-Caveat Lector-
an excerpt from:
The Great Heroin Coup - Drugs, Intelligence, & International Fascism
Henrik Kruger
Jerry Meldon, Translator
South End Press©1980
Box 68 Astor Station
Boston, MA 02123
ISBN 0-89608-0319-5
240pps - one edition - out-of-print
Orginally published in Danish
Smukke Serge og Heroien
Bogan 1976
--[5]--
FIVE
ASSASSIN IN ALGIERS
Christian David was born in 1929 in the city of Bordeaux in the south of
France. Like most youths destined to underworld stardom, he was wild and
incorrigible, picked up for pickpocketing on more than one occasion. His
Bordeaux chums recall him as ostentatious and hot-headed. By age twenty-one
he had parlayed good looks and charm into a budding career as a pimp.
Not long thereafter he purchased the Whiskey A Go-Go nightclub.[1] But the
proceeds from the whores and the club were not enough. Greed was another of
his traits. He had tasted the life of a playboy and his need for excitement
bordered on the pathological. Beau Serge began to mastermind bank heists. At
age twenty-six he was arrested and sentenced to a stay at Besancon prison on
a score of counts ranging from procuring to armed assault.[2] One year later
he escaped and was on the loose for several months. When recaptured he was
jailed on Ile de Re outside the city of La Rochelle.[3]
He escaped once more in the fall of 1960. This time he remained longer in
hiding with the help of his friends in the underworld. It was probably then
that he impressed the gangster kingpin Jo Attia, who would greatly influence
Beau Serge's career. In February 1961 David was again taken prisoner and
returned to Ile de Re, where he was placed under close guard. Escape number
three would demand all his cunning and a dash of theatrics.
His behavior slowly altered. He uttered strange things, trembled
uncontrollably, communicated with no one, and smashed his cell in fits of
hysteria. The doctor became convinced of his derangement. In the summer of
1961 he was moved to the Cadillac mental hospital.
Within months a nurse became his accomplice in escape. But all was in vain. A
chase through the woods and Beau Serge was soon back in his cage on Ile de Re.
All the while, however, and unknown to him, plans for David's future were
being made just outside prison walls. Serious men were gathered in a house on
Ile de Re to discuss a list of names. The house belonged to France's
ambassador to the Central African Republic, Colonel Roger Barberot, a hero of
World War II and Indochina, and chief of the Black Commandos in Algeria.[4]
Most of the men were members of the inner circle of the ruling Gaullist
party. Others were princes of the underworld. One of the latter was Jo Attia.
And one of the names on the list was Christian David's.
One day in October 1961 David was taken from his cell to government offices
in La Rochelle, and seated in a comfortable chair opposite a man of influence
and power. The man was Pierre Lemarchand, a high-ranking Gaullist betrothed
to de Gaulle's adopted daughter.[5] When presented with Lemarchand's
proposal, Christian David was dumbfounded. Freedom would be his if he agreed
to join a terror corps assembled to put an end to the Algerian operations of
the ultranationalist, anti-de Gaulle Secret Army Organization (OAS). The
corps was a division of SAC, the semiofficial security and intelligence unit
of the Gaullist party.
Beau Serge joined SAC at once. Though admission normally required two
sponsors, the rules were waived in times of crisis. During the May 1968
student insurrection one merely had to declare oneself anti-Communist and
look like a bruiser.
In the de Gaulle era an almost religious aura surrounded SAC just as it did
the towering president himself. The new recruit, David, was placed on a red
carpet in the middle of a room with drawn, thick curtains. Two or three SAC
leaders, facing a wall, listened to the enlistee as he swore allegiance with
his hand upon a Cross of Lorraine and dagger. A leader would then declare:
"You are now our follower in life and death."[6]
Christian David, and hundreds of others plucked from prison for an Algerian
rendezvous, were sent to a camp in Satory. There they were run through a
crash training course in weaponry, sabotage, and hand-to-hand combat. It left
little doubt that their metiers would be murder and torture.
On December 1 the "barbouzes" landed in Algiers. Headquarters were set up in
Villa A-for Andrea-at 8 Rue Fabre in the El Biar district, and Villa B on the
corner of Chemin Reynaud and Rue Faidherbe.[7] David was installed at Andrea;
its real name, Dar Es Saada, means the house of bliss. The name fit. A pretty
lane led to its main entrance and to a large garden stocked with orange
trees. But the interior of this house of bliss would soon resound with the
screams of those tortured in its cellar.
OAS terrorist activities, led by Jean-Jacques Susini and Roger Degueldre,
were at their peak. Bombs hurled at Algerian restaurants, buses, and public
squares killed hundreds of innocent bystanders. An explosion in Paris'
Charone Metro station killed eight passengers and wounded thirty. The order
to the barbouze corps was clear: the OAS had to be halted at all costs.
