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  • Illustration: Jen Wang

IT'S NOT HARD to find stories about Kundin Nadew—the man city officials call Portland's most persistent “rogue” cabbie.

Since his city permit was revoked in 2012 following a drunk driving arrest, the city says Nadew has made a habit of illicit incursions into Portland from Beaverton, where he's legally allowed to drive a cab. He's been fined more than $25,000 for taking illegal fares within Portland city limits over the last three years.

The city's cab drivers know Nadew's dark mini van, with its makeshift taxi light and conspicuous lack of a proper taxi plate, and sometimes will film him tooling around Portland streets. In a video shot earlier this month, Nadew wags his finger out the van's driver's side window as he foully berates a Green Cab trainee filming him.

“Fuck you, mother pussy!” he yells in broken English. “You mother pussy cab!” Then he drives off.

It's not behavior any employer would relish, but Nadew recently got a fresh shot at legitimacy in Portland's private for-hire transportation world. The city won't let him legally drive a cab, so Nadew got a job with Uber.

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