Clangold (2026) s01e02 Episode Script
Inside the Clan
THIS SERIES CONTAINS
RE-ENACTMENTS.
SOME PEOPLE'S VOICES
WERE DISGUISED
TO PROTECT THEIR ANONYMITY.
[dramatic music playing]
The hunter and the hunted.
Both are seen as stars.
Like Billy the Kid, or whoever.
Nowadays, everyone would wanna
take a selfie with him.
Maybe even the sheriff
who shot him.
With heroes, you can see them
as good guys or criminals.
But in either case,
people want a photo.
So
[energetic music playing]
Episode 2
Inside Clan
[suspenseful music playing]
[André] We got a tip
that the coin, or parts of it,
were in the basement
of a shop in Berlin-Neukölln.
[indistinct radio chatter]
-[indistinct yelling]
-[officer] Police!
ANDRÉ BLUHM
DETECTIVE CHIEF INSPECTOR
But we searched there
and we couldn't find it.
That was very frustrating.
[Katrin]
During the surveillance period,
we'd also spotted W. Remmo.
We thought that was somewhat
out of the ordinary.
KATRIN FAUS
SENIOR PROSECUTOR
They are well acquainted
with our methods, so much so,
that some of them can
even identify the police
investigators by sight.
In my case, I was paying someone
2500 euros a month
to get police intel.
SHARO
EX-CRIMINAL AND INFLUENCER
For example, when and where
I was being followed,
when it was okay
to travel by car
and when it wasn't.
I did that up to a point,
then I said
I wouldn't keep paying.
Two days later, I was arrested.
[indistinct radio chatter]
[Burkhard] The vast majority
of police officers
are upstanding
and would never allow themselves
to be bribed
or influenced in any way.
I'm also aware of cases
where criminals attempted
to bribe police,
and when they refused
the money
BURKHARD BENECKEN
LAWYER
they were put under
immense pressure.
[tense music playing]
It was clear to us that
many people from this family
were involved in the robbery
to some degree.
But we didn't have
sufficient information
for pressing charges.
To do that, you have to be able
to prove with certainty,
you were in this museum
on that evening,
and you took the coin.
[ambulance siren wailing]
As we know, clan-related crime
has existed in Berlin
for many years.
At some point,
it was clear that there needed
to be a police precinct
exclusively dedicated
to dealing with these families.
That was not our field.
We needed the expertise
of clan specialists
to break it down for us.
What do the family trees
look like?
How is everyone related?
When we're surveilling them,
we need to know things like,
why are these people
together now?
What does their day-to-day
look like?
What lessons
can we learn from this
to find the gold coin
and make convictions?
[Markus] I worked in
the Robbery Squad until 1993.
MARKUS HENNINGER
DETECTIVE CHIEF SUPERINTENDEN
First in the burglary
department,
and then eventually
investigating stolen goods.
During that time,
I started noticing
that the same names
kept coming up.
We also approach people
who are causing friction
and trouble within the scene.
And does that deter them?
Well, we've apprehended
over a hundred people,
and over 50 are under arrest.
One family became particularly
notorious for property crimes.
that was the Remmo family.
I had every registered member
of the Remmo family,
who was residing in Berlin,
thoroughly researched
and investigated.
Around a third of them
had police records.
Then my boss asked me to take
a closer look
into their backgrounds.
This led me to discover
that it wasn't just about
property offenses, burglary,
and handling of stolen goods.
There was also drug trafficking,
extortion,
and other organized crime.
I saw that these
were almost entirely people
who'd come as refugees
from Lebanon.
[regional music playing]
Up until the point that
I began working on this case,
I hadn't had
any professional dealings
with stateless
Lebanese refugees.
[Ahmad]
The families who fled with us
AHMED MOHAMMED
BODYGUARD
are the same families
that are now known
throughout all of Germany
as "clan criminals".
The Remmo family, Ali Chan,
Omeirat, Al-Zein
When those families were
looking to flee
their circumstances
for a better life,
they all supported each other
and advised one another
on where they should move.
And many of them would say,
"Berlin, Berlin."
So, because of that,
it was important to my mother
that we go to Berlin.
[female reporter]
22 asylum-seeking-families
still live here.
In the first-floor
lives the Remmo family,
with eight children.
Sure, we were given
a residence permit.
And sure, we had a roof
over our heads.
But the German citizens
didn't want us here.
[female reporter] At first,
the Remmo family was willing
to let us film
in their apartment,
but then they got worried
that they'd be forced
to vacate the home and move
into a refugee shelter.
We were
forced to do everything
on our own.
[male reporter]
It's hard for the teenagers,
in particular,
to overcome the shock
of sudden immersion
in German culture.
They can't work.
They don't go to school.
They can't do anything.
Sitting in the corner,
doing nothing,
waiting to make
something of ourselves,
it was unbearable.
We couldn't do that.
[man on TV] Around 35 men
carrying crowbars
and baseball bats.
The Lebanese are
the most aggressive.
[male reporter] Criminal
proceedings are now underway
against 60%
of his compatriots.
[man 1]
What do you have there?
[man 2]
It's just an airsoft gun.
[Ahmad] I didn't think twice
about my violent,
aggressive behavior.
What should I apologize for?
That I lived
the way I felt I had to?
It was also
a learning process for me,
I had to learn
to not be violent.
[Mohamed] Why are some families
more prone to this?
I know people from Neukölln
who grew up
in precarious circumstances
but didn't turn to crime.
They faced discrimination,
but didn't become criminals.
No work permit, not criminals.
Threats of deportation,
still not criminals.
MOHAMED CHAHROUR ACTOR
& AUTHOR "CLANLAND"
So, what's the reason?
Which factors are criminogenic?
What led to them
breaking into the museum?
And why do others
not fall into criminality?
I think it depends
on the nuclear family.
That's where
socialization takes place.
Now a days, when the next young
person is ready to join up,
he has much easier access,
since there's
an existing network.
It could be within the family,
and if not,
he's from the Mardelli
ethnic group.
That alone opens many doors
in the underworld.
Yo, anybody want this?
[Mohamed]
There are nuclear families
where people are
and were encouraged to join.
But these families
are living off these clans,
they depend on them.
What I do think
deserves criticism
is when people notice
criminal activity
and say,
"That's none of my business.
If I say something,
he'll wind up in prison,
and I'll be the reason
he serves eight to ten years,
so you know what
I'll just stay out of it."
[tense music playing]
[female newscaster]
These are the three men
most likely to know
where the gold coin is
and whether it's still
in one piece.
The police released
this CCTV-footage today.
It shows the alleged suspects
as they enter the platform
at Hackescher Markt
train station.
From there, they're seen
crossing the train tracks
to the museum.
From an investigative
standpoint,
we had to think carefully
about whether or not
to publicize these videos.
Because there was a risk
that the suspects could
become even more cautious.
[André] We had hoped that
witnesses would come forward
after the release of the video,
but unfortunately, they didn't.
But then we received a tip
from an anonymous informant.
The informant told me
that he believed
the culprit in question was
a member of the Remmo family.
They were confident
in that belief
because it was an individual
who was particularly
recognizable
due to the way they walked.
And then we received another tip
from an anonymous source
that suggested
who was responsible
for safeguarding
the stolen coin.
They also turned out to be
members of the Remmo family.
We looked into this,
trying to determine
if these informants
were just playing us
and analyzing our responses.
If we get the sense
INVESTIGATOR
LKA BERLIN
that an informant
is trying to manipulate us,
we won't let that happen,
we'll shut it down.
I don't let them fool me.
[Katrin] A tip from
an informant in and of itself
isn't enough to arrest somebody.
However,
it is often used to guide
the direction
of our investigative approach
in the search
for conclusive evidence.
[André] Basically, the concern
with the coin was,
it couldn't be sold
in one piece.
