by Tim Newark
One of the policemen opened the door of the wardrobe. Seeing only clothes, he thrust his hand inside to check further and felt the body of Stern. Triumphantly, he yanked him out.
‘At the same time [the policeman] put his right hand into his back pocket and took out his gun. I ran between him and Yair [Stern] and said, “Don’t shoot! If you shoot, you shoot me.” In my innocence I thought I had saved Yair’s life. How wrong I was. They made him sit on the sofa. More detectives appeared, they had handcuffs and used them to bind Yair’s hands behind his back. They told me to get dressed and go downstairs. I got into a small car … suddenly I heard three shots.’
The official police report said that Stern had tried to escape and was shot dead. Others considered he had been executed by the British – as a result, membership of the Stern Gang more than doubled. Attacks on police stations and policemen continued throughout the war. On 6 November 1944, the Stern Gang raised their international profile considerably with an attack launched on foreign soil against a senior British politician.
Lord Moyne, British Resident Minister in the Middle East, was returning to his residence in Cairo for lunch when two gunmen confronted him. One shot his driver dead, while another fired three shots into his neck, chest and stomach. The two assassins made their escape on bicycles but were chased by a brave member of the minister’s staff. He informed a patrol policeman mounted on a motorbike, who overtook the two gunmen at a nearby bridge.
The assassins fired back, but a crowd of locals surged towards them and were on the verge of lynching them when two policemen intervened and arrested them. In prison, the two gunmen happily admitted their guilt, knowing their job was to make the most of the involvement of the Stern Gang in the affair and gain maximum political coverage. Lord Moyne was treated in hospital but died shortly afterwards. The two gunmen were put on trial and hanged.
A massive police crackdown followed and many members of the Stern Gang were arrested in Palestine, but intelligence remained sketchy on their true motives and the British Palestinian authorities turned to the Jewish Agency to get an inside view of the extremists’ intentions. The Jewish Agency was playing a difficult game, in that it was resolutely opposed to the violent actions of these renegades but also knew they were popular among their more radical supporters. As a consequence of the spectacular success of the Stern Gang, Irgun was coming under pressure to rejoin the fight against the British.
‘Dissension is believed to have occurred in the ranks of the Irgun Zvai Leumi, with the result that some of its leading members, followed by others of less importance, have now resigned,’ revealed a Jewish Agency informer in January 1945. ‘Most of these dissidents claim that they joined the organisation in the belief that it was composed of a body of idealists, but experience had convinced them that it had degenerated into a gang of racketeers. The threat, however, of reprisals from their brethren among the Yishuv [Jewish settlers] has probably also been a deterring influence.’
Then came an ominous claim.
‘It is thought not unlikely that the two organisations’ – that is, both Irgun and the Stern Gang – ‘may attempt some dramatic coup, particularly if the murderers of Lord Moyne are condemned to death. But it would be an act of desperation and not a sign of renewed strength.’
A month later, a secret intelligence report in MI5 files suggested there might be another dimension to the activities of Jewish terrorists.
‘The Stern Group,’ it said, ‘would seem to be receiving support from the French, whose activities against law and order in Palestine have increasingly required our attention. We already know from “Top Secret” sources that French officials in the Levant have been clandestinely selling arms to the Haganah and we have received recent reports of their intention to stir up strife within Palestine not only in retaliation for the part we played last year in supporting Lebanese and Syrian demands for independence but also, by embarrassing our position in the Mandate, to distract our attention from French activities in Syria and the Lebanon.
‘French officials in Beirut have suggested to Paris,’ it continued, ‘that they should finance the Stern Gang, it being in French interests to back any movement in opposition to the Greater Syria scheme, which, if brought about, would undermine French influence in the Levant.’
With their murder of Lord Moyne and the secret support of the French, the Stern Gang had catapulted themselves into the top league of international terrorists for hire.
