After that discussion Al said it was Mac’s and Lyle’s turn, because he was very curious about the data generated from their captives—the one from Buenos Aires and the other from Germany. So, on the spot, they decided to see what else they could get from these captives. Al was really hoping to see if whatever they said was at all necessary because, from what Jimmy told him it looked like the counterfeit microfilm was doing its job and that Shmueli, Max, Eskenazy, Sammy, and Shimen, as well as others had already jumped in and picked off a few. In other words, Jimmy told them the hunt was still an effective ongoing project.
But that was the least of it. Apparently Shmueli and Max along with Imi, Jimmy Eskenazy, Sam, and Shimen, actually cut off the head of the snake who perhaps, despite the fact that he was no ghost, made the other ghosts like Hudal and Montini seem rather irrelevant. But, in truth they were not irrelevant. And Al, with Mac and Lyle as his audience, drove down to Police Headquarters in downtown Manhattan where they were joined by Harry and Jack.
“You see guys,” Al declared, “this is how I get the situation. It’s true that Shmueli, Maxie, and the others got the snake’s head and severed it. There were all kinds of people responsible for the genocide against the Jews and others, but especially against the Jews. And many of these so-called innocents were just as responsible as those Nazi swine. What I mean is that many of the Generals and other high ranking military men who claimed not to be political, knew what was happening but still fought on the Nazi/ German side with all the expertise and power at their disposal. In that sense, they were as guilty as all the ghosts who were behind the scenes fomenting as many atrocities as possible, and on the other hand creating processes which made sure that these Nazi bastards escaped justice—and by the thousands.”
“You know,” Al continued, “not even one-tenth of one-percent of all the Nazis that were indicted for criminal acts, even murder, were tried, and of the ninety-nine percent of that small number that were tried and given jail time, practically all of them eventually were freed. You believe that? So, in that case, it makes me sad and then mad that I wasn’t part of the Shmueli/Maxie/Jimmy/Imi team along with the few others, who all were involved in doing some numbers.
“The truth is that my feeling is that Shmueli and Maxie along with Sammy, Shimen and Eskenazy should keep it up. They should keep doing it. I know that Simon wanted a mini-max procedure instituted, but getting that done would necessarily involve Kovner-like activity and nowadays it doesn’t exist. You can’t knock off thousands with one sling-shot like Kovner planned with those thousands and thousands of SS prisoners we had lumped together in that concentration encampment after the war and with Kovner wanting to poison their bread, or with wanting to poison the water system of five German cities and kill off those entire populations.
“So, Mac, Lyle, whatdya think? Is it justified to unearth the locations of these scumbags and do it to them even probably only one by one—or not?”
“Al, I say yes,” said Lyle, “but I know Mac likes to do everything legally. So, since Mac and I are long-standing partners in the professional sense but also best pals personally, I’ll need to have my vote match his. Right, Mac?”
“Al, it’s hard for me to say this but Lyle’s right, even though I also think you’re right. That’s the contradiction in life I live with. My head says legal, legal, legal, while at the same exact time, my heart, my stomach, my guts say do it, do it, do it. So, you see, in contrast to what physics tells us, I’ve just proven to you that two different things can absolutely and in fact, without exception, occupy the same space at the same time. Ha.”
Al wasn’t finished. “You know guys I’ve been thinking this for a long time now and Jimmy and I once had a talk about it when I was in London. Jimmy had a great idea about the sons actually being responsible for the sins of the father insofar as he said the sons shouldn’t repeat the sins of the father; that they had a responsibility not to repeat it. That got me thinking about the Nazis being the biggest gang of crooks that ever lived. They took everything the Jews owned and kept it. So, I would like to ask every German son and daughter whose parents were old enough to do this or that during the war, to talk up. In other words, I’d like to know how many of these sons and daughters actually asked their parents what they did during the war.
“Like say something like: ‘Father, what was your job during the war? Father, how did you get this nice house we’ve been living in? Father, were you a soldier in the war, or a guard in a concentration camp, or did you kill anyone—any children? Father, we have lots of cultural artifacts like paintings and sculpture. Where or how did you acquire these? Father, you own the factory. When did you buy it? Did you buy it? How did you get to own it? How? Father, did you turn any Jews in? If so, were they neighbors or friends of ours? Father, are you a Nazi? Father, do you think Hitler was wrong about it all or not?! Father, am I the son of a murderer? Am I the son of an idiot? And also, Father, isn’t it true that thousands and thousands of Germans enriched themselves because of and in spite of the war? And, Father, do you think Dresden was justifiably carpet bombed and entirely destroyed, or not? And, Father, if you feel it was not justified because innocent people were killed, then why did the innocent Jewish people who were killed not, in contrast, invite your sympathy as well?
