Episode 3: The Great Siege

Malta is not a real democracy. People in general do not understand what democracy is, but think it is a vote in a general election or a referendum. They fail to understand that for democracy to exist, freedom of expression must come first.

A warm October evening in the letter History written in Stone, it's only a few days after Daphne's murder by car bomb. Night is falling, and amongst the palaces and churches, the tourists, bars, buskers and ice cream vendors, some exchange is happening.

A crowd is gathering, hundreds, then thousands of people from across our country, spontaneously drawn to mark their sorrow at what has happened in the last week, young old city dwellers and people from the villages. Many carry flowers or candles. Some sing as they walk, most are silent, all united by their shock at what has happened, also united by anger at the forces that persecuted Daphne and ultimately many

As the crowd reaches the statues, they throng around, circling them, filling the space. People begin laying candles on the ground, the flickering light from so many candles illuminating the foundations of the old stone. People bring photos of Daphne and lay them down to other Scribbled personal notes of remembrance on cards and tape them to the monument.

And I'm here too with my friends and family, amazed at how many people have turned out today. By reclaiming this holy space and making it our space, Deafhne's space, we are hoping to show that a new siege has begun, that we are once again under threat as a nation. Protests like this are the first signs that Deafney will be even more influential after her murder than she had been before it.

Do you remember when you first heard that Daphne had been murdered? Manwhell I do?

And of course the first reaction is incredulity, disbelief. But after the horror began to sink in and I realized that it must be true, there was another realization. I knew that this would be a turning point for the whole country, and very possibly a turning point away from democracy.

I was in London at the offices of BBC's Newsnight, where I was working at the time. When the news broke. There was a kind of silence in the office, a sense that the life of a great reporter had been snuffed out. And then the editor of the day says, get yourself to Malta now and I move, but I felt a sense of foreboding. I'm used to going to bad places, but a journalist being blown up in Malta

I had time to think. That's how it felt for me too, But this was in Moscow or Saint Petersburg.

It was a democratic EU country. I, like many other people, still remember where I was and what I was doing. No matter how much time passes, you do remember.

This is Jason ot So Party, a lawyer and former politician and an important player on what happens after Daphanie's death. He is a former MP for Molta's main opposition party, the Nationalists, and also one of Daphanie's most famous allies inside Parliament, known as a big campaigner against the government.

Corruption picture a multi's version of the actor Stanley Tucci. Heavily framed, glasses, bald head with an intense, subsessive interest in corruption and might call a crime. You can see why Jason makes a good lawyer. He has a necessary forensic memory for detail and the details of the day Daphney died, as something he has no difficulty recalling.

So about five and that's passed. Three in the afternoon, I started getting a floody of phone calls and I remember the first one was a police officer. His voice was crackling with emotion and he was crying and he was telling me in bits and pieces they've killed her, They've killed her, murdered. Whilst I was on this call, at the same time, I had a number of other people trying to get through to me. I was shaking, I remember, vividly shaking. It was a mixture of anger and fear.

And later that day, as the full scope of the crime became clear, another phone call came through from Daphney's husband, Peter, and.

Just imagine the husband of Deafney calling me on my mobile at the same time. You know what's happening all around you, and I froze. I admit I froze. I didn't know what to say. I simply stammered. Bottom line, Peter asked me if I could represent the family represent legally.

Already, within hours of her death, Peter and her sons were aware of the unequal battle they would be fighting to get justice. As we know, definitely had powerful enemies, and even those not directly involved in her death had incentives to assist in raising her legacy. In other words, Peter already fears the official channels won't deliver justice.

Peter told me, Jason, we do not trust the due to the magistrate to contact an impartial, independent, objective, unbiased inquiry, and the very first few minutes hours are pretty critical in such a crime.

So what's wrong with the duty magistrate In Malta?

The magistrate is crucial of a murder is to be correctly and professionally investigated. In the multi system, there is always a magistrate on duty, a senior legal official whose job it is to take charge of and preserve evidence when a serious crime is committed. It's a matter of timing that determines which magistrate will be assigned to which case.

Opinionated April thirteenth, twenty ten the silly life and shallow values of Consuelo Hera October eighteenth, twenty ten. It's official magistrate Herera is not to be trusted in a twelfth, twenty eleven, giving Consuelo Herrera and her Keystone cops a run for their money.

Not very diplomatic, and those are some of the more polite things that Definitely wrote about the magist.

Really.

In fact, Consul Herrera had already sued Daphnely for libel, although she ultimately withdrew the claim. But on the day that Daphne died, it was Consuelo Herrera who was assigned to secure the murder scene, appoint court experts, and take charge of the evidence.

So this is Jason as the party's first task. From Peter Carouina, Galicia and Daphne's sons get Magistrate Cherry Herrera of the case. Before any legs go cold, and while the evidence is still there to be gathered, get her off the case, whatever it takes.

I would say, round about eight o'clock, half past eight in the evening. I meet them in the lobby and the entrance.

The very same evening as Daphnie's murder. The magistrate summons the family to the courthouse. The fight to have the magistrate replaced has already begun.

