced to flee
36:29the central location
36:30of their headquarters
36:31which meant
36:32being on the run
36:33as a fugitive
36:34while still running
36:35the business.
36:36But the Inderangueta
36:37were different.
36:39It was a matter
36:39of pride and honor
36:40for the bosses
36:41to stay put
36:42even as wanted men.
36:44So the challenge
36:45became how to stay put
36:47while staying out of sight.
36:49Just as they had leveraged
36:51the isolated
36:52and hostile terrain
36:53to hide abductees
36:54the Inderangueta
36:56adopted the same approach
36:57for concealing
36:58their own kingpins.
37:00They started by using
37:01the dense vegetation
37:02of the Aspromonte Mountains
37:04to conceal remote huts
37:05and dens
37:06up and down the range.
37:08Most of these spaces
37:09were only reachable by foot
37:10following a complex hiking path
37:12marked by strategic signposts.
37:15These initial huts and dens
37:17were fairly rudimentary.
37:19They had simple furniture
37:19and cooking implements
37:21and basic plumbing.
37:22There were some creative attempts
37:23at self-sufficiency too
37:24like DIY solar panels
37:26and rainwater collection drains.
37:30One Mafia don,
37:31Gerolamo Facarini,
37:33had a makeshift alarm
37:34and communication system
37:36installed in his hut
37:37and security measures
37:38like night vision binoculars.
37:41But even then,
37:42police eventually discovered
37:43and arrested him
37:44after a year and a half
37:45in hiding.
37:47The Italian authorities
37:49were starting to catch up
37:50with the crime bosses.
37:52Leading the hut
37:53was an elite helicopter squadron
37:56called the Cacciatore.
37:58The Cacciatore
37:59were initially created
38:00for the sole purpose
38:01of rescuing kidnapping victims.
38:03But with the growth
38:04of the massive cocaine trade,
38:06their mandate grew
38:06to catching the leaders
38:07of the Inderangueta.
38:10The red beret wearing Cacciatore
38:12quickly earned the nickname
38:13of the Hunters.
38:14Many of the squadron
38:15were from the south,
38:16Calabria in particular.
38:18So they knew the local customs
38:19and the mountain topography
38:20just as well as the Inderangueta.
38:22And as the mafiosos
38:25were improving
38:25their technical capabilities,
38:27so too were the Cacciatore.
38:29They developed sophisticated
38:31tracking techniques
38:32and surveillance devices
38:33like long-range
38:35high-definition cameras.
38:38To stay one step ahead
38:40of the Cacciatore,
38:41crime bosses had to
38:42continually innovate
38:43and improve the design
38:45of their hiding spots.
38:46The next step involved
38:48going underground
38:50by building bunkers.
38:52The initial bunkers
38:54were basically
38:54shipping containers
38:55buried into the mountains
38:57with a single
38:58concealed entrance.
39:00The build required
39:00careful site planning
39:02and construction,
39:03which was not easy to do
39:05on the slopes
39:05of a harsh mountain range.
39:08While some of the
39:09shipping containers
39:10had a second exit
39:11which served as
39:12an escape hatch,
39:14most only had
39:15one exit point.
39:16That oversight
39:17would prove costly
39:19for many of the
39:20powerful bosses.
39:23Once a remote
39:24hidden bunker
39:24was discovered
39:25by police,
39:26the mob boss
39:27was effectively
39:28trapped inside.
39:30Cornered and outnumbered,
39:32most of them
39:32surrendered
39:33without a struggle.
39:35So there were
39:36limitations
39:36to the underground
39:37bunkers being
39:38so isolated.
39:39But as always,
39:41the resourceful
39:41Endrangheta
39:42found ways
39:43to work around
39:44the issue.
39:45It continued
39:45to build bunkers,
39:46but instead of
39:47shipping containers
39:48in the mountains,
39:49the new bunkers
39:50were connected
39:50directly to existing
39:51buildings in the
39:52small towns
39:52and villages
39:53of Calabria.
39:54In many cases,
39:55the fugitives
39:55built bunkers
39:56directly below
39:57their own houses
39:58where their families
39:59still lived.
39:59The main challenge
40:02The main challenge
40:02for the new bunkers
40:03was concealment.
40:04The Endrangheta bosses
40:05had to come up
40:06with convincing
40:07and reliable covers
40:08for the hidden entrances.
40:10A surprise police raid
40:12meant they only
40:13had seconds
40:13to escape.
40:16This is where
40:16the builders
40:17of these bunkers
40:17got really clever
40:19and creative.
40:20They came up
40:20with automated
40:21trap doors,
40:22hidden tunnels,
40:23and decoy furniture.
40:24Just like a detective novel
40:25where a fake bookcase
40:26is really a sliding door
40:27leading to a secret
40:28hiding place.
40:30To initiate
40:31the trap doors,
40:33a remote control device
40:34was frequently used.
