Antonio Salas in new book "The machines whisperers": “Hackers laundered EI`s money trough social networks”

Antonio Salas, pseudonym of spanish journalist researcher, has published his new book “Los hombres que susurraban  a las Máquinas”. Due to threats received from terrorist groups and Neo-nazis he keeps his identity secret and his voice distorted in the following interview  of the program “Las Mañanas de RNE.”

 

 

Interview with Antonio Salas:
 

Interviewer: They can break any code and enter any system. In the most impenetrable and secure places in the world. They are the hackers, spies and intruders of any computer, protagonist of many great films. They had very bad press. They are present to us like evil, dark and unbalance beings. An image that Antonio Salas tries to dismantle in his last book.
 

Antonio Salas: Good morning.

Interview: Antonio Salas is already well-known becauses he is an expert jornalist on false indentities who lives death threats from terrorist, Neo-nacis groups and organized crime. Antonio, How are the hackers? Why there are son much misinformation about them?

Antonio Salas: In a big part the fault belongs to us, the media, cinema literatura which has created such a bad press. The RAE ,the dictionary of the Spanish lengage, makes a mistake of including several voices of technology as Twitter, blog or Hacker, the last one making synonymous of “computer expert pirated” and this is the opposite, hacker is a scientis, a scholar a passionate for technoogy who decicates his life to analyze the performance of electronic devices and to look for their vulnerabilities to warn  providers. When hackers discover a vulnerability or a failure in the communication system, or program Facebook product, Apple… warn the manufatures to protect, while the cybercriminal attemps to exploit this vulnerability on their profit.

 

Interviewer: To write this book you have been infiltrated in the world  of cybercrime for two years. You have meet online activists, many of the best hackersand, cyber-police and even victims. How did ou prepare your role?

 

Antonio Salas: I would not say infiltration because the object of the research was everyone of our digital life. Initiating the investigation with all prejudice I realized who the hakers are. They speak of white hat hackers (security consultants, computer secrity company) black hat (cybercriminals) and the intermediate figure grey hat (hacktivist) but they are persons who believes in  technology for  social change.

Interviewer: After this investigation, are you quieter or more restless than before starting it? After meeting everyone in this world, are you calmer or worried about your own safety?

Antonio Salas: You’re deeply sorry, because ahead about 10 or 15 very dark years, and our whole life is online. Not only in terms of relationships, friendships, but we shop online, we delegate security companies, booked our trips … Internet is very vulnerable, what makes us so we are. We are now living in a digital migration phenomenon, called digital natives, a generation that has grown up living with technology in their daily lives. We, the digital immigrants, who only know how to do a search and little else, are terribly vulnerable. With only unburden an application, nobody reads the contract and we do not realize that the provider of that application is asking us access to our contacts, social networks … Until we get to understand this world, we remain extremely vulnerable.

 

Interviewer: You talk of the Islamic state, what moves the Daesh Internet?

 

Antonio Salas: We’ve never seen anything like it. In other research I was infiltrated international terrorism. He controlled by Carlos “The Jackal” on the Internet, so any terrorist who contact him, contacted me. Accessed much information, and we find episodes of ETA in Internet management. Even Spanich hackers created anti virus ETA. The relationship of journalism and the web is very old. Even Al Qaeda created their web pages or forums. But what is making Daesh not we have never seen as many hackers who are in the Daesh they are graduates of the best IT powers of England, France or Germany, and when they came to Syria put its expertise at the service of ISIS. Hidden messages, create their own social networks, a move that had never seen. He even allowed them to cyber attacks against Western intelligence objectives of the Central Bank of Defense, accessing multitude of names, phone numbers, identities …

Interviewer: Finally, is there a solution? How do you fight?

Antonio Salas: Learning to know is fighting to control our security information. We have some of the best experts on Internet security. The problem is that Google, Apple, Facebook … it’s being carried. It is they, the large providers, which should give us the tools to protect our browsers. Use common sense: your best antivirus is you, but also your greatest vulnerability. You must navigate carefully with what appears in your URL and in the direction of your browser, so you can avoid errors in your bank account or social networks.

Article: Pablo Martínez.

Translate: Celia Calderón.

https://elmuralinformativo.wordpress.com/2015/12/18/hackers-laundered-eis-money-trough-social-networks/

 

Journalist Antonio Salas on “How is a Terrorist Made?”

