- há 2 dias
This is the story of two worlds that appear to have little in common with one another. A closer look, however, reveals that they both share a similar taste for luxury, risk, and money. In what ways are mafias and banks inextricably linked?
In the relentless quest to conquer new markets, criminal syndicates forced their way into the corridors of power with one intent: to hide their money. In one century, organized crime has left its mark on international business and finance.
In the relentless quest to conquer new markets, criminal syndicates forced their way into the corridors of power with one intent: to hide their money. In one century, organized crime has left its mark on international business and finance.
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NotíciasTranscrição
00:15Transcrição e Legendas Pedro Negri
00:30Transcrição e Legendas Pedro Negri
01:23Transcrição e Legendas Pedro Negri
01:32Transcrição e Legendas Pedro Negri
01:36I've been thinking about this for the last three days.
01:39I've reached the point where somebody has to know the truth about me.
01:42I want somebody to know my life.
01:45The condition is only this.
01:46I'll give it all to you.
01:48I won't hold back nothing.
01:49But you've got to promise you won't use it.
01:51No part of it.
01:52For ten years.
01:53E eu quero dizer, 10 anos depois, eu morro.
01:59Em 1960, Charles Leckie Luciano,
02:03o exilado godfather do New York Mafia,
02:06confided em um Hollywood producer e escritor.
02:08Ele contou em inglês, em linguagem,
02:11sobre o seu trabalho em organizado crime
02:13e revelou detalhes sobre a formação
02:15da América do Cosa Nostra.
02:19Para Leckie Luciano,
02:21serious business started in the early 20s
02:23in Manhattan, during Prohibition.
02:33We controlled plants, warehouses,
02:35we had exporters and importers.
02:38Naturally, we didn't pay no business taxes,
02:40like General Motors.
02:42But that didn't mean our expenses
02:44wasn't pretty heavy.
02:45We greased the police and the politicians.
02:47It was all part of the overheads,
02:49just like any business.
02:55New York was crucial
02:56in two ways
02:58to the story of Prohibition.
03:00The first was simply its geography.
03:02New York was a central entry point
03:04for all of the illegal alcohol
03:07coming into the country.
03:08It was the beginning of the train lines.
03:11It was a major port.
03:12But secondly,
03:13it was the key place
03:16where financial capital
03:17and political influence
03:19came together in America.
03:23In the 1920s,
03:24Wall Street was becoming a hub
03:26of international finance.
03:28The dollar was yet to conquer the world,
03:30but the bankers of Manhattan
03:32were the forerunners of new capitalism,
03:34drunk on its own success.
03:40A few blocks from Wall Street
03:42on the Lower East Side,
03:44the contrast was stark.
03:46Irish, Jewish, Chinese,
03:48and Italian immigrants
03:48lived in poverty.
03:51Gangs ran the streets,
03:52along with protection rackets
03:54and prostitution.
03:55The prohibition of alcohol
03:57would change the world of crime.
03:59In terms of the structure
04:01of American cities,
04:03every major intersection
04:04in every major city
04:06in the United States
04:07had four corners.
04:08And on four corners,
04:10there were four saloons.
04:11They were the public spaces
04:13of American society.
04:15And overnight,
04:16they disappeared.
04:19Prohibition,
04:20campaigned for
04:21by white puritanical America,
04:23tipped what was then
04:24the country's seventh largest industry
04:26right into the hands of the mob.
04:35Drinkers were a bunch of sheep
04:36just waiting to be fleeced.
04:38A case of scotch right off the boat
04:40cost us around 25 bucks.
04:43Sold by the glass,
04:44it would bring us
04:46as high as a thousand bucks.
04:48The markup on
04:49a case of scotch whiskey
04:51imported illegally into the country
04:53was about the same
04:55as the markup
04:56on cocaine today.
04:57So that gives you a sense
04:58of just how profitable
05:00importing and distributing
05:01alcohol could be.
05:04This required
05:05organized crime
05:06to develop
05:08distribution networks,
05:10to develop all of the
05:11elements of a supply chain.
05:13And that meant
05:14cooperation.
05:21during Prohibition,
05:23millions of cases of liquor
05:24were delivered every week
05:26across the vast territory
05:27of the states.
05:29That required
05:30industrialized processing
05:31and production,
05:34along with accounting
05:35and banking,
05:36et cetera,
05:37because mafiosi
05:37were generally very careful
05:39with their costs
05:39and profits.
05:41So they needed people
05:42to take care of that.
05:46Young, lucky Luciano,
05:48the rising star
05:48of the mob,
05:49realized that for the mafia
05:50to seize control,
05:52they would have to learn
05:52all about the workings
05:53of finance.
05:56Luciano went into business
05:57with his childhood buddy,
05:59also from a poor district
06:00of Manhattan,
06:01Meyer Lansky.
06:04Lansky fascinated Luciano
06:06with his unparalleled gift
06:07for mental arithmetic,
06:08which meant nothing written down,
06:10so no traces.
06:13Meyer was always reading books
06:15about business,
06:16economics,
06:17things like that.
06:18One day,
06:18he shows me a library book,
06:20and he's all excited about it.
06:22Charlie, this writer,
06:23talks about a thing called
06:24the law of supply and demand.
06:26If you've got a lot
06:27of what people want
06:28and can't get,
06:29then you can supply the demand
06:31and shovel in the dough.
06:33That simple economic precept
06:34was quickly dubbed
06:36Lansky's law.
06:41What's remarkable
06:42about the partnership
06:43between Luciano
06:45and Lansky
06:45is just how strategic
06:47they were.
06:49Luciano said of Lansky
06:51that he could
06:51see around corners.
06:53He could anticipate
06:54what was coming
06:56and make the moves
06:58necessary to exploit
07:00the resulting opportunity.
07:04One of Meyer Lansky's
07:06first ideas
07:07was to install
07:07slot machines
07:08in the speakeasies
07:09for wealthy white Americans
07:10while setting up
07:12an underground lottery
07:13for the poor
07:14and blacks
07:14who dreamed
07:15of winning the jackpot.
07:25So much money
07:27was coming in
07:28from the lotteries
07:29that we had
07:29to have meetings
07:30all the time
07:30to figure out
07:31what to do
07:31with the dough.
07:33That's when I really
07:34started to respect
07:35the bankers
07:35and to be jealous
07:36of them.
07:38They could take
07:38the depositors' money
07:39and invest it
07:40so they could pay interest
07:42and still have
07:43a healthy profit.
07:48In the roaring 20s,
07:49money and booze
07:50had the United States
07:51heady
07:52with pay rises,
07:53mass consumerism
07:54and seemingly
07:55endless growth.
