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The Assassination of Al-Mohandessin: The Full Story · Crime Night

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: April seventh, nineteen ninety one. I want you to just
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  Speaker 1: picture the scene. We're in Mohandesen, Cairo, Lebanon Square.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: To be exact, right, a really dense, upscale neighborhood, lots
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: of activity.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Exactly the kind of plays with a constant, you know,
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  Speaker 1: city hum. But on this night, that hum is just shattered.
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  Speaker 2: By gunfire, rapid, indiscriminate gunfire.
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  Speaker 1: Security forces get their fast. They swarm this large residential building.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: And the scene they find inside, I mean, it's just chaotic.
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  Speaker 2: It's the apartment of a businessman, Hmed Mandor, and it's
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  Speaker 2: a bloodbath.
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  Speaker 1: His wife and the maid both dead shot. A neighbor
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  Speaker 1: who must have heard the commotion is wounded.
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  Speaker 2: But the central figure, Mandor himself, he's just gone missing.
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  Speaker 2: In that initial mystery, you know, a high profile masacre
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  Speaker 2: where the main target vanishes. That's the opening chapter of
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: our deep dive today.
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  Speaker 1: This is the story of Ahmed Hilmey Almasouri, a name
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  Speaker 1: that would become infamous. Hmm.
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  Speaker 2: They called him the Mohandessen Butcher. And he wasn't just
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  Speaker 2: a killer. He's this bodyman of almost every crime you
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  Speaker 2: can imagine, all mixed together.
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  Speaker 1: So the mystery of the missing businessman. It doesn't last long,
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  Speaker 1: does it.
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  Speaker 2: No miles away in a place called art Aliwa, they
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  Speaker 2: find Mander's car and he's inside. He's inside dead. This
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  Speaker 2: duality a targeted killing in one spot, that a brutal
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  Speaker 2: massacre back of the apartment. It immediately told investigators this
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  Speaker 2: wasn't a simple robbery gone wrong.
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  Speaker 1: And the stakes were incredibly high from the get go.
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  Speaker 2: Oh absolutely, the brutality alone would have made front page news.
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  Speaker 2: But the victims, I mean, Mandur was a major player
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  Speaker 2: and his wife, she was a relative of Suzanne Mubarak,
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  Speaker 2: the first Lady at the time, So.
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  Speaker 1: The pressure on the police was just immense, unbelievable.
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  Speaker 2: This became the number one public opinion case overnight.
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  Speaker 1: So that's our mission here. We need to go beyond
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  Speaker 1: the what and get to the why. How does a
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  Speaker 1: man born into i mean extreme privilege and wealth devolve
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  Speaker 1: into this kind of calculated, unique killer.
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  Speaker 2: Precisely, we're dissecting the anatomy of a killer who seemed
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  Speaker 2: to have every single advantage in life.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, so let's go back to that night. The police
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  Speaker 1: are at the apartment. What are the first concrete clues
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  Speaker 1: they have to work with.
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  Speaker 2: Well, the place was searched, but it wasn't, you know,
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  Speaker 2: random vandalism. It was methodical and the two women were
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  Speaker 2: executed close range. Clinical, very But the real key came
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  Speaker 2: from the community eyewitnesses, the concierge, neighbors who saw the
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: assailant running away.
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  Speaker 1: And what did they tell them? What did he look like?
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  Speaker 2: They gave a very very specific profile, tall, thin, light skinned.
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  Speaker 2: But the one feed here everyone remembered. The thing that
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  Speaker 2: stuck in their minds was his his nose. It was
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  Speaker 2: strikingly long. And another critical detail, he was impersonating a
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  Speaker 2: police officer, a zebit.
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  Speaker 1: So he's not just a killer, he's using the symbol
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  Speaker 1: of authority as his coveral.
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  Speaker 2: Which shows incredible cunning premeditation.
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  Speaker 1: But if the description was so unique, I mean the height,
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  Speaker 1: the complexion, and especially that knows why wasn't there an
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  Speaker 1: immediate match in the criminal registries.
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  Speaker 2: Because they were looking for the wrong kind of criminal.
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  Speaker 2: They ran the description through databases of Burglar's these the
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  Speaker 2: usual suspect.
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  Speaker 1: And got nothing.
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  Speaker 2: Came up completely empty. It forced them to realize their
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  Speaker 2: killer was likely operating outside of those typical criminal circles.
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  Speaker 1: Which is what leads to the breakthrough. They have to
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  Speaker 1: shift focus from the who to the why. They start
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: looking at the victim.
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  Speaker 2: Right Amad Mendor himself, his life, his business, his enemies.
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  Speaker 1: And that leads them to Engineer Roughat and his brother.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, former employees. Mandor had apparently betrayed them, reported them
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  Speaker 2: for a drug offense, and they ended up in prison.
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  Speaker 2: They had a motive, a very strong one.
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  Speaker 1: But it wasn't them.