That was clear.
That meant it had to be
split up somewhere.
But where would that happen?
Could we find out
through surveillance?
Who would sell it, and to whom?
What would they do with it?
If you go to a jeweler
with that amount of gold,
what happens is,
he calls the cops.
But the clans know where
they can take that much gold
without any questions.
They know which dealers
they can sell it to.
[Katrin] One can only begin
to investigate
and understand organized crime
if you know something
about criminal structures.
For that, I needed
the help of specialists.
[suspenseful music playing]
I've been a police officer
for over 20 years.
I've been working
in the organized crime unit
for nearly that entire time.
"Remmo family expert"
isn't an official job title.
But that's essentially
what I am. That's my life.
INVESTIGATOR
INVESTIGATOR ORGANIZED CRIME
My decision to enter
this profession
was largely driven
by my desire to be of service.
I wanted to help the victims
of organized crime.
By that point, the family
had already committed
quite a few crimes.
There were a lot of
high-profile jobs so to speak.
they ranged from bank raids
to robberies and jewelry heists.
Certain branches of the family
really do stand out
as running the operation.
And from what I've seen,
they always work closely with
members of their own family.
Whether that be a cousin,
a brother, or an uncle.
Many of the male family members
have had repeated run-ins
with the police.
[Katrin]
Thanks to our colleagues
specializing in organized crime,
we obtained the information
we'd been lacking
about the family's structure.
And it became apparent that,
within this family,
there is a core group of people
who make their living
exclusively
through criminal activity.
Almost all
of the second-generation
family members are German.
They were born here,
they grew up here,
and they have
German citizenship.
[investigator]
With a family-based structure,
you can't just say, "I
forbid you from being a clan."
And we can't use
the term "gang",
because these people
aren't necessarily
coming together
solely for the purpose
of committing crimes.
This means that
the categories of offense
involving the formation
of a criminal organization,
which could open up
many avenues of investigation,
must be ruled out.
They can always use the defense,
"I can't be held responsible
for the actions of my family."
It is my belief
that the way the media
portrays clan leadership,
differs in many respects
to what we actually experience
in our policing of it.
Issa Remmo is often called
the head of the family.
But throughout
our investigation,
we have never actually found
any confirmation
that the whole Remmo clan
views him as such.
On the contrary,
we believe that there are
in actuality,
several smaller branches
that are each led
by the eldest members
of the extended family.
The reality of the situation
is that there are other leaders
who are much more
successful than Issa.
And even though it's not
discussed in the media,
which would ultimately
be bad for business,
I think there are
a lot more powerful figures
operating behind the scenes.
Everyone has his specialty.
For example, one family member
might be more involved
in planning the crimes,
while another tends
to stay in the background
and is more involved
with real estate ventures.
Another might be
making a name for himself
in the music business.
[energetic music playing]
[André] A few weeks
after the break-in
at the Bode Museum,
AK Ausserkontrolle,
a rapper from Berlin,
released a video.
In it, he's showing off
the gold coin,
put on display
in a Mercedes Benz G-Wagon.
[AK] All right!
Let me see her.
Yeah, bro!
Drinks are on Elizabeth tonight!
[chuckles]
[Katrin] The video
wasn't only a middle finger
pointed at the investigators.
It was, of course, a statement.
"Drinks are on
Elizabeth tonight."
That's the first thing
he says in the video.
What a poser. [laughs]
[laughing]
A rap?
Ding, ding, ding.
We got the coin! Wow!
[rapping in German]
I'd never heard of this guy,
but I mentioned it to my kids,
and they knew him. What?
[rapping in German]
I rap about
AK AUSSERKONTROLLE
RAPPER
real stuff,
stuff me and my boys do.
Epic boosts we did at Media
Markt, Saturn, jewelers
You know.
[André] What's interesting is,
some of those guys are criminals
with links to the Remmo clan.
And that's why we were thinking
they might actually
have the coin.
[rapping in German on radio]
We had to look closely.
Who is AK Ausserkontrolle?
Could he have done it?
Does the coin even look
like this anymore?
What kind of car is that?
Where was this filmed?
Are these guys new suspects?
They'd thrown the coin
from the railroad platform,
down to Monbijou Park.
The thing was
completely wrecked.
It couldn't be
in such mint condition.
That couldn't be it, after all.
And the fact that this cost us
all this wasted effort
was just so annoying.
[AK] Yeah, bro!
Drinks are on Elisabeth tonight!
Let's go, baby! Whoo!
Unbelievable.
THOMAS SCHNEIDER
SECURITY GUARD
Unbelievable! [scoffs]
[soft dramatic music playing]
It couldn't be.
I was almost ashamed
that I was there.
That I was in the museum
when the coin was stolen.
And who's singing that song?
They're the clan?
[AK rapping in German]
Who are the kings? ♪
Who's showing the gangsters
how it's done? ♪
Who's behind the wheel ♪
And drives
into the Apple Store? ♪
People never wanted
anything to do with us.
ROOZ LEE
HIP-HOP-JOURNALIS
They're like,
"Ugh, those thugs."
Most of them are scared of us,
they're paranoid.
[Rooz] Maybe because
you were a little too real?
[gun shot]
[suspenseful music playing]
-Have you seen the video?
-I saw it, yeah.
It cracked me up.
[Sharo] 20 years ago,
they made fun of German rap.
But at some point
over the years,
people finally realized
there was serious money
in it, and power, too.
You can reach people
through it, move them.
Earlier, we took aim
at politicians
or rapped about things
close to our hearts.
Today, they're all like,
"Tilidine and cocaine's cool."
[Ra'is] That stuff's like
totally glorified.
Seriously, dude!
You should see
how they upload stories
of themselves mixing
Tilidine with Sprite,
and it suddenly turns violet.
People see that and go,
"What is that? I wanna try it."
RA'IS
RAPPER
Big mistake, I mean, seriously.
Wallah, hundred percent wrong.
[Sharo] Yeah, unfortunately,
positive messages
-don't make you money.
-For real.
It became a kind
of propaganda machine.
I can't make money
rapping about poverty.
But if I talk about
Gucci caps, Rolls-Royce,
bling-bling, Tilidine,
cocaine, blah, blah, blah,
the cash just flows right in.
[investigator]
I know that an uncle
of one of our suspect's
works in the music industry
and has actually
had a lot of success there.
Almost every gangster rapper's
backed by a big family.
That's fire, dude.
The media's really blown it
out of proportion,
and that works out well for him.
But at the same time
the whole thing
also gets played down,
like, "It's not that dangerous".
[Hiwa raps in German]
At parties in the cities ♪
On snuff, on pills
On weed, on cigarettes ♪
On weed, on K-Special
On stable supply chains ♪
Delivered as ordered
Fuck the state even deeper ♪
Played by actors
and rappers in songs ♪
[man] Cut.
[woman] Should we cut?
[chuckles]
[Omar] Hell yeah, dude.
[laughs]
[Hiwa]
When you grow up in a place
where people make quick money
HIWA
ACTOR AND RAPPER
doing a professional training
for three years
feels wrong, like
the pay-off's too long-term.
In the circles we grew up in,
it's kind of like--
how should I put it?
Immediate success is more
important to us.
And you're also
surrounded by examples
to compare yourself to.
Like, so-and-so
from down the block
drives a Mercedes now.
And here you are,
still going to work
by bus every day.
Some people earn six-figures
within a few months,
some even earn seven-figures.
SERDAR ILHAN
ACTOR
It's obviously worth it
financially,
but what kind of pain
are you causing?
It's dirty money, after all.
Can you invest it?
Will the tax office
come down on you,
will the cops come knocking
on your door?
What do you do
with all of the money?
Have you ever thought about
putting aside some savings?
[AK] Sure, but you always end
up using it, you know.
