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Love, Betrayal, and Murder: The Story of Rida · Crime Night

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Imagine this Cairo, nineteen ninety, early morning in Alkamalia. It's quiet,
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: the city's just waking up. But near the old Algafir cemetery,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: a worker he sees something, a shape on the ground.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a man Turnett. He was thirty six years old. Yeah,
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: fully clothed, just lying there.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: But it's immediately clear something horrific happened. He's cover in blood, massive,
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: really severe slash wounds across.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: His neck right, and the initial scene it's confusing for
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: the police. They identify him straight away Gamal. His id's
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: right there in.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: His pocket, which is odd, isn't it. If it was
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: a robbery, why leave the id? Why is he fully
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: dressed exactly?
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: And if it was say a street fight, well there
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: were no signs of a struggle, nothing. It just didn't
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: add up.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: So today we're diving deep into the life that ended
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: so violently. There. We're looking at a marriage that began
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: back in nineteen seventy nine and somehow spiraled into this calculated,
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: deadly betrayal.
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: And the sources we have lay out this path and
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: involves abandonment, this really strange apathy, and incredibly, a written contract.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: To commit murder a contract.
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: Wow.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: Okay, but let's get back to the crimes. And you
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: said it was confusing.
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: Hugely because the first big twist, the first aha moment,
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: came from the forensics team. Their report completely contradicted what
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: the scene suggested. So Gaimal wasn't actually killed by those
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: terrible slashes to his neck. He'd been poisoned.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: First poison, But then why the slashes, Why go to
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: the trouble of dumping the body and making it look
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: so brutal afterwards?
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: Well, it points towards deception, doesn't it. The poison explains
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: why there were no defensive wounds, no signs of a fight.
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: He was likely already unconscious, totally incapacitated.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: Oh I see, So he couldn't fight.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: Back precisely, And that finding completely shifts the focus of
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: the investigation. This wasn't random violence. It had to be premeditated.
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: It had to be someone close.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: So the police start digging into Gamal's life. They find
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: out he lived in Manshia, Nasser ran a fava bean cart.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: Apparently quite popular.
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, real local figure. He had five kids, young ones
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: and everyone the police spoke to neighbors mostly they described
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: him as a you know, a good man, no known.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: Enemies, A good man with no enemies, murdered in such
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: a personal, calculated way. It screams intimacy, like you said, and.
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: Then comes the breakthrough, the absolute turning point. It was
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: a conversation investigators had with Gamal's eldest daughter. She was
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: only nine years old.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: Just nine. What could she possibly tell them?
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: They asked her who came to the house often, and
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: she immediately mentioned Uncle Mahmood.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: Uncle Mahmod. Okay, who was he.
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: Not just some random acquaintance. He was known as Kamal's
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: closest friend, always around the house, apparently a constant presence. Okay,
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: But then the little girl give them this detail and
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: it just sends chills down their spines. She says, Mamood
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: was at their house the night before Gamal's body was
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: found the night before. Yes, but he wasn't there offering
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: condolences or anything like that. He was celebrating with Rita,
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: Gamal's wife. They were eating rice pudding together.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: Other celebrating while her husband is missing, presumed dead.
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: It gets worse. The daughter then tells them something she
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: overheard Mamood say to Rita. He said, thank God, everything
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: we agreed on is finished.
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: Everything we agreed on is finished, my goodness, And.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: This celebration, this conversation, it happened in Rita's bedroom, which
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: strongly suggests Gamal was already gone, already dealt with.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: The pieces just snapped together there, don't they. It points
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: directly at Rita and Mamod.
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: Absolutely the police zeros in on them immediately. And while
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: the community might have painted a picture of Gamal as
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: this loyal husband and friend, the official records they told
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: a very very different story. Another twist, a big one.
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: Investigators dug up an old police report a detailed a
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: previous arrest both Mahmud and.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: Rita arrested together for what an act.
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: Of public indecency in the public road, that's the official term,
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: So concrete proof of an illicit relationship between them.
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: Wow, okay, but what's truly damning, you said.
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: What's absolutely staggering is that the record indicated Gamal knew
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: about this, He knew about the arrest, the scandal, and
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: apparently he did nothing, showed no concern, utterly unfazed.
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: That level of apathy. It's hard to comprehend knowing your
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: wife was arrested with your best friend for indecency.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: It is astounding so faced with the forensic evidence, the poisoning,
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: and the daughter's damning testimony and now this old police report,
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: Rita and Mamoud didn't hold out long.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: They confessed.
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: They confessed. They admitted the rice pudding was exactly what
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: it looked like, celebration, marking the fact that they'd successfully
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: carried out the murder plan.
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: Okay, so we know how it ended brutally, but why
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: what drove them to this? You mentioned pressure going back years.
