Speaker 1: Diversion podcasts. Hey, this is Stephen Talty, the host of
Speaker 1: this podcast, Good Assassin's Hunting the Butcher. This podcast project
Speaker 1: came out of my work on a related book called
Speaker 1: The Good Assassin. If you want to explore other parts
Speaker 1: of this story, check it out. It's not just a
Speaker 1: book version of the podcast. I spend time on different
Speaker 1: aspects of the mission. There are chapters diving into World
Speaker 1: War two history that we didn't cover in the podcast,
Speaker 1: and the book works as a kind of a companion
Speaker 1: to the listening experience. You can purchase a copy of
Speaker 1: The Good Assassin on Amazon, Apple Books, and on bookshop
Speaker 1: dot Org. Thanks a note, this episode contains descriptions of
Speaker 1: graphic violence listeners describe and is advised. Mio was happy
Speaker 1: to be back in Paris. His children had missed him.
Speaker 1: His young son, in fact, had asked so many times
Speaker 1: when his father was coming home that MEA's wife arranged
Speaker 1: for a friend to call and pretend to be her husband.
Speaker 1: But when the boy got on the line, he knew
Speaker 1: the voice on the other end wasn't Meos and he'd
Speaker 1: been crushed. So he was overjoyed that his father was
Speaker 1: finally home. But me his mission wasn't completed. The final
Speaker 1: act was still to take place in Uruguay and in
Speaker 1: your's apartment in the heart of Paris. The team started
Speaker 1: putting the pieces together. I'm Stephen Talty and this as
Speaker 1: good assassin's hunting the butcher. The first pile was to
Speaker 1: find and not bendling forward file. The second clock was
Speaker 1: mine a Nazi and hearing we must thwart this shameful
Speaker 1: pass the end of a trail of blood and horror,
Speaker 1: the end of a man whose name will be written
Speaker 1: in the end Episode eight, the ticking clock. There was
Speaker 1: a lot of work to do. We've had collected all
Speaker 1: the letters and telegrams that Meo had said from the field.
Speaker 1: Neo had brought back maps of Montevideo and sal Polo,
Speaker 1: lots of information on hotels and unning cars and the
Speaker 1: vacation home market. He'd written down exactly what he needed
Speaker 1: to go through passport control and what problems the other
Speaker 1: team members might find. Nothing could be left to chance.
Speaker 1: There was a file on Zookers, what he was like,
Speaker 1: what he didn't like, what his habits were. But they
Speaker 1: still didn't have a place with the assassination could be
Speaker 1: carried out. They didn't even know how it was going
Speaker 1: to be carried out. On the trip back to France,
Speaker 1: knew I had given some thought to that. He was
Speaker 1: very straightforward about it, he later wrote in his memoir.
Speaker 1: I pointed out that the distant sniper shot was not,
Speaker 1: in my opinion, at least a shootable option, most because
Speaker 1: of the noise and because it would not allow us
Speaker 1: to give him the clue. Degrass I also rejected the
Speaker 1: use of poison. I gave detailed the count of the
Speaker 1: so called drinking night I had set up the Japanese nightclub.
Speaker 1: I mentioned his strange habit of sipping his drink in
Speaker 1: an ever so slow, almost nerve wracking fashion. The sniper
Speaker 1: shot would have been a possibility if they've been carrying
Speaker 1: out the assassination on their home soil, but the team
Speaker 1: had a factor in their need to escape. It was
Speaker 1: always a temptation to devote more time to figuring out
Speaker 1: how to eliminate a target than to figuring out how
Speaker 1: to get away once you've done it. They couldn't fall
Speaker 1: into that trap. Bessad wanted everyone to suspect that Israel
Speaker 1: had carried out the killing, but it didn't want any
Speaker 1: of its agents to actually get caught. That could lead
Speaker 1: to interrogations and other things. What they were doing wasn't legal.
Speaker 1: Secris wasn't going to get a trial or have a
Speaker 1: lawyer like Adafikman had got after Massad kidnapped him. They
Speaker 1: didn't want Massad to be the story. They wanted Suckers
Speaker 1: to be the story. So the team members had to
Speaker 1: carry out the killing, gather their belongings, and head to
Speaker 1: the airport. They had to get on the plane and
Speaker 1: get safely back to Europe before Sucker's body was discovered.
Speaker 1: That influenced how the assassination would be carried out. It
Speaker 1: couldn't be public, it couldn't be loud, and the body
Speaker 1: had to be left out of sight so that someone
Speaker 1: didn't stumble on it and raise the alarm before the
Speaker 1: agents had time to leave the country. A hotel room,
Speaker 1: for example, was out the maid would find the body
Speaker 1: too quickly. Neo gave the finale a lot of thought.
Speaker 1: It was his call. He had met Sukers. He had
Speaker 1: a better sense of what would work than you, even
Speaker 1: the others who've been busy training. But by the time
Speaker 1: he met with the team, me had an idea. I
Speaker 1: believe that's the best way is to lure him into
Speaker 1: a house where an elimination unit will be waiting for him.
Speaker 1: From my intense and intimate acquaintance with the late one,
Speaker 1: and from the numerous hours we have spent together, which
Speaker 1: have included many visits to various rental sights, I'm convinced
Speaker 1: he will enter any house I do. He trusts me,
Speaker 1: but get him. Ron, the former messodge and military historian,
Speaker 1: learned later what Mia wasn't aware of at the time.
