A Kidnapping in Milan: The CIA on Trial (34 page)

For a partial account of conditions in Egyptian prisons: Human Rights Watch, “Prison Conditions in Egypt: A Filthy System,” Feb. 1993,
http://www.hrw.org/reports/pdfs/e/egypt/egypt.932/egypt932full.pdf
.

For Abu Omar’s torture: Author interviews of Abu Omar,
supra
; Abu Omar,
supra
; Gebauer,
supra
. There is some doubt over the order and duration of Abu Omar’s torments after he reached Cairo, probably because he has told them in different order to different reporters. He did not grant me (or, to my knowledge, any other reporter) a long enough interview to sort them out. No credible American or Egyptian official, however, has disputed his claims to torture, and his claims are similar to those of other victims of torture in Egypt. Abu Omar believes his first seven months of imprisonment and torture took place at the headquarters compound of the Mukhabarat, but he is not sure.

Chapter 6: Inquest

For the investigation of the movements and identities of Abu Omar’s kidnappers and of Abu Omar’s emergence from prison in 2004: Chiara Nobili, “Ordinanza di applicazione della misura dell custodia cautelare in carcere,” N. 10838/05 R.G.N.R., N. 1966/05 R.G.GIP (ADLER Monica Courtney et al
.
), Tribunale di Milano, Sezione Giudice per le indagini preliminari, June 22, 2005 (English translation, Nov. 5, 2005); Enrico Tranfa et al
.
, untitled order appealing Chiari’s order of June 22, 2005, No. 1413/2005 RG TRD, N. 10838/2005 R.G.N.R., 1966/2005 R.G. A.G. (CASTALDO Eliana et al
.
), Tribunale di Milano, Section XI criminal court, July 20, 2005 (English translation, Nov. 5, 2005); Chiara Nobili, “Ordinanza di applicazione della misura dell custodia cautelare in carcere,” N. 10838/05 R.G.N.R., N. 1966/05 R.G.GIP (MEDERO Betnie et al
.
), Tribunale di Milano, Sezione Giudice per le indagini preliminari, Sept. 27, 2005 (English translation, untitled, Nov. 5, 2005); Enrico Manzi, “Decree for the Application of Coercive Measures,” N. 10838/05 R.G.N.R., N. 1966/05 R.G.GIP (CASTELLI Jeffrey et al
.
), Tribunale di Milano, Sezione Giudice per le indagini preliminari, Jul. 7, 2006; author interviews of Armando Spataro, Milan, Italy, 2007 to 2009; off-the-record author interviews of police officials, Milan, Italy. See also Guido Salvini, “Ordinanza di applicazione della misura dell custodia cautelare in carcere,” N.5236/02 R.G.N.R., N.1511/02 R.G.GIP (NASR Osama Mostafa Hassan), Tribunale Ordinario di Milano, Ufficio del Giudice per le indagini preliminari, June 24, 2005, which document is derived largely from Armando Spataro, “Richiesta per l’applicazione di misure cautelari,” N. 5236/02.21 (NASR Osama Mostafa Hassan), Procura della Repubblica presso il Tribunale Ordinario di Milano, Apr. 4, 2005.

For Abu Omar’s last months in prison in 2004: Author interviews of Abu Omar, Alexandria, Egypt, Apr. 2007; author interview of Montasser El-Zayat, Cairo, Egypt, Apr. 2007; Abu Omar, “The Account of an Islamist Kidnapped from the Streets of Milan,” undated, reproduced (in a rough English translation) as “My CIA rendition,” Stephen Grey’s
Ghost Plane
(Web site), http://www.ghostplane.net/abuomar. I have been unable to verify a few small details about Abu Omar’s various releases from prison (discussed in this and a later chapter), for example whether it was his brother Hitham or, instead, Hitham’s wife who received the call from the police on April 19, 2004.

For Emilio Alessandrini: Author interviews of Spataro,
supra
; Armando Spataro, “In ricordo di Emilio Alessandrini,” Giustizia e Carità, Dec. 6, 2000,
http://www.giustiziacarita.it/professioni/aless2.htm
; “Schede/1979/Alessandrini,” Associazione Italiana Vittime del Terrorismo,
http://www.vittimeterrorismo.it/memorie/schede/alessandrini.htm
.

For Guido Galli: Author interviews of Spataro,
supra
; Armando Spataro, “In ricordo di Guido Galli,” Giustizia e Carità, undated,
http://www.giustiziacarita.it/professioni/gallis.htm
; “Schede/1980/Galli,” Associazione Italiana Vittime del Terrorismo,
http://www.vittimeterrorismo.it/memorie/schede/galli.htm
.

The fifty-four SIMs (and several landlines) of the alleged conspirators that DIGOS discovered may not have represented all of the conspirators. A conspirator who did not use a SIM or who used one very discreetly would not have been recorded.

