WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.639 --> 00:00:03.879 Okay, we are live. Hi, this is William Ramsey. Welcome 2 00:00:03.919 --> 00:00:06.360 to William Ramsey investigates on today's show of a very 3 00:00:06.360 --> 00:00:10.199 special guest. His name is Robert Aarringer, E I N 4 00:00:10.320 --> 00:00:13.759 G Er, and he came to my attention. He's done 5 00:00:13.759 --> 00:00:17.079 some work on this topic that's really burning up the 6 00:00:17.079 --> 00:00:20.480 internet about the Epstein files. If you're watching this on 7 00:00:20.519 --> 00:00:24.280 my three YouTube channels ex Rumble, you'll see his substack. 8 00:00:24.359 --> 00:00:26.440 It's just his last name. I'll put a link to 9 00:00:26.480 --> 00:00:28.760 his subseck. He writes on a variety of different topics, 10 00:00:29.399 --> 00:00:32.399 but our intro topic is going to be the Zorro Ranch, 11 00:00:32.439 --> 00:00:34.880 which I think is coming into people's idea they always 12 00:00:34.880 --> 00:00:41.359 think of maybe Epstein is the island Florida, Palm Beach 13 00:00:41.600 --> 00:00:44.640 or Manhattan, but sometimes gets overlook But this is an 14 00:00:44.679 --> 00:00:50.399 important aspect of this whole criminal enterprise. But Robert's written 15 00:00:50.479 --> 00:00:53.840 many books. He spent nearly five decades in the intelligence 16 00:00:53.880 --> 00:00:57.320 and investigative game. Began as an undercover journalist for Fleet 17 00:00:57.320 --> 00:00:59.840 Street and served as a foreign correspondent for the Toronto Star. 18 00:01:00.399 --> 00:01:03.960 In the Toledo Blade, he infiltrated the klu Klux Klan 19 00:01:04.840 --> 00:01:08.760 nineteen ninety three operated undercover for FBI counterintelligence from Moscow, 20 00:01:08.799 --> 00:01:12.799 but Vianna and beyond. In two thousand and two, Prince 21 00:01:12.799 --> 00:01:16.719 Albert of Monaco appointed him to Intelligence Advisor, and he 22 00:01:16.799 --> 00:01:20.159 went on to create the principality's first intelligence service. He 23 00:01:20.280 --> 00:01:24.599 lives in Monticito and where his truth questing continues over 24 00:01:24.680 --> 00:01:27.799 fine Pino nor nice little one country up there. I've 25 00:01:27.799 --> 00:01:29.599 been to Monica. It's a beautiful place as well. It 26 00:01:29.760 --> 00:01:32.719 kind of reminds me of Monsito. Actually, it's interesting. I 27 00:01:32.760 --> 00:01:35.439 spent a lot of time in Santa Barbara myself, but 28 00:01:35.799 --> 00:01:37.840 it's interesting that you're here to take because I had 29 00:01:38.079 --> 00:01:42.599 Eric Amielon. He was a long term FBI agent, so 30 00:01:43.239 --> 00:01:45.480 kind of keeping with the trend of having a lot 31 00:01:45.519 --> 00:01:49.359 of FBI people here. But for people who don't know you, Robert, 32 00:01:49.400 --> 00:01:51.280 maybe you can talk a little bit more about your bio. 33 00:01:51.920 --> 00:01:53.879 Pull that up to your most recent I know you're 34 00:01:53.879 --> 00:01:56.319 publishing a book in about a month or so. I'll 35 00:01:56.359 --> 00:01:58.599 try to bring the title up, but maybe you can 36 00:01:58.680 --> 00:02:01.959 just talk about your background to your interest in covering 37 00:02:01.959 --> 00:02:02.680 the Zoro ranch. 38 00:02:04.400 --> 00:02:06.640 Sure, thank you for having me, William, pleasure to be 39 00:02:06.680 --> 00:02:10.120 here with you. My background is what I call the 40 00:02:10.159 --> 00:02:15.719 information business. I've been involved in investigative journalism, book publishing, 41 00:02:15.960 --> 00:02:19.800 and intelligence, which to my thinking is all pretty much 42 00:02:19.960 --> 00:02:25.199 the same thing. It's about the acquisition, analysis, and dissemination 43 00:02:25.719 --> 00:02:29.840 of information. The only difference is in journalism you're looking 44 00:02:29.879 --> 00:02:34.680 for the widest possible audience, and in intelligence it's usually 45 00:02:34.800 --> 00:02:41.599 just a very tiny select audience of readers. I started 46 00:02:41.599 --> 00:02:45.919 off on Fleet Street in London, where I infiltrated the 47 00:02:45.960 --> 00:02:48.680 ku Klux Klan. They were trying to establish what they 48 00:02:48.719 --> 00:02:53.560 call a clavern in Britain, and I managed to infiltrate 49 00:02:53.639 --> 00:02:57.680 it early on to a point where the Imperial Wizard 50 00:02:57.840 --> 00:03:02.800 of South Carolina, Robert E. Skagin, invited me to travel 51 00:03:02.879 --> 00:03:06.280 to Spartanburg, South Carolina. In fact, he insisted on it 52 00:03:06.599 --> 00:03:10.599 so that I could be a officially naturalized was the 53 00:03:10.639 --> 00:03:15.719 word they use. They initiated into the KKK. So I 54 00:03:15.960 --> 00:03:21.280 and two reporters from the Sunday People newspaper traveled to Spartanburg, 55 00:03:21.319 --> 00:03:25.400 South Carolina, spent a week there and we were initiated 56 00:03:25.439 --> 00:03:29.960 into the KKK. They. In fact, after the initiation, which 57 00:03:30.039 --> 00:03:33.639 was done by the Imperial Wizard himself, off came the 58 00:03:33.759 --> 00:03:37.800 robes and hoods of all the assembled clans people around us, 59 00:03:38.039 --> 00:03:41.639 and out came a tape measure. Why a tape measure, 60 00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:46.759 because they measured us up for bespoke robes and these 61 00:03:46.759 --> 00:03:49.680 weren't just the normal white robes. They made us tailor 62 00:03:49.759 --> 00:03:53.439 made us red satin robes. The reason is they made 63 00:03:53.520 --> 00:03:58.439 us kleagels, which is clan speak for officer. And they 64 00:03:58.439 --> 00:04:01.039 did that because it was presumed we would return to 65 00:04:01.120 --> 00:04:04.520 Britain and lead the clan there. In fact, of course, 66 00:04:04.520 --> 00:04:07.120 what happened was we got back to Britain and over 67 00:04:07.199 --> 00:04:12.560 to successive Sunday's front page and center spread splash they 68 00:04:12.599 --> 00:04:17.360 call it, or used to on Fleet Street, exposed everybody involved. 69 00:04:18.560 --> 00:04:21.439 They scattered like rats, and that was the end of 70 00:04:21.519 --> 00:04:27.120 the KKK in Britain anyway. That kind of work, undercover work. 71 00:04:27.240 --> 00:04:31.240 I then went on to do as a specialty infiltrating 72 00:04:31.279 --> 00:04:34.839 extremist groups and exposing them in newspapers such as The 73 00:04:34.879 --> 00:04:37.399 News of the World in the Sunday Mirror and again 74 00:04:37.439 --> 00:04:41.879 the Sunday People, and eventually was able to put those 75 00:04:41.879 --> 00:04:46.600 skills to work for FBI counter intelligence. I must point 76 00:04:46.639 --> 00:04:49.800 out that I was never fully employed by the FBI. 77 00:04:50.040 --> 00:04:52.040 I was never a special agent, nor have I ever 78 00:04:52.079 --> 00:04:56.920 purported to be. I was a subcontractor, and it was 79 00:04:57.040 --> 00:05:01.120 based on doing the kinds of ruses for the Bureau 80 00:05:01.399 --> 00:05:04.839 that I had been doing in journalism. The difference, of course, 81 00:05:04.920 --> 00:05:08.480 is now instead of a wide audience, it was a select, 82 00:05:08.800 --> 00:05:12.639 very small audience, maybe of three or four persons within 83 00:05:12.680 --> 00:05:17.839 the Bureau, because my identity was strictly guarded. And I 84 00:05:17.920 --> 00:05:20.959 wrote about that particular period of my life in a 85 00:05:21.000 --> 00:05:26.120 book called Ruse Undercover with FBI counter Intelligence that was 86 00:05:26.160 --> 00:05:30.319 published in two thousand and eight by Potomac Books, and 87 00:05:30.800 --> 00:05:33.319 I talk about the missions that I did for the Bureau, 88 00:05:33.600 --> 00:05:39.240 starting with the attempt to rendition Edward Lee Howard, who 89 00:05:39.279 --> 00:05:44.199 was the only former CIA guy to ever successfully defect 90 00:05:44.439 --> 00:05:48.399 to Moscow. He did that in nineteen eighty five, which 91 00:05:48.439 --> 00:05:51.439 was known as the Year of the Spy, and he 92 00:05:51.519 --> 00:05:55.519 was living there in the early nineteen nineties, actually from 93 00:05:55.600 --> 00:06:01.920 nineteen nine, nineteen eighty five onward in nineteen ninety three, 94 00:06:02.000 --> 00:06:06.879 and interesting opportunity arose whereby Howard wanted to write a book. 95 00:06:08.079 --> 00:06:10.920 He did in fact write that book. It was called Safehouse, 96 00:06:11.800 --> 00:06:15.120 and I became his editor. Except what he didn't know 97 00:06:15.519 --> 00:06:20.519 was that I was really working undercover secretly for the FBI, 98 00:06:21.040 --> 00:06:24.240 and the idea was to get to know him, befriend him, 99 00:06:24.600 --> 00:06:27.199 and try to figure out a way to lure him 100 00:06:27.279 --> 00:06:31.480 back to the United States to face the music. That 101 00:06:31.519 --> 00:06:33.839 went on for a bit. It went on for a 102 00:06:33.879 --> 00:06:37.720 few years. In fact, we could have renditioned Edward Lee Howard. 