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Very Bad People
- The Inside Story of the Fight Against the World’s Network of Corruption
- Narrated by: Richard Burnip
- Length: 14 hrs and 23 mins
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Publisher's summary
Arms trafficking, offshore accounts and luxury property deals. Super-yachts, private jets and super-car collections. Blood diamonds, suspect oil deals, deforestation and murder. This is the world of Global Witness, the award-winning organisation dedicated to rooting out worldwide corruption. And this is co-founder Patrick Alley's revealing inside track on a breath-taking catalogue of modern super-crimes—and the 'shadow network' that enables them.
Very Bad People is about following the money, going undercover in the world's most dangerous places and bringing down the people behind the crimes. Case by case, we see maverick investigators pitched against warlords, grifters and super-villains who bear every resemblance to The Night Manager's Richard Roper. One dictator's son spent 700 million dollars in just four years on his luxury lifestyle.
As they unravel crooked deals of labyrinthine complexity, the team encounter well-known corporations whose operations are no less criminal than the Mafia. This network of lawyers, bankers and real estate agents help park dirty money in London, New York or in offshore accounts, safe from prying eyes.
Patrick Alley's book is a brilliant, authoritative and fearless investigation into the darkest workings of our world—and an inspiration to all of us who want to fight back.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Cover-To-Cover, This'll Have You Mindblown!
- By Gillian on 02-03-17
By: Luke Harding
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Sleeping with the Devil
- How Washington Sold Our Soul for Saudi Crude
- By: Robert Baer
- Narrated by: Robert O'Keefe
- Length: 5 hrs and 59 mins
- Abridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 247
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 42
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Story4 out of 5 stars 44
Former CIA operative Robert Baer examines the dangers behind America's collaboration with Saudi Arabia. Nominally based on a "harmony of interests" - the Saudis sold their oil to the American government very inexpensively - what we offered in exchange has damaged our position in the Middle East and left our country vulnerable to economic and terrorist threats. Baer goes behind the scenes to show how the US willingly overlooked the corruption of the Saudi royal family, its financing of violent Islamic fundamentalist groups, and its bribery of American officials.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Ouch. The truth hurts.
- By Kevin Christy on 07-28-03
By: Robert Baer
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Operation Shakespeare
- The True Story of an Elite International Sting
- By: John Shiffman
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 63
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 54
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Story4 out of 5 stars 54
In Operation Shakespeare, investigative journalist John Shiffman traces a high-risk undercover operation launched by an elite undercover Homeland Security unit created to stop the Iranians, Russians, Chinese, Pakistanis, and North Koreans from acquiring sophisticated American-made electronics capable of guiding missiles, jamming radar, and triggering countless weapons - from wireless IEDs to nuclear bombs.
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3 out of 5 stars
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under our noses
- By Andy on 08-20-14
By: John Shiffman
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Backstabbing for Beginners
- My Crash Course in International Diplomacy
- By: Michael Soussan
- Narrated by: Maxwell Hamilton
- Length: 14 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 34
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 30
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 30
Soon to be a major motion picture starring Ben Kingsley and Theo James, the gripping true story of a young program coordinator at the United Nations who stumbles upon a conspiracy involving Iraq's oil reserves. "What made this episode in our collective history possible was not so much the lies we told one another, but the lies we told ourselves". Breaking a conspiracy of silence that had prevailed for years, Soussan sparked an unprecedented corruption probe into the Oil-for-Food program.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Eye-opener history made entertaining
- By Shelly Dee on 12-20-16
By: Michael Soussan
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A Kingdom of Their Own
- The Family Karzai and the Afghan Disaster
- By: Joshua Partlow
- Narrated by: P. J. Ochlan
- Length: 18 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 36
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 30
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 30
The key to understanding the calamitous Afghan war is the complex, ultimately failed relationship between the powerful, duplicitous Karzai family and the United States, brilliantly portrayed here by the former Kabul bureau chief for The Washington Post.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Fabulous
- By Charles S. on 10-23-23
By: Joshua Partlow
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Collusion
