Snowing in Bali (31 page)

Diego Amaral

Diego served no more than two years in jail for trafficking 8 kilos of cocaine. He was given leniency for turning police informant against his boss, Andre – giving Chief Caieron the information and evidence he needed to prosecute one of the big Playboys.

Diego's got the law benefits . . . guess he stayed no more than two years in prison, maybe less.

– Chief Caieron

Alberto

Alberto served 18 months in Bali's Kerobokan Prison, leaving there a confused and disturbed man, keener than ever to do one last big drug deal, then quit cashed up. Instead, he met people who opened his eyes to another way. Before long, he was looking back at his drug career with shame and remorse.

I still regret all the shit that directly or indirectly people suffered because I was a tool, a mechanism, a piece of the machine. If I could go back in time, I would never get involved.

Thank god I met the right people and started getting more spiri­tual and started to realise you don't need much to be happy.

Now, I just try to live my life without doing any harm to anyone, and just try to help people when I can. And thank god I have a business that is helping people, helping people to surf good waves, helping people to have a good time.

There are a lot of people – especially young people – if you say, ‘There is death penalty in Indonesia,' they still say, ‘Yeah, but there's a lot of people still doing it and I can do it too.' But they have no idea the cost of that Russian roulette that they are going to start playing.

Most people get involved because of the money, but it comes together with the glamour, the power kick and all the shit and it's not until you finish – when you look back – that you see it was all fantasy, all a big cloud of bullshit you were living.

And sometimes, unfortunately, it takes people going through the worst to learn that. If my story helps any of those kids to think twice before doing something stupid, this alone for me is worth everything.

Andre

Andre's most recent whereabouts cannot be revealed. Stay tuned!

American big-wave surfer Gabriel languishing in a jail cell in Kerobokan Prison – he'd watched his drug dealing friends get busted like it was a bad movie, then he went down after the police set him up.

Police Chief Fernando Caieron handcuffs Dimitrius at São Paulo airport, the moment he steps off the plane from Bali: ‘When I was handcuffing him, he turned his neck, looked at me and asked, “Why are you doing this? What did I do?” I put my hand on his shoulder and said, “Think it over, my friend!”' – Chief Caieron. After a tip-off, the Operation Playboy cop had spent days laying in wait for Dimitrius.

After a poolside ambush, police searched Andre's house and found a pile of nearly 80 zip lock bags with a green stripe across the top. Andre had tried to discredit the ‘evidence', but it was used against him when one of his horses was busted with 6000 ecstasy pills stashed in an identical green striped bag.

This sports equipment was confiscated from Andre's house. He was using kitesurfing kites, paraglider sails, surfboard bags, windsurfer booms and backpacks to smuggle drugs. Many young and fit-looking traffickers use these methods. ‘We don't find any drugs inside, but we already knew [Andre] used that kind of equipment to send and smuggle cocaine abroad.'

– Chief Fernando Caieron, Operation Playboy boss.

This is the symbol that distinguishes a Laskar Bali gangster. Many members have it either tattooed on their hand or arm. Laskar Bali is the holiday island's most notorious and violent gang. It has the majority of the lucrative security contacts in the tourist areas – the men in black at the front door of most clubs, bars and restaurants are usually with Laskar. There are at least five big gangs in Bali.

It's from this vantage point, on the bridge high above Padang Padang beach, that Rafael spotted Marco on the sand, before running down to threaten him with a knife after the Japan ecstasy con.

Rafael's fantasy house with a diving board off his bedroom balcony, and his large-breasted mermaid statues. The fourth statue is hidden behind the cabana.

‘You want ephedrine, hashish,
ganja
?' The fake drug dealers roaming the streets are always ready to pull any drug you desire from their pockets.

Fake drug dealer Wayan, who didn't want to show his face, spends the balmy nights riding his scooter around, hunting for a tourist to dupe. After a sale, he doesn't go back to that spot for several days to avoid bumping into an angry customer, though he has been bashed many times – it's a hazard of the job.

Drug dealing in paradise; the view from the foyer at the Nikko Bali Resort where Rafael and Alberto did many of their drug deals. Rafael often used it for his trysts too.

The Canggu Club, Bali's nod to the Hamptons. An exclusive members only club with a pool bar, tennis courts, a gym and restaurants – and where Rafael did deals with customers over lunch.