103 00:06:37.800 --> 00:06:40.839 Everything was in place to do that, and the Bureau 104 00:06:40.920 --> 00:06:45.800 was very gung ho in association with the CIA. However, 105 00:06:45.839 --> 00:06:48.560 at the eleventh hour, when we knew where Howard would 106 00:06:48.600 --> 00:06:51.759 be where we could nail him, the Clinton White House 107 00:06:51.839 --> 00:06:55.959 intervened and aborted the mission, so the FBI was not 108 00:06:56.079 --> 00:07:00.560 allowed to get its man, and Edward Lee Howard continued 109 00:07:00.600 --> 00:07:05.079 to operate freely, at least inside Russia, and he would 110 00:07:05.120 --> 00:07:09.920 travel throughout Europe as well, until he met in untimely 111 00:07:10.199 --> 00:07:13.319 death in two thousand I believe it was two thousand 112 00:07:13.360 --> 00:07:17.279 and two July two thousand and two, when, at the 113 00:07:17.560 --> 00:07:19.480 age of I believe he was fifty or fifty one, 114 00:07:19.959 --> 00:07:23.319 he supposedly fell down a flight of stairs at his 115 00:07:23.480 --> 00:07:28.240 Datcha and broke his neck. And the problem with what 116 00:07:28.279 --> 00:07:31.600 the Russians said about that is his Dodga didn't have 117 00:07:31.680 --> 00:07:35.480 a basement. But I've never much trusted the old KGB, 118 00:07:35.759 --> 00:07:40.680 still don't anyway. My work for the Bureau went on 119 00:07:40.480 --> 00:07:43.800 and on and on, not only doing edward ly Howard, 120 00:07:43.879 --> 00:07:47.680 but rusing the former chairman of the KGB, Vladimir Krytshkov, 121 00:07:48.279 --> 00:07:52.120 and getting to know Howard's Cuban contacts, which led me 122 00:07:52.240 --> 00:07:55.480 to the Cuban Mission and those doing espionage and for 123 00:07:55.639 --> 00:08:00.279 the among the Cubans in Washington, d c. For a 124 00:08:00.279 --> 00:08:03.480 couple of interesting chapters in that book, and eventually I 125 00:08:03.560 --> 00:08:09.560 crossed the line from counterintelligence to criminal investigations to try 126 00:08:09.600 --> 00:08:15.560 to hasten the extradition of Ira Einhorn from France. He'd 127 00:08:15.600 --> 00:08:20.439 been hunted a wanted fugitive for a few decades for 128 00:08:20.560 --> 00:08:24.920 murdering his girlfriend in Philadelphia in the late nineteen seventies. 129 00:08:25.319 --> 00:08:30.120 That too put her in that that's right, he mummified her. 130 00:08:30.199 --> 00:08:34.799 In fact, when the FBI finally rated his apartment in 131 00:08:34.840 --> 00:08:38.000 Philadelphia and they broke down the closet that was locked 132 00:08:38.240 --> 00:08:42.000 and they found the mummified remains, they also found a 133 00:08:42.039 --> 00:08:47.639 library book at how to Mummify a human being. As 134 00:08:47.639 --> 00:08:50.720 you can imagine, that was evidence against him, partly, except 135 00:08:50.799 --> 00:08:53.799 he absconded and ended up on the run for a 136 00:08:53.840 --> 00:08:56.399 number of years until he was discovered in France. It 137 00:08:56.519 --> 00:08:59.200 was my job to get to know him again as 138 00:08:59.320 --> 00:09:03.000 a purporting to be a book editor. I convinced Ira 139 00:09:03.080 --> 00:09:04.919 that he was going to be a best selling author 140 00:09:05.200 --> 00:09:07.759 and that I would ensure that his books got published. 141 00:09:08.480 --> 00:09:12.639 And then he began to uh, well from there, finally. 142 00:09:14.080 --> 00:09:16.279 Wasn't he wasn't he assisted by the one of the 143 00:09:16.320 --> 00:09:21.200 Braffman hears or something one of the worst initially that 144 00:09:21.360 --> 00:09:24.120 was a precursor to the Nexium was like the same 145 00:09:24.200 --> 00:09:25.159 woman was involved. 146 00:09:26.080 --> 00:09:30.440 That's right. He was very popular for whatever reason, rather charismatic. 