You know what I mean?
The pile gets smaller,
but then you score again,
you make another hundred K,
and then you spend it
all over again.
I've never met anyone
who's saved up money
from all this
and then managed to build
a business for themselves,
like open some shops
or something,
going from underground
to above-ground.
-You know what I'm saying.
-[AK] I know people!
[tense music playing]
[man on set] Gimme a hand.
[Omar] One, two, three.
[Sharo] Let me put it this way,
the Mardellis,
people from the village
of Rashidiya, in Türkiye,
are hard-working.
They're businesspeople.
They know how to
you know, like they could sell
ice to an Eskimo.
And you know, the Mardellis
aren't like the Italian mafia,
the 'Ndrangheta or Gomorrha,
they're still decades away
from becoming that.
The Italians are operating
on a higher level.
They're heavily involved
in international real estate,
international construction.
But it's not like the Mardellis
won't get there eventually.
They will,
it's only a matter of time.
It might take ten years,
maybe 15 or 20.
If you compare clan crimes
with the Mafia,
there are definitely
similarities,
but also major differences.
The Mafia has simply
been rooted in its home region
for much, much longer,
in some cases,
since the 16th century.
The clans already had problems
in their places of origin,
we see that
in the Mardin Province,
in Türkiye, also in Lebanon.
There had already been
a significant level
of criminal activity there.
Shootings, blood revenge,
a lack of education
and integration,
all of these were
already present in Beirut.
And for the most part,
they lived in that
same neighborhood,
in the refugee camp,
in the slum, where
my family lived at first.
Living there meant
you had to pack up
and leave several times,
and everywhere you went,
you heard,
"You are not welcome here,
or here, or here, or here."
And in the end,
you don't have access
to all the things you need
to be a part of society.
[Sharo] We were excluded
in Türkiye,
we were excluded in Lebanon,
now the third generation,
the second or third generation,
comes to Germany
and gets the same treatment.
So they take what they want,
that's the response.
[whirring]
[singer singing
in foreign language]
[Katrin] When it comes
to this family,
there's ultimately
a lot of criminal activity
that slips through our fingers.
[Markus]
Whenever there's an offense
where only witness
evidence remains,
especially with crimes
against the state or extortion,
where it's important
that witnesses testify,
oftentimes witnesses eventually
retract their statements.
Either money is paid,
or they're intimidated,
and in the end,
there's nothing left
to show in court.
[Katrin] In contrast,
a singular, concrete act,
such as this theft
that's something
that could be proven.
That was our point of access,
so there was more
at stake for us
than just the crime itself.
[tense music playing]
And at the same time,
these crimes are like
a kind of rite of passage.
[investigator] These thefts
were like a claim to power,
a way of establishing
a foothold in other areas
in order to maximize profits.
Well, personally,
acquiring gold has never been
all that important to me.
I loved cars,
a beautiful V8, bi-compressor.
That was my thing.
If I saw my rival driving a car
with 500 horsepower,
I instantly had to go
get one with a thousand.
So that he couldn't get
anywhere close to me.
I just want to be someone.
I feel like I've been oppressed
for decades, centuries.
I wanna show off.
14 WEEKS AFTER THE THEF
ORIGINAL FOOTAGE
[Katrin] Suddenly,
there was this moment
in the investigation
where they made the one mistake
they couldn't afford to make.
[André] From the traffic
accident report,
we were able to establish
that there was
a dashcam recording,
taken from a taxi,
which revealed that our suspects
were involved in a street race
with another vehicle.
[engine revving, crashes]
[horn honking]
And what did they do
after the traffic accident?
[siren wailing]
[André] They abandoned the car
and ran away.
[tense music playing]
[Katrin] After that,
the vehicle was impounded
by the police
and taken to the lot.
That's a fenced-off
and guarded police compound.
[suspenseful music playing]
[footsteps thumping]
[suspenseful music playing]
[hissing]
[car door closes]
[André]
The security guard noticed
that two unidentified people
had come and sprayed
the car with foam
and cut out the airbags.
[tense music playing]
We come to work, hear that,
and go, "Unbelievable".
[tense music playing]
[Katrin] That's a common method
criminals use
to destroy all traces of DNA.
The airbag, for example,
could've been swiped for DNA
that experts could use
to identify the driver.
We asked ourselves,
why is it so important
that they remove any way
of connecting them to the car?
So that seemed
to be a good reason
to take a closer look
at this vehicle.
[camera shutter clicking]
Which we did,
and we found traces
of gold.
[singer singing
in foreign language]
[Katrin] The gold dust
found in the car
put added pressure
on our investigation.
It became clear to us
that the gold coin had,
in all likelihood,
been split up into pieces,
and we had to act quickly.
[clicking]
If we didn't find
at least some of it,
our key piece of evidence
would be missing.
HEAD OF OPERATIONS
SWAT BERLIN
We were informed
that they had a hot lead,
and that we should prepare
for an operation.
And then our work began.
For a while, biker gangs
and Arab clan families
were the most powerful forces
in this city.
Then Albanian clans arrived,
Chechen families,
Russian organized crime.
The city's underworld
is constantly changing.
That said, around 50%
of our current operations
are still triggered by around
ten to 12 Arab clan families.
In the past, I made sure
that we had communication
with the clan leaders.
However, the younger members
didn't want to continue
this kind of communication.
They don't care about
the hierarchies in their family,
and they tend
to be more violent.
And it was my job
to arrest those people.
Yo, what's up?
[Katrin] The evening
before the operation
was really stressful.
Searches were carried out
at the homes
of all the suspects,
as well as the homes
of their parents and relatives,
where we knew
from our surveillance
that the suspects
frequently stayed.
We also searched all vehicles
that we knew belonged
to any of the family members.
[tense music playing]
[Katrin]
We had to account for the fact
that the flow of information
is incredibly quick.
If we didn't approach
all targets at the same time,
then we might
as well not bother.
And that makes everything
incredibly tense.
15 WEEKS AFTER THE THEF
[Katrin]
When the searches began,
I was positioned
in a central
police control room,
where everything is coordinated.
The search operations
had to begin
at exactly the same time
at 14 or 15 different locations.
-[officer 1] Police! Police!
-[officer 2] Police! Police!
[head SWAT] So the speed,
the shooting, the noise,
that show of strength,
that was absolutely crucial.
[officers shouting commands]
[officer] Police! Down!
[head SWAT] If necessary,
we were prepared
to use physical force.
[officer] Down! Get down now!
On the ground. On the ground.
[heart pounding]
[tense music playing]
It saddens me
that there are still people
who choose a life of crime.
I have a really hard time seeing
people in prisoner transports
because some of those
prisoners are people
that I used to play with
as children in the sandbox.
[officer]
Hands behind your back.
You know, I don't want them
to hurt anyone,
especially not physically.
I don't want them
to be physically hurt, either.
-[officer 1] Let's go!
-[officer 2] Get out!
[officer 1]
Do not resist arrest!
[officer 2] We've moving out!
[dramatic music playing]
But there's nothing you can do.
They're grown men.
Once they've made up
their minds, that's that.
I can sit there, shout at them,
give 'em a talking-to,
whatever, it doesn't matter.
I don't know,
it's just really upsetting.
[officer] Stand up!
Not just for conventional,
good German citizen reasons,
I'm not sad
because they're breaking
the law.
Honestly,
when I hear that my cousin
When I hear he's gonna be
locked up for a long time,
I couldn't give a shit
whether it's because
he broke the law.
What I feel, first and foremost,
is sadness that he's gone
and screwed us all over.
[pensive music playing]
[Katrin] After about an hour,
I start to sense
that the pressure
is easing up.
[ambient music playing]
It's one of the most spectacular
heists ever witnessed,
the coin theft
at the Bode Museum
three and a half months ago.