Speaker 1: Suchers did not trust Anton Kunzla as much as he believed.
Speaker 1: Still the last moment, was not fully sure that the
Speaker 1: meal is kosher. He took a picture of meal, gave
Speaker 1: it to his wife and told her, if something happens
Speaker 1: to me, if I don't come back, this is the killer.
Speaker 1: He killed me. It was a plan, but it wasn't
Speaker 1: fool proof. Zukers had already shown that he was suspicious.
Speaker 1: He seemed to trust MEO and some little thing would
Speaker 1: send him off and they were almost back to zero again.
Speaker 1: That was the first risk. The second was Zuker's physical strength.
Speaker 1: Mio knew that you're reeve and the team members getting
Speaker 1: tired of his warnings about how tough the butcher was,
Speaker 1: but he didn't care. He was a lead agent. This
Speaker 1: was his mission. You had to see the guy to understand.
Speaker 1: He looked like a competitive weightlifter, so Mio kept at it.
Speaker 1: He told your Reeve again about how Zukers was a
Speaker 1: highly mistrustful man, acutely vigilant, armed with a gun, and
Speaker 1: of great physical strength. You're reeve nodded, but he was
Speaker 1: probably thinking Meo was getting a little paranoid himself. Massad
Speaker 1: agents were war veterans. They killed before the butcher was
Speaker 1: sixty four years old. They would take care of him
Speaker 1: without any problem. You Reef told me, oh, he'd done
Speaker 1: a good job. But for the killed team getting the
Speaker 1: butcher inside the house, that was the tricky part. They
Speaker 1: would take care of the rest. If four strong Israelis
Speaker 1: couldn't handle a senior citizen, well, then Massad was in trouble.
Speaker 1: You Reef went over MEO's plan and quickly approved it,
Speaker 1: and he confirmed one important detail before the sentence was
Speaker 1: carried out. The team would read out a verdict in
Speaker 1: the name of the thirty thousand men, women and children
Speaker 1: that Sukers had helped kill. Would be like a judge's
Speaker 1: sentence would show the world the Israelis had given serious
Speaker 1: thought to why Sukers had to die. In no way
Speaker 1: could the execution be equated with the death of his victims.
Speaker 1: They had to show that they had carefully considered his crimes.
Speaker 1: This was justice, not vengeance. This raised an intriguing possibility.
Speaker 1: If they were going to take the time to read
Speaker 1: the charges, maybe Sucres would respond. Maybe he'd even defend himself.
Speaker 1: Maybe I thought he'd tell the Israelis why he'd done
Speaker 1: what he'd done. In my quest to know the motives
Speaker 1: behind his actions, this would be a perfect time for
Speaker 1: Suckers himself to tell his story. Or if he was
Speaker 1: truly an anti Semite at heart, maybe facing five Jewish
Speaker 1: assassins would reveal that. Maybe he'd shout some abuse at
Speaker 1: the team. They would at least be a clue. But
Speaker 1: one thing was for sure. With this plan, there would
Speaker 1: be a chance for Zukers to finally tell the truth.
Speaker 1: Mia was satisfied all the work he'd put in had
Speaker 1: been vindicated. They were going ahead with his plan. The
Speaker 1: debate in the German Parliament was coming up in a
Speaker 1: few months. They all hoped a successful mission would influence
Speaker 1: it On the ninth of November, a letter arrived the
Speaker 1: Rotterdam po box that MEO had set up months earlier.
Speaker 1: It was from Zuker's. Following your request, I hereby enclosed
Speaker 1: my flight ticket from sal Follow to Monte Video went back,
Speaker 1: as well as a few other receipts for personal expenses.
Speaker 1: I hope you arrival in Rotterdam and said to all
Speaker 1: these films this you hoping to see you soon. This friendship.
Speaker 1: Heppert so cares. The team was pleased. The butcher was
Speaker 1: taking the bait, but me A waited over a month,
Speaker 1: said a reply. He wanted it to seem like he
Speaker 1: was a busy man putting deals together. He couldn't appear
Speaker 1: to be too eager. Dear Abert, I thank you for
Speaker 1: your letter and forms of receipts you sent. Everything here
Speaker 1: is running as it should, and as far as business
Speaker 1: is concerned, I have nothing to complain about. My associates
Speaker 1: are very pleased with the outcome of the trip to
Speaker 1: South America to Grasil and Uruguay. I intend to return
Speaker 1: to South America in the coming weeks in order to
Speaker 1: realize and implement various investment plans. I should therefore be
Speaker 1: grateful to you if you could manage soon after receiving
Speaker 1: this letter to make the necessary arrangements to Chile and Uruguay.
Speaker 1: I'm enclosing a banker's check for one hundred dollars to
Speaker 1: cover your expenses. Please inform me by telegram when all
Speaker 1: the necessary papers are in your hands and you are
Speaker 1: ready for the trip. A happy New Year to you
Speaker 1: and your family. Hope to see you soon. Your friend
Speaker 1: and Tom Kumslay your rearranged with MASSAD headquarters to provide
Speaker 1: new identities for the other team members, fake names, passports
Speaker 1: and backstories that would give them a reason for being
Speaker 1: in Uruguay. The men spent hours memorizing the details. They
Speaker 1: learned a few key phrases in Spanish and Portuguese in
Speaker 1: case they were stopped by the police or had some
Speaker 1: other problem. The four team members were almost done with
Speaker 1: their training, and Crabmagaw, the Israeli fighting system Emmi Lichtenfeld
Speaker 1: was working them hard. Neil wasn't part of the training.