07:59Whether you were
08:00a cab driver,
08:01a sales clerk
08:02or a boss,
08:03everyone played
08:03the stock market
08:04and banks readily
08:05handed out loans
08:06to keep the machine running.
08:09The 1920s
08:10was a period
08:11of financial speculation.
08:12All means
08:13were acceptable
08:13if you wanted
08:14to make money.
08:15One common character
08:16of periods
08:17of financial euphoria
08:18is that swindlers
08:20are always present
08:21in greater numbers
08:21and the 1920s
08:23were rife
08:24with financial scams.
08:26It's the historical sign
08:27of a financial boom.
08:35In October 1929,
08:37the stock market collapsed.
08:39In one morning,
08:40entire fortunes
08:41were lost.
08:42Fear swept America.
08:45The country demanded
08:46explanations
08:47from bankers,
08:48brokers
08:48and businessmen.
08:52The public became aware
08:54that people
08:55who seemed respectable
08:57on the outside,
08:58wealthy bankers
09:00and financiers,
09:01they could also be guilty
09:03of actions
09:03that endangered
09:05the capitalist system itself.
09:09people started to become aware
09:11that white-collar criminals
09:13did actually exist
09:15and they came up
09:16with all kinds of nicknames
09:17for them
09:17like banksters,
09:18a play on the word
09:19gangsters,
09:20and these banksters
09:21had endangered
09:22America's entire
09:23financial system.
09:28But the Italian-American mafia
09:29was far from
09:30a financial crisis.
09:31At the height of prohibition,
09:33the mob's main problem
09:34was what to do
09:35with all their cash.
09:36Yet to find a foothold
09:37in banking,
09:38they did start to finance
09:39the struggling economy.
09:41Numerous enterprises
09:42on the verge of ruin,
09:43manufacturers,
09:45meat packers,
09:45dairy produce companies,
09:47trucking companies
09:47and other key sectors
09:48of the economy
09:49found themselves
09:50under mafia control.
09:55The cash flowed
09:56and was largely reinvested
09:58in the prohibition system.
09:59But it would also be used
10:01to finance
10:01what we call
10:02conspicuous consumption,
10:04a lifestyle in which
10:05gangsters like
10:06to show off their wealth.
10:08Some even claimed
10:09that the term
10:10money laundering
10:11came from Al Capone
10:12who owned
10:13a chain of laundries,
10:15having invested
10:15his dirty money
10:16in a totally legal business.
10:23In 1931,
10:25out of the blue,
10:26it wasn't a banker
10:26who found himself
10:27on trial
10:28for financial wrongdoing,
10:29but Chicago's
10:30king of prohibition himself,
10:32Al Capone.
10:35After years
10:35of unsuccessful attempts,
10:37the prosecutors realized
10:38that to nail Capone,
10:39they would have to try
10:40him for his lifestyle
10:41rather than his crimes.
10:44The mobster
10:45was living a life
10:46of luxury
10:46without being able
10:47to provide
10:48a legitimate source
10:49for his income.
10:50Al Capone
10:51went down
10:52for tax evasion.
11:00It became clear
11:02after that
11:02that if you were
11:03in criminal business,
11:05you damn well better
11:06come up with
11:07a way to hide
11:09the money
11:09so the police
11:10couldn't get
11:11their hands on it
11:12and so that the
11:14Internal Revenue Service
11:15wouldn't know
11:16that you had
11:17hidden money
11:19and that that
11:20was something
11:21that was going
11:24to get you
11:25in jail.
11:31In 1933,
11:33Franklin D. Roosevelt
11:34entered the White House.
11:36His priority?
11:37To drag the country
11:38out of the Great Depression.
11:44He launched
11:45the New Deal
11:46to aid the victims
11:47of the financial crisis.
11:50He also oversaw
11:51a banking revolution
11:52in the form
11:53of the Glass-Steagall Act.
11:59The new banking law
12:00was a genius invention
12:01in terms of
12:02public regulation.
12:03It started by saying
12:05we must separate
12:06retail banks
12:07and merchant banks.
12:08A retail bank
12:09is where you and I
12:10have our accounts.
12:11Then,
12:12there are the merchant banks,
12:13which speculate
12:14on the national
12:15and international
12:15financial markets.
12:17Roosevelt said,
12:18we'll separate them.
12:19There'll be banks
12:20that finance the economy
12:21and banks that play
12:21on the markets.
12:22That way,
12:23if there was a panic
12:23on the markets
12:24and the merchant banks
12:25messed up,
12:26at least retail banking,
12:27which finances our economy,
12:29would still be there.
12:30So the banks
12:31were split up
12:31and regulated.
12:32Anyway,
12:33banks were very profitable,
12:34so they accepted
12:35the financial regulation
12:36laid out in Roosevelt's
12:38new banking law.
12:38And that resulted
12:39in 40 years of banking
12:41and financial stability.
12:45Roosevelt's policy
12:46marked the beginning
12:47of the welfare state
12:48and the redistribution
12:49of wealth.
12:50But the U.S. Treasury
12:51soon discovered
12:52that a large part
12:53of the money
12:54of the great fortunes
12:55subjected to taxation
12:56had vanished.
12:58Another world
12:59had been built
12:59in secret.
13:01The report requested
13:02by Henry Morgenthau,
13:04Roosevelt's secretary
13:05of the Treasury,
13:06is interesting
13:07because it testifies
13:09to the use of tax havens
13:11to evade taxes.
13:14It was a very opaque
13:16construction industry
13:18that built the screens
13:19between the income
13:21I earn
13:21and the income
13:23I declare,
13:25which is subject
13:26to taxation.
13:27And that was organized
13:29on an industrial scale
13:30in the 1920s and 30s
13:31to allow the rich
13:32to deposit money elsewhere
13:34and hide it
13:35from those whose job
13:36it was to tax it.
13:37and who profit
13:38from the investment
13:39of the money.
13:42In the early 20th century,
13:44tax havens sprang up
13:45around the United States
13:47and Canada,
13:47but also in Panama.
13:53These safe,
13:54discreet financial hubs
13:55facilitated the movement
13:57of money
13:57from large fortunes,
13:59but also attracted
14:00dirty money.
14:04across the Atlantic
14:06in Europe,
14:07one country
14:07already had
14:08a long history
14:09of financial opacity.
14:12Switzerland.
14:21A haven
14:22for the assets
14:23of aristocrats
14:24during the French
14:24Revolution of 1789
14:26and then that
14:27of the great
14:28industrial families
14:28of the 19th century,
14:30Switzerland wrote
14:31banking secrecy
14:32into its law
14:33in 1934.
