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SNOWING IN BALI

He plays like he has two wives, when people introduce him. 'Hi, my name is Tota. This is my wife number one, this my wife number two, we live together.' And people, 'What?' And sometimes he put them out to dance. 'Go there and make a dance, just to show my friends how hot you are.' And they give a performance.

- Rafael

Years earlier, as a teenager in Brazil, Rafael had seen Tota several times rock up at Rio clubs on his Harley-Davidson with a big group of Hells Angels bikers, so meeting him in Bali was like meeting a legend. But with Tota's sense of humour, and naughty nature, the two quickly bonded. Tota was so impressed with Rafael's tattoos that he went to get more ink at the same Bali tattooist. 'We became very close friends.'

Tota knew Rafael was also a conduit to the biggest drug bosses on the island, and the pair struck a deal for Rafael to organise tens of thousands of ecstasy pills from Chino for Tota to sell in Brazil. And, he'd sell Tota's cocaine in Bali for a 20 per cent cut. It should have been simple, but the game was dicey and their first deal was a disaster.

Tota soon had a horse running with 3 kilos of cocaine. Rafael told Chino to prepare the cash. The island was dry and prices were hiked up to $50,000 a kilo. When the stuff arrived, Rafael went to the Brazilian girls' room, where it was kept, to test it. It was bad coke, yellowy brown, with a strong kerosene smell and when Rafael used some, his nose bled. He guessed it was mixed with glass shavings to give it a bit of a pearly sheen and fool rookies into thinking it was pure. He scooped a bit onto a spoon, and heated it up, to do a proper quality test by weighing the rock left after burning. The original gram crystallised to only 0.7 gram, proving it was only 70 per cent pure, not 100 per cent, which Chino demanded.

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