Since then,
people have been wondering
whether the crime
will ever be solved.
Now, that looks very likely.
The evidence has led
straight to members
of a large Arab family.
[newscaster] All four
suspects are between 18
and 20 years of age.
An additional nine people
are said to have been involved.
[tense music playing]
[Rasmi] It happened
just the other day,
when I was getting picked up
for the shoot, about
RASMI NASRALLAH
ACTOR
20 police cars
drove into my neighborhood.
They were moving really slowly,
and I knew right away,
okay, someone's about
to be arrested.
[Omar]
My best friend's brother
he got nearly six years
for a dozen offenses.
I see people get arrested
in my neighborhood quite often.
They don't usually go
as calmly as that.
They push back a little more.
Yeah, they usually resist.
[Omar] You could say
that Neukölln
is one of the roughest
neighborhoods in Berlin.
Anyone who's been there
can see that.
Sometimes, there are cops
who are just in a bad mood
and go, "I'm gonna show them
who's boss."
And they go out
of their way to be harsh,
just to flaunt their power.
I don't know
what they're thinking.
Yeah
everyone's just doing their job.
I mean, let's imagine
there were no cops.
OMAR ANTABLI
ACTOR
Would there be more chaos,
or less?
I think everyone knows
the answer to that question.
[Katrin]
Then things calmed down.
And we were hoping
that we would find something.
Of course, the clearest evidence
of a suspect's guilt
would be if the gold coin
were found on his person.
However,
what we were able to find
was a piece of paper
listing individual weights.
[Katrin] We found
this list on a shelf,
not hidden in a particularly
secretive manner,
but just rather
carelessly stuffed somewhere.
Through that,
we were able to establish
that there were
individual weights
totaling 46 kilos,
ranging from 3.5 to 6.5
kilos each,
a total sum
which led us to conclude
that these must have
been pieces of the gold coin.
[Katrin] Using these records,
we calculated that around
a third of the coins
had been accounted for,
with a total gold value
of 1,058,000 euros.
Some of these pieces seemed
to have already been sold.
Others seemed like they were
still being held somewhere.
[André] However,
none of the locations we visited
contained any evidence
that the gold
had been hidden there.
By then, it was clear to us
that the gold coin was lost.
At that point,
we intercepted telephone calls
in which it was mentioned
that an item
was going to be sold
to someone in Sweden.
We suspected that these
were parts of the stolen gold,
as the person on the other end
of the line was a jeweler.
This was also consistent
with other
telephone surveillance,
which traced
a suspect's cellphone
to the dock of a ferry
headed to Scandinavia.
The language used
in the telephone conversations
was very cryptic.
And it was unclear
exactly where in Sweden
the suspect went,
or who he'd met there.
That couldn't be established.
Sweden, Canada,
we've gone all over the world,
everywhere,
starting
from that little village.
So I'd imagine,
that some of the proceeds
ended up in Mardin,
in Rashidiya.
But there's also a portion
of the proceeds
that's been invested here,
in businesses, in real estate,
with the hope of no longer
relying on crime,
no longer having to sell drugs
or smuggle gold coins.
It's certainly surprising
that a small Turkish village,
a tiny village,
is keeping us so busy,
and, above all
taking up so much
of the investigators' time.
[energetic music playing]
[investigator]
Then there's the question
of transferring the funds,
this "hawala banking",
as it's called in Arabic,
how the sums made from the gold
are to be transferred
to Lebanon,
so that the money
can be invested sensibly there.
[head SWAT]
In Lebanon, I'm not sure.
I know, from conversations
I've had, that in Türkiye,
hotel chains have been bought
with that money.
I can't say which hotel chains,
but the money was definitely
taken out of the country.
There have been investments
all over Turkey.
Dubai is also a popular place
for that these days.
[Katrin] This will only stop
after it's no longer profitable.
For now, though,
they can be relatively sure
that, with minimal effort,
they are able to secure
their wealth and possessions,
so they'll be out of the reach
of the authorities.
[eerie music playing]
[Rasmi] They say, "Why should
I go out and work for peanuts,
when I can see
that all my friends from prison
are making huge amounts
of money from this?"
If people lack character,
they'll fall back into it.
In and out, in and out,
over and over.
Until they get old
and can't be bothered.
[Omar singing foreign language]
When I was first charged,
I was 13 years old.
They couldn't really do
anything to me.
But my dad saw it
as a warning sign.
He took me outside the prison
in Moabit and said,
"You don't wanna see it
from the inside."
He pointed at the people
that were inside,
just like I am right now,
luckily, only as an actor.
But those guys were
living that reality
and standing
at the window all day,
looking out and wishing
they were on the other side.
He said, "They'd love
to be us right now."
And then he locked me
in my room,
because he wanted to show me
what prison is like.
He only let me out to eat.
[singing in foreign language]
When you say
that hope dies last ♪
It still implies that
so much else dies before it ♪
If nothing comes
of all this ♪
I can say
that at least I tried ♪
And if I get lost again ♪
I'll just follow
the arrow on the compass ♪
[Katrin] If you look
at the suspects we've arrested,
they've all been young men
with no vocational
qualifications
and no significant income
of their own.
And the lawyers involved
are the most expensive
in Berlin.
That, too,
gives us an indication
as to who's on the other side
of the table,
bankrolling all of this.
[tense music playing]
[Hansgeorg] When it happened,
I thought the break-in
at the museum
was pretty spectacular
to be honest.
It's a bit like "Ocean's Eleven"
or something.
HANSGEORG BIRKHOFF
CRIMINAL DEFENSE LAWYER
People hatched a plan
and carried it out skillfully,
breaking into a museum
in the dead of night
and stealing an item
of great material value.
And that really is something
quite extraordinary
if you think about it.
There are many people
that have said,
"Hats off,
it's a brilliant story."
DR. TORALF NÖDING
CRIMINAL DEFENSE LAWYER
It was old-school, you know?
They repelled down a rope,
used a wheelbarrow.
Threw a coin
out through the window.
[Hansgeorg]
Naturally, that kind of thing
makes the headlines and attracts
huge media interest.
It's the talk of the town.
The press puts pressure on us.
The public puts pressure on us.
We're on the brink of collapse.
Nevertheless,
as a defense lawyer,
one mustn't let oneself
be thrown off course
by all that noise.
You have to realize
that an indictment is,
above all, an expression
of the prosecution's opinion
on the findings
of the investigation.
We really saw this crime
as an open challenge
to the capabilities
of the judicial system
and in turn
the investigative authorities.
[André] It was a trial
based purely
on circumstantial evidence.
It wasn't clear to me
whether that evidence,
taken all together,
was sufficient
to close the case.
A person is presumed innocent
until proven guilty.
[Katrin] It's enough
for a common sense judgment,
but common sense is not what
entitles us to bring charges,
and certainly not enough
to convict people in court.
As of now, we have arrested
11 members of the Remmo family.
These are individuals
who may have been involved
in the theft of the gold coin,
as well as in its distribution
and disposal.
But as is becoming apparent,
not all of them
will remain defendants,
because we lack the evidence
to indict them all.
So, in my view,
there was no evidence whatsoever
that the disposal of the coin
involved the family in any way.
KAI KEMPGENS
CRIMINAL DEFENSE LAWYER
Of course,
it's a nice narrative.
The family divides
the criminal labor.
Then there's always
the implication
that crimes are being committed
in a way that's organized
from the top down.
This trial concerns
only one specific defendant,
not the whole enterprise.
[Hansgeorg] The code
of criminal procedure
refers to the role
of the defense counsel.
So this amounts to an attack,
because one only needs
to defend oneself
when under attack.
And the attack lies
in the indictment.
If one feels that this attack
is not justified,
one must defend oneself
against it.