 
Antonio Salas has immersed himself as an under-cover investigative reporter many times. For six years, he trained to adopt the identity of “Muhammad Abdallah,” a Venezuelan man of Palestinian origin. During this time, Salas learned written and spoken Arabic. He studied the Quran, and memorized fragments of it which he wrote out in traditional calligraphy. He also underwent a circumcision and skin-darkening treatments, and grew a long beard. He gave up pork, smoking, and drinking. He took classes alongside anti-terrorist specialists and policemen.

To test his new identity as “Muhammad Abdallah,” he traveled to Morocco, Jordan, Israel, and Palestine. In Ramallah, he learned the psychology of terrorists: the trauma and frustration many face, which is, in turn, harnessed by extremists.

Then, in 2006, he set off for Venezuela because, as he says in the video, “the place in the world where a terrorist can be born was Venezuela.”

His intention was to find out — how is a terrorist made? (My question to Salas is — what is his motivation as an investigative reporter?)

In Venezuela, he found the presence of ETA, FARC, Colombian paramilitary groups, Hamas, Al Qaeda, and clumps of Venezuela’s Bolivarian groups whose members converted to Islam.

The result is a book and the video, embedded below, which was filmed while under-cover using a tiny hidden camera.

** WARNING: VERY GRAPHIC IMAGES ** 

 

http://talkingaboutcolombia.com/2015/05/18/journalist-antonio-salas-on-how-is-a-terrorist-made/

 

 

Antonio Salas mobilizes actresses, presenters and Polish singers against trafficking in women in Poland.

The publication of the book "The year I traffics in women" by Antonio Salas, has mobilized Polish society. Actresses, TV presenters, singers and Polish writers have been involved in a campaign against prostitution, following the publication of the book of Spanish journalist.

Its main objective is to draw attention to the problem, create awareness and a call to discuss the third model more profitable organized crime - after drugs and arms trafficking - the criminal practice of the century. Polish characters support the idea as relevant as Alexander Popławska, Beata Sadowska, Chylewska Paulina, Eva Constance Bulhak, Anna Cieslak, Anna Czartoryska, Młynkova Halina and Lidia Popiel. Its organizer is the editor of the book - Blackwell. The role of the social partners is the La Strada Foundation, which included the publication of sponsorship.

As part of the campaign against "Trafficking in women" activities such as exhibitions of photographs and panel discussions, testimonies of families of trafficked women, etc. are included

 

 

 

http://www.antoniosalas.org/trata-de-blancas/articulo/handlowalem-kobietami-de-antonio-salas-moviliza-la-sociedad-polaca-contra-

The story of: "Antonio Salas". For Alberto Faria.

ICC Alberto Faria Public speaking ANONYMOUS INK  

Antonio Salas and the 10 Most Courageous Undercover Journalists

Sometimes, getting the scoop on a story means doing more than simple research and interviews. Sometimes it requires a bigger and riskier sacrifice, like going undercover. Although the ethics and credibility of undercover tactics have been called into question, in some cases, the only way to unearth the truth is to go incognito.

Fabricated identities, hidden cameras, and gruesome and terrifying revelations are just a few of the aspects involved in this insider method of getting the story. And it’s hard not to admire these gutsy journalists’ passion and dedication to their careers, as they infiltrate everything from psychiatric hospitals and federal penitentiaries to jihadist terrorist groups and soccer hooligan gangs. This is definitely a career path for those seeking thrills, excitement, and danger.

 

10. Elizabeth Jane Cochrane "Nellie Bly"

Elizabeth Jane Cochrane, also known by her pen name Nellie Bly, was one of the first female reporters in the US. However, when she was pressed into writing about what were deemed appropriate topics for women reporters, such as gardening and fashion, Cochrane moved from Pittsburgh to New York in 1887. There, an editor at the New York World dubiously offered her an undercover assignment that required both courage and daring. Cochrane was to act insane, get committed to a lunatic asylum, and report on the conditions inside.

Few women of the day would have dreamed of doing such a thing, but Cochrane did, despite her editor’s admission that he didn’t know exactly how he would get her out again. Cochrane feigned madness and amnesia, and she was soon admitted to the Blackwell Island Lunatic Asylum. She spent 10 days enduring abusive mistreatment from nurses, disgusting rat-infected conditions, dirty drinking water, and spoiled food. Released upon request of The World, Cochrane wrote an exposé about her experiences that led to more thorough examinations in insanity cases and an $850,000 increase in budget for the Department of Charities and Collections.