The ensuing struggle between the barbouzes and OAS terrorists was brutal in
the extreme. Resembling more a bloody vendetta than the usual sort of war, it
became a test of one's imagination for atrocity. When seven barbouze bodies
were found hanging from lamp posts less their ears and noses, no one doubted
a more gruesome fate awaited the OAS. On 22 December 1961 the barbouzes
exploded a bomb at the Grand Rocher restaurant, a known OAS haunt, killing
twelve. Eight days later a large OAS force attacked Villa B. The barbouzes
were about to ring in the New Year when bazooka blasts echoed all around
them. Fourteen were killed and two were wounded.
On 27 January 1962 the barbouzes captured several high-ranking OAS officers,
among them Alexandre Tisslenkoff, who had directed illegal radio broadcasts.
The captives were taken to the basement of Villa A and tortured. Tisslenkoff
later related his days of suffering at the hands of three men: a Vietnamese,
a Frenchman who ran a karate school in Paris, and a third man who
swaggeringly identified himself as the "intellectual of the barbouzes." Four
years later, in Paris, Tisslenkoff would recognize the last-mentioned hatchet
man as Christian David.
In his book J'Accuse Lemarchand, which was banned and destroyed in France,
Tisslenkoff described being tortured by thrashing, suffocation, and
electrocution, and claimed that Pierre Lemarchand was present for part of
it.[8] The latter, together with Dominique Ponchardier, headed the Mouvement
Pour la Communautk, an ad hoc Gaullist group under whose auspices the
barbouze corps was formed. SAC agents ransacked the publishing house as
Tisslenkoff's book was about to go to press.
29 January 1962, like any other day at Villa Andrea, was filled with cries of
pain, profanity, and black humor. David and Lemarchand were away. Inside were
a total of twenty-nine barbouzes and prisoners. At 5:00 PM there was a
violent explosion. The villa rose like a rocket as men and concrete were
hurled dozens of yards through the air. The OAS had decimated Villa Andrea
with 150 kilos of explosives. Miraculously, ten men survived. Seven were
barbouzes, among them Dominique Venturi, who later became one of France's
leading drug merchants; three were prisoners, among them Tisslenkoff. All had
been in the garden at the time.
In reacting to such violence, Christian David showed no restraint. The death
of a friend could drive him berserk. Former SAC agent Patrice Chairoff, alias
Dominique Calzi, claims that David was responsible for the murder of
fifty-four people in his seven to eight months in Algeria. "He was a born
killer," says Chairoff.[9]
When Beau Serge returned shortly after the explosion, he saw red at the sight
of the prisoners who had escaped the fate of his nineteen comrades, whose
remains were splattered everywhere. Demanding summary execution of the
prisoners, he lunged at Tisslenkoff. Had it not been for officers who
intervened, wrote Tisslenkoff, David would have killed him with his bare
hands.
The OAS success was short-lived. The barbouzes, until then regarded in France
as a shady outfit, were buried as heroes. Their leaders cried for revenge.
But the barbouzes needed no prodding. They gained more than their revenge.
When the smoke cleared five months later on 3 July 1962, Algeria was
independent, and the vendetta had claimed the lives of 110 barbouzes, over
400 OAS terrorists, and a far greater number of bystanders. Six years later a
pile of bodies was found buried in the garden surrounding Villa Andrea's
remains. Many had skulls riddled with high-caliber bullet holes.
A new world had opened up to Christian David in Algeria. He established many
contacts crucial to his later career. Among his fighting buddies had been:
Michel Nicoli, Ange Simonpieri, Andre Labay, Michel Victor Mertz, Roger
Delouette, Jo Attia, Jean Palisse, Georges Boucheseiche, Francois Marcantoni,
Dominique Venturi, Jean Auge, Roger Dadoun, Louis Nesmoz, Didier Barone, Paul
Mondolini, and Marcel Francisci. All eventually rose to the top of the French
underworld. All trafficked in narcotics, and nearly all remained in touch
with French intelligence.
Beau Serge had quickly ascended to the ranks of the barbouze elite. He had
become the friend of such notables as Lemarchand, Ponchardier, and Barberot.
Overnight he was transformed from a voyou (punk) into a man to be respected.