A great victory parade through Jerusalem marked the end of the war against Germany in 1945, but it also triggered the resurgence of Jewish terrorism in Palestine. Haganah had held back its militia forces during the war, but in November that year it put a thousand men into the field to wreck the Palestine railway system with a multitude of bombings and armed assaults. This was followed by a wide range of attacks on public buildings. Irgun stepped up their campaign of action by deploying a three-inch mortar that hurled shells at police stations.
‘The sound of the exploding projector was unnerving and one then waited for some seconds to see if one’s station was going to be hit,’ recalled one policeman. ‘Then the terrorists took to telephoning half a dozen stations to warn them that a mortar was aimed at the place and would go off in the night. Usually one station got the bomb and the other five had sleepless nights waiting for something that never happened.’
Whereas Haganah did their best to avoid hurting civilians in their attacks, neither Irgun nor the Stern Gang cared how many people they killed during their operations, whether British or native. They were in a horrible race with each other to commit the most headline-worthy outrage.
When the British struck back with Operation Agatha in June 1946, its vehemence took the Jewish community by surprise. The Jewish Authority headquarters was occupied and many of its leading members arrested. This effectively decapitated Haganah and they withdrew from acts of terrorism by the end of the month, saving their strength for the expected war with the Arabs. This left the way clear for Jewish extremists to plan their most destructive assault so far – the King David Hotel bombing. It was Irgun – not the Stern Gang – who took the credit for devising this slaughter. The motive appeared to be the fear that the military intelligence headquarters within the hotel contained incriminating files seized from the Jewish Agency during Operation Agatha – linking prominent Jews to the terrorist war against the British. Indeed, it has since been revealed that it was Haganah who wanted the files destroyed, but left it to Irgun to execute the attack; tragically, this meant they would proceed with a complete disregard for how many lives perished in the attack.
Such was the international revulsion at the vast number of civilian lives lost in the King David Hotel bombing that Irgun immediately tried to distance themselves from the mass murder by claiming they had sent warnings to evacuate the hotel before detonating the explosives. As always with such ludicrous blame-shifting, it seems invidious to accuse the British of not evacuating the hotel when Irgun were renowned for using hoax calls to heighten the terror of their attacks and were engaged in a chaotic firefight with the guards. Haganah put the blame firmly on Irgun by saying they had recommended the operation be carried out at a time when far fewer people would be in the hotel.
That the whole murderous operation enjoyed the tacit approval of many senior Jews later involved in the government of Israel was made clear when, on the 60th anniversary of the bombing, the one-time prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, described it not as terrorism but a legitimate act aimed at a military target. An official plaque unveiled at the time blamed the huge loss of life on the British for not evacuating the hotel. This was later modified after protests by the British Ambassador. It remains one of the most deadly terrorist attacks of the twentieth century.
To their credit, the bombing did little to alter the attitude of the British government to finding a solution to the Palestinian problem. Just a few days later, Prime Minister Attlee wrote to the US President, saying, ‘I am sure you will agree that the inhum
an crime committed in Jerusalem on 22 July calls for the strongest action against terrorism, but having regard to the sufferings of the innocent Jewish victims of Nazism this should not deter us from introducing a policy designed to bring peace to Palestine with the least possible delay.’
Undaunted by the wave of international criticism, Irgun and the Stern Gang continued their acts of terrorism into 1947, culminating in Stern gunmen wrecking a train carrying troops and civilians near Rehovoth and then machine-gunning the survivors. One of their final acts against the British involved kidnapping two army officers. Three Irgun terrorists had been arrested following an attack on a prison camp and were sentenced to death. The day after they were hanged, the two kidnapped officers were found hanging from a eucalyptus tree. When an army engineer went to cut down one of the bodies, a mine exploded in his face.