147 00:09:30.559 --> 00:09:33.240 I didn't get that myself, but when I met him 148 00:09:33.679 --> 00:09:36.879 at his farmhouse in France, but I guess he'd aged 149 00:09:36.879 --> 00:09:41.840 a bit. And we're talking about the late nineteen nineties, 150 00:09:41.919 --> 00:09:45.639 ninety eight, ninety seven, ninety eight, ninety nine. It went 151 00:09:45.679 --> 00:09:49.279 on for a bit. The French, who were we were 152 00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:53.320 stringing us along in terms of when we finally when 153 00:09:53.360 --> 00:09:57.720 the Philadelphia investigator who'd been hunting Einorn for years finally 154 00:09:57.720 --> 00:10:01.200 discovered his whereabouts, the French arrested him, but then they 155 00:10:01.279 --> 00:10:05.279 let him go a few days later and and extradition 156 00:10:05.480 --> 00:10:09.519 proceedings got launched, but the French kept dragging their feet, 157 00:10:09.799 --> 00:10:15.159 dragging their feet. They would tell the United States the DOJ, well, 158 00:10:16.320 --> 00:10:19.279 we can't extrade him because we don't believe in the 159 00:10:19.320 --> 00:10:22.559 death penalty. And you have that in Pennsylvania where he 160 00:10:22.600 --> 00:10:26.240 would be tried. And they turn around and say, well, 161 00:10:26.240 --> 00:10:30.519 we've already passed a special law just for that to 162 00:10:30.720 --> 00:10:34.360 say that we won't. We will give Ira Einhorn a 163 00:10:34.399 --> 00:10:37.399 new trial. They did try him, they had tried him 164 00:10:37.600 --> 00:10:40.399 in absentia and he'd been sentenced I think, to death, 165 00:10:40.759 --> 00:10:43.559 and they said we will. It was actually a law, 166 00:10:43.600 --> 00:10:47.519 the legislature passed it. We will give Ira Einhorn a 167 00:10:47.559 --> 00:10:51.120 new trial, so please please hand him over. So then 168 00:10:51.200 --> 00:10:56.679 the French said, well, we don't believe in in in 169 00:10:56.799 --> 00:11:01.240 trials in absentia. They just kept dragging and dragging, and finally, 170 00:11:01.879 --> 00:11:06.279 my I would think that my intervention is what caused 171 00:11:07.440 --> 00:11:11.559 the French to finally capitulate and hand him back. If 172 00:11:11.600 --> 00:11:16.039 you want to hear that story really quickly, it's because, yeah, 173 00:11:16.240 --> 00:11:21.960 what happened was Einhorn knew that sooner or later he 174 00:11:22.080 --> 00:11:24.120 was probably gonna get extra out of the United States. 175 00:11:24.320 --> 00:11:28.320 And I went over as his book editor and suggested 176 00:11:28.320 --> 00:11:31.639 that he go to Poland, that we create a whole 177 00:11:31.639 --> 00:11:34.600 new life for him in Crackout. That is me the publisher, 178 00:11:34.919 --> 00:11:37.159 not the FBI, even though they were supporting the whole thing, 179 00:11:37.159 --> 00:11:39.879 but of course they know what I'm doing. We will 180 00:11:40.360 --> 00:11:43.480 you a person like you belongs in a wonderful city 181 00:11:43.600 --> 00:11:47.039 like Kracko in southern Poland, because it's very artsy and 182 00:11:47.080 --> 00:11:51.159 it'll be good publicity for your book to have absconded again. 183 00:11:51.720 --> 00:11:55.440 So he he liked that idea. He loved being stroked. 184 00:11:55.759 --> 00:12:00.240 He had a very huge ego, Einhorn, But he said 185 00:12:00.279 --> 00:12:02.639 he had a better idea that his lawyers and others 186 00:12:02.679 --> 00:12:06.039 around him had been prompting him to go to Cuba, 187 00:12:06.799 --> 00:12:11.799 where Cuba was where still to this day, American criminals 188 00:12:11.919 --> 00:12:15.159 roam free if you could call Havana and Cuba free. 189 00:12:16.639 --> 00:12:21.120 Joanne Schesemard, the black panther lady who killed a New 190 00:12:21.200 --> 00:12:24.480 Jersey State trooper, was living in Havana at the time. 191 00:12:24.600 --> 00:12:29.240 She since passed away, and it was explained to Einhorn 192 00:12:29.279 --> 00:12:32.279 that would probably be his best bet. Well, he had 193 00:12:32.279 --> 00:12:37.840 the misfortune of telling me this at a time when 194 00:12:38.279 --> 00:12:41.759 John Ashcroft, who was the Attorney General, was just about 195 00:12:41.840 --> 00:12:46.919 to have a meeting with Holly Maddox's siblings. Holly Maddox 196 00:12:47.120 --> 00:12:51.480 was the beautiful young lady who Einhorn bludgeoned to death 197 00:12:51.679 --> 00:12:56.279 and then mummified in his home. So when I got 198 00:12:56.360 --> 00:12:59.080 back from my trip to see Einhorn, and I told 199 00:12:59.360 --> 00:13:02.840 I was working with the FBI agents from the ATBI 200 00:13:03.039 --> 00:13:08.039 