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  Speaker 2: No, the investigators ruled them out pretty quickly as the
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  Speaker 2: actual killers. Oh, but they were the key.
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  Speaker 1: So wait, the biggest break in this case it comes
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  Speaker 1: from two guys. Mandor himself put in prison. How does
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  Speaker 1: that work?
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  Speaker 2: Well? When the police described the killer to them, tall, thin,
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  Speaker 2: that long nose, they knew him immediately. They said it
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: sounded exactly like a man they'd met in prison, an
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  Speaker 2: acquaintance named Ahmed. Yes, and get this, while they were
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  Speaker 2: all incarcerated together, Rafat and his brother had told Ahmed
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  Speaker 2: everything about Mondor, his habits, his wealth, his vulnerabilities. They
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  Speaker 2: basically handed him the blueprint for the murder without realizing it.
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  Speaker 1: Unbelievable. So they finally have a name, Ahmed Hilmy AMASII.
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  Speaker 1: They pull his file and what they find isn't what
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  Speaker 1: they expect, not at all.
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  Speaker 2: The file showed some property crimes, fraud, things like that,
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  Speaker 2: But his background, it was just bizarre. This was the
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  Speaker 2: son of a retired general. His mother was from a
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  Speaker 2: major elite family.
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  Speaker 1: He went to exclusive foreign schools. He was into equestrian sports.
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  Speaker 1: This is the life of the one percent.
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  Speaker 2: A life of total material comfort.
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  Speaker 1: So how do you get from that to the Mohandes
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  Speaker 1: and Butcher? I mean, we have to look at his
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  Speaker 1: family life. It sounds like a perfect storm.
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  Speaker 2: It was a structural time bomb. The parents' divorce left
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  Speaker 2: him feeling fragmented. His mother was reportedly very cold, distant,
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  Speaker 2: and the father. His father's approach was this, this deeply
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  Speaker 2: destructive contradiction. He would physically beat Ahmed constantly, supposedly to
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  Speaker 2: teach him manners, but at the same time, at the
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  Speaker 2: same time, he'd shower him with money, cars, anything he wanted,
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  Speaker 2: almost to compensate for the abuse and the mother's absence.
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  Speaker 1: That is a recipe for a disaster, violence mixed with
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  Speaker 1: zero consequences.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, and you see it in his early delinquency. He
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  Speaker 2: starts stealing from classmates money, school supplies.
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  Speaker 1: But not because he needed it.
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  Speaker 2: Never, Yeah, he'd tear up the money, he'd give it
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  Speaker 2: to the servants. It was about the act, the transgression,
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  Speaker 2: the feeling of power.
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  Speaker 1: Which brings us to that famous incident when he was
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  Speaker 1: just fourteen with the actress Maha Sabriy.
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  Speaker 2: Right, he steals a jewelry bag from her. But when
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  Speaker 2: he's caught, his motive is strange. He says it wasn't
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  Speaker 2: for the jewelry. He claims it was revenge because she
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  Speaker 2: was cruel to her own daughter, who was a friend
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  Speaker 2: of his.
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  Speaker 1: See, even then, it's not about money. It's about this
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  Speaker 1: twisted sense of justice or control exactly.
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  Speaker 2: And that was the moment his own family basically wrote
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  Speaker 2: him off. They labeled him a failure and corrupt.
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  Speaker 1: And that label must have just fueled everything, especially when
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  Speaker 1: his biggest dream gets taken away.
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  Speaker 2: He wanted to be a fighter pilot more than anything.
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  Speaker 2: He applied to the Air Force Academy in nineteen eighty three.
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  Speaker 1: A perfect outlet for structured aggression.
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  Speaker 2: And his father blocked it, just blocked the application, no
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  Speaker 2: explanation given. It crushed him.
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  Speaker 1: So what happens then.
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  Speaker 2: To save face, to control the damage, the father sends
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  Speaker 2: him to live with an ant in Iraq.
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  Speaker 1: And what's the first thing Ahmed does when he gets there.
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  Speaker 2: He volunteers for the Iraqi Army. They're at war with Uran.
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  Speaker 2: But he wasn't the patriot, he told people later. His
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  Speaker 2: only reason for joining was to learn how to use weapons.
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  Speaker 1: And to experience killing.
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  Speaker 2: And to experience killing. He saw war as a training
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  Speaker 2: ground for his fantasies. He only came back because he
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  Speaker 2: found actual combat too complicated to tedious.
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  Speaker 1: Then he ends up in prison in eighty six, and
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  Speaker 1: this is where his ideas really start to escalate.
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  Speaker 2: That time radicalized him. His fantasies went from simple theft
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  Speaker 2: to assassinating politicians, bombing embassy's grand chaotic.
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  Speaker 1: Acts, and that attempted theft of the AIDS research. That
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  Speaker 1: is one of the strangest parts of this entire story.
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  Speaker 2: It's truly mind boggling. This is right before the Mohandesan murders.