“Father, Father, you are not talking. And if that’s the case I’m going to scream!
“You see, guys, if you’re Jewish like me, these are the things Jews think about. Especially red-blooded Jewish men. Even people like you guys who understand everything I’ve said and agree with me, probably are never really occupied with such thoughts. But I know that that’s natural. People are obsessed with things that personally happened to them or to their own sub-group. I get it. I’m not blaming people for only concentrating solely on their own lives. I’m guilty of it too. But it makes me feel that we are really at a primitive stage of evolution where we are still not our brother’s keepers. People are entirely absorbed in their own issues, and empathy kind of evaporates in the wake of this self-absorption, this ego stuff.
“It’s that this whole thing starting with Willy off the ledge and with what Shmueli and the guys finally accomplished in Europe. The whole thing got my blood boiling. It renewed my political consciousness. I know you know what I mean. But, and it’s a big ‘but’—I’ve become a big fan of Shmueli’s. The problem is that I know he’s a killer and an expert at it at that. Nevertheless, I’m a fan. And what does that say about me? I haven’t the slightest idea.
“Ah, on second thought, forget it. Call it the ramblings of a deranged American—an American Jew.”
* * *
Mac and Lyle told Al he couldn’t accompany them to Police Headquarters and be privy to the interviews they were planning with Wenzel Wagner and Eduardo Velaro, so Al said goodbye. Al understood it. He wasn’t a police officer and so did not have the privilege of being witness to official police work. So, Al then added to his goodbyes, the ones to Mac and Lyle, and they arranged to have breakfast the next morning.
At this point it was the meeting and interview with Wenzel Wagner that interested them. They were curious about whether Wenzel knew anything about the Gustav Schell who was living in the south of France. If Wenzel did know about it then it would be clear that he had information on a whole lot of highly secretive documents and occurrences.
They waited for the police escort to bring Wenzel into the interrogation room. The room was sort of out of a movie with a table in the center and two chairs at the table on opposite sides of it. In addition, lighting was dim except for a swinging lamp over the table. Before they knew it, Wenzel was brought in. Of course, he knew Mac and Lyle having met with them several times.
“How I can helping you,” Wenzel said.
“What do you know about a person, a Nazi person who could possibly be living in the South of France on the French Riviera? Does that ring a bell? I mean do you know of this?”
That one affected Wenzel and he was for a moment or two, spe
echless—which was not like him. At all other times he was more than willing to strike a deal for his life and would hold forth without let-up because it was obvious that his familiarity with these Nazi backdoor channels seemed to actually impress Mac and Lyle and he felt, gave them a favorable sense with regard to his cooperation.
Of course, Wenzel knew that his life was at stake because of killing the cops stationed at the 48th precinct. Therefore, what Mac and Lyle felt was that any opportunity Wenzel had to blame his willingness to be involved in that crime on his partner, Karl, he took. His consistent refrain was that he was always intimidated by Karl and even felt that Karl could kill him if he didn’t obey.
That was Wenzel’s out. He blamed it all on Karl. Mac and Lyle didn’t really care about Wenzel’s stage craft. They just wanted to see how much he really knew and whether he may have known about Schell and all about the stuff surrounding where Schell lived, and with whom. And sure enough Wenzel surprised them with what he actually knew.
“Yes, I knowing of dis person he go to Riviera. I do not know namen of dis person. Ven Karl, he meet vit me, vit Cardinal Caggiano who bringing Karl to meet vit me in Buenos Aires. Dis ist first time ven I see Caggiano. He from church in Argentine. He telling of, oh, how you say, ah, yes, he say in German und he make translate, und he use dee vord he say in Spanish vord for living for Herr Schell, ‘elaborar’ und den he make dis translating ind German und first say ‘laborate’, und den you know vord ist erarbeiten heiligtum. So, dis I know in English it mean—how you say—‘elaborate sanctuary’. Dis I understanding. I am know dis vord ‘sanctuary.”
“Caggiano, he speak mit Dr. Villy Nix und vat I hear, dis person Herr Schell is true leader, more leader dan even Hudal und Montini, und rest of dese people. Ist dis goot informatsie?
“Yes, it’s good,” Mac answered. “It is good. What else? Anything else?”