Fugitive Squad in Philadelphia. And when I explained what Einhorner 201 00:13:08.120 --> 00:13:11.840 was going to do, John Ashcroft was apparently livid and 202 00:13:12.039 --> 00:13:15.519 got on the phone to the French counterparts over there 203 00:13:15.559 --> 00:13:17.919 and said, you know, if he gets away and ends 204 00:13:18.000 --> 00:13:19.759 up in Cuba, that's going to be hell to pay. 205 00:13:20.120 --> 00:13:23.240 We understand from our own sources that's what he has 206 00:13:23.279 --> 00:13:27.200 in mind, and you better not let it happen. Lo 207 00:13:27.360 --> 00:13:32.919 and behold. One week later, way many months ahead of 208 00:13:32.960 --> 00:13:37.639 what was supposed to be the next hearing, although it 209 00:13:37.720 --> 00:13:40.159 was supposed to be a minor one about his extradition. 210 00:13:40.559 --> 00:13:44.679 One week later, all of a sudden, the court in Bordeaux, 211 00:13:44.759 --> 00:13:48.320 France said you're expected in court in a week and 212 00:13:48.399 --> 00:13:51.960 we're going to decide extradition. He was blown away, couldn't 213 00:13:51.960 --> 00:13:57.440 believe it and showed up in court, and they decided, 214 00:13:58.159 --> 00:14:02.039 they judged that he would be extra died. So he 215 00:14:02.159 --> 00:14:03.840 sort of did what he told me he was going 216 00:14:03.919 --> 00:14:05.360 to do what he told me was going to do. 217 00:14:05.399 --> 00:14:07.559 He'd never go back to the United States, that he 218 00:14:07.600 --> 00:14:10.759 would prefer to kill himself, and that what he was 219 00:14:10.759 --> 00:14:14.240 going to do is immolate himself in flames like the 220 00:14:14.360 --> 00:14:19.559 Vietnamese monks did to protest rulers of Vietnam back in 221 00:14:19.600 --> 00:14:24.159 the early sixties. And he did go through the motions. 222 00:14:24.240 --> 00:14:28.279 He invited French media crews into the kitchen of his 223 00:14:28.320 --> 00:14:31.960 farmhouse and took out a butter knife and punctured his neck. 224 00:14:32.639 --> 00:14:35.840 But of course an ambulance was called. He was bandaged up. 225 00:14:36.559 --> 00:14:40.159 There really wasn't a serious injury. They gave him a 226 00:14:40.159 --> 00:14:45.399 few days to recuperate, and then the gendarmes arrived to 227 00:14:45.440 --> 00:14:49.120 put him in their vehicle, drive him to char Degaul 228 00:14:49.200 --> 00:14:52.039 Airport in Paris, and hand him over to my two 229 00:14:52.080 --> 00:14:56.399 buddies in the fugitive squad where he was put in handcuffs, 230 00:14:56.440 --> 00:14:59.519 put on plane, and flown back to the United States. 231 00:15:00.039 --> 00:15:03.039 True to the true to their word, they provided him 232 00:15:03.080 --> 00:15:06.480 a new trial. It took the jurors only four hours 233 00:15:06.559 --> 00:15:09.080 to convict him of murder, and he spent the rest 234 00:15:09.120 --> 00:15:13.120 of his life at Hootsdale State Penitentiary, from which he 235 00:15:13.159 --> 00:15:16.240 wrote me a letter six months after he after he 236 00:15:16.360 --> 00:15:19.120 was in prison, and say, what happened to you? Where 237 00:15:19.120 --> 00:15:20.879 are you? You were supposed to publish my book? 238 00:15:22.000 --> 00:15:23.600 So he never got onto the ruse? 239 00:15:24.159 --> 00:15:28.639 You never did? Yeah? Well, sorry about that long story 240 00:15:28.639 --> 00:15:30.360 about the FBI. I know we want to talk about 241 00:15:30.360 --> 00:15:31.759 Monaco and I do. 242 00:15:31.840 --> 00:15:34.120 I want to talk about Grace Kelly, Grace Kelly's son, 243 00:15:34.440 --> 00:15:36.919 the Order of the Solar Temple. Are you familiar with that? 244 00:15:37.799 --> 00:15:39.519 Uh? Second, the Order of. 245 00:15:39.480 --> 00:15:42.279 The Solar Temple, because that's where Grace Kelly when she 246 00:15:42.480 --> 00:15:46.440 supposedly drove off the cliffs, she ended up on property 247 00:15:46.440 --> 00:15:48.720 of this cult called the Order of the Solar Temple. 