Real Life “Lord of War” Caught

Written by: Lance Carmichael, CC2K Staff Writer

Victor Bout, the real-life inspiration for the amoral arms dealer played by Nic Cage in Andrew NIccol's Lord of War, was arrested in Thailand yesterday off a tip by U.S. officials. Yay! USA! USA! USA!
The "lead graf" (as we journalists call it in the business) from the Times:

One of the world’s most notorious arms dealers, suspected of supplying weapons to the Taliban and Al Qaeda and of pouring huge arms shipments into Africa’s civil wars with his own private air fleet, was arrested by Thai authorities in a hotel here Thursday. His capture was prompted by a tipoff from the United States in connection with the procurement of weapons for the Colombian FARC rebels.

No word yet on whether wife Bridget Moynahan or brother Jared Leto has been arrested by lead Interpol agent Ethan Hawke.

Bout has been called "Africa's chief merchant of death" for all the shit he smuggled in there. He was an Air Force officer in the Soviet Union who got his start smuggling arms (and drugs, it sounds like) when the Soviet Union was disbanded and he converted a bunch of the Air Force's jets into his personal cargo company.

The headline of the story was "Big-Time Arms Dealer Arrested in Thailand." Carlito Brigante issued a statement in reaction to the story. "You think you Big-Time?!! Well you gonna DIE Big-Time!!"