The Merchant of Death

The Merchant of Death Viktor Bout was a Russian arms dealer who operated an extensive international arms trafficking network throughout the 1990s and 2000s, supplying weapons to conflict zones across Africa, Asia, and South America and serving as an arms broker to governments, rebel groups, and warlords regardless of their affiliation. He was arrested in Thailand in 2008 in a sting operation by U.S. DEA agents posing as representatives of the FARC guerrilla group and extradited to the United States, where he was convicted in 2011 of conspiracy to kill Americans and sentenced to 25 years. He was released in December 2022 as part of a prisoner exchange for U.S. basketball player Brittney Griner.