With the goal, of course,
being that the client
is ultimately acquitted.
[credits music playing]
RE-ENACTMENTS.
SOME PEOPLE'S VOICES
WERE DISGUISED
TO PROTECT THEIR ANONYMITY.
[dramatic music playing]
The hunter and the hunted.
Both are seen as stars.
Like Billy the Kid, or whoever.
Nowadays, everyone would wanna
take a selfie with him.
Maybe even the sheriff
who shot him.
With heroes, you can see them
as good guys or criminals.
But in either case,
people want a photo.
So
[energetic music playing]
Episode 2
Inside Clan
[suspenseful music playing]
[André] We got a tip
that the coin, or parts of it,
were in the basement
of a shop in Berlin-Neukölln.
[indistinct radio chatter]
-[indistinct yelling]
-[officer] Police!
ANDRÉ BLUHM
DETECTIVE CHIEF INSPECTOR
But we searched there
and we couldn't find it.
That was very frustrating.
[Katrin]
During the surveillance period,
we'd also spotted W. Remmo.
We thought that was somewhat
out of the ordinary.
KATRIN FAUS
SENIOR PROSECUTOR
They are well acquainted
with our methods, so much so,
that some of them can
even identify the police
investigators by sight.
In my case, I was paying someone
2500 euros a month
to get police intel.
SHARO
EX-CRIMINAL AND INFLUENCER
For example, when and where
I was being followed,
when it was okay
to travel by car
and when it wasn't.
I did that up to a point,
then I said
I wouldn't keep paying.
Two days later, I was arrested.
[indistinct radio chatter]
[Burkhard] The vast majority
of police officers
are upstanding
and would never allow themselves
to be bribed
or influenced in any way.
I'm also aware of cases
where criminals attempted
to bribe police,
and when they refused
the money
BURKHARD BENECKEN
LAWYER
they were put under
immense pressure.
[tense music playing]
It was clear to us that
many people from this family
were involved in the robbery
to some degree.
But we didn't have
sufficient information
for pressing charges.
To do that, you have to be able
to prove with certainty,
you were in this museum
on that evening,
and you took the coin.
[ambulance siren wailing]
As we know, clan-related crime
has existed in Berlin
for many years.
At some point,
it was clear that there needed
to be a police precinct
exclusively dedicated
to dealing with these families.
That was not our field.
We needed the expertise
of clan specialists
to break it down for us.
What do the family trees
look like?
How is everyone related?
When we're surveilling them,
we need to know things like,
why are these people
together now?
What does their day-to-day
look like?
What lessons
can we learn from this
to find the gold coin
and make convictions?
[Markus] I worked in
the Robbery Squad until 1993.
MARKUS HENNINGER
DETECTIVE CHIEF SUPERINTENDEN
First in the burglary
department,
and then eventually
investigating stolen goods.
During that time,
I started noticing
that the same names
kept coming up.
We also approach people
who are causing friction
and trouble within the scene.
And does that deter them?
Well, we've apprehended
over a hundred people,
and over 50 are under arrest.
One family became particularly
notorious for property crimes.
that was the Remmo family.
I had every registered member
of the Remmo family,
who was residing in Berlin,
thoroughly researched
and investigated.
Around a third of them
had police records.
Then my boss asked me to take
a closer look
into their backgrounds.
This led me to discover
that it wasn't just about
property offenses, burglary,
and handling of stolen goods.
There was also drug trafficking,
extortion,
and other organized crime.
I saw that these
were almost entirely people
who'd come as refugees
from Lebanon.
[regional music playing]
Up until the point that
I began working on this case,
I hadn't had
any professional dealings
with stateless
Lebanese refugees.
[Ahmad]
The families who fled with us
AHMED MOHAMMED
BODYGUARD
are the same families
that are now known
throughout all of Germany
as "clan criminals".
The Remmo family, Ali Chan,
Omeirat, Al-Zein
When those families were
looking to flee
their circumstances
for a better life,
they all supported each other
and advised one another
on where they should move.
And many of them would say,
"Berlin, Berlin."
So, because of that,
it was important to my mother
that we go to Berlin.
[female reporter]
22 asylum-seeking-families
still live here.
In the first-floor
lives the Remmo family,
with eight children.
Sure, we were given
a residence permit.
And sure, we had a roof
over our heads.
But the German citizens
didn't want us here.
[female reporter] At first,
the Remmo family was willing
to let us film
in their apartment,
but then they got worried
that they'd be forced
to vacate the home and move
into a refugee shelter.
We were
forced to do everything
on our own.
[male reporter]
It's hard for the teenagers,
in particular,
to overcome the shock
of sudden immersion
in German culture.
They can't work.
They don't go to school.
They can't do anything.
Sitting in the corner,
doing nothing,
waiting to make
something of ourselves,
it was unbearable.
We couldn't do that.
[man on TV] Around 35 men
carrying crowbars
and baseball bats.
The Lebanese are
the most aggressive.
[male reporter] Criminal
proceedings are now underway
against 60%
of his compatriots.
[man 1]
What do you have there?
[man 2]
It's just an airsoft gun.
[Ahmad] I didn't think twice
about my violent,
aggressive behavior.
What should I apologize for?
That I lived
the way I felt I had to?
It was also
a learning process for me,
I had to learn
to not be violent.
[Mohamed] Why are some families
more prone to this?
I know people from Neukölln
who grew up
in precarious circumstances
but didn't turn to crime.
They faced discrimination,
but didn't become criminals.
No work permit, not criminals.
Threats of deportation,
still not criminals.
MOHAMED CHAHROUR ACTOR
& AUTHOR "CLANLAND"
So, what's the reason?
Which factors are criminogenic?
What led to them
breaking into the museum?
And why do others
not fall into criminality?
I think it depends
on the nuclear family.
That's where
socialization takes place.
Now a days, when the next young
person is ready to join up,
he has much easier access,
since there's
an existing network.
It could be within the family,
and if not,
he's from the Mardelli
ethnic group.
That alone opens many doors
in the underworld.
Yo, anybody want this?
[Mohamed]
There are nuclear families
where people are
and were encouraged to join.
But these families
are living off these clans,
they depend on them.
What I do think
deserves criticism
is when people notice
criminal activity
and say,
"That's none of my business.
If I say something,
he'll wind up in prison,
and I'll be the reason
he serves eight to ten years,
so you know what
I'll just stay out of it."
[tense music playing]
[female newscaster]
These are the three men
most likely to know
where the gold coin is
and whether it's still
in one piece.
The police released
this CCTV-footage today.
It shows the alleged suspects
as they enter the platform
at Hackescher Markt
train station.
From there, they're seen
crossing the train tracks
to the museum.
From an investigative
standpoint,
we had to think carefully
about whether or not
to publicize these videos.
Because there was a risk
that the suspects could
become even more cautious.
[André] We had hoped that
witnesses would come forward
after the release of the video,
but unfortunately, they didn't.
But then we received a tip
from an anonymous informant.
The informant told me
that he believed
the culprit in question was
a member of the Remmo family.
They were confident
in that belief
because it was an individual
who was particularly
recognizable
due to the way they walked.
And then we received another tip
from an anonymous source
that suggested
who was responsible
for safeguarding
the stolen coin.
They also turned out to be
members of the Remmo family.
We looked into this,
trying to determine
if these informants
were just playing us
and analyzing our responses.
If we get the sense
INVESTIGATOR
LKA BERLIN
that an informant
is trying to manipulate us,
we won't let that happen,
we'll shut it down.
I don't let them fool me.
[Katrin] A tip from
an informant in and of itself
isn't enough to arrest somebody.
However,
it is often used to guide
the direction
of our investigative approach
in the search
for conclusive evidence.
[André] Basically, the concern
with the coin was,
it couldn't be sold
in one piece.
That was clear.
