A look at Viktor Bout, the ‘Merchant of Death,’ Biden freed in exchange for Griner

WNBA star Brittney Griner is now free, but her liberation came at the cost of unleashing a notorious Russian arms dealer named Viktor Bout, who had been penned up in a federal penitentiary in Illinois.

An allegedly ruthless and shrewd weapons merchant, Bout's ferociousness in the black market arena across Eastern Europe into Africa and the Middle East earned him monikers such as the "Merchant of Death" and "Sanctions Buster" and purportedly inspired the Nicolas Cage film Lord of War.

"After months of being unjustly detained in Russia, held under intolerable...