14:36The Swiss banking law
14:38of 1934,
14:39the famous
14:39Article 47,
14:40basically states
14:41any bank personnel
14:42who give information
14:43on the accounts
14:44of clients
14:44to the Swiss
14:45or a foreign government
14:46will be subject
14:47to criminal proceedings.
14:48It became a felony,
14:50which meant
14:50that for years and years
14:51no Swiss journalist
14:52could investigate
14:53bank accounts.
14:54Because if you
14:55were in Switzerland
14:55and you reveal
14:56the slightest piece
14:57of banking information,
14:58you could end up
14:59in jail.
15:00So, yes,
15:01Switzerland is a place
15:03essential for anybody
15:05who wants to keep
15:06anything secret.
15:07Governments,
15:08criminals,
15:09business people,
15:10rich families.
15:13Switzerland is the place.
15:17It would be a few years
15:19before mobsters
15:20realized the interest
15:21in placing their money
15:22at the heart
15:23of the international
15:24banking system.
15:25For the time being,
15:27the New York Mafia
15:27had other concerns.
15:29In 1933,
15:30Prohibition was abolished.
15:33Suddenly deprived
15:34of its primary source
15:35of income,
15:36the Mafia reorganized.
15:39Lucky Luciano
15:40had the old guard
15:41assassinated,
15:42became the boss
15:43of the New York Mafia,
15:44and proposed
15:45a managerial pact
15:46between the major families
15:47in the east
15:48of the United States.
15:49This was the birth
15:51of the Commission,
15:52the ancestor
15:52of the American Cosa Nostra.
15:54the Commission
15:55was Luciano's
15:56contribution
15:56to the history
15:57of organized crime.
15:59But the gangster
16:00hit the headlines
16:01for a very different reason.
16:09In 1936,
16:10Luciano was convicted
16:12of forced prostitution
16:13and was sentenced
16:15to 40 years in jail.
16:16End of a chapter.
16:22Meanwhile,
16:24across the globe,
16:25an orphan raised in poverty
16:26was revolutionizing
16:27the criminal world
16:28by combining
16:29mob business,
16:31political infiltration,
16:32and,
16:33something completely new,
16:34banking entrepreneurship.
16:39This man was
16:41Du Yusheng,
16:42and his criminal career
16:43coincided with
16:44the historic upheavals
16:45of the Pearl of the East,
16:47Shanghai.
16:56In the 1920s,
16:58Shanghai was the temple
16:59of colonial capitalism
17:00where human life
17:01was worthless.
17:03The main port of China
17:04and soon all of Asia,
17:06Shanghai was plagued
17:07by two vices,
17:08opium and money.
17:14In his unforgettable
17:15account of China,
17:17the journalist
17:17Albert Long wrote,
17:19In Shanghai,
17:21all alphabets
17:22are unknown.
17:23Here,
17:24language isn't written
17:25with letters,
17:26but with numbers.
17:27To become a millionaire,
17:28you don't need to know
17:29how to read and write.
17:30Counting is enough.
17:32Shanghai
17:33is a very fat
17:34golden calf.
17:38On Shanghai's
17:40major thoroughfare,
17:41the Bund,
17:42banks stood
17:43one next to the other.
17:44The most famous
17:45on the waterfront
17:46was the Hong Kong
17:47and Shanghai Banking Corporation,
17:49HSBC,
17:50founded by the British
17:52in the 19th century
17:53during the opium wars.
17:59Amid the financial hustle
18:01and bustle,
18:01Chinese gangsters,
18:03organized into triads,
18:04controlled the underworld economy.
18:09One of the most famous venues
18:11in Shanghai,
18:12Le Grand Monde,
18:13was the precursor
18:14of what the American mafia
18:16would later make
18:16Las Vegas.
18:19A vast building
18:20contained everything.
18:21A concert hall,
18:22a restaurant,
18:23upper floors
18:24with a casino,
18:25a night bar.
18:27And right at the top,
18:28a hotel
18:29with prostitution,
18:31heroin,
18:31and opium.
18:42Enter Du Yusheng.
18:45Age 20,
18:46he joined the powerful triad
18:48The Green Gang,
18:49based in the heart
18:50of the French concession.
18:53In fewer than five years,
18:55the illiterate Du Yusheng
18:56became the boss
18:57of The Green Gang
18:58and reigned over
18:59thousands of henchmen,
19:00informers,
19:01prostitutes,
19:02and debt collectors,
19:03and would take full advantage
19:05of political upheavals
19:06in China.
19:12In the mid-1920s,
19:14the Chinese Communist Party,
19:16founded inside
19:16the French concession,
19:18is a source of worry.
19:19The colonial police
19:21asked The Green Gang
19:22to quash any kind
19:23of political uprising.
19:24In return,
19:25the gang's opium dens
19:26were tolerated.
19:28A pact was sealed
19:29between the French authorities
19:30and Du Yusheng.
19:33In April 1927,
19:35as strikes were breaking out,
19:36Du Yusheng had strikers
19:38murdered by Green Gang henchmen.
19:49In return for his commitment,
19:51the French appointed
19:52Du Yusheng
19:53to the municipal council.
19:56In 1931,
19:58Du Yusheng inaugurated
19:59the Temple of Ancestors
20:00in his home village.
20:02The temple would soon
20:03house China's
20:04largest morphine refinery.
20:07The exclusive distributor
20:08of opium
20:09for all China,
20:10Du Yusheng was also
20:11president of the
20:12Board of Opium Suppression.
20:14A genius of duplicity
20:16and head of one
20:17of China's largest triads,
20:19Du Yusheng consolidated
20:20his position
20:21at the crossroads
20:22between crime
20:23and banking
20:23by greasing the palms
20:25of the entire
20:25political class.
20:27He was appointed
20:28director of the
20:29Shanghai Stock Exchange
20:30and director
20:31of the Bank of China.
20:35The mobster
20:36certainly enjoyed
20:37his wealth.
20:38A fan of Chinese opera,
20:40he became a patron.
20:41He then opened
20:41his own movie studios.
20:43But off the set,
20:44a different story
20:45was being told.
20:52The Japanese invasion
20:53of Manchuria
20:54in 1931
20:55brought war.
20:57In Shanghai
20:58in 1937,
20:59the foreign concessions
21:00were badly hit
21:01by Japanese bombing raids.
21:03To protect his interests,
21:05Du Yusheng decided
21:06to leave China
21:07and move to
21:08British-governed Hong Kong.