For Gregory Asherleigh and Cynthia Dame Logan’s travels to Norway: John Crewdson, “Frequent-flier miles expose CIA operation,”
Chicago Tribune
, July 23, 2006; Jonathan Tisdall, “Suspect CIA agents were in Norway,”
Aftenposten
, July 24, 2006,
http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article1397884.ece?service=print
; Kristjan Molstad, “Bonuspoeng avslørte CIA-agenter,”
Aftenposten
, July 24, 2006,
http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/uriks/article1397211.ece
; “Norsk etterretning kjente til CIA-agenter,”
Aftenposten
, Aug. 1, 2006,
http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/article1406229.ece
.

For Brynjar Meling’s statement “A lot of people with integrity in the government . . .”: Crewdson,
supra
.

Chapter 7: Flight

For the investigation of the flights on which Abu Omar was transported: Chiara Nobili, “Ordinanza di applicazione della misura dell custodia cautelare in carcere,” N. 10838/05 R.G.N.R., N. 1966/05 R.G.GIP (ADLER Monica Courtney et al
.
), Tribunale di Milano, Sezione Giudice per le indagini preliminari, June 22, 2005 (English translation, Nov. 5, 2005); Chiara Nobili, “Ordinanza di applicazione della misura dell custodia cautelare in carcere,” N. 10838/05 R.G.N.R., N. 1966/05 R.G.GIP (MEDERO Betnie et al
.
), Tribunale di Milano, Sezione Giudice per le indagini preliminari, Sept. 27, 2005 (English translation, untitled, Nov. 5, 2005); Enrico Manzi, “Decree for the Application of Coercive Measures,” N. 10838/05 R.G.N.R., N. 1966/05 R.G.GIP (CASTELLI Jeffrey et al
.
), Tribunale di Milano, Sezione Giudice per le indagini preliminari, Jul. 7, 2006; author interviews of Armando Spataro, Milan, Italy, 2007 to 2009.

There is confusion about the precise times that Spar 92 landed at Ramstein and N85VM took off from there. I use the times Italian investigators settled on. Other sources put the landing time of Spar 92 as early as 7:30 p.m. and the departure time of N85VM as early as 7:52 p.m. See Stephen Grey,
Ghost Plane: The True Story of the CIA Torture Program
, Henry Holt, 2006; Edward Horgan, “Irish Complicity in CIA Rendition: CIA Plane Movements Through Irish Airports,” version 1.3, ShannonWatch, Feb. 9, 2008,
http://www.shannonwatch.org/docs/CIA_Shannon_Report_9_2_09.pdf
.

For the Red Sox plane (N85VM, later changed to N227SV), including Mahlon Richards’s statement “I don’t ask my customers why . . .” and Philip Morse’s statement “It just so happens one of our customers . . .”: John Crewdson and Tom Hundley, “Jet’s Travels Cloaked in Mystery,”
Chicago Tribune
, Mar. 20, 2005; Gordon Edes, “CIA uses jet, Red Sox partner confirms,”
Boston Globe
, Mar. 21, 2005; Horgan,
supra
.

For Lady’s background: William Lady (all but certainly the nom de plume of Bob Lady), “Coyotes From the Same Hill,”
Dead Mule
(online), Oct. 1, 2005,
http://www.deadmule.com/content/2005/10/01/coyotes-from-the-same-hill
/; off-the-record author interviews of police officials, Milan, Italy; Guido Olimpio, “Chi ha coperto Bob, 007 senza limiti?”
Corriere della Sera
, June 24, 2005; Matthew Cole, “Blowback,”
GQ
, Mar. 7, 2009; Nobili (both),
supra
.

La Repubblica
’s reporters who broke the story of Spataro’s inquiry in early 2005 are the excellent Carlo Bonini and Giuseppe D’Avanzo.

For the conversation between Martha and Bob Lady after their house in Penango was raided: John Crewdson and Alessandra Maggiorani, “CIA chiefs reportedly split over cleric plot: Agency schisms come to light in Italy probe,”
Chicago Tribune
, Jan. 8, 2007.

For the CIA’s past betrayal of its agents in Iran, its botched smear of the ambassador to Guatemala (Marilyn McAfee), and its see-no-evil view of Aldrich Ames: Tim Weiner,
Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA
, Doubleday, 2007.

Chapter 8: Gladiators

For the Peteano bombing and cover-up: Franco Ferraresi (the nonpareil on violent Italian rightists),
Threats to Democracy: The Radical Right in Italy after the War
, Princeton University Press, 1996; Franco Ferraresi, “A secret structure codenamed Gladio,” in Stephen Hellman and Gianfranco Pasquino, eds.,
Italian Politics: A Review
, Pinter Pub., vol. 7, 1992; Daniele Ganser,
NATO’s Secret Armies: Operation Gladio and Terrorism in Western Europe
, Frank Cass, 2006; Marcella Andreoli, “Che bomba di esparto!”
Panorama
, Nov. 18, 1990. The arms cache near Peteano was found in Aurisina.