One has to remember that the law courts at that moment were practically deserted, completely dark, because of course it's after office hours, so it's completely surreal, silent and aching to a symmetry.

At this after hours meeting at the law courts are Jason as party and from the family Daphne's sister Colin, Daphne's husband Peter, and Matthew, Dafnie's eldest son, the son who was the first on the scene when Defne was killed. It's still just hours since Daphanie's murder. Even to get to the courthouse, the family had to drive right past the bomb site near their house.

And again I must admit I didn't know what to say. I see these two gentlemen in front of me. One has just seen five hours before his mother being butchered in front of his eyes, and so I hugged Peter and Matthew couldn't utter a word, but I do remember saying to myself feeling a sense of sincere big admiration, And they were there, standing upright, very stoic, loucid.

The magistrate's office is open out of hours because of Daphnie's death. As they wait to be called, they can see senior government officials and politicians being called in for meetings with the magistrate, but Daphne's closest relatives, they are made to wait in the lobby.

And then as they wait, yet a number of Daphane's old enemies arrives.

And at one point we see the then Economy Minister Chris Cardona entering the law courts because he had been summoned to testify by the inquiring magistrate.

It's fair to say that Jason at Soparadi is not a fan of mister Cardona.

Chris Cardona sleazy character well known in criminal circus.

Daphne's investigations into Cardona's conduct are famous across the island, and her stories about him have already damaged his future as a major player in multice politics at this point, Cardona is one of the many people who was suing Deafne for libel.

He was pacing up and down the corridor. I remember it vividly. He was very, very nervous, very nervous.

What's the story behind the story here? Why is a cabinet minister present at a murder inquiry and why is he so nervous.

Earlier that evening, Cardona had been officially as summoned by the authorities investigating Daphne's murder. He was not arrested and left soon after. He has since said in an interview with the Times of Malta that given his hit history of clashes with Daphne, it was common sense to call him in. Chris Cardona did not respond to requests for an interview for this podcast, and he has consistently denied

We waited until close to eleven pm. By that time there had been no core degree and I was starting to become extremely angry because there were two people who, instead of mourning their loved one who had been assassinated some hours before, they were there all alone in the

And why is this so important to Jason as a party and Dafnie's family.

From uther party's viewpoint, it sets the tone. It's like the magistrate is telling the family, come to us while you are grieving, and then you can wait, even as the Maltese public is reeling in shock, even as daphnie enemies are called in first to be briefed or give statements. You the family can wait. But yes, there is a small success. The next day, a different magistrate is chosen.

I am still sad and upset. That so much time had elapsed, and especially the emotional toll on the family, And how.

Did the single most important politician on Malta who featured in Daphanese journalism react to her murder. Here is Joseph muskat the then Prime Minister.

We will leave no stone unturned.

In the video you can see him doing his best portraying concern, righteous indignation, His body language result the kind of political performance that definitely used merciless. But he also makes it clear that Daphne's murder is a law enforcement question, not a political crisis, and that his government does not have a case to answer in Daphanes's death.

There is one concrete proposal from the government, the promise of a one million euro reward about a million dollars for information leading to the arrest of the killers. Daphne's family are invited to endorse this offer, but the decline.

What I can tell you is that announcement that supposedly incentive was given very little prominence by the government's channels. It was literally left by the side. I doubt whether it was mentioned ever again. If I remember correct, it was only mentioned once. Definitely not more than twice.

The government continue to make a public show of taking Daphne's murder seriously while trying to get the news agenda back to other topics. But despite their efforts, the crisis management isn't working. This isn't going to be just a passing news event. The anger around Daphne's death is building, not fading.

Protests in Daphne's memory at the Great Siege Monument become a regular ritual. An international concern about freedom of the press in Malta also grows.

At the start of November, two weeks after her death, eight of the world's largest news organizations right to the Vice President of the European Commission, urging him to investigate her murder and the independence of the media in Malta.

Politicians like Joseph Muscat and Chris Cardona need to be seen to be mourning the woman that had previously called a liar and a gossip, who they had previously seen sued for libel.

And all comes to a head on the third of November. At Daphne's funeral, more than a thousand people gather to pay their final respects to Daphanie at the Rotunda perish Church in the town of Mosta. Flags are fown at half mast on government buildings and law courts across the country. The family refused to let Senia government figures, including the Prime Minister. At ten during the ceremony, Daphne's son Matthew suddenly rips a wreath that has been left as a

And at that moment, as Matthew tears the reef apart, it's clear that there is no chance of reconciliation between Daphne's grieving family Multi's political establishment.

But all this public anger and sorrow isn't yet being channeled into finding who actually killed Dafni Arwana Galizia, or to discovering whether any of Malta's political leaders played any role in her murder.

We do know that the assassins, the men on the ground who planted and detonated the bomb that killed her, are following a careful routine at this point.