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: We have to rewind, go back eleven years before the murder,
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: to nineteen seventy nine. That's when Rita married Gamal. She
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: was only fifteen years old.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: Fifteen married to a man of twenty five.
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: Yes, and initially maybe she was impressed. He had a
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: decent job then working for a pharmaceutical company. Stability and Rita,
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: despite being so young, she felt this sense of duty,
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: maybe even love initially.
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: But that stability didn't last, not even close.
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: Barely a year into the marriage, Gamal just quits his job.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: Quits why.
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: The sources describe him as very lazy, just unwilling to work,
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: unwilling to take responsibility for his family. Rita stuck by him, though.
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: That must have been incredibly difficult, and it got worse
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: over the next few years.
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: They had five children, five and the poverty just deepened.
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: They couldn't afford their apartment anymore, had to move into
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: just one single, small room.
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: Five kids in one room. And then things shifted again,
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: didn't they? From financial struggle to something else.
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, outright abandonment. Gamal suddenly decides he's going to travel
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: abroad for work, to another Arab country. He leaves, promises
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: he'll make money send for them.
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: Let me guess that didn't happen.
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: He just vanished. When completely silent for two whole years,
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: Rata heard nothing, no letters, no money, no calls, nothing.
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: She's left completely alone with five children to feed and clothe.
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: How did she even manage? Two years is a long time.
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: It was the community, really, her neighbors, people nearby. They
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: helped her set up a tiny kiosk, just a small stand,
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: so she could earn something to survive. She was effectively
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: a single mother, abandoned.
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: And then out of the blue, he just reappears.
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: After two years of absolute silence, Gamal walks back into
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: her life no warning.
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: Did he come back rich, having made his fortune, not
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: even slightly.
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: He came back with more debt than when he left.
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: He'd achieved nothing financially.
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: Oh come on, that's brutal.
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: And that moment, his empty handed return after abandoning them
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: for two years, that cited as the specific point everything
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: changed for Rita. Any respect, any lingering affection she might
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: have had for Gamal just evaporated gone.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: So why did she stay then? After that?
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: For the children? Only for the children. But she laid
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: down the law, set a firm condition. She wouldn't support
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: him financially anymore, not a penny. He had to support
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: the family, start a proper business.
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: And he agreed, He agreed, and that's.
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: When he started the Fava being kart, the one that
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: became quite popular.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: Ironically, So the marriage is now basically a business arrangement
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: built on resentment, not a great foundation, not at all.
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: It's just simmering bitterness. And right into that unhappy situation
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: walks ma Mood.
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: The friend, Mamud the taxi driver, right, and unlike Gamal,
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: Mamod had his act together financially speaking, he had a car, money.
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: He starts off as just a regular customer at Kamal's cart, but.
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: They become friends, close friends.
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: Very close. Gamal apparently really took to him. He even
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: asked Mamood for help getting a ration card, a sign
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: of trust of reliance. Mamood started coming over the.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: House all the time, and Rita sees this.
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: She sees Mamood he's ambitious, he's got money, he's bringing
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: gifts for the kids, and she compares him to Gamal lazy, unambitious,
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: broke Gamal. Rita was only twenty five, then described as
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: being in the prime of her youth.
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: It's almost anable what happens next given the circumstances.
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: She started it, apparently flirting with Mamood, testing the waters,
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: and the relationship took off quickly. They started meeting secretly,
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: even at the Mood's apartment, and for.
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: Rita this must have felt validating exactly.
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: Mamood made her feel valued, desired, something Gamal hadn't done,
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: maybe ever, certainly not in years. It was a stark contract.
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: It then came out arrest the public indecency charged. That
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: must have thrown a wrench in the works.
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: They revealed a huge lie when they were arrested. Ma Mood,
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: panicking trying to lessen the charge, claimed Rita was his wife.
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: His wife, but he already had a wife and children.
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: He'd hidden that fact completely from Rita. That was the
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: first shock for her, discovering the Mood wasn't who he
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: claimed to be. And the second shock Gamal's reaction, or
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: rather his complete lack of reaction throughout the whole police
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: process the legal fallout. Gamaral never asked Rata about it,
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: never seemed angry, never seemed bothered by the massive scandal
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: involving his wife and his best friend.
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: Just nothing like he didn't care at all. So Rita,
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: her marriage is clearly over in her mind. Ma moods
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: lied to her, but maybe she still sees a future.
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: What does she do?
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: She asked him Aal for a divorce straight up. She
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: wants out, possibly hoping she can still marry Mamood despite.
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: The lies and Gamal's response given his apathy.
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: His response is chilling. He refuses instantly, no hesitation, and
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: he tells her he'll leave her hanging, meaning he'd never
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: grant her the divorce, trapping her indefinitely.
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: Why why refuse if he didn't seem to care about
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: the affair.