For the CIA’s efforts to influence Italian elections: Tim Weiner,
Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA
, Doubleday, 2007; Ganser,
supra
; Ray S. Cline,
Secrets, Spies and Scholars: Blueprint of the Essential CIA
, Acropolis, 1976; “The CIA in Italy: An Interview with Victor Marchetti,” Philip Agee and Louis Wolf, eds.,
Dirty Work: The CIA in Western Europe
, Lyle Stuart, 1978;
CIA: The Pike Report
, Spokesman Books, 1977 (containing selections from a report by the U.S. House Committee on Intelligence that has never been released to the public but was leaked to reporter Daniel Schorr and subsequently published in the
Village Voice
); Paul Ginsborg,
A History of Contemporary Italy: Society and Politics 194
3
–1988
, Penguin, 1990; William R. Corson,
The Armies of Ignorance: The Rise of the American Intelligence Empire
, The Dial Press/James Wade, 1977; William Colby and Peter Forbath,
Honorable Men: My Life in the CIA
, Simon & Schuster, 1978; John Prados,
Lost Crusader: The Secret Wars of William Colby
, Oxford University Press, 2003; Richard N. Gardner,
Mission Italy: On the Front Lines of the Cold War
, Rowman & Littlefield, 2005.

F. Mark Wyatt, who became the head of the CIA’s Italian desk, is quoted in Weiner,
supra
.

For Marchetti’s estimate that the CIA gave Italian politicians $20 million to $30 million a year in the 1950s: “The CIA in Italy: an Interview with Victor Marchetti,”
supra
. The U.S. government also gave Italy $176 million in well-publicized aid in the months before the 1948 elections and announced that such aid would end if Italians empowered Communists. See Ginsborg,
supra
.

For Gladio generally: Allan Francovich, director,
Gladio
, three-part documentary, Timewatch program, British Broadcasting Corp., BBC2, June 10, 1992 (date of first episode); Ganser,
supra
; Ferraresi, both works
supra
; Jan Willems, ed., Gladio, EPO Dossier (publisher), Brussels, 1991; Philip Willan:
Puppetmasters: The Political Use of Terrorism in Italy
, iUniverse, 2002; Arthur E. Rowse, “Gladio: The Secret U.S. War to Subvert Italian Democracy,”
CovertAction
, no. 49, summer 1994. The foregoing sources vary greatly in their reliability. Readers should tread carefully in the literature of Gladio, as it is rife with inaccuracies and bald untruths.

For a couple of the many estimates of the number of Gladiators, regular and irregular: Ferraresi, “A secret structure codenamed Gladio,”
supra
; William Scobie, “Gladio: The War That Never Was,”
World Press Review
, Feb. 1991.

For the discussion in the U.S. embassy about the possibility of armed intervention should Socialists come to power in 1963: Ferraresi,
Threats to Democracy
,
supra
; Yves Cartuyvels, “L’intervention américaine en Italie et les interêts supérieurs du Pacte atlantique (1942–1962),” in Willems,
supra
. A supposed participant in the discussions, Colonel Vernon Walters (then military attaché, later deputy director of the CIA), denied that armed intervention was considered.

For the threatened coup of 1964 (called Plan Solo) by Giovanni De Lorenzo: Ferraresi, both works
supra
; Richard Collin,
The De Lorenzo Gambit: The Italian Coup Manqué of 1964
(monograph), Sage Research Papers in the Social Sciences No. 90-034, Sage Pubs., 1976; Paul Ginsborg,
supra
; Ganser,
supra
. De Lorenzo’s statement that the United States and NATO suggested he collect the illegal dossiers is in Ganser.

For Junio Borghese’s “Tora, Tora” coup: Jack Greene and Alessandro Massignani,
The Black Prince and the Sea Devils: The Story of Valerio Borghese and the Elite Units of the Decima MAS
, Da Capo, 2004; “Zio Sam sapeva del golpe di Borghese,”
La Repubblica
, Dec. 6, 2000; Giovanni Maria Bellu et al
.
, “Golpe Borghese, gli Usa sapevano,”
La Repubblica,
Dec. 19, 2004; Giovanni Maria Bellu, “E la Cia disse: sì al golpe Borghese ma soltanto con Andreotti premier,”
La Repubblica
, Dec. 5, 2005.

For the statement that Vito Miceli was “linked to antidemocratic elements of the Right”:
CIA: The Pike Report
,
supra
.

For Vito Miceli’s statement “A Super SID on my orders?”: Ganser,
supra
.

For Edgardo Sogno’s planned coup: Ferraresi,
Threats to Democracy
,
supra
; Jeffrey McKenzie Bale,
The “Black” International—Neo-Fascist Paramilitary Networks and the “Strategy of Tension
” (doctoral dissertation), University of California at Berkeley, UMI Dissertation Service, 1994.