Hunting LeRoux
Page 38
Selous Scouts, 65–66
Seychelles Islands, coup plans for, 127
Shabanie and Mashaba asbestos mining complex (Rhodesia), 67, 334–335nn
Shackels, Philip, 54–55, 194, 255–257, 279, 284, 291–292, 312
Shan State Army (Myanmar), 180, 205, 269
Shroff, Sabrina, 236–242
Sid’s Sports Bar (Philippines), 97, 99
Silverio, Dazl, 308
Sirleaf, Ellen. See Johnson Sirleaf, Ellen
Sirleaf, Fombah, 28, 171–172, 198, 201, 258, 259, 263
Smith, Dave
Captain Ufuk scandal and, 120–122, 131–133
characterization of, 4, 32, 97–98, 275–276
death of, 138–141, 152–153, 208
Echelon Associates and, 31–32
Iranian payments to, 226
Samia and, 300–304
Smith, Garry, 295–298
Smith, Ian, 65, 66
Smith, Mathew, 295–298
Soborski, Slawomir
arrest of, 20–21, 47–51, 274, 275, 279–280, 291, 334n
Hahns and, 296
Somalia
air travel in, 112, 116
al-Shabaab in, 105, 109–115, 124, 130–132, 166, 180
drug cultivation plans for, 127–128
khat mafia of, 126–127
LeRoux’s business initiated in, 104–115
LeRoux’s plans disclosed to Jack, 116–125
Song, Thomas, 320–321
South Africa
LeRoux’s childhood in, 68–69, 335n
Maple Africa Tech, 231
Southern Ace Limited, 104–115, 143–157, 192
Southern District of New York
Gögel’s and Vamvakias’s indictment by, 26, 333n
Hunter’s arrest announced by, 57
Jack signed as DEA informant with, 167
Lee murder prosecution and (see Lee, Catherine, murder of)
LeRoux’s indictment by, 178–179, 193–197
LeRoux’s plea agreement with, 235–242, 268–269, 337n, 338n
LeRoux’s “proffer” (“queen for a day”) disclosure, 235–242
Lockard and, 185, 196–197, 236–237, 240–241, 245, 257, 268
questioning location of, 240–241
Terrorism and International Narcotics Unit, 236
Soviet Union. See also Russia
Afghanistan occupation by, 13–14
NSA interception of, 147
Sparks, Jim, 169–170, 184, 186
Special Operations Division (SOD). See Drug Enforcement Administration
Stammers, Scott, 54–55, 194, 255–257, 279, 284, 292, 312
Stevenson, Howard, 129–130
Stillwell, Carl David, 18, 299, 302–320, 340n. See also Lee, Catherine, murder of
Stouch, Eric. See also LeRoux’s arrest; LeRoux’s interrogation and plea agreement; Takedown Day events; Takedown Day plan
biographical information, 145–146
communication monitoring by, 34–35
early LeRoux investigation by, 145–146, 150–157, 158–162
Hunter’s arrest and, 30–37, 47, 52–54
“Ironman” nickname of, 145, 150
on Lee’s murder, 303, 313–322
LeRoux indictment and, 178–179, 193–197
LeRoux’s arrest and, 204–209
on LeRoux’s incarceration, 325–331
LeRoux sting planned by, 6–8, 173–187
Takedown Day role of, 16, 19–21, 270–271, 274, 276–280, 283–284, 289–293, 334n
in Togo, 199–200
Stouch, Kelli (wife), 185
Sunlight Foundation, 154
Swain, Laura Taylor, 333n
Swaziland, sanctuary sought by LeRoux in, 79–80
Syria
arms trading by LeRoux, 61–62, 221
chemical weapons program of, 252, 341n
Taj
biographical information, 13–14
DEA work of, 258–259, 263–267
as “Sammy the Libyan/Zaman,” 9–10, 12–16, 20–23, 27, 258, 286–291, 334n
Takedown Day events, 9–29, 30–58
arrests of five-man arms-and-drugs crew (Lim, Shackels, Stammers, Reyes Peralta, Valkovic), 54–55, 255–257, 279, 284, 291–292, 312
biographical information of arrestees and DEA agent, 11–18
Filter’s and Soborski’s arrests, 20–21, 47–51, 274, 275, 279–280, 291, 334n
Gögel’s and Vamvakias’s arrests, 9–12, 22–29, 55–58, 273–275, 279–280, 290, 291
Hunter’s arrest, 10–11, 17–19, 21–22, 24, 30–37, 47, 52–54, 257–258, 270–276, 281–291
Hunter’s confession, 294–299
LeRoux’s security team selection and, 18–19
960 Group and, 15–16, 44–47, 142–157, 178–179, 197
planning of, 19–22, 270–291 (see also Takedown Day plan)
Samia’s and Stillwell’s arrests resulting from (see Lee, Catherine, murder of)
scheduling of, 291–293
