By the late 1990s, boot was a legend in the shadowy world of illicit arms dealing. His clients included rebel groups and militias from Congo to Angola and Liberia. He sold guns to Islamist Taliban insurgents and their foes in the pro-Western Northern alliance.
US officials are sending the “Merchant of Death” — a notorious arms dealer named Viktor Bout — back to Russia in exchange for the WNBA star’s release. We revisit our conversation with author Douglas Farah, author of “Merchant of Death: Money, Guns, Planes, and the Man Who Makes War Possible.”
This episode was produced by Hady Mawajdeh, edited by Matt Collette, fact-checked by Laura Bullard, engineered by Paul Mounsey, and hosted by Sean Rameswaram.
Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained
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