Speaker 1: His job was to get the butcher into the room.
Speaker 1: That was it. They practiced the same maneuvers over and
Speaker 1: over again. Watching the sessions, Neil later wrote he thought
Speaker 1: the instructor had the graceful movements with dancer Lichtenfeld's feet
Speaker 1: slid across the floor soundlessly as he avoided knight thrust
Speaker 1: and club swinging at his head. But according to Emi
Speaker 1: Lichtenfeld student a yl Yanilov, his graceful nature would never
Speaker 1: have been mistake in for weakness. So Emi was differently
Speaker 1: with very high level of refined movements. So like Muhammad
Speaker 1: Ali said, he say that's like about the fly sing,
Speaker 1: Then the Krapma God teacher could look a little scary.
Speaker 1: In his white karate tunic, he had a glass of
Speaker 1: eye and half his face was frozen from an injury
Speaker 1: he had sustained on his journey to Palestine. He's spoke
Speaker 1: in a deep, bare tone with a slight lisp caused
Speaker 1: by an injury to the left side of his mouth.
Speaker 1: Krama God did require slight adjustments for the mission, having
Speaker 1: been invented to save Jewish lives, was defensive in nature.
Speaker 1: It's core philosophy was do whatever is needed to cause
Speaker 1: as much damage as possible to your attacker and get
Speaker 1: away safely. But in Uruguay the massadman would be the aggressors.
Speaker 1: All knows how Emi would have instructed the team to
Speaker 1: locate the target's weak spot. He will tell them the
Speaker 1: slight to the most sensitive points to be very efficient
Speaker 1: in their striking with open hand or with closed fist.
Speaker 1: So he's very strongly to the knee, to the sole,
Speaker 1: reflexes to the floating griegs, liver and sleep. Go up
Speaker 1: at this line of the neck. Front of the neck.
Speaker 1: Back of the neck is extremely efficient. Go to the
Speaker 1: line of the drop to coast one cushion. Go to
Speaker 1: the line of the eyes, especially the temples. So these
Speaker 1: are strikes that will coastal cushion and we make the
Speaker 1: person who groogi full down. They practiced disarming a target
Speaker 1: as Mill had told them. Sekers carried a gun everywhere,
Speaker 1: and Cromaga, if there was a gun involved in a fight,
Speaker 1: who always assumed it would be fired. But the massad
Speaker 1: agents wanted to immobilize Seekers before he could drive, so
Speaker 1: they practiced a blow from the back they hoped would
Speaker 1: bring the butcher down. A l can imagine what the
Speaker 1: team was going through. He vividly remembers how hard Amy
Speaker 1: pushed him in his own training. He said, do again,
Speaker 1: not good, do do again, not go, do again twenty times,
Speaker 1: No good. Do again. I didn't even know what you
Speaker 1: wanted from me. What should I do? In that sense?
Speaker 1: I think I just too eventually, So when you think
Speaker 1: about it, it's just the agile. You have to do
Speaker 1: something you know doing, go did do better? That's it.
Speaker 1: You read could fear a meat and Sudie practice. Kick
Speaker 1: after kick they paired off and rain blows down on
Speaker 1: the head of their opponents. Lintenbell believed the knuckles were
Speaker 1: too delicate for a good smash to the face. He
Speaker 1: preferred the meaty base of the hand, or even better,
Speaker 1: the elbow balance was key. Kick returned to position, Kick
Speaker 1: returned to position. Kick, They drilled and drilled. We made
Speaker 1: the experience that much more exhausting for the men was
Speaker 1: that Mio wasn't even doing theneath for us, and the
Speaker 1: rest of it kept reminding them they were about to
Speaker 1: face a raging animal. Remember the late one is a
Speaker 1: strong man, and he's always armed. Even your Reeve grew
Speaker 1: impatient with him. Meo exaggerates a bit will overcome, so
Speaker 1: cooes without any problem. It was MEO's turn to be annoyed.
Speaker 1: These Raeli Is always believed they could solve any problem.
Speaker 1: Typical saber bullshit. He was worried they were going to
Speaker 1: mess up his operation. Are you curious about something you've
Speaker 1: heard on Hunting the Butcher and want to know more?
Speaker 1: Is there something I haven't covered that you wish I would?
Speaker 1: I want to hear from you. We've set up an
Speaker 1: email address for listeners to send us questions about the show.
Speaker 1: We've received some amazing, thoughtful questions so far, and we'd
Speaker 1: love to hear more. Record yourself asking your question, include
Speaker 1: your name and where you're from, and we'll try to
Speaker 1: answer your question on a future episode. The email address
Speaker 1: is Hunting the Butcher at Diversion Podcasts dot com. Record
Speaker 1: yourself asking a question and email it to me. The
Speaker 1: voice memos app on iPhone works well for recording yourself again.
Speaker 1: The email address is Hunting the Butcher at Diversion Podcasts
Speaker 1: dot com. That's podcasts plural. I'm looking forward to hearing
Speaker 1: your questions. Thanks, you're even The others took all of
Speaker 1: MEO's notes, the telegrams and letters, his thoughts on the
Speaker 1: kill method and honed them into a working paper. It
Speaker 1: included maps, even timetables to and from different landmarks in Montevideo.
