All Abdulle knew of Klaussen was that he and his group were building some kind of fisheries company, employing a large num- ber of local fighters and traveling back and forth to the coast. At the compound, the nature of the operation that had welcomed them was difficult to grasp. “They were this little team in this huge rambling house, in these sarong-like wraps, wearing no shirts, car- rying AK-47s, living like outlaws,” Gettleman said. (“They didn’t look like fishermen,” Abdulle said.) “Even though it sounded kind of fantastic, it wasn’t totally beyond belief,” Gettleman said. “Be- cause there had been a lot of talk about rehabilitating pirates.” For years, he knew, the United Nations and other agencies had talked of bringing back the fishing industry, but the idea still inhabited the realm of dreams and policy papers. “It’s almost like a white elephant,” Gettleman said. “How much energy would it take to freeze fish where it is a hundred degrees?”

A few of Klaussen’s employees seemed suspicious of the reporter who had arrived in their midst, but Klaussen was thrilled to have some new faces around. “Of course all the Somalis, they heard it was Americans and thought CIA,” he said. “I said, ‘No, it’s report- ers, they’re my friends!’” When he offered the journalists guns of their own, they politely declined.

Gettleman marveled at how comfortable Klaussen seemed to feel, operating in what appeared to be an environment entirely hostile to foreign companies. “I’ve worked all around Somalia and Galkayo is always one of the scariest places,” he said. It was also starting to develop a reputation as a place where Westerners were potential targets for lucrative kidnappings. “It had a bad vibe, just nobody was in control. These guys were taking advantage of the lawlessness to say fuck it, we’ll get our own guns, we’ll go wher- ever we want. They were like white pirates.”

Gettleman was left puzzled by Klaussen’s operation, with no way of knowing that he was in the middle of a burgeoning crimi- nal cartel being hunted by the U.S. government. “I got the vibe that he was almost earnest” about the work, he said of Klaussen. “He had respect, and he seemed interested in Somalia and excited