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On Retainer to the Prince of Monaco
Washington, D.C., February-April 2003
On February 25th I met with Dave Szady,
Assistant Director, Counterintelligence, and his deputy, Tim Bereznay, in
Szady’s office at the J. Edgar Hoover Building in Washington, D.C.
“So
what can I do for you?” asked Szady, a tall, lanky Bostonian of Polish descent.
I
briefed both men on our MING investigation and provided a written report.
“We’ll
look into it and get back to you,” said Bereznay, a quiet man with a firm eye
grip and a background in Soviet-arena counterintelligence.
Just
under a month later, on March 18th, I met the Prince in Monaco to
confirm arrangements for meeting FBI Director Mueller in Washington on April 25th.
The
Prince informed me Samy Maroun had again attempted to introduce him to his shady
business associate Patric Maugein and, again, he'd declined, having decided such
a meeting “will not happen.”
This was
excellent news as both CIA and SIS were, by this time, all over Maugein and the
role he played as bagman between Jacques Chirac and Saddam Hussein.
On
April 25th, the Prince flew into Washington-Reagan Airport on his
father’s new Falcon 2000 jet, an 8.5-hour flight including a
refueling stop in Gander.
We
rendezvoused at The Willard Hotel in advance of meeting with Director Mueller,
for which I provided talking points:
1) The Prince will one day reign as
Sovereign of Monaco;
2) The Prince is concerned about organized crime and money
laundering in Monaco, especially as it pertains to Russians;
3) The Prince
would welcome FBI cooperation.
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| "Bobby Three Sticks" |
Mueller,
known (unaffectionately) among Washington insiders as “Bobby Three Sticks” for his proclivity to
use III after his name, was
apparently stressed out from inheriting an organization fraught with problems,
still reeling from a Chinese spy scandal involving an FBI agent, and the recent
departure of senior officials.
The plan had been for me to attend this meeting with the Prince, but at the last moment Tim Bereznay, who collected us from The Willard, turned to me outside the Director’s office and said, “Just the Prince, unless he asks that you join him.”
The
FBI obviously planned it this way, for when the Prince requested my presence
(as he recounted to me later) in reference to a question posed by Director Mueller
about Russian espionage—the meeting abruptly ended.
Back
at his suite in The Willard, the Prince apologized to me about my not getting
into the meeting.
“Don’t
worry about it,” I said. “It’s not about
me—it’s about making this work for you.”
“Yes
sir, Doctor Eringer,” replied the Prince.
“Whatever you say.”
I
was sorry to learn that Director Mueller had not even said thank you to the Prince for bringing MING to their attention.
An
hour later, I introduced the Prince to two staff members of the House
Intelligence Committee.
Jay J and
Patrick M worked for the committee’s chairman, Porter Goss, widely regarded as
the man who would (and did) succeed George Tenet as Director of Central Intelligence.
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| Tyler Drumheller |
At
7:30 that evening, the Prince and I taxied to Taverna Del Alabardero, a Spanish
restaurant on Eye Street for a dinner hosted by SIS station chief Ian M to
introduce us to senior officials from CIA, including Tyler Drumheller, the
corpulent European Division chief.
Much
to the dismay of CIA, the Prince improperly invited his friends Mike Powers and Maurice
Wyatt to join us in a private dining room.
Later, when the Agency ran checks on these unexpected guests, they were aghast to discover that Wyatt had spent a year in prison for his role as bagman to Maryland’s corrupt ex-governor, Marvin Mandel.
Later, when the Agency ran checks on these unexpected guests, they were aghast to discover that Wyatt had spent a year in prison for his role as bagman to Maryland’s corrupt ex-governor, Marvin Mandel.
At ten o'clock, the
Prince and his two chums toodled off to visit a striptease club in
Baltimore owned by his ex-con friend.
I remained behind to cement our relationship with CIA.
I remained behind to cement our relationship with CIA.