Speaker 1: They looked at the maps searching for the right neighborhood
Speaker 1: to rent a house. They bought summer clothes that would
Speaker 1: be right for Uruguay, and they went to various banks
Speaker 1: and changed money for Uruguay and pesos. Then they began
Speaker 1: to look for a staging ground for the operation, a
Speaker 1: place where they could fly into, getting organized and prepare
Speaker 1: for D Day. They didn't want to be hanging around
Speaker 1: Uruguay for weeks attracting attention. They chose Buenos Aires. Meo
Speaker 1: never revealed the reason why they chose it, but my
Speaker 1: theory is that it was a big city, cosmopolitan. He
Speaker 1: got visitors from all over the world. They wouldn't stick
Speaker 1: out there, so it was a good place to lay low.
Speaker 1: All of this work and planning took about two months.
Speaker 1: The world took no notice of their mission. The Beatles
Speaker 1: released a new album, Beatles for Sale, and college students
Speaker 1: in America were staging protests against the Vietnam War. As
Speaker 1: for France, he was preparing for Winter Olympics. No one
Speaker 1: paid any mind to the men entering and leaving the
Speaker 1: little apartment on the avenue they were side jan Another
Speaker 1: letter arrived in the Rotterdam po box her col I
Speaker 1: completed all the arrangements as you asked, I have to passport,
Speaker 1: including the visas for Uruguaya and Chile, waiting for your
Speaker 1: arrival and for for the details concerning our joint business trip.
Speaker 1: This friendship ever took us. In the note, Zuker seemed
Speaker 1: a little more nervous than in the previous one. Did
Speaker 1: the line about waiting for further details mean that he
Speaker 1: was having doubts? If the details weren't what he expected,
Speaker 1: would he refuse to leave Brazil? Nobody knew. The agents
Speaker 1: booked their airline tickets. Each member would be traveling separately.
Speaker 1: They didn't want to look like a team. Before their departures,
Speaker 1: the five men met for a final time in the
Speaker 1: Paris apartment. They went over the plan. They double checked
Speaker 1: and triple checked everything. There was nothing left to do
Speaker 1: in Paris. It was a solemn moment. We were all
Speaker 1: aware that we were going to take the life of
Speaker 1: a man, but none of us had any doubt this
Speaker 1: was the just punishment for his statistic criminal Mio sat
Speaker 1: down and wrote out a telegram for Suckers, including all
Speaker 1: his travel plants. Then the members poured some drinks and
Speaker 1: made a toast best of luck. Your reef told them
Speaker 1: he wasn't much of a speech giver. The men kept
Speaker 1: their private thoughts to themselves. They were eager to get going.
Speaker 1: Three days later, Mio boarded his flight to sal Paolo.
Speaker 1: He was going to Brazil first to reconnect with Suckers.
Speaker 1: The other members would fly out later. Neo planned on
Speaker 1: meeting Suckers in the airport transit lounge before flying on
Speaker 1: to Buonos areas. He had to make sure the butcher
Speaker 1: was all in. After twelve hours in the air, the
Speaker 1: plane landed. Maa waited until after the other passengers got out,
Speaker 1: then walked toward the airplane door. At the top of
Speaker 1: the jetway. He was heading down the stairs, lost in
Speaker 1: his own thoughts. I heard Ruko's familiar voice. Hello, he Anton,
Speaker 1: I am here. I looked down to the bottom of
Speaker 1: the stairs, and what did I see? Herbert Chukos wearing
Speaker 1: a colorful tie, holding something black in one hand and
Speaker 1: waving happily with the other. That black thing in the
Speaker 1: butcher's hand, that was a camera. He was filming me.
Speaker 1: Oh as he arrived, How on earth did he manage
Speaker 1: to get in here? I wondered? This was a restricted area,
Speaker 1: and we were supposed to meet in the transit lounge.
Speaker 1: When Meo realized what the black object was, he was shocked.
Speaker 1: This meant that Drukos was actually filming me, immortalizing my
Speaker 1: image on film. Instinctively, I raised my hand as if
Speaker 1: in greeting, but the motion was actually tended to hide
Speaker 1: from the camera lens some of my mold distinguishing features.
Speaker 1: It was a disaster. Suckers had sprung a trap. When
Speaker 1: you're undercover, you want there to be no record of
Speaker 1: your actual self in the mission. The documents all have
Speaker 1: your cover name, not your real one. If you're photographed,
Speaker 1: who want to be wearing your disguise. This was a
Speaker 1: time before the widespread use of surveillance cameras. Neo thought
Speaker 1: he was safe, but now the butcher he had him
Speaker 1: down on film. It was bad. That was only half
Speaker 1: of it. The other half was why was Zuker's filming
Speaker 1: him in the first place. As the two men had
Speaker 1: been old friends. Meal might have passed it off as
Speaker 1: his body wanting a memento of their trip, but that
Speaker 1: wasn't it. This was Zukers being paranoid again. He wanted
Speaker 1: to film as evidence, just in case, Kunzla was up
Speaker 1: to no good. Sucker said he was ready to become partners,
Speaker 1: but clearly he still had his doubts. He'll never be
Speaker 1: rid of his suspicions. I thought this concern. I was
Speaker 1: fully convinced that this was yet another one of UCO's
Speaker 1: security exercises. One false move the team might interpret as
Speaker 1: my attempt to hide from the camera, and all my
Speaker 1: months long efforts to win his trusts would come to nothing.