That meant it had to be
split up somewhere.
But where would that happen?
Could we find out
through surveillance?
Who would sell it, and to whom?
What would they do with it?
If you go to a jeweler
with that amount of gold,
what happens is,
he calls the cops.
But the clans know where
they can take that much gold
without any questions.
They know which dealers
they can sell it to.
[Katrin] One can only begin
to investigate
and understand organized crime
if you know something
about criminal structures.
For that, I needed
the help of specialists.
[suspenseful music playing]
I've been a police officer
for over 20 years.
I've been working
in the organized crime unit
for nearly that entire time.
"Remmo family expert"
isn't an official job title.
But that's essentially
what I am. That's my life.
INVESTIGATOR
INVESTIGATOR ORGANIZED CRIME
My decision to enter
this profession
was largely driven
by my desire to be of service.
I wanted to help the victims
of organized crime.
By that point, the family
had already committed
quite a few crimes.
There were a lot of
high-profile jobs so to speak.
they ranged from bank raids
to robberies and jewelry heists.
Certain branches of the family
really do stand out
as running the operation.
And from what I've seen,
they always work closely with
members of their own family.
Whether that be a cousin,
a brother, or an uncle.
Many of the male family members
have had repeated run-ins
with the police.
[Katrin]
Thanks to our colleagues
specializing in organized crime,
we obtained the information
we'd been lacking
about the family's structure.
And it became apparent that,
within this family,
there is a core group of people
who make their living
exclusively
through criminal activity.
Almost all
of the second-generation
family members are German.
They were born here,
they grew up here,
and they have
German citizenship.
[investigator]
With a family-based structure,
you can't just say, "I
forbid you from being a clan."
And we can't use
the term "gang",
because these people
aren't necessarily
coming together
solely for the purpose
of committing crimes.
This means that
the categories of offense
involving the formation
of a criminal organization,
which could open up
many avenues of investigation,
must be ruled out.
They can always use the defense,
"I can't be held responsible
for the actions of my family."
It is my belief
that the way the media
portrays clan leadership,
differs in many respects
to what we actually experience
in our policing of it.
Issa Remmo is often called
the head of the family.
But throughout
our investigation,
we have never actually found
any confirmation
that the whole Remmo clan
views him as such.
On the contrary,
we believe that there are
in actuality,
several smaller branches
that are each led
by the eldest members
of the extended family.
The reality of the situation
is that there are other leaders
who are much more
successful than Issa.
And even though it's not
discussed in the media,
which would ultimately
be bad for business,
I think there are
a lot more powerful figures
operating behind the scenes.
Everyone has his specialty.
For example, one family member
might be more involved
in planning the crimes,
while another tends
to stay in the background
and is more involved
with real estate ventures.
Another might be
making a name for himself
in the music business.
[energetic music playing]
[André] A few weeks
after the break-in
at the Bode Museum,
AK Ausserkontrolle,
a rapper from Berlin,
released a video.
In it, he's showing off
the gold coin,
put on display
in a Mercedes Benz G-Wagon.
[AK] All right!
Let me see her.
Yeah, bro!
Drinks are on Elizabeth tonight!
[chuckles]
[Katrin] The video
wasn't only a middle finger
pointed at the investigators.
It was, of course, a statement.
"Drinks are on
Elizabeth tonight."
That's the first thing
he says in the video.
What a poser. [laughs]
[laughing]
A rap?
Ding, ding, ding.
We got the coin! Wow!
[rapping in German]
I'd never heard of this guy,
but I mentioned it to my kids,
and they knew him. What?
[rapping in German]
I rap about
AK AUSSERKONTROLLE
RAPPER
real stuff,
stuff me and my boys do.
Epic boosts we did at Media
Markt, Saturn, jewelers
You know.
[André] What's interesting is,
some of those guys are criminals
with links to the Remmo clan.
And that's why we were thinking
they might actually
have the coin.
[rapping in German on radio]
We had to look closely.
Who is AK Ausserkontrolle?
Could he have done it?
Does the coin even look
like this anymore?
What kind of car is that?
Where was this filmed?
Are these guys new suspects?
They'd thrown the coin
from the railroad platform,
down to Monbijou Park.
The thing was
completely wrecked.
It couldn't be
in such mint condition.
That couldn't be it, after all.
And the fact that this cost us
all this wasted effort
was just so annoying.
[AK] Yeah, bro!
Drinks are on Elisabeth tonight!
Let's go, baby! Whoo!
Unbelievable.
THOMAS SCHNEIDER
SECURITY GUARD
Unbelievable! [scoffs]
[soft dramatic music playing]
It couldn't be.
I was almost ashamed
that I was there.
That I was in the museum
when the coin was stolen.
And who's singing that song?
They're the clan?
[AK rapping in German]
Who are the kings? ♪
Who's showing the gangsters
how it's done? ♪
Who's behind the wheel ♪
And drives
into the Apple Store? ♪
People never wanted
anything to do with us.
ROOZ LEE
HIP-HOP-JOURNALIS
They're like,
"Ugh, those thugs."
Most of them are scared of us,
they're paranoid.
[Rooz] Maybe because
you were a little too real?
[gun shot]
[suspenseful music playing]
-Have you seen the video?
-I saw it, yeah.
It cracked me up.
[Sharo] 20 years ago,
they made fun of German rap.
But at some point
over the years,
people finally realized
there was serious money
in it, and power, too.
You can reach people
through it, move them.
Earlier, we took aim
at politicians
or rapped about things
close to our hearts.
Today, they're all like,
"Tilidine and cocaine's cool."
[Ra'is] That stuff's like
totally glorified.
Seriously, dude!
You should see
how they upload stories
of themselves mixing
Tilidine with Sprite,
and it suddenly turns violet.
People see that and go,
"What is that? I wanna try it."
RA'IS
RAPPER
Big mistake, I mean, seriously.
Wallah, hundred percent wrong.
[Sharo] Yeah, unfortunately,
positive messages
-don't make you money.
-For real.
It became a kind
of propaganda machine.
I can't make money
rapping about poverty.
But if I talk about
Gucci caps, Rolls-Royce,
bling-bling, Tilidine,
cocaine, blah, blah, blah,
the cash just flows right in.
[investigator]
I know that an uncle
of one of our suspect's
works in the music industry
and has actually
had a lot of success there.
Almost every gangster rapper's
backed by a big family.
That's fire, dude.
The media's really blown it
out of proportion,
and that works out well for him.
But at the same time
the whole thing
also gets played down,
like, "It's not that dangerous".
[Hiwa raps in German]
At parties in the cities ♪
On snuff, on pills
On weed, on cigarettes ♪
On weed, on K-Special
On stable supply chains ♪
Delivered as ordered
Fuck the state even deeper ♪
Played by actors
and rappers in songs ♪
[man] Cut.
[woman] Should we cut?
[chuckles]
[Omar] Hell yeah, dude.
[laughs]
[Hiwa]
When you grow up in a place
where people make quick money
HIWA
ACTOR AND RAPPER
doing a professional training
for three years
feels wrong, like
the pay-off's too long-term.
In the circles we grew up in,
it's kind of like--
how should I put it?
Immediate success is more
important to us.
And you're also
surrounded by examples
to compare yourself to.
Like, so-and-so
from down the block
drives a Mercedes now.
And here you are,
still going to work
by bus every day.
Some people earn six-figures
within a few months,
some even earn seven-figures.
SERDAR ILHAN
ACTOR
It's obviously worth it
financially,
but what kind of pain
are you causing?
It's dirty money, after all.
Can you invest it?
Will the tax office
come down on you,
will the cops come knocking
on your door?
What do you do
with all of the money?
Have you ever thought about
putting aside some savings?
[AK] Sure, but you always end
up using it, you know.
You know what I mean?