21:13Dear Shu,
21:16I'm writing to you
21:17having arrived
21:18in Hong Kong.
21:19Since the crisis,
21:21the price of gold
21:22has risen as fast
21:23as a fleeing horse.
21:24Since the government
21:25announced certain measures,
21:27the situation
21:28seems to have calmed down.
21:30But our government
21:31is killing the hen
21:32to take its eggs.
21:34The future
21:34is unpredictable.
21:38Please keep my businesses
21:39running in Shanghai.
21:41My health is improving
21:42and I plan to return
21:44early next month.
21:46Brother Du.
21:54After the war,
21:55the foreign concessions
21:56were returned to China.
21:59And then...
22:05In 1949,
22:07the communists
22:07came to power in Beijing,
22:09marking the end of a world.
22:11The triad bosses
22:12packed up and left
22:13for Hong Kong,
22:14Macau,
22:15and Taiwan.
22:17When Du Yusheng died
22:18in 1951 in Hong Kong,
22:20from the long-term
22:21effects of opium use,
22:23Shanghai had already
22:24entered into a state
22:25of deep lethargy
22:26from which it wouldn't emerge
22:27until 40 years later.
22:37The victors
22:38of World War II,
22:39led by the United States,
22:41set out to build
22:41a new framework
22:42for international security
22:43to guarantee peace
22:45and reconstruction.
22:48One particular event
22:49would reshape
22:50international finance.
22:52The Bretton Woods Conference.
23:00At Bretton Woods,
23:02New Hampshire,
23:03delegates from 44
23:04Allied and associate countries
23:05arrived for the opening
23:06of the United Nations
23:07Monetary and Financial Conference.
23:11Bretton Woods,
23:12it's the prolongement...
23:13Bretton Woods
23:14was the international extension
23:16of what Roosevelt
23:17had initiated
23:18on a national level,
23:20the establishing of an economy
23:22based on finance,
23:23that was state-regulated
23:25and coordinated
23:25by all the member states.
23:28Central banks would intervene
23:30to ensure that currencies
23:31didn't over-fluctuate,
23:33so that the international
23:34monetary system
23:35would remain stable
23:36and capital couldn't easily
23:37pass from one country
23:38to another.
23:41At Bretton Woods,
23:43the dollar was imposed
23:44as the world-reference
23:45currency,
23:46the only one convertible
23:47into gold
23:48by the United States
23:49Federal Reserve.
23:50A seemingly impregnable wall
23:52had been constructed
23:53to impede the world's abusers
23:55of secret finance.
23:57But criminal operators
23:59would soon start looking
24:00for possible breaches
24:01in this wall.
24:14Without knowing it,
24:16governments largely contribute
24:17to the accumulation
24:18of criminal fortunes
24:19through laws
24:20supposedly enacted
24:21to protect their economies
24:23and their citizens.
24:26Most of the so-called
24:27respectable families
24:29like the Rothschilds
24:30and the Rockefellers
24:31can attribute the origin
24:32of their fortunes
24:33to illegal profits
24:34and tax evasion.
24:36But governments
24:37are not inclined
24:38to strike at the heart
24:39of the system.
24:41They're not as good
24:42at finding dirty money
24:44as they are
24:44at helping to create it.
24:47capitalism
24:48is the udder
24:49of the plentiful cow
24:51from which flows
24:52milk for everyone.
24:57That was a quote
24:58by an Italian tax lawyer
25:00and banker.
25:01Michele Sindona
25:03was one of the wealthiest
25:04financiers in the world.
25:05The banker of the Mafia
25:07and the Vatican
25:08and a great admirer
25:09of Machiavelli,
25:10Sindona dedicated his life
25:12to money
25:12and a hatred
25:13of communism.
25:14He was an emblematic figure
25:16of the Cold War era.
25:21Sindona was a guy
25:23who was incredibly slick.
25:26One of these people
25:28who would charm you
25:30to the point
25:31where you'd give them
25:32everything in your wallet
25:34and you would still be
25:35trying to figure out
25:36how to get more
25:37to give him.
25:38This was a man
25:39who had that
25:40incredible charisma
25:41that enables him
25:44to convince serious people
25:45he's a serious person.
25:47So,
25:48it's not surprising
25:50that this is a man
25:51who could jump
25:52into all sorts
25:53of situations
25:54and although
25:55on paper
25:57there's not much
25:59to him,
26:00he had the capacity
26:01to just suck people
26:03in like crazy.
26:08Michele Sindona's
26:09working life
26:09began in Sicily
26:10towards the end
26:11of World War II.
26:12The story is well known.
26:14After the liberation
26:15of Sicily,
26:16the Allies entrusted
26:17important positions
26:18to mafia families
26:19who had been crushed
26:20by two decades
26:21of fascism.
26:22The aim?
26:23To halt communist influence
26:25and ensure
26:26the distribution
26:26of food.
26:28from a poor Sicilian
26:29family,
26:30young Michele Sindona
26:32bought a truck
26:33and began transporting
26:34contraband goods.
26:36You couldn't do
26:37that type of business
26:38in Sicily
26:39in the 1940s
26:40without the authorization
26:41of the mafia.
26:42So back then,
26:43he was already linked
26:44to the local mafia
26:44and already caught
26:45between the two worlds.
26:47At the same time,
26:49dozens of Italian-American
26:50mafiosi arrived
26:51in Sicily
26:52forced into exile.
26:54Among them,
26:55Lucky Luciano,
26:56who had agreed
26:57to leave American soil
26:58in exchange
26:58for his freedom,
27:00a sad return
27:01to his origins.
27:04In 1946,
27:05everyone had a finger
27:06in the black market.
27:07It was just a question
27:09of survival.
27:10In less than six months,
27:11I almost doubled
27:12my bankroll.
27:13I actually became
27:14a fucking banker
27:15like the guys
27:16on Wall Street.
27:17But I was just waiting
27:19for Lansky
27:19to give me a signal.
27:20Nothing more.
27:31While the fallen godfather
27:33played Wall Street banker
27:34in his home village,
27:35Michele Sindona
27:36was busy seeking out
27:37new avenues
27:38for organized crime.
27:41In the early 50s,
27:42having graduated
27:43from law school,
27:44he moved to Milan,
27:45the economic capital
27:46of a country
27:47in the throes
27:47of Reconstruction,
27:48and began a brilliant
27:50career as a lawyer.
27:53Post-war Milan
27:54had become
27:54a huge industrial city.
27:56It was the bridgehead
27:57of Italian industrialization.
28:00Milan was also
28:01a very open city.
