'Merchant of Death': The Russian Spy Who Armed the Taliban and Outsmarted America

He armed warlords, dictators and terrorists on four continents, and for two decades no one could touch him. They called him the Merchant of Death. A quiet, multilingual former Soviet officer who built a private air force out of the wreckage of the USSR and used it to run the most prolific illegal arms network in modern history. AK-47s to the Taliban. Missiles to African warlords. Cargo planes landing in places Western governments couldn't reach, carrying weapons to wars the UN couldn't stop. This is the story of how a KGB-trained linguist became the most wanted arms dealer on earth. How he ended up working for the CIA while the DEA was hunting him. How a sting operation in a Bangkok hotel room finally put him in a US prison cell, and how a 2022 prisoner swap sent him home to a hero's welcome in Moscow — where he now sits in the Russian parliament. Follow the money. Follow the planes. Follow the bodies. This is the true story of Viktor Bout. ⸻ 🎬 CRIME LORDS — Cinematic investigations into the world's most dangerous men. Follow The Money. 🔔 Subscribe for new documentaries every month: [link] ▶️ Watch next: Semion Mogilevich: Putin's Puppet Master — [link] Khun Sa: The Opium King Who Built an Army — [link] Carlos Lehder: The Madman Who Built the Medellín Cartel — [link]