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: Because then he admits it he knew about the affair
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: all along, and his apathy wasn't just indifference, it was strategy.
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: He saw an.
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: Opportunity, an opportunity for what.
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: To exploit the situation. He started blackmailing the mood, demanding
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: money favors, constant financial support from his friend. That was
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: the price for Gamal's silence, the price for allowing the
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: affair to continue under his notes.
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: Oh my god, So he wasn't just lazy and neglectful.
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: He became a predator, using his wife's affair and his
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: friend's guilt to make money.
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: For months. Apparently Gamal was actively profiting from the situation,
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: leveraging their secret for cash. Rita was trapped, My mood
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: was being bled dry, and Gamal was, well, what was
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: getting paid?
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: That situation couldn't hold. It's just too toxic, too volatile, exactly.
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: And that desperation, that feeling of being completely cornered with
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: Gamal refusing any way out, that's what led Rita emmamuod
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: to decide murder was the only option left.
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: But you mentioned something earlier, something about a contract. That
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: detail is just astounding, it really is.
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: They didn't just talk about it, didn't just make a
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: verbal pack. They actually wrote it down, a signed document,
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: a contract between them.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: What did it say?
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: It promised they would marry each other immediately after Kamal
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: was dead. It was basically an insurance policy, wasn't it,
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: making sure neither one would back out or betray the
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: other once the deed was done.
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: The level of distrust between them even as they're planning
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: this horrific act together.
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: It's incredible pigs volumes, doesn't it. So they put the
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: plan into motion right away, But they weren't very good
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: at it in.
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: Failed attempts two of them.
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: First, Radha tried poisoning Gamal's food at home. The dose
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: wasn't right or something. It didn't work. Then Mahmoud invited
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: Gamal over to his place tried poisoning him there again,
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: Kamal somehow survived it. They realized they couldn't do it
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: reliably themselves.
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: So they needed help.
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: Mamoud reached out found a third party, offered them money
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: to assist to make sure it worked this time.
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: So the final attempt.
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: Mahmoud invites Gamal over one last time. This time with help,
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: they administer a strong dose of poison in his food
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: m m enough to knock him out completely lose consciousness.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: That explains the lack of struggle exactly.
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: Once he was incapacitated, totally helpless, they used a sharp
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: knife inflicted those brutal slash wounds the worker found later,
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: and then then they loaded Gamal's body into Mahmoud's car,
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: drove to the Algafir cemetery and just dumped him there.
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: And Mamod went straight from dumping.
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: The body to ride'z house. Just like the daughter testified.
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: He brought sweets, rice pudding. They stayed up celebrating their
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: success until almost dawn.
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: That's celebration. The source called it the last sora.
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: Yes, the ser are Usually it's a late night gathering,
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: often for happy occasions, celebrations with friends, family. Using that
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: term for celebrating a murder is just profoundly dark.
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: And the next morning, Rita puts on an act.
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: Completely goes to Gamal's family, pretending to be worried, crying,
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: saying he ever came home the night before, playing the
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: distraught wife.
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: When the police finally caught up with them, did they
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: show any remorse, any regret at all?
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: Apparently none. It's one of the most chilling aspects during
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: the investigation. Rita expressed absolutely no regret for arranging the
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: murder of her husband, the father of her five children,
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: and Mamod Mahmood gave this bizarre justification. He claimed he
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: killed Gamal because Gamal didn't appreciate his wife's beauty and femininity,
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: showed zero concern for his own wife and children, or
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: for the fact he'd murdered his supposed best friend.
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: Just cold so the outcome for them.
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: Both Ridda and Mahmoud were convicted of premeditated murder. Both
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: were sentenced to death.
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: It's just layers upon layers of tragedy here, isn't it.
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: It really is. You have Retta married off, incredibly young,
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: facing immense poverty and neglect. That pressure is undeniable. But
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: the whole story pivots. I think on Gamal's reaction to the.
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: Affair, his refusal to grant the divorce yes.
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: And not just refusing, but turning it into a tool
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: for exploitation. His laziness was one thing, but his decision
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: to become a blackmailer to actively profit from the situation
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: rather than end the marriage that ultimately sealed his fate.
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: His apathy became predatory and that cost him his life.
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: It seems so his own actions, his refusal to let
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: go while simultaneously profiting from the betrayal, directly led to
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: his murder.
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: So as you process this whole deep dive, think about
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: that final detail, that signed contract between Rita and Mamod.
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: Right. Was that piece of paper born out of some twisted,
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: desperate love a guaranteed that they'd finally be together after this?
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: Or was it something much colder? Sinply the final act
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: of two conspirators who fundamentally distrusted each other, a calculated
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: move in a deadly game, acknowledging that in their world,
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: even a pack to commit murder needed to be put
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: in writing. Something to think about,