In the months following his return from Algiers, David lay low to avoid a
vindictive OAS. He lodged incognito in Marseilles' Saint Victor quarter, and
soon had two prostitutes working for him.[10] However, David had performed so
impressively in Algeria that he was urged to become a full-time agent of the
SDECE.[11] He jumped at the chance and was given the complete training course
at the Saint-Cyrau-Mont d'Or police academy.[12]
Upon graduation David went on a long series of missions in Africa,
particularly in Morocco. It's also believed he was sent to Latin America
twice between 1962 and 1965. He specialized in weapons deals and the
elimination of independent dealers who encroached on SDECE territory. Mostly
he took on missions for Jacques Foccart's special forces; he also temporarily
slid back over to SAC. In France he helped the Gaullists fix elections. Under
questioning in the U.S. in 1972 he admitted often stealing opposition
ballots.[13]
Between intelligence assignments David minded not only his own affairs, but
also those of Jo Attia, who was officially in prison and, for a period, in
exile in Africa. David ran two of Attia's houses of illrepute. In the
evenings he could often be seen at Attia's Gavroche bar in the company of
gangsters Georges Figon, Georges Boucheseiche, and Julien le Ny.[14]
In those years Beau Serge played strange games in the underworld, gaining a
footing in the Guerini clan, and eventually becoming boss Meme Guerini's
confidante.[15] A Corsican gangster later told police of a curious summit on
14 January 1965 in Antoine Guerini's house in the La Galenzana district of
Marseilles. Corsican leaders were contemplating the liquidation of former
police superintendent Robert Blemant, who had carved his own successful niche
in the underworld.
"All the criminal bosses of France were there, and some from Germany and
France as well. Everyone awaited the arrival of the Guerini brothers.
Suddenly the door opened and in walked a man with an 11.43 caliber in one
hand. It was Beau Serge. He ordered all of us to reach for the sky while he
frisked us. When he was through Antoine and Meme Guerini came in.[16]
At the meeting David allegedly angered the Guerinis by voting against
Blemant's elimination.[17] Nonetheless three hit men shot Blemant down
shortly afterward. One of the murderers, Pierre Colombani, was tortured and
slain in Ajaccio, Corsica a few months later. Several Guerini clan members
suspected that David had done him in.[18]
>From 1962 to 1966 David could be found everywhere. Jo Attia's band of thugs
was then known primarily for their political dirty work. While Jo the
Terrible was in protective confinement or exile, Boucheseiche was in charge.
But the latter was usually in Morocco tending his chain of brothels, and
David often worked instead for the young Lyons-based Lesca gang, centered
around Felix Lesca, Didier Barone and Louis Nesmoz.[19] Together they pulled
off one of the period's most audacious, well-executed heists, the 1964 armed
robbery of the Colombo jewelers in Milan, which netted them between $2 and
$2.5 million.
During a badly needed vacation in Biarritz on the Atlantic, David took time
off to relieve an armored car from the Brequet factory of $50,000.[20]
Shortly thereafter Beau Serge was a frequent guest at Leon le Juif in
Paris.[21] He also met with SAC leader Charley Lascorz. If the police had
wanted to arrest him, they could have.
It is also likely that Christian David was with Attia's gang when they
abducted OAS colonel Antoine Argoud from West Germany to France on orders
from Jacques Foccart. Defeat in Algiers had not spelled the end of the OAS,
which continued sporadic terrorist actions while in exile. Its members bombed
restaurants and movie theaters in France, and made numerous daring attempts
on the life of President de Gaulle. Colonel Argoud, a highly intelligent and
intriguing figure, headed the organization in exile. He was the brains behind
its terrorist activities and assassination attempts.
On 14 February 1963 de Gaulle's security forces uncovered a new conspiracy to
murder the president. A sharpshooter was to fell the president from behind as
he delivered a speech at a military academy. Infuriated, de Gaulle summoned
the man responsible for security, Interior Minister Frey. The French
president had had his fill of assassination attempts. Frey went to Foccart,
who put his intelligence agents to work. On February 22 one of Foccart's men
in Rome reported that Argoud was en route to Munich, where he would stay for
the carnival.
Foccart contacted the West German intelligence czar Reinhard Gehlen, a former
general under Hitler, and requested his help in bringing Argoud to France.
But Gehlen would have nothing to do with the plan, making its execution all
the more difficult now that German intelligence was tipped off. Foccart still
had his barbouze army to turn to, and chose Jo Attia's mob for the job. Jo
the Terrible, then in exile in Africa, got the green light to return.
On February 25 Argoud arrived in Munich from a Rome huddle with OAS leaders.
Driving from the train station to the Eden-Wolff hotel, he could not have
known that half-a-dozen disguised barbouzes awaited him. Handed the key to
room 434, Argoud was about to enter the elevator when he was accosted by two
men in leather pants and Tyrolian hats. The receptionist later recalled
assuming the men were friends of the Colonel's and off to have some fun;
after all, it was carnival time and the beer was flowing.