Right after the assassination, Chinese George disposed of his Berner phone in the way he had on previous occasions, by throwing it into the harbor water next to the so called Potato shed, the warehouse that the gang used to hang out in. The shed functions like their office, equipped with armchairs, a fridge, and the guard dog. It's where people go when they want to ask the gang for

We also know that the killers are shocked just how big the political backlash to the murder. The murder they'd committed is murders like the Carmel Kirkop drive by shooting never made it to the international press and quickly faded from view even in Malta. After those murders there were no public protests, still less a funeral on the telly. There are good reasons to be optimistic at this point

That there's just the purely investigative forensic sidle, the politics of solving serious crimes and more that are a little more complex than that, As we're heard in the case of the drive by murder of carmelker Cop. Professional contract killings don't get carefully investigated in Malta, if they get investigated at all. If anyone is punished for a contract killing, it will be within the criminal fraternity tit for tat.

He had immediately after Daphnie's assassination, immediately took the initiative to contact his US counterparts in Rome, and thanks to the very close working relationship he had with them, the balls were set in motion for the FBI guys to come.

Over, including international andrism experts. It happens that an FBI anti terrorism team is in Rome for a training exercise and they arrive in Malta within twenty four hours of Dafney's death. There is also a team of investigators from the Netherlands who joined the case and Europol. The use organized crime and terrorism agency assists two and these international teams offer two things our local forces do not have, world class forensic technology and indifference to multice politics.

And if I remember correctly, one of the FBI guys had been involved in solving the Boston Meriton bombing. As a result of the triangulation of data.

And knowing that car bombs are often triggered using SIM cards. The FBI team got to work on recovering any traces that the killer cell phones might have left.

They got hold of all the data that was passing through two or three, if I remember correctly, mobile communications towers the hamlet of Pittnea and in the vicinity.

That's a huge amount of data, even in a rural area.

Normally it would be beyond the capabilities of multi law enforcement. How welcome this foreign help was to some in joys of Moscow's government is not clear.

They would eventually manage to narrow down all the thousands of phone calls and messages and data that was being transmitted in the vicinity of Pittnea at the time. At the precise time of Daphne's assassination.

And as we know, the calais had been sloppy, particularly Chinese George de Georgia waiting on the boat, he had used his personal cell phone registered in his name to make calls requesting a credit top up for one of his burner phones.

Out of all those tens of thousands of phone calls and text messages and WhatsApp messages, what have you three numbers which would eventually lead to three men.

The assassins Vincent Kough, Chinese George and his brother Alfred Deban. Police already know these men. Their role as players in the underworld was an open secret, and so with the FBI's evidence, Malta Security services begin to plan a heavily armed surprise raid what's known as a SWAT raid, a swoop that will enable them to seize all three men and show the world that Malta is capable of the size of action to protect its citizens.

The plan is discussed in a briefing for the Prime Minister and some of his closest advisers. The date for the SWAT raid is set December the ninth, less than two months after Daphne's death.

There is actual footage of the raid as it happened the Government SAI and in a joint operation by the Armed Forces, the Malta Security Services and the Multi Police Force.

Part of the video is from the point of view of one soldier approaching the Keyside building from the sea in a dingy. You can see his assault rifle resting on the side of the boat. The area looks run down, decrepit post industrial sheds with broken roofs, wooden warehouses with broken windows.

As they approach the potato shed, you can see officers climbing up onto the keyside, guns drawn and gesturing for someone inside to get down on the floor. It's filmed to be deliberately dramatic, almost in the style of Call of Duty video games, and the authorities have made sure to get multiple camera angles. There's even an overhead drawn shot showing a second swat team entering from the opposite side. Eventually you see all three of the suspects handcuffed and

But there is something odd about this surprise shock rate by the authorities, almost as if the criminals don't seem that surprised or shocked, almost as if they had known the cops were coming.

The hitmen before the arrests of December twenty seventeen, removed a lot of items from the potato shed. The mobile phones were found in the scene. They had been thrown into sea prior to today of the arrest.

Strange it's a known.

Fact that the hitmen had been forewarned that the hitmen had been given advanced knowledge.

Three contract killers, murderers of Malta's most famous journalists, apparently have access to intelligence about the most sensitive police investigation in modern multice history, an investigation.

Into them Digiorgio Brothers and Vince Mouscat. Not only that they were being monitored, not only that they will be arrested, but they actually knew the day when they will be arrested, and they actually knew that it would be first thing in the morning.

Vincent Lecough were way to testify that they were so confident about the exact timing of the raid that he got up especially early to make sure he would be at the potato shed when it took place. The last thing you want to do is to miss your own surprise shocks what.

Raid And so even as Dephanie supporters are marching for justice and international forensic experts are beginning to crack some parts of the case, Dephanee killers and the man who ordered her killing still appear to have the overwhelming advantage. They seem to know every move the investigating team made. Dephane's friends and family have a long road ahead of.

Them, And then There's the Dog That Didn't That's coming next.

Crooks Everywhere is a production of iHeart Podcasts, Topic Studios and Vespucci. It's reported and hosted by me Manuel Delia and John Sweeney. The senior producer is Leo Hornack. The producer is Maddie Hickish. Chris Denesh Kumar is the assistant producer. The story editors are Emma Federill, Matt Willis and Philippa Geering. The managing producers are Thomas Curry and Rachel Byrne. The voice of Dafnick Carvana Galizia is played by Ciena Miller,