9. Chris Terrill

Chris Terrill is a British anthropologist and documentary filmmaker who has covered everything from school bullying to the British Royal Navy tracking cocaine smugglers in the Caribbean. Terrill has developed his own “lone-wolf” style, in which he fulfills all the roles of production – from filming and directing to presenting.

 In 1992, Terrill disguised himself as a wildlife smuggler in order to investigate the major gangs involved in the illegal orangutan trade. He has also gone undercover posing as a trader of women to expose human trafficking gangs operating in Denmark, Belgium, and the Dominican Republic. The work of infiltrating and exposing the activities of such groups makes Terrill’s career choice seem a noble and courageous calling.

8. Peter Warren

Born in London, Peter Warren has worked as a journalist and private investigator in Canada for over 50 years. He was a talk-show host for 35 of those years and has taken a special interest in cold cases and wrongful convictions. His undercover work has ranged from spending four days locked up as a patient in a psychiatric ward, to pretending to be a would-be investor.

His most gutsy stint, however, may well have been spending an entire week as a convict in Stony Mountain Penitentiary in Manitoba. Warren wanted to bring more attention to the case of David Milgaard, a man wrongfully convicted of raping and murdering a nursing assistant named Gail Miller. Warren interviewed Milgaard many times about his plight. Finally, in 1997, Milgaard’s innocence was proven and he was released. He’d already spent 23 years in prison.

7. Anas Aremeyaw Anas

Ghanaian investigative reporter Anas Aremeyaw Anas – who does not show his face in public and uses his anonymity to his advantage – has gone undercover dozens of times in his native city of Accra. From the beginning, Anas, who started out with a clear career path as a student reporter, wanted to begin exposing corruption. And he was soon in charge of investigative journalism at Ghanaian newspaper The Crusading Guide, which he now co-owns as The New Crusading Guide. Way to climb the career ladder.

Anas has posed as a janitor in a brothel to expose child prostitution, pretended to be an assembly-line worker at a cookie factory (where maggot-infested flour was being used), and even checked into a psychiatric ward as a patient. While there, he caught one of the orderlies selling drugs (and recorded himself buying them), saw unfed patients eating from dumpsters, and documented how a corpse was left for days in a ditch until it was taken away in a van used to transport food.

Anas’s goal is to make sure his government does something about corruption and crimes by providing it with evidence.

6. John Howard Griffin

In 1959, white novelist John Howard Griffin began taking the drug Oxsoralen, which, in combination with sunlamp exposure, turned his skin black. No other alteration to his appearance was necessary, apart from shaving his head. He had become, to all eyes, a black man. Essentially, he had changed race for his career.

Griffin traveled through the Deep South of the United States with the aim of discovering what it was like to be black. A Texan by birth, he had been taught by society that black people were different and inferior. A variety of experiences – ranging from smuggling Jews to safety with the French Resistance, to suffering from years of blindness after being struck by shrapnel in WWII – had a profound effect on him. What’s more, Griffin began to question whether racism was merely a “Southern problem,” or if it was, as he had come to believe, a “human problem.”

For a month, Griffin got a close-up look at how black people were treated. He called it “a dirty bath” of hatred. His book, Black Like Me, documented his journey and saw him receive death threats from some of his fellow white men. He was even hanged in effigy.

5. Stuart Goldman

Stuart Goldman is an American reporter who became known as “the journalistic hitman” for an acid-tongued column he wrote for the Los Angeles Times. His undercover work includes investigating TV evangelist Terry Cole-Whittaker and even infiltrating a UFO cult. In the ‘90s, Goldman went undercover to expose tabloid media, both print and television, as a criminal organization. For three years, he used the alias Will Runyon and gathered information as a “mole.” At the end of his investigation, he claimed that the tabloids had an extensive spy-network, including doctors and bodyguards, who would report on celebrity movements. Reporters would sift through celebrity trash looking for “prescriptions, early pregnancy tests, [and] letters.”

 The tabloids, Goldman reported, even hired private investigators to find unlisted phone numbers. They would call the number, pretending to be someone else, and glean information that way. In 1998, he published his findings in a book, titled Snitch: Confessions of a Tabloid Spy. There must be plenty of people in Goldman’s profession who don’t like him very much. That sort of dedication to your work takes guts.

