As The Loadstar prepares to take its Easter break, this is one for the holidays – The New Yorker’s in-depth profile of the world’s most notorious air freight executive: Viktor Bout. It’s a very long, but brilliant account of the rise and fall of an energetic, charming polyglot; from his beginnings as a translator in Mozambique, to the air freight company he founded in Sharjah following the break-up of the Soviet Union, and his gradual embroilment in supplying arms to groups around the world.
Fascinating account of his eventual capture in Thailand, as he attempted to pull off one last deal in an arms industry that by its later days had become less profitable than the cashew business, such was the glut of supply. But separating the man from the myth remains difficult.