- Secret Meetings, Dirty Money, and How Russia Helped Donald Trump Win
- By: Luke Harding
- Narrated by: Ralph Lister
- Length: 11 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,057
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 945
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 945
Russia expert Luke Harding lays out the most in-depth look to date at the Trump campaign's dealings with Russia. Beginning with a meeting with Christopher Steele, the man behind the shattering dossier that first brought the allegations to light, Harding probes the histories of key Russian and American players with striking clarity and insight. Harding exposes the disquieting details of the Trump-Russia story - a saga so huge it involves international espionage, offshore banks, sketchy real estate deals, mobsters, money laundering, disappeared dissidents, and more.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Good summation, but gaps, patched with spin
- By Philo on 11-24-17
By: Luke Harding
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Freezing Order
- A True Story of Russian Money Laundering, State-Sponsored Murder, and Surviving Vladimir Putin's Wrath
- By: Bill Browder
- Narrated by: Adam Grupper
- Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 2,797
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 2,481
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Story5 out of 5 stars 2,472
When Browder’s young Russian lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, was beaten to death in a Moscow jail in 2009, Browder cast aside his business career and made it his life’s mission to pursue justice for Sergei. One of the first steps of that mission was to uncover who had killed Sergei and profited from the $230 million corruption scheme that he had exposed. As Browder and his team tracked the money that flowed out of Russia—through the Baltics and Cyprus and on to Western Europe and the Americas—they discovered that Vladimir Putin himself was one of the beneficiaries of the crime.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Red Notice Part II —- The Empire Struck Out
- By R. Alembik on 04-16-22
By: Bill Browder
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Missing Man
- The American Spy Who Vanished in Iran
- By: Barry Meier
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 8 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 88
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 76
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 77
In late 2013, Americans were shocked to learn that a former FBI agent turned private investigator who disappeared in Iran in 2007 was there on a mission for the CIA. The missing man, Robert Levinson, appeared in pictures dressed like a Guantánamo prisoner and pleaded in a video for help from the United States.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Important story
- By Richard F. Callahan on 08-03-16
By: Barry Meier
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Red Notice
- A True Story of High Finance, Murder and One Man's Fight for Justice
- By: Bill Browder
- Narrated by: Adam Grupper
- Length: 14 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 14,929
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 13,485
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Story5 out of 5 stars 13,472
Red Notice is a searing expose of the wholesale whitewash by Russian authorities of Magnitsky's imprisonment and murder, slicing deep into the shadowy heart of the Kremlin to uncover its sordid truths.
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5 out of 5 stars
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This is an absolute "YES" as your next read/listen
- By William on 02-07-15
By: Bill Browder
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War Dogs
- How Three Stoners From Miami Beach Became the Most Unlikely Gunrunners in History
- By: Guy Lawson
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 9 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 951
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 845
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 847
In January 2007 two young stoners from Miami Beach - one a ninth-grade dropout, the other a licensed masseur - won a $300 million Department of Defense contract to supply ammunition to the Afghanistan military. Incredibly, instead of fulfilling the order with high-quality arms, Efraim Diveroli and David Packouz - the dudes - bought cheap Communist-style surplus ammunition from Balkan gunrunners.
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4 out of 5 stars
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What is with those accents?
- By Reader808 on 08-22-16
By: Guy Lawson
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The Pirates of Somalia
- Inside Their Hidden World
- By: Jay Bahadur
- Narrated by: Sunil Malhotra
- Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 105
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 78
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Story4 out of 5 stars 78
Somalia, on the tip of the Horn of Africa, has been inhabited as far back as 9,000 BC. Its history is as rich as the country is old. Caught up in a decades-long civil war, Somalia, along with Iraq and Afghanistan, has become one of the most dangerous countries in the world. Getting there is a 45-hour, five-flight voyage through Frankfurt, Dubai, Djibouti, Bosaso (on the Gulf of Aden), and, finally, Galkayo. Somalia is a place where a government has been built out of anarchy.