4. Donal MacIntyre

Commenting on his 20-year career, Irish investigative journalist Donal MacIntyre says, “I’ve been shot at, beaten, abused on the streets in front of my children and forced to move house more than 50 times because of death threats.”

During his career, MacIntyre has gone incognito repeatedly and in various different situations. He has assumed roles in environments ranging from the adventure sports industry to care homes for vulnerable people – where he exposed conditions that led to one institution closing and two individuals being cautioned for assault.

However, one of MacIntyre’s best-known and bravest undercover exploits happened in 1999, when he posed as a prospective member of the Chelsea Headhunters, a notorious gang of football hooligans. During his time undercover, MacIntyre confirmed that the Headhunters had ties to the neo-Nazi organization Combat 18. Several gang members were arrested and convicted as a result of the investigation, and one member, Jason Marriner, was handed a six-year jail sentence for organizing a clash with rival fans. MacIntyre was placed under police protection during the trial.

3. Günter Wallraff

German writer Günter Wallraff is a master of disguise. Using assumed identities to disarm his targets, he has, through his work, provided a unique form of social commentary – from the inside. In 1969, Wallraff began his undercover career with 13 Undesired Reports, which chronicle his experiences posing as an alcoholic, a vagabond, and a chemical factory worker.

 

Later, in 1974, he headed to Greece, then under control of the Ioannides military dictatorship, for perhaps his most dangerous exploit. Wallraff protested in Athens’s Syntagma Square, chaining himself to a post to protest human rights violations. And, because he intentionally didn’t carry any form of ID, he was arrested, beaten and tortured. Even when his identity was disclosed, Wallraff was imprisoned – and only released later that year when the dictatorship collapsed.

 Incredibly, in 2007, aged 64, Wallraff went undercover in a German call center. And in 2009, like John Howard Griffin before him (see entry 6), he posed as a black man to expose racial prejudice, a move that drew controversy.

In Wallraff’s honor, Swedish dictionary Svenska Akademiens Ordlista has included the word ‘walraffa,’ which means, “to expose misconduct from the inside by assuming a role.”

 

2. Tim Lopes

Brazilian journalist Tim Lopes grew up in a Rio de Janeiro favela (slum), and it was most likely this background that furnished him with his “old-school” technique of working the streets for stories. Lopes proceeded to go undercover in the favelas to film illegal activities with a hidden camera. These were dangerous and often neglected areas where the city government had no control. Instead, criminal gangs and drug lords ruled.

In 2001, Lopes helped collect undercover footage showing drug dealers and traffickers openly patrolling the streets with AK-47s. The report resulted in the police taking action and, ultimately, a decrease in revenue for the drug lords. Lopes gained a reputation for this kind of work, and on June 2, 2002, drug traffickers kidnapped him. Lopes was beaten, brutally tortured, set on fire, and murdered. In the end, he gave his life for his career.

1. Antonio Salas

Antonio Salas, an investigative journalist known only by his pseudonym, has made undercover work a way of life. In his own words, he has lived for “a year as a Nazi skinhead, a year and half as a dealer of women, [and] six years as an international terrorist.” Yet while this dangerous career has required incredible bravery and sacrifice, it has also scarred the man. Salas says that the terrible things he has seen undercover give him nightmares.

Showing his dedication, to prepare for his infiltration of a jihadist terror group, Salas fabricated an elaborate cover story, handwrote a personal copy of the Quran, and even got circumcised when he was invited to a bathhouse.

Incredibly, Salas also worked closely with infamous Venezuelan terrorist Carlos the Jackal, running a website for him. Salas dedicates himself to his work in order to tell the public what’s really happening. And one encouraging result has been the letters he’s received from people who have seen the error of their ways and chosen to change.

“From a very early age I thought that doctor or teacher are the two best professions you can have,” says Salas, describing his chosen career. “But I am very rebel and undisciplined for both works. So I ended up choosing the third option: journalist. Investigate what the power is trying to hide, and tell the world is also a good way of feeling useful.”

by Yvonne McArthur

http://www.careernewsinsider.com/10-most-courageous-undercover-journalists/

Antonio Salas and the undercover journalism in Europe

 

Antonio Salas (1972) is a Spanish journalist specialized in undercover journalism. Compared with Nellie Bly, Hunter S. Thompson, Günter Wallraff or Donal MacIntyre, he has been seen by Career News (England) or Craaked.com (USA) as the best undercover reporter of the story.