248 00:15:49.159 --> 00:15:49.720 You heard about that? 249 00:15:50.399 --> 00:15:50.559 Uh? 250 00:15:50.600 --> 00:15:54.200 Well, yeah, I'm aware of her affiliation with that group, 251 00:15:54.240 --> 00:15:56.919 and I believe that's probably true. Whether it had a 252 00:15:56.960 --> 00:16:01.600 connection to her death or not, I'd be less. Although 253 00:16:01.840 --> 00:16:04.639 I do think there is some question about whether the 254 00:16:04.679 --> 00:16:09.559 Italian mafia was involved in her sad, tragic demise, believe 255 00:16:09.600 --> 00:16:11.159 it or not, you I think she was only fifty 256 00:16:11.159 --> 00:16:15.480 two at the time, but there was something very mysteriously 257 00:16:15.559 --> 00:16:19.320 wrong with her breaks, and she chose the wrong roads 258 00:16:19.360 --> 00:16:22.600 to go down. I know that trio of curves that 259 00:16:22.720 --> 00:16:29.679 exist coming down from Letter B into Monaco treacherous, but 260 00:16:29.960 --> 00:16:34.799 with breaks not working fatal in her case. Certainly there 261 00:16:34.840 --> 00:16:39.000 was a mafia connection in the death of Stefano Kasaragi, 262 00:16:39.320 --> 00:16:43.960 who was Caroline's Princess, Caroline's husband who died in the 263 00:16:44.480 --> 00:16:49.799 tragic yacht racing accident. I believe that was in nineteen 264 00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:55.360 ninety where his boat flipped mysteriously and he was killed, 265 00:16:55.759 --> 00:17:02.519 and then after he was buried at Monaco's cathedral, there 266 00:17:02.519 --> 00:17:07.119 are persons who tried to steal his corpse, and that 267 00:17:07.160 --> 00:17:12.160 has been associated with the Italian mafia, partly because of 268 00:17:12.960 --> 00:17:18.240 promises that had been made about their ability to penetrate 269 00:17:18.359 --> 00:17:25.240 Monaco's very lucrative real estate market and they went undelivered. 270 00:17:25.640 --> 00:17:27.880 There's huge fights that go on all the way up 271 00:17:27.960 --> 00:17:32.240 until today over real estate Monaco. Monico's probably cost more 272 00:17:32.559 --> 00:17:35.400 per square foot than anywhere else in the world, and 273 00:17:35.640 --> 00:17:39.599 building has always been the big money spinner there and 274 00:17:39.640 --> 00:17:44.160 most of the corruption relates to that business. Sorry, once again, 275 00:17:44.200 --> 00:17:45.279 I've gone off on a tangent. 276 00:17:45.440 --> 00:17:49.799 No, it's actually people don't understand the attraction, the allure 277 00:17:49.839 --> 00:17:53.119 of Monaco. It's a small principality, it's run by a 278 00:17:53.160 --> 00:17:57.599 family hereditary monarchy. Right, but low taxes are tax. 279 00:17:57.440 --> 00:18:02.000 Atment, right, Well, it is a tax ave for most people, 280 00:18:02.119 --> 00:18:05.000 not Americans, because if you are an American citizen, you 281 00:18:05.039 --> 00:18:08.480 are obliged to file income tax returns wherever in the 282 00:18:08.519 --> 00:18:11.680 world you live, so Americans don't find it a tax haven. 283 00:18:12.480 --> 00:18:16.759 But if you're British, Swedish, any other number of European nationalities, 284 00:18:17.000 --> 00:18:20.680 if you live or claim to live full time in Monaco, 285 00:18:21.079 --> 00:18:24.519 you do not have to pay tax to your country 286 00:18:24.559 --> 00:18:27.319 of birth or where even you spend some time. 287 00:18:28.759 --> 00:18:32.920 Gotcha. Wow? So how did you come by, like, you know, 288 00:18:32.960 --> 00:18:37.279 as an American getting into becoming an intel asset for 289 00:18:37.359 --> 00:18:38.319 the failure there? 290 00:18:39.480 --> 00:18:45.200 Like most of my life. Serendipitously, I was involved in 291 00:18:45.279 --> 00:18:49.279 book publishing in the late nineteen eighties and the opportunity 292 00:18:49.319 --> 00:18:53.079 arose to move to Monaco, and I thought, well, being 293 00:18:53.160 --> 00:18:56.759 much younger than I am now, of course, the sense 294 00:18:56.799 --> 00:19:01.440 of adventure overtook me, and I uprooted to Monico for 295 00:19:01.519 --> 00:19:06.200 a couple of years, rationalizing that I would scout literary talent, 296 00:19:06.319 --> 00:19:09.920 since at that time I was representing authors with books. 297 00:19:10.799 --> 00:19:16.119 I handled William Colby's book about Vietnam Lost Victory in 298 00:19:16.200 --> 00:19:21.039 Robert Kupperman's book Final Warning about terrorism, and I wanted 299 00:19:21.039 --> 00:19:23.519 to do the same thing. The bad news is I 300 00:19:23.599 --> 00:19:27.359 never really discovered any literary talent in Monaco. But I 301 00:19:27.400 --> 00:19:31.359 did make friends with Prince Albert, got to know him others. 