The pile gets smaller,
but then you score again,
you make another hundred K,
and then you spend it
all over again.
I've never met anyone
who's saved up money
from all this
and then managed to build
a business for themselves,
like open some shops
or something,
going from underground
to above-ground.
-You know what I'm saying.
-[AK] I know people!
[tense music playing]
[man on set] Gimme a hand.
[Omar] One, two, three.
[Sharo] Let me put it this way,
the Mardellis,
people from the village
of Rashidiya, in Türkiye,
are hard-working.
They're businesspeople.
They know how to
you know, like they could sell
ice to an Eskimo.
And you know, the Mardellis
aren't like the Italian mafia,
the 'Ndrangheta or Gomorrha,
they're still decades away
from becoming that.
The Italians are operating
on a higher level.
They're heavily involved
in international real estate,
international construction.
But it's not like the Mardellis
won't get there eventually.
They will,
it's only a matter of time.
It might take ten years,
maybe 15 or 20.
If you compare clan crimes
with the Mafia,
there are definitely
similarities,
but also major differences.
The Mafia has simply
been rooted in its home region
for much, much longer,
in some cases,
since the 16th century.
The clans already had problems
in their places of origin,
we see that
in the Mardin Province,
in Türkiye, also in Lebanon.
There had already been
a significant level
of criminal activity there.
Shootings, blood revenge,
a lack of education
and integration,
all of these were
already present in Beirut.
And for the most part,
they lived in that
same neighborhood,
in the refugee camp,
in the slum, where
my family lived at first.
Living there meant
you had to pack up
and leave several times,
and everywhere you went,
you heard,
"You are not welcome here,
or here, or here, or here."
And in the end,
you don't have access
to all the things you need
to be a part of society.
[Sharo] We were excluded
in Türkiye,
we were excluded in Lebanon,
now the third generation,
the second or third generation,
comes to Germany
and gets the same treatment.
So they take what they want,
that's the response.
[whirring]
[singer singing
in foreign language]
[Katrin] When it comes
to this family,
there's ultimately
a lot of criminal activity
that slips through our fingers.
[Markus]
Whenever there's an offense
where only witness
evidence remains,
especially with crimes
against the state or extortion,
where it's important
that witnesses testify,
oftentimes witnesses eventually
retract their statements.
Either money is paid,
or they're intimidated,
and in the end,
there's nothing left
to show in court.
[Katrin] In contrast,
a singular, concrete act,
such as this theft
that's something
that could be proven.
That was our point of access,
so there was more
at stake for us
than just the crime itself.
[tense music playing]
And at the same time,
these crimes are like
a kind of rite of passage.
[investigator] These thefts
were like a claim to power,
a way of establishing
a foothold in other areas
in order to maximize profits.
Well, personally,
acquiring gold has never been
all that important to me.
I loved cars,
a beautiful V8, bi-compressor.
That was my thing.
If I saw my rival driving a car
with 500 horsepower,
I instantly had to go
get one with a thousand.
So that he couldn't get
anywhere close to me.
I just want to be someone.
I feel like I've been oppressed
for decades, centuries.
I wanna show off.
14 WEEKS AFTER THE THEF
ORIGINAL FOOTAGE
[Katrin] Suddenly,
there was this moment
in the investigation
where they made the one mistake
they couldn't afford to make.
[André] From the traffic
accident report,
we were able to establish
that there was
a dashcam recording,
taken from a taxi,
which revealed that our suspects
were involved in a street race
with another vehicle.
[engine revving, crashes]
[horn honking]
And what did they do
after the traffic accident?
[siren wailing]
[André] They abandoned the car
and ran away.
[tense music playing]
[Katrin] After that,
the vehicle was impounded
by the police
and taken to the lot.
That's a fenced-off
and guarded police compound.
[suspenseful music playing]
[footsteps thumping]
[suspenseful music playing]
[hissing]
[car door closes]
[André]
The security guard noticed
that two unidentified people
had come and sprayed
the car with foam
and cut out the airbags.
[tense music playing]
We come to work, hear that,
and go, "Unbelievable".
[tense music playing]
[Katrin] That's a common method
criminals use
to destroy all traces of DNA.
The airbag, for example,
could've been swiped for DNA
that experts could use
to identify the driver.
We asked ourselves,
why is it so important
that they remove any way
of connecting them to the car?
So that seemed
to be a good reason
to take a closer look
at this vehicle.
[camera shutter clicking]
Which we did,
and we found traces
of gold.
[singer singing
in foreign language]
[Katrin] The gold dust
found in the car
put added pressure
on our investigation.
It became clear to us
that the gold coin had,
in all likelihood,
been split up into pieces,
and we had to act quickly.
[clicking]
If we didn't find
at least some of it,
our key piece of evidence
would be missing.
HEAD OF OPERATIONS
SWAT BERLIN
We were informed
that they had a hot lead,
and that we should prepare
for an operation.
And then our work began.
For a while, biker gangs
and Arab clan families
were the most powerful forces
in this city.
Then Albanian clans arrived,
Chechen families,
Russian organized crime.
The city's underworld
is constantly changing.
That said, around 50%
of our current operations
are still triggered by around
ten to 12 Arab clan families.
In the past, I made sure
that we had communication
with the clan leaders.
However, the younger members
didn't want to continue
this kind of communication.
They don't care about
the hierarchies in their family,
and they tend
to be more violent.
And it was my job
to arrest those people.
Yo, what's up?
[Katrin] The evening
before the operation
was really stressful.
Searches were carried out
at the homes
of all the suspects,
as well as the homes
of their parents and relatives,
where we knew
from our surveillance
that the suspects
frequently stayed.
We also searched all vehicles
that we knew belonged
to any of the family members.
[tense music playing]
[Katrin]
We had to account for the fact
that the flow of information
is incredibly quick.
If we didn't approach
all targets at the same time,
then we might
as well not bother.
And that makes everything
incredibly tense.
15 WEEKS AFTER THE THEF
[Katrin]
When the searches began,
I was positioned
in a central
police control room,
where everything is coordinated.
The search operations
had to begin
at exactly the same time
at 14 or 15 different locations.
-[officer 1] Police! Police!
-[officer 2] Police! Police!
[head SWAT] So the speed,
the shooting, the noise,
that show of strength,
that was absolutely crucial.
[officers shouting commands]
[officer] Police! Down!
[head SWAT] If necessary,
we were prepared
to use physical force.
[officer] Down! Get down now!
On the ground. On the ground.
[heart pounding]
[tense music playing]
It saddens me
that there are still people
who choose a life of crime.
I have a really hard time seeing
people in prisoner transports
because some of those
prisoners are people
that I used to play with
as children in the sandbox.
[officer]
Hands behind your back.
You know, I don't want them
to hurt anyone,
especially not physically.
I don't want them
to be physically hurt, either.
-[officer 1] Let's go!
-[officer 2] Get out!
[officer 1]
Do not resist arrest!
[officer 2] We've moving out!
[dramatic music playing]
But there's nothing you can do.
They're grown men.
Once they've made up
their minds, that's that.
I can sit there, shout at them,
give 'em a talking-to,
whatever, it doesn't matter.
I don't know,
it's just really upsetting.
[officer] Stand up!
Not just for conventional,
good German citizen reasons,
I'm not sad
because they're breaking
the law.
Honestly,
when I hear that my cousin
When I hear he's gonna be
locked up for a long time,
I couldn't give a shit
whether it's because
he broke the law.
What I feel, first and foremost,
is sadness that he's gone
and screwed us all over.
[pensive music playing]
[Katrin] After about an hour,
I start to sense
that the pressure
is easing up.
[ambient music playing]
It's one of the most spectacular
heists ever witnessed,
the coin theft
at the Bode Museum
three and a half months ago.
Since then,
people have been wondering
whether the crime
will ever be solved.