Office of the prosecutor in Madrid considered him a protected witness in a criminal case. After a year infiltrated in the skinhead movement, his testimony was vital to get the first court ruling against a neo-Nazi group in Europe: Hammerskin.His investigations on women trafficking organizations, led to the dismantling of various mafias -"white slavery"- in Spain, and, also it has led to political action when the Mexican government ordered the investigation of trafficking girls from Chiapas (Mexico). During his infiltration into international terrorism, for more than six years and around thirteen countries, he became the webmaster and confidant of Ilich Ramirez Sanchez (Carlos the Jackal) and got unique images of Arturo Cubillas, the current head of the ETA in Venezuela.

His infiltrations into Nazi groups, terrorists or organized crime have been made ​​into films. His books, "Diary of a skin" (2003), "The year that traffics in women" (2004) and "The Palestinian" (2010), have been translated into different languages. His books are required reading in journalism schools, and have been the subject of several university theses in Italy, Spain, Colombia, Poland, etc..

Now he is about to publish "Operation Princess" (2013), his first novel, based on new investigations, the world of political financial and police corruption. His life is still in mortal danger, condemned by various terrorist organizations, such as the Tupamaros movement, neo-Nazi groups and organized crime.

 1. Investigative journalism requires  a lot of dedication, vast knowledge, it’s about living in a constant fear, where  one cannot  make any mistakes. Still, it’s your choice. Wouldn’t you like to be a typical journalist?

I guess that there are already many companions, and very good ones, who cover this form of journalism. Undercover journalism allows you to get another perspective of information... from the inside. But its emotional intensity, and its high cost, implies that the majority of undercover journalists have to abandon this format sooner or later. So maybe someday I also will have to leave it. But the day has not yet arrived.

 2. How did your family react? Each time you go on a mission you put yourself in a potentially life-threatening situation, let alone the fact that you’re away from home for a long period of time. Haven’t  they tried to convince you to give it all up(stop it)?

When my second book was published, and as a protected prosecution witness, I asked for police protection for my parents, who are the only relatives who know what I'm doing. For them, especially for my mother, logically it is hard. But they have always respected my decision. I never tell them what I'm working in until the book is finished. They just detect a change in my physical appearance, for months or years, and sense that I'm involved in another project, but never make me uncomfortable questions.

3. How does your life look like now? Is it possible for you to go out without being bothered, with no fear that somebody is going to recognize you during shopping, for instance?

Undercover journalism doesn’t allow you to enjoy any fame or recognition for your work. You can’t introduce or promote your books, like any other writer, but it is the only way to continue undercover. Years after "Diary of a skin" I’ve returned to meet, in my new investigations, with neo-Nazis that appear in my book, or against those who I declared as a witness in the macro-trail against Hammerskin. For example, when I was investigating for "Operation Princess". And they did not recognize me. However, it is inevitable to feel a little paranoid whenever you go out to the street, when several armed groups have sentenced you to death for your books...

4. Every operation requires long preparations and even longer execution. For instance, when you wanted to become Muhammad Ali Tovar you had to attend curses about terrorism, learn Arabic, study Koran, grow a beard, darken your skin and undergo circumcision. I think that in this world there aren’t many people who are as brave as you are. Where does all this courage and perseverance come from?

It comes from the absolute conviction that it’s worth it. See how your books are turned into movies, reaching millions of people who are not readers; to be able to see how police arrest traffickers of women that I had recorded selling me a girl and her son for $17,000; testify as a witness for the prosecution in a macro-trail against one of the most important European Nazi organization or receiving thousands of e-mails from young people who drop out of the Nazi movement, prostitution and terrorism after reading your books; all that convinced me that it is worth persevering.

5. What did you feel when you were standing  face to face with Jackal? He’s one of the most powerful  terrorists in the world.

I am aware that the things that I explain in my books would be incredible if they were not recorded. The first time I talked to Ilich Ramirez (Carlos the Jackal) a combination of extraordinary circumstances were given and the work of two years, and two trips to Venezuela, was rewarded. I met his mother, brothers, nephews, etc, and I was their webmaster. Although he meets imprisonment in France, he phoned me every week and I have recorded dozens and dozens of hours of conversation with him. Become his "spokesman" was a giant step in my terrorism infiltration. Ilich is a very cultured man, a piece of history of the 20th century, but also a great manipulative.