In parallel with this terrorism ran a sophisticated campaign of illegal immigration, bringing thousands of Jews into Palestine from Europe. British secret intelligence pointed the finger at Haganah as being the main organiser of this human trafficking:
[Haganah] ensure that batches of immigrants include young people of both sexes in equal proportions as far as possible. Such human material is chosen in order to provide young and vigorous bodies capable of helping, with their labour and their services in the armed forces of Haganah, to establish, develop and defend a Jewish Palestine … The principle of selection, which prefers the young and able-bodied to the aged, infirm and destitute, is a negation of the argument that the European refugees should be admitted to Palestine for humanitarian reasons.
Using non-Jewish middlemen to buy up old and half-derelict vessels, Haganah set up false shipping companies to operate them, having them refitted to their specifications and delivered to various Mediterranean ports. On arrival at the port, the original crew were replaced with an entirely new captain and sailors selected by Haganah, preferably from Jewish merchant seamen to ensure tight security for the entire voyage. It was yet another highly effective dimension in their battle to make sure Palestine became Jewish.
In the end, it worked and, with the departure of the last British forces from Haifa, an independent Israel came into being on 14 May 1948. Almost at once, the Jewish state was embroiled in a war with its own Palestinian Arabs and neighbouring Arab states. Both sides turned to organised crime to help them fight on. Palestinian terrorists sold hashish cultivated in Syria and Lebanon to Egypt in exchange for weapons, while the Israelis made the most of their links with organised crime abroad.
Meyer Lansky was a veteran New York Jewish gangster who had worked alongside notorious mafiosi such as Lucky Luciano and Frank Costello. In 1948, Lansky was visited in America by two Israeli representatives.
‘They asked me to help Israel,’ he recalled. ‘“What’s the problem?” I asked. “I’m at your service.”’
The Israelis were fighting the Egyptians in the Gaza Strip and Sinai, and were concerned that American arms dealers were shipping weapons to Egypt via New York ports.
‘OK, I’ll handle it,’ said Lansky, ‘and I went over to New Jersey and talked to a few people about how to stop the shipments at the docks. Part of the Pittsburgh consignment fell overboard, and most of another cargo was by mistake loaded onto ships bound for Israel.’
The Israelis were very grateful for the gangster’s help, but not grateful enough. In 1970, Lansky decided to emigrate to Israel, but two years later he was kicked out after the Americans put pressure on them.
‘I’ve always served Israel as best I can,’ he said philosophically, then considered moving on to South America. ‘Perhaps in Paraguay I will carry out a last favour for the Jews. I’ll go looking for Mengele [the Nazi war criminal].’
As shown in Palestine, during and after the Second World War, much organised crime within the British Empire was tied into violent independence movements. The line between freedom fighting, terrorism and criminal enterprise was exceptionally fine. This was also true in Africa.
14
THE BESTIAL MR UKU
ON SUNDAY, 12 JANUARY 1947, PC Evan Chima of the Nigeria Police Force was invited to the house of Chief Sunday Udo Ekpo in Calabar province, in the east of Nigeria.
‘The constable stayed all the afternoon,’ stated Etuk Uku, half-brother to the chief. ‘We were entertaining him with palm wine, food and cigarettes.’
When it was nearly dark, Uku and Chief Ekpo offered to escort the police constable part of his way home.
‘We left with him,’ said Uku. ‘When we reached the [house of the] Ndem juju, I spoke in a loud voice and laughed, so that the people in ambush could know we were there. John Uwa then came out of the bush and gripped the constable from behind, whilst Etuk Ekpo hit him on the back of the neck with a heavy stick. Sunday Udo Ekpo and Iwok Ukpong attacked him with machetes and killed him.
‘We all helped to drag the body into the bush. Otu Knpo Idem cut off the arm. John Uwa scraped the face. Sunday and I helped scrape the head. Otu Idem scraped the arm after cutting it off.’
The scraping of the policeman’s dead body with knives was very important. It gave the impression that he had been attacked by a wild animal – a leopard.