SOD (DEA) background and, 39–47
success of, 294–295
Takedown Day plan, 270–293
“black jobs/bonus jobs” and, 271–272, 276
complexity of, 19–22
drugs-and-arms trafficking crew and, 284
Georges as point of contact for Hunter in, 281–291
Hunter as target of, 270–276
LeRoux-Colombian partnership component of, 271–279
missile navigation systems mafia component of, 280–281
scheduling of Takedown Day, 291–293
Serb mafia component (Estonia) of, 279–280, 291
Taliban, 2, 267
Taylor, Charles, 45, 298
Tchuto, Jose Americo Bubo Na, 260
terrorist acts and terrorist/insurgent groups. See also arms trading; Iran
Achille Lauro attack, 7, 40
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), 151
al-Shabaab, 105, 109–115, 124, 130–132, 166, 180
DEA’s Operation Containment and, 183
Hamas, 220
Hezbollah, 61–62, 218, 220
Islamic Jihad, 220
Jemaah Islamiyah, 121–122
LeRoux’s deals with Iran and, 220 (see also Iran)
New People’s Army, 228–229
Shan State Army, 180, 204, 269
Southern District of New York on, 236
Taliban, 2, 267
U.S. law (1996) on, 268
USA Patriot Act on terrorist-related arrests, 44
Thailand
as Hunter’s base, 258
LeRoux’s safe house in, 9, 19
Royal Thai Police in, 35–36, 47, 52–54
Triple Canopy, 31
TrueCrypt, 335–336nn
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 196
United Nations Security Council, 142–145, 153, 183, 339n
United States. See also Drug Enforcement Administration; Southern District of New York
Brazil diplomatic relations with, 169–170
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), 92, 320–321
CIA, 16, 137, 144, 162, 181–183
Commerce Department, 95
Controlled Substances Act, 86, 89, 94, 117, 158
Defense Intelligence Agency, 142
Department of Commerce, 227
drug use and pharmaceutical sales in, 83, 337nn
federal court proceedings (Minneapolis), 88, 90–94, 152–153, 158–160, 169, 186, 225
Food and Drug Administration, 86, 87, 92, 158–160 (see also RX Limited)
gun export controls of, 120
Haight Act (2008), 89–90
Iran sanctions by, 339n
Marshals Service, 323, 325
military on “malign actors,” 143–144
National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC, U.S. Air Force), 222
National Security Agency (NSA), 146–147
Navy, 135
/>
State Department, 95
USA Patriot Act, 44
untouchable, defined, 151
“untouchables group” (Bilateral Case Group, DEA), 40–44
Urben, Chris, 48–51
U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. See Southern District of New York
Valkovic, Adrian, 54–55
Vamvakias, Tim
arrest of, 9–12, 22–29, 55–58, 273–275, 279–280, 284–291
biographical information, 11–12
characterization of, 32
Hahns and, 297
sentencing of, 12
testimony of, 301–302, 304, 309, 310
Van der Walt, Joe, 155–157
Van Tonder, Edgar, 105, 143, 192
Wall, Jonathan, 23, 86, 92–95, 227
War of Liberation (Bush War, Rhodesia), 65
West, Richard, 67, 81
White Tribes of Africa, The (West), 67, 81
Without Conscience (Hare), 341n
Wright, Shaun, 137
Zaman (Sammy the Libyan). See Taj
Zarate, Juan, 45–46
Zimbabwe
LeRoux family in Rhodesia, 3, 64–68, 334–335nn
modern-day population of, 65, 334n
Mugabe and, 66–68, 154
“Pioneers Myth” of Rhodesia, 81
Photo Section
Paul Calder LeRoux in one frame of a video shot by undercover source “Jack” through a camera lens hidden on his body.
DEA source
Dennis Gögel, German ex-sniper and one of LeRoux’s paid killers, sent to Monrovia to kill two men in what was a DEA sting.
DEA source
Slawomir Soborski, ex–Polish special operations soldier turned LeRoux mercenary, caught in a DEA trap in Estonia.
DEA source
Joseph Manuel Hunter, LeRoux’s chief enforcer, working out of Phuket, Thailand.
DEA source
DEA agents Milione and “Taj” undercover on the street in Monrovia. Staged surveillance photo.