40:35This required
40:36a complex electrical mechanism
40:38to trigger
40:38the escape route.
40:40Once inside the bunker,
40:41the kingpin
40:42would hit the same switch
40:43and the door would close.
40:46One renowned fugitive,
40:48a Calabrian
40:48named Cosimo Galache,
40:50had a bunker
40:51hidden behind
40:52a false wall
40:53in his bedroom.
40:54The entrance
40:54was behind a mirror.
40:57All he had to do
40:58was push a button
40:59on a coat rack's
41:00central knob
41:01and the mirror
41:03would slide open.
41:04That's genius.
41:07Despite the advancements,
41:09any malfunctions
41:10or technical mishaps
41:11could spell trouble
41:12for the leaders
41:13of the Andrangheta.
41:15To add another layer
41:16of protection,
41:18the bunker builders
41:18created a second
41:19hidden exit point
41:20for a quick escape
41:22through a tunnel.
41:23In any police raid scenario,
41:25a fugitive quickly
41:26hid inside the bunker,
41:27which could only
41:28be activated by him
41:29and they just hoped
41:30the police wouldn't
41:31catch on.
41:32But if they did manage
41:33to penetrate the bunker,
41:34he'd be long gone
41:35through the second trap door.
41:37The escape tunnels
41:38were extremely narrow,
41:40just two or three feet
41:41in diameter.
41:41So the fugitive mobster
41:43would snake
41:43and squirm along
41:44away from the original bunker
41:45and towards
41:46a second destination,
41:47either an exterior
41:48sewer system
41:49or the brush
41:50or to another bunker
41:51belonging to
41:52an associate crime boss.
41:53What evolved
41:56was an elaborate
41:57and sophisticated
41:58network of tunnels
41:59connecting both the bunkers
42:01and the Andrangheta mobsters.
42:03They all knew the routes.
42:05They knew which way
42:06likely led to more police
42:07and which way
42:08led to freedom.
42:09It was a literal
42:10gangster underworld.
42:13In villages
42:14like Chitanova
42:15or Platy,
42:16there was an entire maze
42:18of underground tunnels
42:19and bunkers.
42:20The Andrangheta
42:21continued to innovate
42:22and improve the network
42:23until it was like
42:24a mirror city.
42:26Platy had almost
42:27two miles of tunnels
42:29below ground.
42:32Most of the citizens
42:33of Platy
42:34and other Calabrian villages
42:36knew about
42:36the secret bunkers
42:37and tunnels
42:38and the mobsters
42:39who created them.
42:41But they said nothing
42:42to the police,
42:43fearing potentially
42:44violent repercussions.
42:46This made catching
42:46the Mafiadans
42:47even more difficult.
42:50You certainly can't
42:51blame the citizens
42:52of Calabria
42:52for keeping silent.
42:54They were likely
42:54being threatened
42:55with death
42:55if anyone spoke
42:56to the police.
42:58Despite this,
42:58the Italian authorities
42:59were able to catch up
43:01to the hidden Andrangheta.
43:02The police on the ground
43:04surveillance
43:04and tracking systems
43:05got more sophisticated
43:07and precise.
43:08Plus,
43:09the government
43:10invested millions
43:11of dollars
43:11in state-of-the-art
43:13spy planes
43:14with long-range cameras
43:15that could identify
43:16faces and license plates
43:18while traveling
43:19at 150 miles per hour.
43:23The Italian police
43:24were also getting
43:24assistance and intelligence
43:26from their international partners.
43:28In the case of the multiple murders
43:29in Duisburg, Germany,
43:31the German police
43:31arrested the killers
43:32who had ties
43:33to the Andrangheta.
43:36Over the past three decades,
43:38more than 300 Italian fugitives
43:40have been apprehended
43:41in bunkers and tunnels,
43:42some multiple times.
43:44In 2017,
43:46Antonio Pele
43:47was arrested once again
43:48after five years
43:49on the run,
43:50this time
43:51in a simple hideout
43:52built between a bathroom
43:53and his son's bedroom
43:55in his home,
43:56a step down
43:57from his high-tech bunker
43:58in the countryside,
43:59but a place to hide
44:00nonetheless.
44:01End of time,
44:03to be a 밖에
44:05I've been putting
44:06on the run,
44:06but a half-neye
44:06is just an obscure
44:08all the way.
44:09End of time,
44:10the droit
44:11of the family
44:12to the left.
44:12We'll talk to you
44:14as well,
44:14and we'll try
44:15to keep you
44:16as well as
44:16the guilty
44:17as well.
44:18And I'll pay
44:18you
44:19as well.
44:19I'll pay
44:20you
44:21as well.
44:21That's
44:22right.
44:22That's it.
44:23That's it.
44:23That's it.
44:24And I'll pay
44:24you
44:25as well.
44:26I'll pay
44:27you
44:28as well.
44:28I'll pay
44:29you
44:29as well.