302 00:19:31.640 --> 00:19:34.480 It's a very small community generally. I mean the country 303 00:19:34.519 --> 00:19:36.839 itself was only a mile and a half square. It's 304 00:19:36.880 --> 00:19:40.880 comprised was then of about thirty five different nationalities. The 305 00:19:40.960 --> 00:19:44.160 Monogasques are outnumbered in their own country, but among the 306 00:19:44.359 --> 00:19:48.559 Prince Kelly's son, right yeah, Prince Albert is Grace Kelly's 307 00:19:48.559 --> 00:19:51.720 son and the son of Prince Regnier, who at that 308 00:19:51.799 --> 00:19:56.599 time was the monarch in Monaco and led with an 309 00:19:56.640 --> 00:20:02.279 iron fist. Got to know Albert, and then I disappeared 310 00:20:02.279 --> 00:20:07.480 from Monaco, went to Washington, d C. Connected with Claire George. 311 00:20:07.680 --> 00:20:10.359 He didn't want to write a book, so instead he 312 00:20:10.440 --> 00:20:14.640 and I went into the private sector intelligence business. Almost 313 00:20:14.680 --> 00:20:19.519 as a joke. We sat outside the Chevy Chase club 314 00:20:19.559 --> 00:20:21.160 and when he told me he wasn't going to write 315 00:20:21.160 --> 00:20:23.319 a book after all. He said, well, maybe we can 316 00:20:23.400 --> 00:20:26.279 do something else together. And I said, well, I solve 317 00:20:26.319 --> 00:20:28.799 people's problems and he said yeah. And I said, but 318 00:20:28.880 --> 00:20:32.319 only billionaires and royalty and he said that sounds good, 319 00:20:32.559 --> 00:20:34.960 and lo and behold, within a couple of months we 320 00:20:36.200 --> 00:20:39.200 had a billionaire and a member of a royal family, 321 00:20:39.480 --> 00:20:46.319 not Albert Monico, but a titled aristocrat as clients. And 322 00:20:46.799 --> 00:20:48.640 we did very well with that. And as I mentioned, 323 00:20:48.680 --> 00:20:53.119 I got involved with counterintelligence work for the FBI and 324 00:20:53.759 --> 00:20:57.400 did that through the nineteen nineties. When my work for 325 00:20:57.480 --> 00:21:03.559 the bureau ended, around two thousand and one, I saw 326 00:21:03.640 --> 00:21:08.119 Albert and we talked about his concern of the Russian 327 00:21:08.279 --> 00:21:13.279 surge into the South France, the French Riviera. The Russians 328 00:21:13.319 --> 00:21:18.559 through the nineties have been predominantly laundering money in Switzerland 329 00:21:18.680 --> 00:21:21.559 that was there, that was there out of home base. 330 00:21:22.079 --> 00:21:24.680 But the Swiss had enough and told him to move on, 331 00:21:25.079 --> 00:21:27.400 and they did, and they were beginning to move into 332 00:21:27.400 --> 00:21:30.200 the south of France. Albert had concerns about that. He 333 00:21:30.279 --> 00:21:33.839 also had concerns about various people from all kinds of 334 00:21:34.079 --> 00:21:38.359 nationalities because Monaco's a melting pot and the crossroads of 335 00:21:38.440 --> 00:21:42.359 everybody everywhere around the globe, especially wealthy people, and he 336 00:21:42.400 --> 00:21:44.920 had concerns about some of the people who were trying 337 00:21:44.960 --> 00:21:48.880 to enter his social orbit, as everybody tries to do 338 00:21:49.000 --> 00:21:52.240 in Monaco. In fact, the ongoing contest is who can 339 00:21:52.240 --> 00:21:56.079 brown their nose the deepest. So he thought it would 340 00:21:56.079 --> 00:21:59.680 be a good idea to retain me as his intelligence advisor, 341 00:22:00.799 --> 00:22:05.400 specifically to look into the Russian influence in Monaco, but 342 00:22:05.480 --> 00:22:08.319 also to check out various persons who were trying to 343 00:22:08.759 --> 00:22:13.400 enter his social orbit, and retained me in June of 344 00:22:13.440 --> 00:22:16.799 two thousand and two to do that. The first thing 345 00:22:17.000 --> 00:22:20.319 I did was I realized that on my own, and 346 00:22:20.400 --> 00:22:24.000 with some contacts I had that I brought into the 347 00:22:24.039 --> 00:22:27.519 situation with me, we would not be able to provide 348 00:22:27.559 --> 00:22:31.119 Albert with the kind of intelligence we really needed to 349 00:22:31.440 --> 00:22:34.200 unless we had some assistance that didn't cost us any money. 