DEA source
“Georges,” the French pilot under contract to the DEA as undercover facilitator for the Monrovia sting.
DEA source
Lou Milione with Donald Sutherland and Will Smith during filming of the 1993 film Six Degrees of Separation.
Lou Milione personal collection
Lou Milione as “Agent Joey Casich” in staged surveillance to lure the LeRoux hit team to Monrovia.
DEA source
Staged surveillance photo of “Taj” as Sammy the Libyan, in target package supplied to LeRoux hit team lured to Monrovia.
DEA source
DEA agent Eric Stouch at Hunter’s safe house in Phuket, Thailand.
DEA source
DEA agent Tom Cindric in Maryland.
Tom Cindric personal collection
LeRoux yacht Texas Star II moored in Fort Lauderdale.
DEA source
One of LeRoux’s yachts moored off the Thai coast.
DEA source
LeRoux’s Westwind executive jet.
DEA source
LeRoux’s Antonov AN12 cargo plane parked at the Galkayo, Somalia, airport.
DEA source
Penthouse in the Salcedo Park Twin Towers similar to where LeRoux lived and worked when in Manila.
Jacqueline Hernandez
Manila’s Salcedo Park Twin Towers, site of LeRoux’s twin penthouses.
Jacqueline Hernandez
204 kilograms of cocaine found in the wreck of the LeRoux yacht JeReVe.
DEA source
Twenty kilograms of high-purity North Korean crystal meth smuggled to Phuket, Thailand, by LeRoux henchmen.
DEA source
LeRoux sailing yacht JeReVe, wrecked off Tonga in November 2012.
DEA source
Body discovered on the wrecked yacht JeReVe, identified as Slovak national Milan Rindzak.
DEA source
“Jack,” major DEA informant undercover within the LeRoux organization in Somalia.
DEA source
Below: LeRoux’s plan for a forward base in arms trading and coca and opium poppy cultivation.
Paul LeRoux in a booking photo taken when he testified against confederates in federal court in Minneapolis.
Paul LeRoux in an undated airport surveillance photo.
DEA source
Paul LeRoux’s fake Zimbabwean passport in the name of “Bernard John Bowlins,” one of his many aliases.
DEA source
Cindy Cayanan, LeRoux’s accountant and mother of two of LeRoux’s eleven known children.
DEA source
LeRoux under arrest with Cindric (left) and Stouch (right) en route to New York.
Derek Maltz personal collection
Derek Maltz, DEA Special Operations Division chief, on the plane with LeRoux.
Derek Maltz personal collection
Monzer al-Kassar, Syrian arms dealer active from Black September during Achille Lauro to Columbia’s FARC, lands in New York, June 13, 2008, with 960 Group agent John Archer, left.
Louis Lanzano/Associated Press
Legendary Russian arms merchant Bout caught in 960 Group trap, extradited to New York on November 16, 2010, flanked by DEA 960 Group agents Robert Zachariasiewicz (left), Wim Brown (right), and 960 Group leader Lou Milione, behind, in glasses.
DEA source
Joseph “Rambo” Hunter being led to federal court in New York by DEA agents Tom Cindric (left) and Eric Stouch (right).
Christopher Sadowski
LeRoux, after expulsion from Liberia, debarks from DEA plane in Westchester County, New York, between Cindric (front) and Stouch (behind).
Derek Maltz personal collection
About the Author
ELAINE SHANNON, acclaimed veteran correspondent for Time and Newsweek, is the author of the New York Times bestseller Desperados: Latin Drug Lords, U.S. Lawmen, and the War America Can’t Win, which served as the basis for Michael Mann’s Emmy-winning NBC miniseries Drug Wars: The Camarena Story, and its Emmy-nominated sequel, Drug Wars: The Cocaine Cartel. Shannon is a highly respected investigative reporter, trusted by law enforcement and intelligence organizations, and an expert on terrorism, organized crime, and espionage. She is the author of No Heroes: Inside the FBI’s Secret Counter-Terror Force and The Spy Next Door: The Extraordinary Secret Life of Robert Philip Hanssen. She lives in Washington, D.C. You can contact her at Elaine@elaine-shannon.com.
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Also by Elaine Shannon
THE SPY NEXT DOOR
NO HEROES
DESPERADOS
Copyright
HUNTING LEROUX. Copyright © 2019 by Michael Mann Books LLC. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Cover design by Chris Sergio
Cover photograph by DEA source
FIRST EDITION
Digital Edition FEBRUARY 2019 ISBN: 978-0-06-285915-0
Version 01312019
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-285913-6
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