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Viktor Bout only became a high priority for international authorities when his African arms dealings became very prominent. His criminal profile in the public eye reached a high-water mark with the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.¹

Former Soviet military officer Viktor Bout, the inspiration for Nicholas Cage’s character in the Lord of War, remade himself as an international arms dealer and blood diamonds trafficker following the break-up of the USSR. Using his air charter business to smuggle weapons into the world’s conflict zones (circumventing U.N.²

Police Lt. Gen. Pongpat Chayapan, head of the Crime Suppression Bureau, said Viktor Bout was arrested in a hotel in the capital, Bangkok, on a warrant issued by a Thai court following a monthlong manhunt. The warrant came out of an earlier one issued by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.³

Now, Viktor Bout seems to be back at work in Iraq. According to several sources, his planes, flying under the name of an airline company, British Gulf, likely to disappear as fast as it was created, are assuring “transport of materiel” for the American army.⁴

THE CHAIN OF EVENTS that brought Viktor Bout to Bangkok that morning had played out like moves in a high-stakes poker game, albeit one rigged in favor of Bout’s opponents. What follows is the story of how the “Merchant of Death,” so named for his role in fueling Third World conflicts with a seemingly inexhaustible supply of weapons and ammunition, was brought down by a months-long international DEA sting operation.⁵