Terrorism / Personalities

Christie, Stuart. Stefano Delle Chiaie: Portrait of a Black Terrorist. London: Anarchy Magazine/Refract Publications, 1984. 182 pages.

In 1943 the Allies landed in Sicily flying Mafia colors, and the following year James Angleton headed the OSS special ops section in Rome. In 1945 Angleton rescued Valerio Borghese ("The Black Prince") from the death sentence he was given by the Italian Resistance for war crimes, and in 1948 he helped orchestrate the CIA's successful intervention in the Italian elections to keep the Communists from winning. With this sort of legacy, it's no wonder that "black" politics has been dominant in Italy ever since.

Organized crime, corrupt Italian secret services, and unrepentant fascists have been working together through powerful Masonic societies such as Propaganda Due (P2 Lodge). In the 1960s some of them began a campaign of terror and murder that was known as the "Strategy of Tension." A favorite tactic was to blame their acts on the Left so as to legitimize more power for their friends on the Right. The most outrageous crime was the Bologna railway station bombing in 1980 that killed 85 innocent people; one of the five named as suspects by the investigating judge was Stefano Delle Chiaie. This book examines what's known and speculated about the career of Delle Chiaie, who also moved among ex-Nazi and junta circles in Latin America, Spain, and Greece.


Seale, Patrick. Abu Nidal: A Gun for Hire. New York: Random House, 1992. 340 pages.

Patrick Seale is one of Britain's respected Middle East specialists, with 30 years of experience and several books to his credit. This one is based largely on interviews with defectors from Abu Nidal's organization to Arafat's Fatah group during the 1980s. When Random House released it in February 1992, the Washington Post headline read, "Book Alleges French, Saudi Deals With Abu Nidal." A new State Department report had blamed Abu Nidal for more than 100 terrorist attacks since 1974 that resulted in the deaths of over 280 people, and since Washington boasts a thriving counter- terrorism industry (half of it government-sponsored and the other half self-appointed), any new angle on Mr. Big naturally draws a headline. This one referred to Seale's contention that between 1976 and 1988, Abu Nidal extorted about $50 million from France, the Saudis, and other Western enemies, who found it less expensive to pay him off than to fight him.

The major allegation in Seale's book, the evidence for which is mainly circumstantial, is that Israel's Mossad has penetrated Abu Nidal's organization, and encourages their activities in order to make Palestinians look bad. The Post article is skeptical. Experts can buy the penetration part, but doubt that Mossad would see it as in their interests to assist Abu Nidal in selecting targets and carrying out actions.


Yallop, David. Tracking the Jackal: The Search for Carlos, the World's Most Wanted Man. New York: Random House, 1993. 629 pages.

British author David Yallop's 1984 book "In God's Name," a study of the suspicious death of Pope John Paul I, sold nearly six million copies in forty countries. So when Yallop began looking for Carlos in 1985, his reputation preceded him and opened many doors in difficult places: Israel, Venezuela, Lebanon, Syria, Libya (where he interviewed Muammar Qaddafi), and Tunisia (where Yasser Arafat was interviewed). Too many doors, in fact: in Lebanon, his lengthy interviews with "Carlos" (Ilich Ramirez Sanchez) in 1985 turned out to be too easy. Many months later he had hints from various sources that this person couldn't have been the real Carlos. In 1989, Yallop finally met the real one in Damascus, asked some tough questions to establish his identity, and satisfied himself that the Lebanon Carlos was a well-briefed imposter -- probably sent by Syrian intelligence to plant disinformation that would discredit the Palestinian leadership.

Yallop concludes that the myth of Carlos served those with a Cold War agenda, and that if Carlos hadn't existed they would have invented him. His book has many unkind words for Israeli policy, and for people such as Claire Sterling and Brian Crozier, who helped to hype and distort the terrorist threat. Carlos, it turns out, was not a KGB-sponsored mastermind, but more like a spoiled child who planted bombs instead of throwing temper tantrums.