28:03Workers came from the south
28:04to work in the plants,
28:05followed by lots
28:06of professionals,
28:07also from the south,
28:09who wanted to make
28:09a career in Milan.
28:12Accountants,
28:13attorneys,
28:14solicitors,
28:15and that was how
28:16Sindona arrived
28:17in the city.
28:18In Milan,
28:20he opened up
28:21a small tax law firm.
28:24Then, little by little,
28:25he became the reference
28:27for rich Milanese,
28:28who didn't want
28:28to pay too much tax.
28:35How come Sindona
28:37was the best
28:37at this little game?
28:40Thanks to an intuition,
28:41which seems commonplace
28:44to us now,
28:44but which at the time
28:45was a genuine innovation
28:47in Italy,
28:48the use of foreign banks.
28:53Secret accounts,
28:55Swiss banks,
28:57money earned in Italy
28:59transferred to Switzerland,
29:01then placed in impenetrable
29:03financial systems
29:04with fallout points
29:06in Liechtenstein.
29:12In short,
29:13anywhere that
29:14the Italian tax authorities
29:15weren't allowed
29:16to investigate.
29:19Almost all companies
29:21in Italy maintained
29:22at least five sets
29:23of balance books.
29:24One for the taxmen,
29:26one for the banks,
29:27one for the minority
29:28shareholders,
29:29one for the board
29:30of directors,
29:31and one that contained
29:33the truth.
29:40Age 30,
29:41Sindona founded
29:42Fasco AG
29:43in Liechtenstein.
29:45This holding company
29:47was his
29:47black box,
29:48a legal entity
29:49that enabled
29:50the Italian tax lawyer
29:51to carry out
29:52his financial operations
29:53far from prying eyes.
29:56Sindona reveled
29:57in financial innovation
29:58and became an expert
29:59at it.
30:00He invented
30:00the back-to-back loan,
30:02a loan taken out
30:03with a bank
30:03in Switzerland
30:04or Liechtenstein
30:05and secretly guaranteed
30:07by dirty money,
30:08a perfect circuit breaker.
30:13The identities
30:14of account owners
30:15are hidden
30:16from the eyes
30:16of bank employees,
30:17not from top management.
30:19This is why
30:20smart depositors
30:21devise further screens.
30:23They operate
30:24through bearer shares
30:25companies
30:25set up for them
30:26by lawyers
30:27or accountants
30:28who have
30:28yet another screen
30:29received their instructions
30:31from phantom
30:32fiduciary companies
30:33which are protected
30:34by secrecy laws
30:35more rigorous
30:36than those
30:37that apply to banks.
30:43In the early years
30:44of the Cold War,
30:45Italy was the
30:46geopolitical fault line
30:47between the two blocs,
30:48Western and Soviet,
30:50the theater of a fierce
30:51political battle,
30:52made even fiercer
30:53when the Italian
30:54Communist Party,
30:55aligned with Moscow,
30:56seemed on the verge
30:57of taking power.
31:02Armed with his
31:03visceral anti-communism,
31:06Michele Sindona
31:07worked his way
31:07into Freemasonry,
31:08where he rubbed shoulders
31:10with every circle
31:11of secret power
31:12in Italy.
31:17Freemasonry
31:17is like a trade fair
31:19where bankers,
31:21secret service chiefs,
31:22politicians,
31:23and businessmen
31:24swap information.
31:26But there is also
31:27members of organized crime,
31:28at the time,
31:30mainly Cosa Nostra.
31:33It was pretty much
31:34a case of mutual
31:35attraction among
31:36those with power,
31:37and the mafia
31:38is an element of power.
31:40But it was the same
31:41thing in the provinces.
31:43On the main squares
31:44of villages,
31:45every Sunday morning,
31:46you'd see the mayor,
31:47the member of parliament,
31:48the pharmacist,
31:50the police chief,
31:50and the local mafia boss
31:52all together.
31:58In the early 50s,
32:00Michele Sindona
32:00already felt that
32:01Italy was too small
32:02for him.
32:03To fill his address book
32:05with even more names,
32:06he made a trip
32:07to New York.
32:13What Sindona did
32:14in the early 1950s
32:16in the United States
32:17was build up a network
32:18of right-wing politicians,
32:20and then a network
32:21with bankers.
32:23He realized that
32:24if he wanted to be
32:24a big international financier,
32:26which is just what
32:27he wanted to be,
32:28you had to get close
32:29to the dollar.
32:33During his stay
32:34in New York,
32:35Sindona had another
32:35meeting to attend.
32:37On the eve of a massive
32:39upheaval in the region,
32:40he met with members
32:41of the Gambino family,
32:42one of the branches
32:43of the American
32:44Cosa Nostra.
32:47The East Coast Mafia
32:49was preparing
32:49a vast network
32:50of heroin trafficking
32:51with, as the hub,
32:53a paradise island
32:54in the Caribbean Sea.
32:59Cuba.
33:08In 1952,
33:09the man in power
33:10in Havana
33:11was the dictator
33:12Fulgencio Batista.
33:15With his brutal regime
33:17and ruthless secret police,
33:18in Cuba,
33:19arbitrary decisions
33:21and corruption ruled.
33:23Batista had a history.
33:25During Prohibition,
33:26Cuba was a hub
33:27of alcohol smuggling
33:28into Florida.
33:30Fulgencio Batista
33:31had forged a friendship
33:32with a man
33:32we've already come across,
33:34Meyer Lansky himself.
33:36Once in power,
33:38Batista offered Lansky
33:39a post as a governmental
33:40advisor for the development
33:42of the island.
33:45In Cuba,
33:46the Mafia established
33:47the same system
33:48it had put into place
33:49in New York
33:49in the 1930s,
33:51only this time
33:51on the scale
33:52of a country.
33:54Lansky became
33:55the chief architect
33:56of an effort
33:57to use the instruments
33:58of the state
33:59to develop
34:00a new political economy
34:02in Cuba
34:03based around
34:04tourism,
34:06gambling,
34:06nightlife,
34:07the development
34:08of drug trafficking,
34:09prostitution,
34:10and all of the
34:11adjacent vice markets
34:13that go with that.
34:14Havana was something
34:16unique in the history
34:17of organized crime.
34:19I mean,
34:19it was,
34:19they had a state.
34:31Honest gambling,
34:32I mean,
34:33good tables,
34:34beautiful environment,
34:36glorious hotels,
34:38you know,
34:39wide open bordellos.
34:40You know,
34:41they had built
34:41an empire.
34:42You know,
34:43they had built,
34:43you know,
34:45an adult Disneyland,
34:46a fantasy world
34:47for consenting adults.