Argoud himself suddenly felt as if both his arms were in a vise. Leaving the
hotel one of the men pressed a finger against the pressure point under his
ear, causing Argoud to faint. The barbouzes placed their arms around his
shoulders, walked over to a Renault Frigate, and drove off. The car headed
out of Munich towards the Europa Bridge between Kehl and Strassbourg, France,
racing down the "third lane" reserved for allied forces in Germany. Its
license plate revealed its attachment to the French army.
The next day Parisian police received a strange phone message about a blue
truck parked at the entrance to Notre Dame cathedral. Inside was a package
the police were sure to find interesting. The man on duty was inclined to
disregard the call, but sent two patrolmen to inspect the truck. It was
parked as described. When the policemen broke open the door they found a man
lying bound and gagged, his face crimson from a bloody nose.
"Mon dieu!" cried one of the officers, "It's Colonel Argoud!"
The abduction became an international scandal. Diplomatic wheels rolled. The
Bonn regime, supported by the United States, addressed a sharply worded note
to the French demanding Argoud's return to Munich. Cynics who believed the
CIA had taken part in attempts on de Gaulle's life, charged that the
Americans had been in touch with Argoud.
But the Paris regime refused to release the OAS colonel. He was imprisoned,
but pardoned in 1968 after de Gaulle issued a general amnesty for former OAS
members -when forced to do so by French officers who had made it a condition
for their support during the 1968 student-led strike. After his release,
Argoud announced he had recognized Jo Attia as one of his kidnappers. It
wasn't the first time Jacques Foccart had treaded on the feet of foreign
governments and intelligence services, and it wasn't the last time gangsters
would be his tools.
Pps. 51-58
--[NOTES]--
1. A. Jaubert: Dossier D. Comme Drogue (Alain Moreau, 1974). 2. L A urore, 16
June 1975.
3. According to French journalist Jean Montaldo, David was also jailed
temporarily in Poissy Penitentiary outside Paris. His cellmates there were
the gangsters Goerges Figon, who was later murdered, probably by Beau Serge,
and Francois Marcantoni, a key figure in the strange case of the murder of
Stefan Markovic, the bodyguard of the Actor Alain Delon.
4. R. Barberot: A Bras le Coeur (Robert Laffont, 1972). The Black Commandos,
the intelligence agency SDECE's special infiltration units in Algiers, were
attached to the 11th Parachute Shock Brigade.
5. Newsday, 14 February 1973
6. The Newsweek Staff: The Heroin Trail (Souvenir Press, 1974).
7. L. Bitterlin: Histoire des Barbouzes (Editions du Palais Royal, 1972). 8.
A. Tisslenkoff: J'Accuse Lemarchand (Editions Saint-Just, 1966).
9. From the author's interview with Chairoff.
10. L. Durand: Le Caid (Denoel, 1976).
11. Others also took notice of the barbouze elite, whose terror pacification
tactics were innovative: "Ed Lansdale, Desmond Fitzgerald, Colby and others
took it over as part of their own method of operation. Pacification in this
special sense became part of the U.S. Army Special Forces training doctrine.
The Phoenix Project was the assassination (to use Lyndon Johnson's terms,
'The Murder Inc.') part of pacification." (L.F. Prouty, Ramparts, October
1973).
12. Jaubert, op. cit.
13. The Newsday Staff, op. cit.
14. Jaubert, op. cit
.
15. Sarazin, op. cit.
16. M. Accosta: "Smukke Serge," Kriminal Journalen, March 1978
.
17. Ibid.
18. David might well have been doubling as an informer. Recall that through
his intelligence work and guerilla activities for SAC, David was working for
the Gaullist inner circle. The latter group supported the Francisci clan in
its power struggle against the Guerinis, who backed the Socialists. David
often frequented the Leon le Juif bar in Paris' Seventeenth District, the
known rendezvous of the assistant chief of police intelligence, Jean Caille,
Pierre Lemarchand, and their underworld connections. Sarazin, op. cit.
19. The Lesca gang, also known as the "Bricole" gang, was also connected to
Lemarchand and Foccart's intelligence network (D. Guerin: Les Assassins de
Ben Barka, Guy Authier, 1975) and worked especially closely with the Lyons
SAC chief, Jean Auge (Sarazin, op. cit.).
20. Jaubert, op. cit. 21. Sarazin, op. cit.
-----
Aloha, He'Ping,
Om, Shalom, Salaam.
Em Hotep, Peace Be,
Omnia Bona Bonis,
All My Relations.
Adieu, Adios, Aloha.
Amen.
Roads End
Kris
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