Here are the names most frequently mentioned in the above books:

    ABBAS ABU AL-     ABDALLAH KING     AGINTER-PRESS      ALIBRANDI ALESSANDRO     ALIOTTI ANTONINO     ALLUSH NAJI     ALMIRANTE GIORGIO     ALMIRON RODOLFO EDUARDO     AMIN IDI     ANDROPOV YURI V     ANGLETON JAMES JESUS     AQL BASEL     ARAFAT YASSER     ARCE GOMEZ LUIS (LUCHO)     ARGOV SHLOMO     ASSAD HAFEZ     ATA AMJAD     AVANGUARDIA NAZIONALE     AVNERY URI     AWAD MUSTAFA     AWAD RAMZI     AZIZ TARIQ     BAADER ANDREAS     BAKER JAMES A III     BAKOUSH ABDUL HAMID     BAKR ATEF ABU     BAKR HASAN AL-     BARAK EHUD     BARBIE KLAUS     BAZOFT FARZAD     BEGIN MENACHEM     BEN-BARKA MEHDI     BERNADOTTE FOLKE     BETANCOURT ROMULO     BLACK SEPTEMBER     BOESE WILFRIED     BOOCK PETER JURGEN     BORGHESE VALERIO     BOUDIA MOHAMMED     BOUMEDIENNE HOUARI     BOURDET CLAUDE     BOUVIER ANTON DAGES     BRAVO DOUGLAS     BREGUET BRUNO (LUCA)     BROWN CHARLES WILLARD     CABRAL AMILCAR     CALABRESI LUIGI     CALVI ROBERTO     CAMPO FLAVIO     CASEY WILLIAM JOSEPH     CASTRO HIDALGO ORLANDO     CAVALLARO ROBERTO     CHAD CIA IN     CHAIROFF PATRICE     CHIAPPE FRANCOIS     CHIRAC JACQUES     CIOLINI ELIO     COCO FRANCESCO     COHEN BARUCH     CONCUTELLI PIERLUIGI     CONTINENTAL ILLINOIS NATIONAL BANK     CROZIER BRIAN ROSSITER     CUOMO MARIO M     CURIEL HENRI     DANET OLIVIER     DAOUD ABU     DAYAN MOSHE     DE LORENZO GIOVANNI     DELGADO HUMBERTO     DELLE CHIAIE STEFANO     DEUTSCHER ISAAC     DILUIA SERAFINO     DOBSON CHRISTOPHER     DUBA ALI ISSA     FADLALLAH MOHAMMED HUSSEIN     FARRA ALI AL-     FAWARIS NAJI ABU AL-     FIEBELKORN JOACHIM     FOGEL MOSHE     FORUM WORLD FEATURES     FREDA FRANCO     FROHLICH CHRISTA     GAITAN JORGE ELIECER     GARCIA MEZA LUIS (GEN)     GARDES JEAN     GEARTY CONOR     GELLI LICIO     GEMAYEL AMIN     GEMAYEL BASHIR     GHAFUR AHMAD ABD AL-     GHASSAN AL-ALI DR.     GHORBANIFAR MANUCHER     GIANNETTINI GUIDO     GIORGI MAURIZIO     GUERIN-SERAC YVES     GWINNER KAY     HABASH GEORGE     HABRE HISSEN     HADDAD WADI (TERRORIST)     HAIG ALEXANDER M JR     HAMID HAYIL ABD AL-     HAMMAMI SAID     HANNUN WASFI     HASSAN KING     HAWATMEH NAYEF     HELMS RICHARD MCGARRAH     HENCKE ADM.     HERRANZ JEAN     HEYDRA PASTOR     HINDAWI NEZAR     HIZBALLAH      HOBEIKA ELIE     HOFI YITZHAK (HACKA)     HUSSEIN KING     HUSSEIN SADDAM     INSTITUTE STUDY CONFLICT     IOANNIDIS DIMITRIOS     ISA ABD AL-RAHMAN     ITALY CIA IN     IYAD ABU     JABR MUSTAFA     JIBRIL AHMED     JIHAD ABU     JIMENEZ PEREZ     JONATHAN INSTITUTE     JUERGEN HANS     JUMBLATT WALID     KADAR JANOS     KANAFANI GHASSAN     KASSAR MONZER AL-     KENNEDY DAVID MATTHEW     KHADER NAIM     KHALED LEILA     KHUDR SAMIH