"He who rules Malacca has Venice by the throat" is the quote of Malacca, passage to the largest Sea traffic and piracy prior to its position being usurped by Somalia.
Remember "BLACK HAWK DOWN".
As of September 2008 there is a queue of "Hijacked ships" waiting to be released on ransom in Somalian waters, a far cry from the days of "Black Beard", "Captain Morgan" and Long John Silver.
Whats happening in 2008 is fact and less of fiction.