6. You are also one of Ultras Sur, working under a pseudonym ‘Tiger88’. On the basis of that experience you wrote a book Diario de un Skin. Do you think that for them violence is more important than the support itself?

The key of my books is that I become one of them, and the investigation does not end until I think, feel, and live like them. Until I understand all their motivations, why they do what they do... For this reason, when after they read my books, in which I do not judge anyone, but only explain what my hidden camera has recorded, many of them feel and understand the absurdity of their violence. And hundreds of young people left the Nazi movement after reading that book. The pen can be more than the sword. 

7. Can a foreigner coming to Madrid or other Spanish city feel safe? Should we pay attention to the skinheads who are able to attack us at any time because of one’s ethnicity or skin color?

All Europe is experiencing a brutal and terrifying resurgence of Nazism, following the model of "Golden Dawn" in Greece. And if we do not react soon it may be too late. Spain is a country which receives millions of tourists every year, with a history of enormous social and cultural crossbreeding. But, like London, Paris, Rome and Berlin, also there are neo-Nazi groups who frequent certain neighborhoods, streets and places. "Diary of a skin" explains where they are and how to recognize the danger. We must not allow the violent to restrict our freedom to travel, study or work in another country, but it is not bad to be a little cautious.

8. Your book entitled El año que trafiqué con mujeres has moved many Polish readers.

And I feel a big gratitude for readers and the Polish editor because of how he focused the publication. That book generated an amazing media scandal. All television channels dedicated entire programs to it, but focused on the most irrelevant aspects, like the chapter on the luxury escorts and the celebrities who exercise prostitution. However in Poland they highlighted the truly important. And my book was used to boost a campaign against trafficking in women for sexual exploitation. Polish readers understood my complaint better than the Spanish.

9. Thanks to you more and more people can sympathize with persecuted women. In Poland there has recently been organized a campaign known as Trading women. STOP being widely promoted by Polish celebrities. Do you feel that your actions have a desired effect?

That campaign in Poland made me feel that all the fear, anxiety and loneliness of this form of journalism had been worth it. That book was the hardest of all that I have written. But during the undercover of "Operation Princess" I traveled thousands of kilometers infiltrated in the world of motorcycle gangs. And whenever I saw the car parks in the brothels full of cars, I felt that all my efforts had not earned much. Prostitution remains one of the most profitable businesses of organized crime. And it’s the customer’s fault, as he allows maintaining the supply.

10. Is there something impossible to you. Where are your limits? Is there something you’d never do?

Of course! An undercover journalist can never commit crimes. And that is sometimes the most difficult. If you want that your hidden camera recordings become court evidence, you cannot participate in the crime you are reporting. For that reason you have to work your imagination to find ways to get close to the limit of legal, live with Nazis, terrorists, pimps, etc, but without crossing the line. I recorded as I negotiated the purchase of Mexican virgin girls, 10, 12, 14 years, for my fictional brothels, but never executed the purchase. I recorded neo-Nazi groups "hunting" immigrants, fans of other teams, etc, but not participated in any assault. I received training on weapons in Venezuela, but I never shot against anyone. The limits of journalism are very clear.

11. How many people want to capture you  after reading what you have written in your books? Do you have many “death sentences”? Some say that in Caracas an account had been opened  just to collect the money for a serial killer to be hired.

I understand that it is a corollary of this form of investigative journalism. I cannot regret. Bolivarian groups condemned me to death in Venezuela because my infiltration came to the end of participating in the recording of a statement calling the guerrillas of Latin America to take up arms against the Government of Colombia and the United States, and throughout the prior process to and my training as a terrorist. And that you don’t forgive. But they were not the first to raise funds so a man kills me. During the trial to Hammerskin we learned that the skingirls (brides of many of the detainees) had opened a bank account to raise money so that a murderer would prevent my statement in the trial. My arrival in the Provincial Court of Madrid, hidden in the back of a car of the secret police, hooded, and surrounded by agents is an experience that I do not recommend to anyone.

12. I would also like to ask you about inspector Delgado who was helping you. If he hadn’t helped you then would you have taken part in the investigations anyway?