“I vill tink of uder tings und den I vill tell. Ist dis goot?”
“Yes, okay, we’ll see you again.”
Of course, the truth is they were not going to see him again in any interrogation. They knew that the next time they would see him would be in court where the prosecutor would ask for the death penalty. Mac and Lyle were sure that Wenzel would be electrocuted. It was clear that no matter what kind of information he gave to authorities, wantonly killing cops would not hold up, no matter the reason.
When they finished the interview with Wenzel, Mac and Lyle decided to pay Eduardo Velaro a final visit. And as usual Velaro was happy to see them. Velaro was from the beginning very cooperative except of course when Mac and Lyle found the transmitter in the heel of his shoe. Eduardo was hoping they would forgive him because despite the transmitter, he was easily forthcoming with a torrent of information. The problem, of course, was that he was an accomplice with Ewald of pushing Willy off the ledge on the third floor of an apartment house. And even though Eduardo claimed that Ewald did it, and that Frankie even in his drunk state verified Eduardo’s description of it all, the prosecutor would also go after the death penalty. However, Mac and Lyle felt that Eduardo’s cooperative spirit and his refusal to make any gesture of protest or escape might be enough to get him a life sentence. The problem was that Mac and Lyle also felt it was highly likely that even if Eduardo got off with life imprisonment, he would, sooner or later, be murdered in prison by one of the inmates. It’s true these inmates were in prison but it was an American prison and most of them hated the enemy.
Eduardo had nothing really to add to what he had already professed. He claimed not to know the Germans especially since he was from Argentina and had never been to Germany.
With that, Mac and Lyle said they would see him again, but they didn’t say what the venue would be. Then, like with Wenzel Wagner, where the German government did not request extradition, the Argentine government followed in line regarding Eduardo Velaro.
As far as the entire case was concerned—the one that began with a boy being pushed off a ledge of the third story of an apartment building in The Bronx, New York, and then ending with shall we say an unheard of oneof-a-kind funeral in the French Riviera in a little village called Mentone, and with an ending to boot insofar as the boy who was pushed, was now in a splendid recovery—Mac and Lyle as well as Al, calmed down.
They were all going to visit with Willy at the hospital.
WHO’S WHO
Forces for Justice
Civilians
Willy Travali—Frankie’s nephew
Frankie Carbone—Willy’s uncle
Alex Kaye—Al, Private detective. Member, Justice Brigade
Gloria Messer—Teacher, Al’s girlfriend
The Wharton family:
Mr. & Mrs. Wharton
Sheila (Stevie) Wharton (Willy’s friend), and Nate Wharton, Stevie’s brother
Police Personnel
Detective Loris McIver—Mac
Detective Lyle Davis
Detective Harry Harrison
Detective Jack Lehrman
Steve Scribner—Police Headquarters Chief
Justice Brigade
Alex Kaye, (Al) Private Detective
Jimmy McKay—M-16, U.K.
Father Hugh O’Flaherty, Vatican rescuer of Jews and American pilots
Emerich Lichtenfeld (Imi)—Krav Maga chief teacher
Max Palace—Krav Maga expert
Simon Wiesenthal—Nazi hunter
Sam Silver—Wiesenthal aide
Shimen Pargament—Wiesenthal aide
Joseph Eskenazy—Buenos Aires Wiesenthal contact
Shmuel Kishnov—Assassin
Dr. Yasha Greiner—Scientist extraordinaire
Tatiana Gerhardt—Translator, Mossad agent
Dr. Janet Sirota—Bletchley decryption scientist
Dr. Gerald Yagoda—Bletchley decryption scientist
Dr. Adrian Applebaum—Bletchley decryption scientist
Arthur (Arty) Libman, Shin Bet, Israeli Secret Service
Morgan and Tommy—Police officers guarding Willy at hospital
Sister Agnus Furillo—Assistant to Father Hugh O’Flaherty
Forces Facilitating Escape from Justice, and List of Assassinated Nazi Escapees
Assassins and Spy Personnel
Ewald Krauss
Eduardo Velaro
Karl
Wenzel Wagner
Parker Martin of the American State Department
Hermann Strauss, chemist
Vatican Personnel
Bishop Alois Hudal
Monsignor Giovanni Montini
Joseph Prader
Anton Weber
Assassinated Nazi Escapees
Albrecht Schmidt
Freundel Dunst
Gustav Schell’s lady
Gustav Schell
The Ghost Page 28