MOHAMMED     KHULY MOHAMMED AL-     KISSINGER HENRY A     KLEIN HANS-JOACHIM (TERRORIST)     KOPP MAGDALENA     KREISKY BRUNO     KUHLMAN MANFRED     LA BRUNA ANTONIO     LADAS IOANNIS     LAGAILLARDE PIERRE     LEAGUE SAINT GEORGE     LEANDRI ANTONIO     LEBRETTE FRANCOIS     LEIGHTON BERNARDO     LIBYA CIA IN     LOCHTE CHRISTIAN     LOPEZ REGA JOSE (MINISTER OF SOCIAL WELFARE)     LUBRANI URI     MACHADO EDUARDO     MACHADO GUSTAVO     MARAQA ISAM     MASSAGRANDE ELIO     MATAR AHMAD ABU     MAZIN ABU     MCCAFFERY JOHN     MEINHOF ULRIKE     MEIR GOLDA     MENUET JEAN-BAPTISTE     MERLINO MARIO     MICELI VITO     MICHELINI ARTURO     MINETTI LEDA     MOFFETT WILLIAM ADGER     MOROCCO CIA IN     MOSS ROBERT     MOSSAD      MOUKHARBEL MICHEL     MOUSA ABU     MOYNE LORD     NARDI GIANNI     NASSER GAMAL ABDEL     NETANYAHU BENJAMIN     NIDAL ABU     NITTAL HEINZ     NIZAR ABU     OAKLEY ROBERT BIGGER     OPERATION CONDOR     ORDINE NUOVO     PAGLIAI PIERLUIGI     PALESTINE LIBERATION ORGANIZATION     PALLADINO CARMINE     PATRICE LUMUMBA UNIVERSITY     PAYNE RONALD (AUTHOR)     PAZ ROMERO VIRGILIO PABLO     PEREIRA ANTONIO EXPEDITO CARVALHO     PESENTI CARLO     PHILLIPS DAVID ATLEE     PINELLI GIUSEPPE     PLEVRIS KOSTAS     PONIATOWSKI MICHEL     POPULAR FRONT LIBERATION PALESTINE     PROPAGANDA DUE (P2)     QADDAFI MUAMMAR     QASIM GHASSAN AHMAD     RABIN YITZHAK     RAMIREZ NAVAS JOSE ALTAGRACIA     RAMIREZ SANCHEZ ILICH     RAUTI PINO     RIFAI ZAID AL-     RUDEL HANS ULRICH     SAGUY YEHOSHUA     SAID HAYTHAM AHMED     SALAMEH ALI HASSAN     SALVINI LINO     SANCHEZ COVISA MARIANO     SANDUQA MUSTAFA IBRAHIM     SARTAWI ISAM     SAS FOREIGN TRADE INVESTMENT COMPANY     SCHIFF ZEEV     SEALE PATRICK     SENARD JACQUES     SHAKIR SADUN     SHAMIR YITZHAK     SHARAA FAROUK AL-     SHARIF BASSAM ABU     SHARON ARIEL     SIEFF JOSEPH EDWARD     SINDONA MICHELE     SKORZENY OTTO     SMITH COLIN (AUTHOR)     SORDI WALTER     SPAGGIARI ALBERT     STELLFIELD HANS     STERLING CLAIRE     SUAREZ GOMEZ ROBERTO     SUFFARINI FUAD AL-     SUSINI JEAN JACQUES     TAKAHASHI TAKAMOTO     TAL WASFI AL-     TALENTI PIER     TAUBERT EBERHARDT     TIEDEMANN GABRIELE     TIKRITI HARDAN AL-     TISEI ALDO     TOBON NYDIA     TOWNLEY MICHAEL VERNON     TURCHI LUIGI     TUTI MARIO     VAN LOOCKE JAN HOLLANTS     VATICAN BANK (INSTITUTE RELIGIOUS WORKS)     VENTURA GIOVANNI     VERGES JACQUES     VON LEERS JOHANNES     VON SCHUBERT GERHARD HARTMUT     WALKER WALTER COLYEAR     WEINRICH JOHANNES     WOODHAMS BARRY     WORLD ANTI-COMMUNIST LEAGUE     YAMADA YOSHIAKI     YAMAMOTO MARIKO     YAMANI AHMED ZAKI     ZAIDAN YUSIF     ZAIDAN ZIYAD     ZENTENO ANAYA JOAQUIN     ZIBADO COMPANY

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