With the passage of the years any undercover journalist ends up coinciding, sooner or later, with infiltration of the police or the secret services. I have incredible anecdotes about this. And with some of them, with whom you share situations of great stress and anguish, you can end up building a good friendship. But if Delgado Inspector had not helped me I would have gone ahead without his help.

13.You  impersonated a terrorist, women’s trader and a skinhead.  But who is the real Antonio  Salas? Could you please describe your very self?

Nobody important. A mediocre journalist who tries to do his job as well as possible. Any journalist willing to take risks to inform the public of what others do not want us to know, that’s also Antonio Salas.

14. I know that you get a lot of e-mails from your  readers who changed their lives after  reading your books. Is there a message which has imprinted on your memory?  If yes, what was it?

It’s impossible to choose one. I was very impressed about an Arab young boy who was about to leave to a jihadist training camp in Lebanon, and who after reading "Ja Terrorysta" decided that violence was not a way to defend an ideology. Or that of an Iberia pilot who consumed prostitution in the Casa de Campo, whenever his plane did stop in Madrid, and who after reading my book continues visiting the prostitutes of the Casa de Campo, but now to take them thermos of hot coffee. Or that of a young woman whose boyfriend died in hands of a group of skins, who after reading my book quitted the Nazi movement. She reproached me that if I had written my book before, maybe her boyfriend would still be live... All are posted on my website.

15. Can you briefly describe your new book Operacion Princesa which hasn’t been published in Poland yet?

"Operation Princess" is an investigation about political and police corruption and its relationship with international drug trafficking and organized crime. On this occasion I took the identity of a free-biker, a member of the international gangs of bikers movement. Live with organizations such as the Hell´s Angels, has been an extraordinary experience. And my travels in Mexico, Romania, etc., a real life lesson.

16. How much longer are you going to work as a investigative journalist? Do you have any plans for the next cover-up ( though I know that you can’t tell us all the details)?

I like my work. It makes me feel that it is useful, that it is worth it. And I think that I will continue exercising undercover journalism until my luck finishes. Since my second book I've been wearing a hanging bullet, caliber 9 mm short, around my neck; this bullet happened to almost touch my knee during the investigation. It was a warning. And it helps me to always remember that you shouldn't tempt fate too often. But I think that just another bullet as this would prevent me to keep doing this work.

By Kinga Wisniewska
wiadomosci24
http://www.wiadomosci24.pl/artykul/antonio_salas_zbierali_fundusze_na_mojego_zabojce_wywiad_300299.html

Antonio Salas. Virgin Auctions and Emergency Circumcisions: My Life As an Undercover Journalist

 

This article was originally published by VICE Portugal in February 2013.

Antonio Salas has lived a lot of lives. For a story on neo-Nazi football hooliganism, the Spanish investigative journalist infiltrated a group of far-right Real Madrid ultras, shaving his head and going to white power gigs while he played the part. 

Next, he went undercover in one of Madrid’s people trafficking rings, auctioning off the virginity of 13-year-old girls – an experience he said is perhaps the hardest thing he’s ever done, emotionally and psychologically. More recently, he spent six years with various jihadist cells for El Palestino [The Palestinian], his book on Islamic terrorism – but only after getting an emergency circumcision (in case he ended up in a public bath with his subjects) and writing out the entire Qur’an in Arabic.       

Of course, “Antonio Salas” is a pseudonym, because the investigations he undertakes usually involve the kind of people you want to keep a distance from. But he was easy enough to get in touch with, so I gave him a call and spoke to him about being maybe the bravest investigative journalist working today.


VICE: Hi Antonio, how have you been?    
Antonio Salas: Hi Rui. Everything’s fine – I'm still alive.
      


That’s a funny answer,        

Not at all. Recently the leader of the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement, Chino Carias, announced my death . The worse part about being an undercover journalist is that you can never enjoy what success brings. The best part is that you are allowed to stay alive and continue investigating.


You have written that when you infiltrated Real Madrid’s skinhead movement you found yourself enjoying it, at times. But that there were also times you wanted to say, “Look, I’m a rat. I’m betraying you.”        
When I work undercover, I am one of them. I live, sleep and eat with the single purpose of investigating, 24 hours a day, to understand people's motives. And that requires developing emotional ties with neonazis and terrorists. We all do what we think is right – the people I investigate do too. It is often difficult to remember that I am an undercover journalist and not part of them.