Speaker 1: And in fact me it was right. The butcher didn't
Speaker 1: trust him fully. Later, his wife nodded all police what happened.
Speaker 1: When Sucers returned home, my husband told me that he
Speaker 1: had filmed Kunzla coming off the plane. He emphasized that
Speaker 1: if anything bad were to happen to him in the
Speaker 1: near future, then it was this man seen on the
Speaker 1: film waving at Harvard who would bear directed soul responsibility
Speaker 1: for it. The film and the stills taken from it
Speaker 1: would haunt the massad agent for years. When I discussed
Speaker 1: this with Gad Shimron, he mentioned how significant this became.
Speaker 1: This photo. For many years, uh Nio told me that
Speaker 1: every time he crossed the border, somewhere on the road
Speaker 1: there was a big interval coaster wanted for murder with
Speaker 1: his picture as complet taken by a suspicious to much
Speaker 1: so Mea was coming down the steps of the jetway
Speaker 1: at the airport in Sal Paulo. He's holding up his
Speaker 1: hands like he's waving it at Sukers a friendly greeting,
Speaker 1: but in reality he's trying to block the view of
Speaker 1: his face from the camera. He's trying to look smooth, natural,
Speaker 1: but it isn't working. He looks awkward and nervous. He's
Speaker 1: realized that Suckers has outsmarted him. Neo finally made it
Speaker 1: down to the bottom of the chet way and Suckers
Speaker 1: dropped the camera to his side. He greeted the agent.
Speaker 1: It went into the transit lounge to talk Neis flight
Speaker 1: to Buenos Aires was leaving soon, so they only had
Speaker 1: a few minutes. They ordered drinks and Mio tried to
Speaker 1: get back on track. He told Suckers he has some
Speaker 1: good news. His partners had decided to invest heavily in
Speaker 1: South America, hundreds of thousands of dollars at the very least,
Speaker 1: and they'd agreed to bring Suekers on board. If he
Speaker 1: played his cards right, he would soon be a rich man.
Speaker 1: Zukers didn't react the way Meo had hoped. He said
Speaker 1: he had a problem. It turned out that he hadn't
Speaker 1: been telling the truth in his telegram, his visa and
Speaker 1: other documents, they weren't ready yet. He couldn't fly to Uruguay.
Speaker 1: It was getting worse. And worse was Zuker's backing out.
Speaker 1: Had he realized he was being trapped or was he
Speaker 1: just being lazy? Meo had no idea what was going on,
Speaker 1: but he stayed in character, the character of the hard
Speaker 1: charging businessman. He got angry and loud. How could you
Speaker 1: do this? Did you say you want to be a businessman.
Speaker 1: I am a businessman and I stick to my vote.
Speaker 1: You want me said all your papers weren't older. I
Speaker 1: want you to know that I am very, very disappointed.
Speaker 1: He really was furious. If Sukers couldn't get out of Brazil,
Speaker 1: the mission was off. There might not be a chance
Speaker 1: to organize a second operation before the vote in the
Speaker 1: German Parliament. The butcher had messed up everything. Zukers hung
Speaker 1: his head. He was embarrassed, or he appeared to be embarrassed.
Speaker 1: I promised it would never happen again to Mio. He
Speaker 1: appeared to be sincere. After a few tense moments, Neo
Speaker 1: calmed down. He told Seekers that Brazil was out. The
Speaker 1: partners wanted to do their business in Uruguay and Chile,
Speaker 1: so he wanted Seekers with him when he traveled to
Speaker 1: the two countries. Neo took a lot of cash out
Speaker 1: of his pocket handed it to the butcher traveling expenses.
Speaker 1: He told the butcher to get his papers straightened down.
Speaker 1: Once that was done, he would pay for his flight
Speaker 1: to Uruguay, but he had to get moving. Suckers cheered up.
Speaker 1: He agreed to get the visa a sap. He was
Speaker 1: even a little cheeky. He asked if Meo had the
Speaker 1: addresses of the hotels they'd be staying at in Montefdello.
Speaker 1: Neo thought to himself, the best, that is forever cautious,
Speaker 1: but he memorized the names of the hotel's just in case.
Speaker 1: He recited them to Suckers, who wrote them down. It
Speaker 1: was another test. At least Mio had passed this one.
Speaker 1: A boarding announcement was made from MEO's flight to Buenos Aires.
Speaker 1: The two men parted. Neo slapped Suckers on the shoulder,
Speaker 1: told him not to let him down again. Then he
Speaker 1: headed towards his departure. Game Neo landed in Buenos Aires,
Speaker 1: took a taxi to his hotel. The most of the
Speaker 1: team was still back in Paris. He needed to get
Speaker 1: in touch with them to tell them the mission was
Speaker 1: a go. But things started to go wrong. It turned
Speaker 1: out that the telephone and post office workers had gone
Speaker 1: on strike. It was one of those things you just
Speaker 1: couldn't predict. But it didn't matter. Mio was screwed. He
Speaker 1: couldn't communicate with your read. The team was waiting for
Speaker 1: word from him that Seekers was still in play, but
Speaker 1: Mio couldn't make a call or send a telegram. He
Speaker 1: was stranded. Even worse, if the butcher was trying to
Speaker 1: contact him, he had no way of knowing it. Maybe
Speaker 1: Seekers was having trouble getting the right papers, Maybe he
Speaker 1: had questions he needed answers to Mea was annoyed and worried.