Now, that looks very likely.
The evidence has led
straight to members
of a large Arab family.
[newscaster] All four
suspects are between 18
and 20 years of age.
An additional nine people
are said to have been involved.
[tense music playing]
[Rasmi] It happened
just the other day,
when I was getting picked up
for the shoot, about
RASMI NASRALLAH
ACTOR
20 police cars
drove into my neighborhood.
They were moving really slowly,
and I knew right away,
okay, someone's about
to be arrested.
[Omar]
My best friend's brother
he got nearly six years
for a dozen offenses.
I see people get arrested
in my neighborhood quite often.
They don't usually go
as calmly as that.
They push back a little more.
Yeah, they usually resist.
[Omar] You could say
that Neukölln
is one of the roughest
neighborhoods in Berlin.
Anyone who's been there
can see that.
Sometimes, there are cops
who are just in a bad mood
and go, "I'm gonna show them
who's boss."
And they go out
of their way to be harsh,
just to flaunt their power.
I don't know
what they're thinking.
Yeah
everyone's just doing their job.
I mean, let's imagine
there were no cops.
OMAR ANTABLI
ACTOR
Would there be more chaos,
or less?
I think everyone knows
the answer to that question.
[Katrin]
Then things calmed down.
And we were hoping
that we would find something.
Of course, the clearest evidence
of a suspect's guilt
would be if the gold coin
were found on his person.
However,
what we were able to find
was a piece of paper
listing individual weights.
[Katrin] We found
this list on a shelf,
not hidden in a particularly
secretive manner,
but just rather
carelessly stuffed somewhere.
Through that,
we were able to establish
that there were
individual weights
totaling 46 kilos,
ranging from 3.5 to 6.5
kilos each,
a total sum
which led us to conclude
that these must have
been pieces of the gold coin.
[Katrin] Using these records,
we calculated that around
a third of the coins
had been accounted for,
with a total gold value
of 1,058,000 euros.
Some of these pieces seemed
to have already been sold.
Others seemed like they were
still being held somewhere.
[André] However,
none of the locations we visited
contained any evidence
that the gold
had been hidden there.
By then, it was clear to us
that the gold coin was lost.
At that point,
we intercepted telephone calls
in which it was mentioned
that an item
was going to be sold
to someone in Sweden.
We suspected that these
were parts of the stolen gold,
as the person on the other end
of the line was a jeweler.
This was also consistent
with other
telephone surveillance,
which traced
a suspect's cellphone
to the dock of a ferry
headed to Scandinavia.
The language used
in the telephone conversations
was very cryptic.
And it was unclear
exactly where in Sweden
the suspect went,
or who he'd met there.
That couldn't be established.
Sweden, Canada,
we've gone all over the world,
everywhere,
starting
from that little village.
So I'd imagine,
that some of the proceeds
ended up in Mardin,
in Rashidiya.
But there's also a portion
of the proceeds
that's been invested here,
in businesses, in real estate,
with the hope of no longer
relying on crime,
no longer having to sell drugs
or smuggle gold coins.
It's certainly surprising
that a small Turkish village,
a tiny village,
is keeping us so busy,
and, above all
taking up so much
of the investigators' time.
[energetic music playing]
[investigator]
Then there's the question
of transferring the funds,
this "hawala banking",
as it's called in Arabic,
how the sums made from the gold
are to be transferred
to Lebanon,
so that the money
can be invested sensibly there.
[head SWAT]
In Lebanon, I'm not sure.
I know, from conversations
I've had, that in Türkiye,
hotel chains have been bought
with that money.
I can't say which hotel chains,
but the money was definitely
taken out of the country.
There have been investments
all over Turkey.
Dubai is also a popular place
for that these days.
[Katrin] This will only stop
after it's no longer profitable.
For now, though,
they can be relatively sure
that, with minimal effort,
they are able to secure
their wealth and possessions,
so they'll be out of the reach
of the authorities.
[eerie music playing]
[Rasmi] They say, "Why should
I go out and work for peanuts,
when I can see
that all my friends from prison
are making huge amounts
of money from this?"
If people lack character,
they'll fall back into it.
In and out, in and out,
over and over.
Until they get old
and can't be bothered.
[Omar singing foreign language]
When I was first charged,
I was 13 years old.
They couldn't really do
anything to me.
But my dad saw it
as a warning sign.
He took me outside the prison
in Moabit and said,
"You don't wanna see it
from the inside."
He pointed at the people
that were inside,
just like I am right now,
luckily, only as an actor.
But those guys were
living that reality
and standing
at the window all day,
looking out and wishing
they were on the other side.
He said, "They'd love
to be us right now."
And then he locked me
in my room,
because he wanted to show me
what prison is like.
He only let me out to eat.
[singing in foreign language]
When you say
that hope dies last ♪
It still implies that
so much else dies before it ♪
If nothing comes
of all this ♪
I can say
that at least I tried ♪
And if I get lost again ♪
I'll just follow
the arrow on the compass ♪
[Katrin] If you look
at the suspects we've arrested,
they've all been young men
with no vocational
qualifications
and no significant income
of their own.
And the lawyers involved
are the most expensive
in Berlin.
That, too,
gives us an indication
as to who's on the other side
of the table,
bankrolling all of this.
[tense music playing]
[Hansgeorg] When it happened,
I thought the break-in
at the museum
was pretty spectacular
to be honest.
It's a bit like "Ocean's Eleven"
or something.
HANSGEORG BIRKHOFF
CRIMINAL DEFENSE LAWYER
People hatched a plan
and carried it out skillfully,
breaking into a museum
in the dead of night
and stealing an item
of great material value.
And that really is something
quite extraordinary
if you think about it.
There are many people
that have said,
"Hats off,
it's a brilliant story."
DR. TORALF NÖDING
CRIMINAL DEFENSE LAWYER
It was old-school, you know?
They repelled down a rope,
used a wheelbarrow.
Threw a coin
out through the window.
[Hansgeorg]
Naturally, that kind of thing
makes the headlines and attracts
huge media interest.
It's the talk of the town.
The press puts pressure on us.
The public puts pressure on us.
We're on the brink of collapse.
Nevertheless,
as a defense lawyer,
one mustn't let oneself
be thrown off course
by all that noise.
You have to realize
that an indictment is,
above all, an expression
of the prosecution's opinion
on the findings
of the investigation.
We really saw this crime
as an open challenge
to the capabilities
of the judicial system
and in turn
the investigative authorities.
[André] It was a trial
based purely
on circumstantial evidence.
It wasn't clear to me
whether that evidence,
taken all together,
was sufficient
to close the case.
A person is presumed innocent
until proven guilty.
[Katrin] It's enough
for a common sense judgment,
but common sense is not what
entitles us to bring charges,
and certainly not enough
to convict people in court.
As of now, we have arrested
11 members of the Remmo family.
These are individuals
who may have been involved
in the theft of the gold coin,
as well as in its distribution
and disposal.
But as is becoming apparent,
not all of them
will remain defendants,
because we lack the evidence
to indict them all.
So, in my view,
there was no evidence whatsoever
that the disposal of the coin
involved the family in any way.
KAI KEMPGENS
CRIMINAL DEFENSE LAWYER
Of course,
it's a nice narrative.
The family divides
the criminal labor.
Then there's always
the implication
that crimes are being committed
in a way that's organized
from the top down.
This trial concerns
only one specific defendant,
not the whole enterprise.
[Hansgeorg] The code
of criminal procedure
refers to the role
of the defense counsel.
So this amounts to an attack,
because one only needs
to defend oneself
when under attack.
And the attack lies
in the indictment.
If one feels that this attack
is not justified,
one must defend oneself
against it.
With the goal, of course,
being that the client
is ultimately acquitted.
[credits music playing]