The Amazing Saga of Foutanga Babani Sissoko (Part 1)
I have to talk about this; I have to tell you about this guy, because I absolutely have to base a character on him at some point. But I need to dial that character way back because if I put him in a book as he really is, I'd get laughed off the page. Unlike reality, fiction has to make sense.
I found out about Mr. Sissoko in an odd way - in a piece online that was tracing the history of an airplane. Specifically, a Boeing 747 belonging to United Airlines. In 1989 this airplane was flying out of Honolulu when its forward cargo door blew off, ripping a large hole in the fuselage. The resulting explosive decompression blew out several rows of seats in business class, killing nine passengers. Through some rather heroic flying, the crew managed to return to Honolulu on the two surviving engines and land the plane.
The investigation into the incident went on for some time. But in the meantime, while the hole in the fuselage looked pretty scary, the damage to the 747 itself wasn't all that severe. And a 747 costs a whole lot of money. So the plane was repaired, re-registered, and returned to service.
It was 18 1/2 years old at the time of the Honolulu incident with more than 58,000 flight hours. It was getting old, and minor problems continued to crop up, though thankfully nothing as severe as the 1989 decompression. United flew it until 1997 before retiring it.
At this point, things start to take a turn for the weird, but nothing like what was to come. The plane was bought by a sketchy West African airline called Air Dabia, which was intended to fly Muslims from West Africa to Mecca for the annual Hajj pilgrimage. Air Dabia's owner was our hero, a mysterious Gambian millionaire named Foutanga Babani Sissoko.
The author of the piece I read was interested in the story of the 747 itself as opposed to its new owner. And it's that particular focus that allowed him to write this line, and then simply move on as if nothing had happened: "...in January of 1998 a complaint was filed by the Dubai Islamic Bank alleging Sissoko had bought his jumbo with funds that were stolen from the bank using black magic."
Um... hold up there.
While the airplane's second life in West Africa was an adventure all its own, I couldn't let a line like that pass unremarked. I had to find out just what was going on with Foutanga Babani Sissoko and his black magic bank robbery. I mean, there had to be a heck of a story there, right?
And my God, was there ever. More about the astonishing story of Mr. Sissoko in Part 2.
til next time,
-- MP
Spy My Stuff
You can find me at MarkParragh.com and my books here at Amazon. The John Crane series is currently in Kindle Unlimited, and so exclusive to Amazon. Rumrunners can also be found at other fine ebook retailers.
Reading: With a Mind to Kill by Anthony Horowitz. New Bond novel! His Forever and a Day might be my favorite non-Fleming Bond of them all, so I’m excited about this.
Watching: Moon Dog, an adorable short about maybe not always going with your first instinct.
Listening To: Crystal. By 80s synth band New Order, believe it or not.