Speaker 1: Day after day, he checked with the front desk and
Speaker 1: asked if any telegrams had come through. The answer was
Speaker 1: always known. The city was in the communications lockdown. Nothing
Speaker 1: was getting in or out, so Mia was going stir crazy.
Speaker 1: He had nothing to do. And he hated that. To
Speaker 1: get his mind off sukers, he took a trip to
Speaker 1: a holiday resort called my adult Plata, but it was
Speaker 1: off season. The place was half empty. Kind of depressing. Actually,
Speaker 1: Lea went back to Bueness Areas, tried to pass the
Speaker 1: time by taking long walks through the city. There were
Speaker 1: no letters. When he got back to the hotel. He
Speaker 1: was losing precious time. The clock was ticking and Germany's
Speaker 1: vote on the amnesty statute was approaching fast. If the
Speaker 1: mission didn't move forward soon, all would be lost. Hi,
Speaker 1: this is Stephen Talty, host of Good Assassins Hunting the Butcher.
Speaker 1: The folks that helped me bring you this show, Diversion
Speaker 1: podcast Us have just launched another podcast that I think
Speaker 1: you'll like. It's called Backstaged The Devil in Metal, a
Speaker 1: deep dive into the history of metal music, filled with
Speaker 1: never before heard interviews and stories from some of the
Speaker 1: biggest names of music, including Black Sabbath, Judas, Priest Van Helen,
Speaker 1: and many others. It's outrageous, raw and surprising at times.
Speaker 1: Backstage The Devil in Metal is out now. Follow the
Speaker 1: show on Apple Podcasts, I Hired Radio app or wherever
Speaker 1: you listen to your podcasts. Finally, on February five, the
Speaker 1: strike ended and the telegram arrived. It was from Zookers
Speaker 1: Glato informula that all the preparations are complete. I have
Speaker 1: the documents, I Theresa. They thing to hear from you
Speaker 1: as to there, and then I joined you. Mea was overjoyed.
Speaker 1: He wrote out a telegram to the Massad team in Paris.
Speaker 1: Negotiations have finished and the transaction is about to take place.
Speaker 1: Request you sent urgently the team of experts in order
Speaker 1: to complete the transactions successfully Anton, it was time for
Speaker 1: the team to come to Argentina. The Paris team started
Speaker 1: arriving in Buenos Aires one by one and taking the
Speaker 1: rooms in hotels downtown. Once they all made it in,
Speaker 1: your reefs sent out the word that they should meet
Speaker 1: one of the many cafes in the city. It would
Speaker 1: get the latest details from Meo and prepare for Uruguay.
Speaker 1: The men arrived at the cafe and shook hands. Then
Speaker 1: they sat down and Mio gave them an update, recounting
Speaker 1: the story of the movie Camera and Super Continuing fear
Speaker 1: of being trapped, he warned them for the obtain time
Speaker 1: about the butcher He's like a violent animal. The minute
Speaker 1: the census that he has trapped, he muster all his strength. This,
Speaker 1: it turned out, was actually true. Zucris was preparing for
Speaker 1: his own flight to Uruguay, but before he left, he
Speaker 1: told his family, if someone comes after me, I have
Speaker 1: a fight until the death. Meo didn't know this. He
Speaker 1: didn't know that Sucris had passed the film of Kunsla
Speaker 1: arriving in Brazil to his wife. He knew Zucris was paranoid,
Speaker 1: but he didn't know how deep it went. On February ten,
Speaker 1: Meo flew into Manto. The Dao Uruguay and the others
Speaker 1: soon followed. The debate over the statute of Limitations was
Speaker 1: only a month away now in March, and then the
Speaker 1: vote would follow in May. The clock continued to tick,
Speaker 1: and the team still didn't have a house to carry
Speaker 1: out the execution. That was the first subjective as they
Speaker 1: did their final preparations, But once they settled into their hotels,
Speaker 1: the team realized there was a problem. The city didn't
Speaker 1: have that many houses for rent. Montefideo was a small place,
Speaker 1: not a lot of tourists, and the houses that were
Speaker 1: available were often run down. Laser Sudet, the agent who
Speaker 1: tried to kill the German chancellor ten years before, was
Speaker 1: given the job of finding a place. He had three requirements.
Speaker 1: It had to look like it could be the headquarters
Speaker 1: for a rich European company. It had to have some
Speaker 1: sort of privacy so the noise of the assassination wasn't overheard.
Speaker 1: And it had to be close to a major highway
Speaker 1: so that the team could escape without getting lost in
Speaker 1: a tangle of side streets. So Det contacted some real
Speaker 1: estate agents. Every day he went looking at the houses
Speaker 1: with them, and he slowly realized there was nothing that
Speaker 1: fit his three requirements. Either the houses looked terrible, or
Speaker 1: they had no privacy, or they weren't a part of
Speaker 1: the city that was hard to get out of. The
Speaker 1: team thought they'd planned for everything, but it was Murphy's law.
Speaker 1: If something could go wrong, it would days passed. Finally,
Speaker 1: a real estate agent called Sude. He was in a
Speaker 1: good mood. He told Sude he found the perfect place.