350 00:22:35.039 --> 00:22:41.559 So I embarked on creating liaison relationships with other intelligence services, 351 00:22:42.200 --> 00:22:48.519 primarily at first the CIA and Britain's six. And my 352 00:22:48.640 --> 00:22:51.799 pitch was very simply that pretty soon Prince Albert de Monico, 353 00:22:52.279 --> 00:22:55.599 once his father passed, would be the monarch, and he 354 00:22:56.200 --> 00:22:59.440 wanted to do something about the corruption in Monaco and 355 00:22:59.480 --> 00:23:04.799 about money laundering, so they very kindly signed on. We 356 00:23:04.880 --> 00:23:09.640 created liaison relationships and whenever I needed to know about 357 00:23:09.680 --> 00:23:13.680 any topic or individual, all I had to do was 358 00:23:14.039 --> 00:23:18.119 provide them the names, and they would run traces and 359 00:23:18.160 --> 00:23:21.839 they would provide what I needed to give to Albert 360 00:23:21.920 --> 00:23:24.480 so that he could be better informed. On top of which, 361 00:23:26.880 --> 00:23:30.799 Cia M I six offered to come brief him on 362 00:23:31.000 --> 00:23:34.279 any given subject. Once we had David Steel of the 363 00:23:34.279 --> 00:23:39.720 famous Steele dossier. At that time, he was apparently running 364 00:23:39.799 --> 00:23:43.000 Russia House, the Russian Division inside I six, and he 365 00:23:43.079 --> 00:23:46.519 personally came to Monaco to brief Albert and me on 366 00:23:46.920 --> 00:23:51.279 Putin and Russia. He was very polished, very professional. It 367 00:23:51.400 --> 00:23:55.480 was a great briefing. Sorry that he ventured off in private, 368 00:23:55.480 --> 00:23:58.599 the private sector and went a wrong direction. That was 369 00:23:58.680 --> 00:24:00.319 later explained to me how that can have and we 370 00:24:00.319 --> 00:24:01.559 can get back to it, but I don't want it 371 00:24:01.599 --> 00:24:05.480 to interfere with what we're talking about here. I organized 372 00:24:06.680 --> 00:24:11.319 liaison relationships. When Prince Regnier passed in April two thousand 373 00:24:11.319 --> 00:24:15.480 and five and Albert ascended the throne, my role changed. 374 00:24:17.000 --> 00:24:18.640 Excuse me, let me have a little bit of water here. 375 00:24:18.720 --> 00:24:21.039 Yeah, I mean It is interesting. I mean what I 376 00:24:21.079 --> 00:24:23.319 know that the Russians kind of came into south of 377 00:24:23.400 --> 00:24:28.720 France pretty strong before twenty fourteen, before the conflict started, yep, 378 00:24:29.160 --> 00:24:31.720 But like, what was the kind of how would they 379 00:24:31.799 --> 00:24:35.559 launder their money, how would they launder their assets from 380 00:24:35.799 --> 00:24:39.079 the Putin era? I guess it would be the post just. 381 00:24:39.640 --> 00:24:43.240 Normal confidential banking in Monaco banking at that time, anybody 382 00:24:43.359 --> 00:24:47.599 come in and launder money. It's not as easy now, 383 00:24:47.720 --> 00:24:50.440 but it's easier in Monaco than in most places because 384 00:24:50.480 --> 00:24:52.480 a lot of people have had to reform, or the 385 00:24:52.519 --> 00:24:55.720 international financial community will. We'll put them on a gray 386 00:24:55.759 --> 00:24:57.720 list or a black list and they won't be able 387 00:24:57.759 --> 00:25:01.319 to communicate with the rest of the world. But back then, 388 00:25:02.279 --> 00:25:06.279 in the early aughts, anybody could open. Well, you'd have 389 00:25:06.319 --> 00:25:08.039 to have a bunch of money. But if you were 390 00:25:08.039 --> 00:25:11.599 a Russian coming in, the banks were glad to have you. 391 00:25:11.599 --> 00:25:14.000 You show up with ten million dollars, even in cash 392 00:25:14.000 --> 00:25:17.680 and suitcases, and you have an account. And that may 393 00:25:17.720 --> 00:25:21.079 still happen today, although less likely. I'm sure they've gotten 394 00:25:21.119 --> 00:25:25.960 far more sophisticated about that. But that's the answer confidential banking. 395 00:25:26.279 --> 00:25:29.880 I was saying earlier that after Prince Albert ascended the throne, 396 00:25:30.440 --> 00:25:34.920 I created the Monaco Intelligence Service. I no longer had 397 00:25:34.920 --> 00:25:38.400 to be just intelligence advisor. I created a service because 398 00:25:38.400 --> 00:25:40.480 that's what it was at that point, and it needed 399 00:25:40.519 --> 00:25:43.839 to be, because we then embarked on creating a whole 400 00:25:43.880 --> 00:25:48.599 new slew of relationships with foreign intelligence services all around Europe. 401 00:25:49.519 --> 00:25:52.240