That also happened when you infiltrated the human trafficking bussiness, right?
  
Although it wasn’t the most dangerous situation I have been in, the investigation was by far the most traumatic and psychologically taxing experience. I started the investigation with a handful of clichés in mind and what I found was a much harsher reality.

When did you decide to make a living out if this? 

I always thought being a doctor or a conductor are the greatest things anyone could ever be. I can’t imagine a better job. But I’m too much of a rebel and undisciplined to be either. Being a journalist was my third option. I strongly believe that looking for the truth reality and showing it, just like it is, is a very noble way of making a living.

 

Is your credibility at all undermined because people don’t know who you really are? How do Spanish journalists treat you?

With only a few exceptions, my colleagues treat me with a kindness that I don’t deserve. Regarding credibility, I understand the skepticism. If a colleague of mine told me that he negotiated young virgins into prostitution, in a restaurant in Madrid, I wouldn’t believe it either. But that's the beauty of hidden cameras – you don’t have to believe. You can just watch the videos, everything’s in there.

Why did you choose the name 'Antonio Salas'? Does it mean anything in particular?
There isn’t a special meaning, no. Antonio, Toni, is a common name in Spain. It's easily forgettable and when you do what I do, it is important not to attract too much attention. Also the name Toni is used in many other languages. Salas is a vulgar name – it doesn’t stand out.





 

Will you ever reveal your true identity?   
I don’t know. I must admit that, sometimes, I feel sad that I can't accept awards and conference invitations. I would love to sign my books, like every other writer. We all have some vanity in us. The day I reveal who I am, of course, will be my last day as an investigative journalist. And I believe the type of journalism I do is useful for society, so I’ll continue doing it for as long as I can. I’m not as brave as Roberto Saviano, Gunter Wallraff or Hunter S. Thompson, but I’m more ambitious.



At the beginning of Diary of a Skin you write that the person who denounced you was a cop.    
That was terrible. If it wasn’t for David Madrid, who warned me that his superior had given me away to the Ultras Sur supporters [Real Madrid’s hardcore fan club], that afternoon I would have gone to the stadium and probably you and me wouldn’t be talking today.

Unfortunately, police corruption is actually more real than what you see in the movies. The economic crisis and the restrictions everyone has been facing create an easy path for it. In some investigations, like the one about organised crime and women trafficking, I found that many policemen, lawyers and judges were implicated in the business.

What about the skinheads? 


That’s diferent. My skinhead comrades have an ideology closely tied to the right wing. They like discipline, uniforms. They’re traditional, love the military hierarchy and that fits the profile of the common cop. Many skins I dealt with were cops' sons.




 

Interesting how you still call them “comrades”. Are they still your comrades?
    
The truth is that it was really difficult for me to leave the movement. If you don’t fully integrate you’re going to be found out, and if you do it the right way, you take the risk of becoming one of them. That’s why spies and cops work in pairs; so that there is a control figure who doesn’t let the other person become the character he/she is interpreting. But I work alone. When I published Diary of a Skin, I went through a sort of Stockholm Syndrome. I felt bad for betraying my comrades. But a psychologist friend of mine helped me a lot. He explained to me that, in reality, they weren’t really Antonio’s friends. They were Tiger88's friends – that's the character I was interpreting. Even so, all “infiltrations” can get really intense and there’s always emotional scarring.

Lastly, what is your personal life like? What do your parents or you girlfriend say about what you do? Are you at all able to live a normal life?

I try hard to separate my personal life from my work. My parents have been under police protection since the day I “traded” women. My mother, in particular, deals with it all rather badly. Only a few of my friends know who I really am. Most of them don't suspect anything. Sometimes they talk about Antonio Salas and the movies that have been based on my books, and I’m sitting right there. Hearing others talk about you without them knowing; it's a very strange feeling. But it is the only way to know what they really think about my work. 

In my professional life, death is always present.

How do you handle that?     
I’m not afraid anymore. I still carry around a necklace with a 9mm bullet that almost hit me during the women trafficking investigation. Until that day, I had no idea what a gunshot sounded like. During the investigation for The Palestinian, I familiarised with guns and the idea of death. My conscience is clear and even if they catch me, I’ll go having made sure I’ve lived my life to the fullest. I learned all I could and tried to do something useful. What scares me is that death might be painful. But I suppose everyone has that fear.


Written by: Rui Marçal

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