He later engaged in river piracy, stock fraud and smuggling, but did not like the work he had to put into these activities and wanted something more nasty.

Zanzibar was immediately made a Dreadnok, when he brought a load of bootleg gasoline to sell at Zartan's filling station.

However, due to his selfishness, penchant for stealing and poor personal hygiene, his disposition is so nasty that even the other Dreadnoks don't like him.

[2] Zanzibar overplays the role of a pirate, raiding waterways aboard his air skiff, and even speaking with an excess of bluster.

He and Monkeywrench are caught stealing bad gasoline from Zartan, the same gas he sold the Cobra agent in the first place.

He has some knowledge that helps save Cobra Island from a missile attack arranged by rogue Pentagon agents.

As he imagined the characters in his head, he described the Dreadnoks as "an elite team of maniacal mercenaries allied with Cobra for this battle", with the figures lying in the thick of the shag carpet, and "Toward the edge of the carpet, nearest the closet, Zanzibar, the dread pirate who never changed his socks and brushed his teeth with grape soda, was mounted on the Air Skiff, an over water swamp vehicle that functioned surprisingly well on the thick shag rug".