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4 out of 5 stars
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from fisherman to felons
- By Andy on 07-31-11
By: Jay Bahadur
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Havana Nocturne
- How the Mob Owned Cuba...and Then Lost It to the Revolution
- By: T. J. English
- Narrated by: Mel Foster
- Length: 13 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,314
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 923
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 933
Havana Nocturne takes listeners back to Cuba in the years when it was a veritable devil's playground for mob leaders Meyer Lansky and Charles "Lucky" Luciano. Thanks to strong ties with the island's brutal dictator, President Batista, the mob soon owned the biggest luxury hotels and casinos and launched an unprecedented tourist boom. But their dreams collided with those of Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, and others.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Not for reactionaries
- By sunsolid on 02-17-09
By: T. J. English
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Kings of Cocaine
- Inside the Medellin Cartel - An Astonishing True Story of Murder Money and International Corruption
- By: Guy Gugliotta, Jeff Leen
- Narrated by: Paul Woodson
- Length: 14 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 207
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 182
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 182
This is the story of the most successful cocaine dealers in the world: Pablo Escobar Gaviria, Jorge Luis Ochoa Vasquez, Carlos Lehder Rivas, and Jose Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha. In the 1980s, they controlled more than 50 percent of the cocaine flowing into the United States. The cocaine trade is capitalism on overdrive - supply meeting demand on exponential levels. Here you'll find the story of how the modern cocaine business started and how it turned a ragtag group of hippies and sociopaths into regal kings.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Almost Perfect.
- By Nick on 10-31-18
By: Guy Gugliotta, and others
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The Man Without a Face
- The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin
- By: Masha Gessen
- Narrated by: Masha Gessen
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 652
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 570
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 565
The Man Without a Face is the chilling account of how a low-level, small-minded KGB operative ascended to the Russian presidency and, in an astonishingly short time, destroyed years of progress and made his country once more a threat to its own people and to the world.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A Preview of Authoritarianism in the USA
- By Jimmy O on 06-08-19
By: Masha Gessen
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McMafia
- A Journey Through the Global Criminal Underworld
- By: Misha Glenny
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 15 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 260
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 203
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 202
Misha Glenny's groundbreaking study of global organized crime is now the inspiration for an eight-part AMC crime drama starring James Norton (War and Peace), Juliet Rylance, and David Strathairn. In this fearless and wholly authoritative investigation of the seemingly insatiable demand for illegal wares, veteran reporter Misha Glenny travels across five continents to speak with participants from every level of the global underworld. What follows is a groundbreaking, propulsive look at an unprecedented phenomenon from a savvy, street-wise guide.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Worthwhile Overview
- By Roy on 05-14-10
By: Misha Glenny
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The Looting Machine
- Warlords, Oligarchs, Corporations, Smugglers, and the Theft of Africa's Wealth
- By: Tom Burgis
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 284
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 246
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 244
The trade in oil, gas, gems, metals, and rare earth minerals wreaks havoc in Africa. During the years when Brazil, India, China, and the other "emerging markets" have transformed their economies, Africa's resource states remained tethered to the bottom of the industrial supply chain. While Africa accounts for about 30 percent of the world's reserves of hydrocarbons and minerals and 14 percent of the world's population, its share of global manufacturing stood in 2011 exactly where it stood in 2000: at 1 percent.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Frightening, Fascinating, Fatiguing
- By Scott on 07-29-18
By: Tom Burgis
What listeners say about Very Bad People
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jim
- 12-04-22
An eye opening account of the foundation and work of Global Witness
Although I’ve read much on the global anticorruption movement, I found this account of the founding of Global Witness and some of their investigations truly eye opening and inspiring. Not just for the scandals they revealed, but for the depth of the passion and bravery of the work. And despite the seriousness of the topic, the delivery was lively and at times funny.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Kindle Customer
- 02-15-24
Stories like these, usually are swept under the rugs of the mainstream media studios.
The silence of the mainstream media and most politicians about the practices of powerful but corrupt corporations, makes them complicit to the ongoing corruption. It does not matter if they don’t directly or indirectly profit from this corruption. Their role is know what is going on and to work to prevent what causes damage to the public good.
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