Speaker 1: The two of them drove out to see it. When
Speaker 1: they pulled up to the house, Sude was happy. From
Speaker 1: the street, the place looked good, It had a garden,
Speaker 1: and it was in good shape. They walked up to
Speaker 1: the front door and the agent rang the bell. As
Speaker 1: soon as the door opened, Sedet's heart dropped. The guy
Speaker 1: standing in the doorway had side curls, he was wearing
Speaker 1: a yamaka. Sadet realized he was an Orthodox Jew. Sade
Speaker 1: cursed under his breath. The homeowner smiled and invited the
Speaker 1: two men in, but sud He just turned, walked down
Speaker 1: the path and got into the car. If they rented
Speaker 1: the house from this guy and Zucris was killed inside,
Speaker 1: who knew what would happen. Some neo Nazis might fire
Speaker 1: bomb the place, or the homeowner and his family could
Speaker 1: become targets for nut jobs in the city. So it
Speaker 1: was a no. Sudi couldn't risk. It was the right house,
Speaker 1: but the wrong owner. The real estate agent got back
Speaker 1: into the car. He was mortified, probably angry too. He
Speaker 1: asked sud what was wrong. Sudet said, I don't like Jews.
Speaker 1: His son told me the story when I visited him
Speaker 1: in Israel. He says it reflects his father's very dark
Speaker 1: sense of humor. He was always doing things like that.
Speaker 1: It was just part of his personality. But despite Sudet's joke,
Speaker 1: it was a bad day. The team still had no
Speaker 1: place to carry out the final act and they were
Speaker 1: running out of time. They were hitting a wall. They
Speaker 1: looked all over Carrasco, a desirable part of monte Video
Speaker 1: with nice vacation homes near the ocean that would look good,
Speaker 1: but it was the middle of summer and there was
Speaker 1: nothing available. Things were getting desperate. Then finally a stroke
Speaker 1: of luck, the realtor found a place. In all the
Speaker 1: massade reports I've seen, it has always been described as
Speaker 1: a house in Carrasco in Montevideo, but the Uruguayan writer
Speaker 1: Fernando Gudizoni told me that massade reports aren't exactly correct.
Speaker 1: The house they ended up with was actually located somewhere else,
Speaker 1: in another nearby town called Shangri La, which was not
Speaker 1: the original plan. They have not They wishes to rent
Speaker 1: a house in the city, but they can't. And Carrasco
Speaker 1: was and Ea is now high level neighborhood. Sanglia was
Speaker 1: a poor town and Shanglia is outside the city. Outside
Speaker 1: it's not in Montevideo, and Carrasco is a part of
Speaker 1: monte Video. There are two different realities, and you cross
Speaker 1: pine forests two or three miles and after that you
Speaker 1: go to Shanglia is also in a in a isolated
Speaker 1: area in in a blog you have two or three
Speaker 1: houses in summer. In winter is absolutely empty. The house
Speaker 1: was small and humble, a little house, not a luxury house.
Speaker 1: This was the only house have I about, so he
Speaker 1: thought it had potential. The house wasn't in the best shape,
Speaker 1: but it might work. One thing that bothered him, though,
Speaker 1: was that there was some construction workers fixing the house
Speaker 1: next door. If they heard a disturbance on the day
Speaker 1: of the assassination, they might come looking for the cause,
Speaker 1: or they might call the police. But said he was
Speaker 1: running out of options. He brought me about to get
Speaker 1: his opinion, and after a few minutes of looking the
Speaker 1: place over, ne agreed there was nothing better. It would
Speaker 1: have to do. There's another curious detail that I only
Speaker 1: uncovered in my most recent research. In Massade reports, they
Speaker 1: always referred to the house as Casa Kubertini. But when
Speaker 1: I spoke to Buddhisoni, who knows the country like the
Speaker 1: back of his hand and actually grew up in Shangri La,
Speaker 1: he told me there's no record of the house ever
Speaker 1: being called at in Uruguay. They Gotini that is named
Speaker 1: the statement of Massad do not exist, never exists, that
Speaker 1: name never existed. When I asked but his zone to
Speaker 1: speculate about where Massad got the name from, he was
Speaker 1: at a loss. I don't know, maybe a confusion. I
Speaker 1: don't know. My microchurch was very intensive and difficult, and
Speaker 1: a looking in archives and in libraries, coart don't existed.
Speaker 1: You're white. So it remains a bit of a mystery.
Speaker 1: But for whatever reason, maybe it was a code name.
Speaker 1: The killed team called the final location. They decided on
Speaker 1: Casa Kubertine, and then the team was suddenly very busy.
Speaker 1: Now that they had a location, they had to prepare.
Speaker 1: The five men drove from one end of the city
Speaker 1: to the other, memorizing its layout. They drove the streets
Speaker 1: around Casta Kubertini, finding the best ways in and out.
Speaker 1: They studied how polite and patient Uruguayans were when they drove,
Speaker 1: and anyone who spent time in Israel knows how foreign
Speaker 1: the style of driving would be to an Israeli. Former
Speaker 1: Massad agent Abner Abraham put it like this, Well, it's real.
Speaker 1: You know. People are very nervous, they are very nervous
Speaker 1: and they don't want to wait. Well, it's like, who'll
Speaker 1: teach you to drive like this? You don't know how
Speaker 1: to drive? Okay, you need to learn again. But you know,
Speaker 1: sometimes it's not only to say something against the other drivers.