34:51Lansky was at
34:52the center of this
34:53and he was personally
34:55significantly invested
34:57in the country
34:58and the centerpiece
35:00of this whole approach
35:01was a new
35:02development bank
35:04set up by Cuba
35:05called BANDES,
35:07the National Bank
35:08for Development,
35:09which was used
35:11for debt financing
35:13of infrastructure projects,
35:15roads,
35:15airports,
35:17hotels,
35:18casinos,
35:18and all of the
35:20infrastructure needed
35:21for this tourism economy.
35:24The BANDES
35:26tied mafia interest
35:27to the economic
35:27and social development
35:28of Cuba.
35:3028 new hotels
35:31were constructed
35:32in five years.
35:33Five casinos
35:34were opened
35:34by the mafia,
35:35the Capri,
35:36the Hilton,
35:37the Deauville,
35:37the Commodoro
35:38and the Riviera.
35:39The Riviera
35:41belonged to
35:41Meyer Lansky.
35:42It cost $14 million,
35:44$6 million of which
35:45were paid
35:46by the Cuban
35:46taxpayers themselves.
35:50They were so invested
35:52emotionally,
35:53financially,
35:54strategically
35:55in this model
35:56that the mob
35:57became blind
35:58to the weakness
36:00of the foundations
36:01of the model,
36:02in particular,
36:02the social foundations
36:04of the model.
36:09In the late 1950s,
36:11a growing number
36:12of the population
36:13excluded from
36:14the share of wealth
36:15began supporting
36:16the young guerreros
36:17fighting up
36:18in the mountains.
36:23Fidel Castro,
36:24Ernesto Guevara,
36:25and their brothers
36:26and sisters
36:27in arms
36:28advanced day by day
36:29on the capital.
36:30New York's
36:31mafia families
36:32at the head
36:33of a massive
36:33heroin trafficking
36:34network between
36:35Cuba,
36:36Europe,
36:36and the United States
36:37started to consider
36:38a change of alliances.
36:50In October 1957,
36:52at the Grand Hotel
36:54de Pal in Palermo,
36:55Sicilian and American
36:57mafia bosses
36:57gathered for a summit
36:59which would become
36:59a turning point
37:00in the existence
37:01of the mob.
37:03The main topics
37:03of discussion
37:04were the reorganization
37:05of heroin transport routes
37:07and the establishment
37:08of Palermo
37:09as a new trafficking hub.
37:13The American
37:15Cosa Nostra
37:16suggested that
37:16the Sicilian mafia
37:17follow its example
37:18in two things.
37:22The first
37:23was creating
37:23jurisdictions,
37:25dividing up territory
37:26according to competencies,
37:29and attributions
37:30of power.
37:33The second
37:33was getting
37:34into the drug business.
37:38During the meeting,
37:39the mafia decided
37:40they needed a financier
37:41to manage the earnings
37:43from the growing trade
37:44in heroin.
37:45And there was one man
37:47who knew the workings
37:48of hidden finance,
37:49dummy corporations,
37:51and other money-disguising tools.
37:55Michele Sindona
37:56became the banker
37:57of Cosa Nostra.
38:01In 1957,
38:03he took over
38:04the management
38:04of mafia money.
38:06Not laundering.
38:07There were already
38:08people in place
38:09who could do that,
38:10making illegal money
38:11look legal.
38:12This money needed
38:13to be invested
38:13so it would earn.
38:15So in 57,
38:16Sindona was asked
38:17to manage money
38:18for the mafia.
38:22The mafia saw Sindona
38:24as the key
38:25to the international
38:26banking system.
38:28And he knew
38:29that in working
38:30for the mafia,
38:31he would have his hands
38:32on colossal sums
38:33of money.
38:34Sindona was now
38:35in the middle
38:36of a nebula
38:37in which the great
38:37Milanese fortunes
38:38and mafia cash
38:40circulated,
38:40soon to be joined
38:41by Vatican money.
38:47In the early 60s,
38:49Sindona became
38:50close friends
38:51with the Archbishop
38:52of Milan,
38:53Cardinal Montini.
38:55In 1963,
38:57Montini was elected
38:58Pope under the name
38:59Paul VI.
39:02Sindona obtained
39:02access to the
39:03Holiest of Holies,
39:05the IOR,
39:06the Vatican Bank,
39:07and was placed
39:08in charge of the
39:09finances of the
39:10Patrimony of the
39:11Holy See.
39:15The Vatican Bank
39:18is an offshore
39:18located in the
39:19middle of Rome.
39:21Thanks to the
39:22relationships Sindona
39:24managed to forge
39:25with the Vatican,
39:27he was able to use
39:29IOR as another
39:30toolbox for operating
39:32across the world
39:34and attracting
39:35and multiplying
39:36big money.
39:41In 1964,
39:42Sindona went into
39:44business with a
39:44banker just back
39:45from London
39:46with some
39:46sensational news.
39:49The Eurodollar.
40:04Since the end of the
40:05war, the city of
40:06London had yet to
40:07return to its
40:08former glory.
40:09The pound sterling
40:10had lost value
40:11against the dollar
40:11and regulation
40:12was so strict
40:13that bankers
40:14could no longer
40:14play with the
40:15fortunes that
40:16came into their
40:16hands.
40:17After the
40:18Bretton Woods
40:18agreements,
40:19the British
40:19banker was
40:20bored.
40:24The life of the
40:25typical London
40:26banker was to
40:27come into work
40:28at about 10,
40:2930, 11 in the
40:30morning, check
40:33some papers on
40:34his desk, and
40:35then prepare to
40:35meet the lunch
40:36guests.
40:37And then you
40:38would go to the
40:39private dining room,
40:40have a long lunch
40:41with multiple
40:42wines, and
40:43everybody was home
40:44probably napping
40:46by about 3, 30
40:47or 4 in the
40:48afternoon.
40:50And it was a
40:52pretty leisurely
40:53and somewhat
40:55boring life, but
40:56not totally.
41:01But boredom didn't
41:02stop them from
41:03conspiring.
41:04A handful of
41:05city bankers
41:06would set about
41:06chipping away at
41:07the fine architecture
41:08of Bretton Woods
41:09by creating the
41:11Eurodollar market.
41:13Foreign investors
41:14were hence
41:15authorized to
41:15deposit and
41:16borrow U.S.
41:17dollars from
41:18British banks.
41:21A new banking
41:22space created a
41:23financial no-man's
41:25land.
41:27Operators were
41:28able to shift
41:29money with zero
41:30scrutiny or
41:31control.