‘John Uwa cut out the tongue,’ said Uku. ‘John Uwa collected all the parts taken from the body and put them in a bag. We then took them to Chief Ukpong at his house. They were given to Chief Ukpong in my presence. Chief Ukpong gave us 100 manillas to be divided amongst the six of us. I received 15 manillas from this.’
This bestial murder was just one of over 80 committed in the British colony of Nigeria from 1945 to 1947. All bore the marks of leopard claws and all were, initially, thought to be the work of wild animals. Such was the climate of concern caused by these savage assaults that the British administration enforced a curfew to stop all movement after dark. What puzzled them was the motive for the killings. Who was organising them and why? It would be up to Senior Assistant Superintendent D.S. Fountain to solve the mystery.
Fountain was an expert on the native customs of Nigeria and the Calabar region and he approached the task as an ethnological exercise. Given a staff of three European officers and 220 armed African policemen, he began to build up a detailed picture of the victims and how they had met their deaths.
‘The victim is usually attacked on a bush path bordered by thick farm fallow, affording excellent concealment to the murderer, and the body dragged 30 or 40 yards inside the bush and left in a convenient clearing,’ noted Fountain. The attack tended to happen at dusk, about 7 p.m.
‘A heavy stick is first used to hit the victim on the back of the neck and render him unconscious,’ continued Fountain. ‘The actual killing is then done by a yam spike or short stabbing knife, with which wounds are inflicted in the neck and upper part of the body.’
Then followed a series of grotesque mutilations that included cutting off the head with the stripping of the flesh from it, as well as the removal of one arm and the scraping of flesh off that. The arm and head were left near the body to give the impression that it had been savaged and gnawed by a carnivore. To further this illusion, leopard pad prints were made in the earth.
Frequently, a witness was present at the attack but tended to give a confused account of the assault.
‘Under first interrogation by the police,’ said Fountain, ‘the witness says he saw an indescribable “something” attack the victim, or that he saw a genuine leopard making the attack.’
Under further interrogation, this account was modified to describe something more bizarre.
‘Sometimes a crude form of raffia mask is worn,’ recalled Fountain, but frequently no effort was made at disguise. ‘In several cases, witnesses have described the murderers as wearing a certain kind of leaf known locally as “mkpatat” tied round their head. Sometimes the murderer is described as wearing a form of spotted cloth, but this appears to be merely symbolic of the leopard and not used as an actual disguise. In nine cases out of ten, the murderer wears nothing but an ordinary loin
cloth. The whole question of disguise – or rather the lack of it – is significant in as much as the leopard man appears to have such supreme confidence in his magic that any precautions of this nature are to him entirely redundant.’
The use of the description ‘leopard man’ was taken up in the popular press and inflamed the terror created by the murders, but it also made the first important breakthrough in identifying the nature of the criminals. These were not mere thrill killers but part of a wider conspiracy linked to local ritual and belief.
The region haunted by the murderers was 300 square miles in the Abak and Opobo divisions of the Calabar province. The area had benefited from colonialism through the building of roads, schools and hospitals, but despite the presence of many mission churches, the local people had little regular contact with Europeans and clung on to their traditional beliefs.
‘The area,’ said Fountain, ‘remains an oasis of barbarism, with the mental outlook of the people little changed for centuries past. The mind of the local native is full of superstitious fears and hopes. His whole life is bound up with jujus, fetishes, charms and medicines. Witch doctors, sorcerers and diviners abound everywhere and do a lucrative trade. To these people, nothing occurs naturally – the law of cause and effect is practically unknown. At every major or minor crisis in life, witch doctors have to be consulted, certain traditional rituals carried out, sacrifices and invocations made, evil spirits propitiated and so on.’
The Anangs and the Ibibios were the dominant tribes and had a reputation for deadly vendetta. At first, Fountain believed the murders were the result of long-running quarrels between them. Murderers were hired to sort out family disputes over land, dowry or debt. But this didn’t explain why many of the victims were not adults but children aged between seven and ten.