The Bikini Serial Killer and a Feline Escape

How did a mystery man become the world’s most wanted criminal? A deep dive into the dark chronicles of Charles Sobhraj is a good place to start.

In a corner of Tihar, New Delhi — South Asia’s largest prison complex — a group of inmates found an unconscious cat. Over the next two days they nursed the cat back to health, and on the third day, it started walking again.

On March 17, 1986, just a few days later, a white car drove to Tihar’s main gate. One of the passengers was David Hall, a suave young Englishman who had been imprisoned for heroin smuggling and was now out on bail. Hall handed the two guards at the gate 100 rupees (less than a dollar at the time) and a gift of fruit, telling them he was there to see his friend Charles Sobhraj.

“It is Charles Sahib’s birthday,” he told them, using the honorific indicating respect. It was a Sunday afternoon and even though Sunday visits were not allowed, Hall was let in, thanks to the gifts and would depart with his friend — thanks to edible donations tested on a certain jailhouse feline.

Once idyllic Colima falls into a murder hole, and the casus belli of the drugwar–driven death is what comes before drugs.

It wasn’t an atypical series of events in Colima.

June 5, 2018 — another warm, summery day in that tiny Mexican state on the Pacific Coast.

First, the discovery that morning, on an unpaved street in the town of Coalatilla, of a male body hogtied with a chain, a single bullet hole in the back of the victim’s head, coup de grace–style. A few hours later, a group of armed men stormed a nearby restaurant, shooting a lone diner, leaving his lifeless body bleeding on the floor.

From super cheap divorces to a pottery paradise, here is the best of OZY this week.

With President Donald Trump declaring a national emergency over the border wall, the conviction of drug kingpin “El Chapo” and the U.S. debt topping $22 trillion for the first time … it’s been a whirlwind week in the never-ending news cycle. Here’s the best of the week on OZY to help you better understand this mad and rapidly changing world — or to give you a break from it all. Put your feet up this weekend and read these stories about intriguing people, surprising places, new experiences and some provocative thoughts. Here are our favorites on OZY this week.