41:32American regulators
41:33couldn't do a
41:34thing because the
41:35dollars were outside
41:36of their jurisdiction.
41:37Same for the
41:38Bank of England,
41:39since transactions
41:40were carried out
41:41in dollars, a
41:42currency from
41:42outside of
41:43Britain.
41:44The Eurodollar
41:45market was a
41:46highly secretive
41:47market, which
41:49allowed people to
41:50hide their
41:51identity, to
41:53hide the source
41:54of the monies, to
41:56hide the way in
41:57which the money has
41:58been transferred from
41:59one jurisdiction to
42:00another, and to
42:02hide the way in
42:03which the money is
42:03used.
42:04So you've created
42:05essentially a
42:06criminogenic
42:07environment in
42:08which it is
42:09possible for
42:11criminals to
42:13merge their
42:14funds with
42:15perfectly clean
42:16money.
42:17And inevitably
42:18that is what
42:19happened, because
42:21it was the
42:21criminals of this
42:22world who were
42:23amongst the first
42:24users of the
42:26offshore Eurodollar
42:27market.
42:31The staggering boom in
42:32deposits of
42:33Eurodollars marked the
42:34return of the
42:35British Empire.
42:36Only this empire
42:38wasn't colonial, but
42:39financial.
42:40And its heart was no
42:41longer Buckingham Palace,
42:43but the city of
42:44London.
42:46It was in the former
42:47dependencies of the
42:48crown, like the
42:49Channel Islands and the
42:50West Indies, that this
42:51new empire would spread
42:52out, until it had
42:53control of half the
42:55world's offshore
42:55banking.
42:58American banks moved
43:00into the city of
43:00London in large
43:01numbers during the
43:02second half of the
43:031960s, saying to
43:04their clients, look, if
43:06you want to earn big
43:06interests, we go to
43:08London.
43:09After that, Société
43:10Générale, Dutch
43:11bankers, Belgian
43:12banks, everyone
43:13moved to London.
43:14This was an example of
43:15bankers implementing an
43:16organized strategy, fully
43:18aware that they were
43:19breaking their own
43:20country's banking and
43:21financial regulations.
43:30And so it was that
43:32Michele Sindona suggested
43:33to the Pope that he
43:34discreetly invest the
43:35Vatican's money in
43:36euro-dollars via dummy
43:38corporations.
43:39The pontiff gave him
43:41his blessing and bestowed
43:42on him the title
43:43Mercator Senesis Romanum
43:46Curium Secens, in
43:49other words, banker of
43:50the Vatican.
43:53The servant of the
43:55underworld became the
43:56financier of God.
44:05From one tax haven to
44:07the next.
44:09In the mid-1960s, the
44:11British financial empire
44:12launched a new flagship,
44:14the Bahamas.
44:16The haunt of pirates in
44:18the 18th century and an
44:19offshore investment center
44:20during Prohibition, the
44:22Bahamas had a long history
44:23with illegality.
44:25And it's here that we
44:26rediscover the unsinkable
44:28financier of the American
44:29mafia, Meyer Lansky.
44:32The mobster had been
44:33forced to move to the
44:34Bahamas.
44:35After the Cuban
44:36revolution and the
44:37closure of his casinos,
44:39Lansky lost every last
44:40dime.
44:41And on top of that, he
44:43had also lost his old
44:44buddy and partner, Lucky
44:46Luciano, victim of a
44:47heart attack.
44:51In the 1960s, it occurred
44:53to Lansky and other
44:56members of the mob that
44:58there might be an
44:58opportunity to develop a
45:00new center of gambling and
45:03offshore financial
45:04movements.
45:07Nassau, the British
45:08colony's capital, was in
45:10the hands of a new kind of
45:11pirate, the Bay Street
45:12Boys.
45:13Their leader, Sir
45:14Stafford Lofthouse-Sands,
45:16was also a minister of
45:17finance and the so-called
45:19father of Bahamas tourism.
45:21The rulers of the Bahamas
45:24at the time were a clique
45:26of established white
45:28interests known as the
45:30Bay Street Boys, in which
45:32Stafford Sands featured
45:35very prominently.
45:36One of the islands that was
45:38particularly undeveloped was
45:40a scrubby, low-lying island
45:42in the north, called Grand
45:43Bahama.
45:44And this became the object
45:47of a new project led by
45:50Lansky in cooperation with
45:54Stafford Sands and others in
45:55the Bay Street Boys to
45:57literally develop a new
45:58casino complex.
46:00At the time, gambling was
46:02not allowed in the Bahamas.
46:04But by the time the hotel
46:06was built, the mob had
46:08worked with the Bay Street
46:09Boys to get the law
46:10changed. They'd literally
46:12corrupted them through side
46:14payments, retainers, legal
46:16retainers, and other forms of
46:18bribery.
46:20A casino was opened in the
46:22Lucayan Beach Hotel, a
46:24massive complex officially run
46:26by Stafford Sands and
46:28unofficially owned by others,
46:30among whom was Meyer Lansky.
46:34A key development around this
46:36time was the emergence of the
46:38euro-dollar market.
46:40This opened up important new
46:41opportunities for the mob to
46:44move money from the United
46:46States through the Bahamas into
46:49Europe, which was key in
46:50thinking about a transatlantic
46:52pipeline for drugs and other
46:54activities.
46:55Lansky had a specific need to
46:57launder money that was coming out
46:59of casinos and transfer it
47:01offshore.
47:02And so these banking
47:04institutions that were set up
47:05in the Bahamas were all ideal
47:06for that.
47:07This is a precursor to the real
47:10takeoff of haven banking in the
47:12Bahamas.
47:13The early days here are
47:14dominated by doing money
47:16laundering for organized crime
47:18and doing casinos and the kind
47:20of activities that organized
47:22crime is familiar with.
47:27In 1965, after the arrest of a
47:30mobster in Florida, the American
47:32police got wind of the Bahamas
47:33connection and tried to obtain
47:35information on cash flow in and
47:37out of the islands.
47:38The answer from the Bahamas was
47:40immediate.
47:41Stafford Sands and the Bay Street
47:42Boys had laws enacted on banking
47:44secrecy.
47:46London, in its role as protector,
47:49just let them do it.
47:52A promotional film from the time
47:54presents the fiscal good life
47:55Bahamian style.
47:59Until at least 1990, there's a
48:03contractual guarantee that no
48:06personal or corporate income tax,
48:08capital gains tax...
48:09No taxes on income, capital gains,
48:11real estate or personal property.