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  Speaker 2: He and a friend disguise themselves as police again with
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  Speaker 2: that theme, and break into the villa of a famous doctor,
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  Speaker 2: Ahmed Chaffique.
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  Speaker 1: They tied everyone up, demand the safe key.
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  Speaker 2: But not for money. He wants the doctor's microfilm. His
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  Speaker 2: aids research for what possible reason, who knows power intellectual control.
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  Speaker 2: But when the doctor convinces him the important research is
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  Speaker 2: store it abroad, Alzeri just apologizes. He says he's from
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  Speaker 2: a secret organization and.
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  Speaker 1: Leaves that is profoundly disturbed. He risks everything, not for cash,
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  Speaker 1: but for an idea.
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  Speaker 2: It proves his motives were never financial, they were rooted
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  Speaker 2: in something far more chaotic.
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  Speaker 1: So after that, his spokes snaps back to Hamadmundur, the
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  Speaker 1: man he learned everything about in.
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  Speaker 2: Prison, and this time it's highly premeditated. He tries a
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  Speaker 2: simple break in. First it fails, Mondeor reports it to.
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  Speaker 1: The police, and instead of running, Almasuri sees that police
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  Speaker 1: report as.
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  Speaker 2: An opportunity, the perfect opportunity. The very next day, he goes.
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  Speaker 1: Back posing as an officer again, a Maba.
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  Speaker 2: Heath officer, an investigator. He tells Mandor he needs him
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  Speaker 2: to come to the station to complete the investigation into
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  Speaker 2: the attempted break in from the night.
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  Speaker 1: Before, and Mandor, thinking he's helping the police, just gets
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  Speaker 1: in the car.
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  Speaker 2: He gets in the car, Almasuri drives him to a
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  Speaker 2: deserted street, shoots him and.
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  Speaker 1: Leaves him there and then he goes back.
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  Speaker 2: He goes back, the job isn't done. He goes back
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  Speaker 2: to the apartment, convinces the guard he's still on the case,
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  Speaker 2: goes upstairs.
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  Speaker 1: And executes the wife and the maid to eliminate any
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  Speaker 1: witnesses exactly.
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  Speaker 2: He grabs some items, but the focus is elimination, and
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  Speaker 2: when that neighbor sees him, he shoots her too and runs.
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  Speaker 1: And that final act in Lebanon Square, firing into a.
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  Speaker 2: Crowd, pure chaos. It was just to create panic. Can
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  Speaker 2: be sure no one would even think about trying to
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  Speaker 2: stop him.
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  Speaker 1: Unbelievable nerve. But the police have his name, now they're
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  Speaker 1: closing in. How do they finally get him?
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  Speaker 2: They track him to a new hideout in body, but
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  Speaker 2: they know he's dangerous, that he won't go quietly. They
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  Speaker 2: needed a plan that wouldn't endanger civilians.
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  Speaker 1: So the capture itself it had to be precise.
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  Speaker 2: It was brilliantly done. They used the buildings on guard.
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  Speaker 2: They had the guard to ring the bell first. Alverari
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  Speaker 2: looks through the people, sees a familiar face and lets
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  Speaker 2: his guard down just for a second.
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  Speaker 1: He opens the door just.
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  Speaker 2: A crack, and the police rush him and what they.
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  Speaker 1: Find when they get in is the final chilling twist.
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  Speaker 2: It is he's holding a live hand grenade. He was
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  Speaker 2: clearly planning to take everyone with him, and his face
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: it's wrapped in medical.
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  Speaker 1: Gauze, cosmetic surgery.
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  Speaker 2: He'd had surgery to change his appearance and was getting
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  Speaker 2: ready to flee the country for good.
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  Speaker 1: And when they finally question him, what does he say?
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  Speaker 1: Does he show any remorse?
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  Speaker 2: None? He confirms everything was premitted, There wasn't about theft,
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  Speaker 2: and then he says, chillingly that if he hadn't been caught,
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  Speaker 2: he would have committed more massacres.
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  Speaker 1: He was executed in nineteen ninety four, which.
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: Closed the book on the case, but not on the questions.
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  Speaker 1: And that really is the core of it, isn't it.
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  Speaker 1: When someone has every single external advantage, the money, the education,
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  Speaker 1: the social status, what is that precise toxic combination of neglect, abuse,
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  Speaker 1: and entitlement that turns them into someone whose only real
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  Speaker 1: goal is to experience killing.
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  Speaker 2: It suggests that all those resources just made him more effective,
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  Speaker 2: more dangerous. His rage wasn't fueled by need, It was
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  Speaker 2: fueled by this deptly narcissistic wound from his childhood.
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  Speaker 1: So here's something for you, tom all Over. When a
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  Speaker 1: killer's motive isn't money but this deep seated need for
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: chaotic attention and the fulfillment of violent fantasies, what systems
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  Speaker 1: could we possibly have to catch someone that intelligent, that
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  Speaker 1: wealthy before those fantasies become a deadly reality,