Speaker 1: Sometimes you stand near his car and you open your
Speaker 1: window and you need to educate him why you don't this,
Speaker 1: and why do you don't this? And you have to
Speaker 1: keep the right and why you keep the left? And okay,
Speaker 1: you need to edit the team. And it might seem small,
Speaker 1: but the team needed to learn to keep their Israeli
Speaker 1: habits in check. This meant no aggressive driving, no road rage.
Speaker 1: They didn't want to stand out. Your reef had warned
Speaker 1: them that they had to avoid police attention at all costs,
Speaker 1: so they always kept the speed limit. You're even brought
Speaker 1: in someone from the Foreign Service already stationed in South
Speaker 1: America to serve as an advisor. He wasn't trained with
Speaker 1: the team, but he knew the language and could also
Speaker 1: function as a lookout. On the big day, Mio sent
Speaker 1: a telegram to Zukers, Dear Herbert, business running well, your
Speaker 1: help needed. I would be glad if you could join
Speaker 1: me in Monte Video. On the morning of February. That
Speaker 1: was the date that Yerev had chosen. Three was his birthday,
Speaker 1: and he considered it his lucky number. He didn't want
Speaker 1: any more bad luck. Maybe this would help. The next
Speaker 1: day there was a reply from Zuker's dear Anton, arriving
Speaker 1: by Varic flight on a few hours later, another telegram arrived,
Speaker 1: changing the airline from verig to Air France. But the
Speaker 1: butcher was coming. The men made their final plans. Meo
Speaker 1: rented Zukers a room at his hotel, even though if
Speaker 1: all one according to plan, he would never sleep in it.
Speaker 1: He read the newspapers each and every morning, looking for
Speaker 1: anything that would interfere with the mission, a road closing,
Speaker 1: a parade, anything, And after a few days he found
Speaker 1: one one of the streets they were going to use
Speaker 1: for the escape would be closed for repairs. The men
Speaker 1: jumped in their cars and found an alternate route. Sod
Speaker 1: went shopping. He visited the local luggage stores looking for
Speaker 1: something to put Seeker's body. They didn't want to leave
Speaker 1: the corpse just lying on the floor of the Cossa
Speaker 1: Kober teeny, but the butcher was so big. Nothing that
Speaker 1: Sudied saw would fit. Finally, he found his store selling
Speaker 1: those huge traveling trunks that people back in the day
Speaker 1: used when they sailed to the other side of the world.
Speaker 1: He pulled a tape measure out of his pocket, got
Speaker 1: the dimensions, yes, if there was anything bigger, salesman said no,
Speaker 1: so the Sudeep bought it. According to former intelligence officer
Speaker 1: Chris Costa, lining up every detail of the escape is
Speaker 1: just as important as executing the mission itself. It's easy
Speaker 1: to plan, and everybody likes tactics. Everybody likes talking about tradecraft.
Speaker 1: The harder partners to talk about what comes after. So
Speaker 1: you have to think about the end state of what
Speaker 1: you want and then work it backwards. That's part of
Speaker 1: planning an operation. Meal paid the hotel and rental car
Speaker 1: bills in advance. He didn't want any last minute complications there.
Speaker 1: Even bought two tickets for a flight to Chili, which
Speaker 1: he and Sukers would never take. It was like method acting.
Speaker 1: Everything had to appear to be real, so we did
Speaker 1: everything as if it was real. For their final meeting
Speaker 1: before the butcher arrived, the men chose a restaurant that
Speaker 1: me had been to before on one of his trips
Speaker 1: with Zukers. They sat at the table and began talking
Speaker 1: in low voices. They didn't want to attract attention. It
Speaker 1: didn't look like a band of assassins. If you spotted
Speaker 1: them having their drinks and chatting, you might think they
Speaker 1: were middle managers or insurance agents. As they were talking,
Speaker 1: the waiter walked up. Shloum, he said in Hebrew. He
Speaker 1: told the five men that he was originally from Hungary
Speaker 1: but had served in the Israeli Defense Forces. He heard
Speaker 1: them speaking Hebrew and he'd come over to greet his
Speaker 1: fellow Jews. The men looked at each other and broke
Speaker 1: out laughing. They thought they were being discreet, but here
Speaker 1: they've been outed by a Hungarian waiter. They lowered their
Speaker 1: voices even further and talked about On the night of
Speaker 1: the Neo went to bed early. He said he wanted
Speaker 1: to recharge his batteries for what was coming, the crucial
Speaker 1: day judgment Today, Ye good assassins. Hunting the Butcher is
Speaker 1: a production of Diversion Podcast in association with I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: This season is written and hosted by Stephen Tlalti, produced
Speaker 1: and directed by Scott Waxman and Jacob Bronstein. Executive producers
Speaker 1: Scott Waxman and Mark frances Story editing by Jacob Bronstein
Speaker 1: with editorial direction from Scott Waxman and mangesh At Ticket editing,
Speaker 1: mixing and sound designed by Mark Francis, with the voices
Speaker 1: of Nick Afka, Thomas Amrie, Angele, Andrew Polk, Mindy Escobar Leants,
Speaker 1: Steve Routman and Stefan Brudnitsky. Theme music by Tyler Cash.
Speaker 1: Archival research by Adam Shapiro, thanks to Oran Rosenbaum at
Speaker 1: ut A Diversion Podcasts