48:13And until the year 2054, no excise
48:16levies or import duties for companies
48:18registered in Freeport.
48:24One fascinating thing about the
48:25Bahamas is that the mob seems to
48:27have learned its lesson from Cuba.
48:30They recognized that they might not
48:35always enjoy the support of the
48:37Bay Street Boys, especially as the
48:40process of decolonization and the
48:43push for greater racial equality led
48:46to increasing electoral power for the
48:49black opposition.
49:03In 1967, born and bred Bahamian
49:06Lyndon Pindling was elected prime
49:08minister.
49:09As chance would have it, he was just as
49:12corrupt as his predecessor.
49:15We want to take a closer look at the
49:17casino operation in general.
49:21At the very outset, we did not like the
49:24fixed fee that the casinos paid.
49:27We would like to look at it now from the
49:30inside and see whether it would not be
49:32more advantageous to the country to negotiate a
49:38percentage.
49:42That model is now at the heart of how tax evasion
49:48and global finance works around the world.
49:53It doesn't necessarily today involve criminal
49:57actors in every instance, but the mob was
50:01there at the beginning, helping bring it into
50:04the world through this experience in the Bahamas.
50:13Meyer Lansky's gamble had paid off.
50:15He had established a system that would outlive him.
50:18In the following decade, the Colombian cartels went
50:21into business with Pindling, and the Bahamas would
50:24become a hub for cocaine smuggling into Florida and
50:27the United States, backed by a system of casinos, banks,
50:31and total immunity.
50:34And shines on the sky at that lovely sky.
50:42To commemorate these days of glory, the $10 banknote is
50:47adorned with the face of Stafford Sands, the $1 note that
50:52of Lyndon Pindling.
50:59As we entered the 1970s, new U.S.
51:02president, Richard Nixon, brought an end to the
51:05convertibility of the dollar into gold, all but abolishing
51:09the Bretton Woods Agreement.
51:11The values of currencies were now left to free market
51:13conditions.
51:14The controls that regulated the circulation of international
51:17capital were abandoned.
51:19A new period in financial liberalism had dawned.
51:27It was against that backdrop that Michele Sindona was preparing his
51:31masterstroke, the purchase of an American bank.
51:34He had set his sights on Franklin National Bank, the country's 20th
51:38largest bank.
51:42With branches in the Bahamas and other tax havens, Franklin gave Sindona the
51:47ability to shift all the money he managed in Italy for Cosa Nostra and the
51:51Vatican.
51:56But Sindona didn't abandon the Italian political arena.
52:00The strategy of tension implemented by neo-fascist movements plunged the country
52:04into chaos and bloody street battles with the far left.
52:08Terrorist attacks and assassinations of public figures weakened the already
52:12drifting Italian state.
52:14First there was terrorism, both far left and far right.
52:17Italy became a country of death.
52:19A supporter of the most right-leaning branch of Christian democracy, Michele
52:24Sindona was an open backer of Giulio Andriotti, Italy's most powerful
52:28politician and the most suspected of mafia connections.
52:33Andriotti was the most powerful politician in Italy, and he had links to Cosa
52:37Nostra.
52:39There was a time when journalists referred to Andriotti as he whose name starts
52:44with the first letter of the alphabet.
52:48During the years of lead, Sindona was convinced that Italy could and should shift to the right,
52:54the extreme right.
52:55He joined a fascist-inspired Masonic lodge with connections in the highest spheres of
53:00Italian politics and the Vatican, Propaganda Due, or P2.
53:05With Sindona's political and financial backing, P2 increased coup d'etat attempts and dreamt of
53:12installing strong rule and ridding Italy of its communists.
53:18Sindona interpreted Machiavelli in the worst possible way.
53:22He used the end justifies the means in the most detestable way.
53:28To get what I want, I will use the foulest methods possible.
53:40Convinced of his genius and of his ability to win the war against communism, at the very
53:45top in international finance and close to the divine light, Sindona suddenly fell.
53:51In 1974, due to highly risky stock market investments of his own making,
53:57Franklin National Bank was declared insolvent.
54:00Sindona's Italian banks collapsed in its wake.
54:04In 1979, Sindona was arrested in the United States for his role in the Franklin bankruptcy.
54:10He was charged with 68 counts of fraud.
54:13His financial collapse was a disaster for the Vatican and the mafia.
54:18Everybody dropped him.
54:21In Italy, Giorgio Ambrosoli, the lawyer appointed as liquidator of Sindona's empire,
54:27discovered the system's black box, hidden financial networks backed by multiple offshore companies,
54:33a holding company in Liechtenstein, trading companies.
54:36Everything was revealed.
54:38From his American prison cell, Sindona attempted to stop the investigations.
54:43Ambrosoli received anonymous threats, which he managed to record.
54:56In July 1979, Giorgio Ambrosoli was calmed down.
55:03When Andriotti was asked how he felt about Ambrosoli, he answered,
55:07he went looking for it.
55:09In other words, it's his fault he was killed.
55:15That says everything about the relations between Ambrosoli, power, and Sindona.
55:25In 1984, Sindona was extradited from the United States to Italy.
55:30In 1986, he was sentenced to life imprisonment for ordering the murder of Giorgio Ambrosoli.
55:37Two days after his sentencing, in his prison cell, Sindona drank a coffee poisoned with cyanide and died two days
55:45later.
55:52In the early 1980s, another great figure of the American mafia passed.
55:58Meyer Lansky's ventures in the Bahamas proved to be his last.
56:03Deported out of Israel, which had refused his law of return, he finished his life in Florida, cut off from
56:09the world and penniless.
56:11One of the last photos of him dates from 1975, walking his dog in Miami.
56:17The kid from the Lower East Side left with one last quip.
56:24I learned too late that it was a lot easier and more profitable to steal money from people legally than
56:31illegally.
56:37The Meyer Lansky and Michele Sindona saga prefigured the decade to come.
56:43In the 1980s, financial deregulation, the unprecedented volumes of illegal money that needed to be laundered,
56:51and the ease with which these funds would circulate, designed the new business model of organized crime.
56:59At the heart of this system, the tax havens.
57:03The age of the pioneers reached its end in Miami, and it was in Miami that the age of bankers
57:09was about to begin.
57:14This is the man's apartment, the new business model of it.
57:21This is the country's leadership here.
57:30This culture can find many moreсы on competition when it was born upon college,
57:30and it didn't
57:30a duty to choose to die.
57:31The men in my father in the Dominican Republic who did not success.
57:38This has been deemed super made häpead,
57:41and it had been Mongolians over the last.
57:44Legenda por Sônia Ruberti
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