On Retainer to the Prince of Monaco
January-March, 2004
As the scope of our mission
deepened in January 2004, it became increasingly clear that an operational base
in Monaco would be necessary—a place where my deputy and I could sleep, work, conduct meetings and store information securely.
To
this end, we found a two-bedroom, ninth floor apartment in Shangri-La (an apartment building overlooking the port in the Condamine neighborhood) and, with the Prince’s approval, signed a lease and
christened it M-Base.
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Le Shangri-la, home to M-Base |
The
Prince phoned on January 7th and scheduled our next briefing five
days hence in the private apartment he kept in Park Palace, near Place du
Casino in Monte Carlo. (M-Base was not
yet furnished and our meetings had become too well known at Hotel Columbus;
whenever I arrived to check in, the general manager would manifest himself to personally greet
me.)
At 4:30 on the afternoon of the 12th, a Park Palace concierge
saw me into the elevator and pressed 13. The Prince was waiting when I stepped out.
“Isn’t
thirteen unlucky?” I said.
“It’s
been lucky for me,” he quipped.
The Prince’s digs away from the Palace were
rather drab and tacky—a bachelor pad perhaps one notch above college dorm.
As
we sat at his bar, the Prince told me he’d once seen a ghost—“a presence by my
bed”—while staying in a hotel in an old Utah mining town. “I did not sleep after that,” he added.
(That evening, at dinner in CafĂ© de Paris, a close friend of the Prince told me “Albert hates to be alone, doesn’t get enough sleep, maybe four-to-five hours a night. He’ll drive down to Rascasse [a bar by the port] at 1:30 in the morning for company.”)
(That evening, at dinner in CafĂ© de Paris, a close friend of the Prince told me “Albert hates to be alone, doesn’t get enough sleep, maybe four-to-five hours a night. He’ll drive down to Rascasse [a bar by the port] at 1:30 in the morning for company.”)
We
had two main items to discuss this session:
1) Reporting from intelligence sources in Italy on Italian organized
crime in Monaco—a sequel to the previous report.
2) Our report on Masonic lodges.
The
Italian report named names—an impressive document that revealed the deep roots
of Italian organized crime inside the principality, along with links to several
members of Monaco’s Royal Family.
There
was much to digest, so we deferred our Freemason findings for another time.
Three
weeks later, Patric Maugein’s name was all over the news in France. He had reportedly received 25 million barrels of oil from Iraq—a value of $12,500,000. The
(UK) Sunday Times called it “oil on
Chirac’s face.”
Knowing
the media was about to expose this scandal, and that interior minister Nicolas
Sarkozy had assembled a team of financial police to investigate him, Maugein had fled to Kazakhstan, where he'd already parked ill-gotten gains, embarking on
a new scheme to woo President Nazabayev and the president’s daughter, who
wished to succeed her ailing father.
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The View from M-Base |
When
I next saw the Prince, at 4:30 p.m. on March 2nd, it marked our
first meeting in the newly furnished M-Base, to which I provided him a
key.
On an official photograph of himself with his father, the Prince inscribed:
To Robert and Piers, Best wishes and long life to M-Base. Albert.
On an official photograph of himself with his father, the Prince inscribed:
To Robert and Piers, Best wishes and long life to M-Base. Albert.
We
hung it above our conference table.
During
a two-hour session, we covered a number of topics, commencing with his pet
peeve:
Freemasons play an important role
in French legal professions compared to other countries, where membership and
especially influence of Masonic movements have been in decline.
Freemason Lodge membership is a virtual Who’s Who of France.
Freemason Lodge membership is a virtual Who’s Who of France.
There
are three Freemason lodges in France:
Grande Loge Nationale Francaise (GLNF), Grande Loge de Francaise (GLF), and Grand Orient de Francaise (GO).
Grande Loge Nationale Francaise (GLNF), Grande Loge de Francaise (GLF), and Grand Orient de Francaise (GO).
Both GLF and GO operate in southern France
and have been corrupt for decades, the latter believed to have been completely
overtaken by organized crime.
Only GLNF
is associated with the Great United Lodge of Britain, the other two considered
“irregular.”
GLNF concentrated on
philosophical matters while GLF and GO with social matters, though all gained
reputations for being “affairiste” i.e. becoming involved with corrupt business
practices.
But it was particularly in
the south (GO and GLF) where influence trafficking, false invoicing, creation
of fictitious employees and similar matters had been rife, particularly in
companies controlled by the state or provinces.
Freemasons then hampered investigations by the judiciary, which they
heavily penetrated (especially GLNF in Nice).
France’s
external intelligence service (DGSE) favored GLNF while domestic security
services (DST and RG) gravitated to GO and GLF.
These groups had at their disposal a number of bureaucratic measures
they could take to torpedo any serious attempt at reform: “Routine” inspections, internal
investigations, and reassignments.
Further, these measures taken at the local or regional level were often
supported or generated at the Paris level by Freemasons in positions of great
importance.
A
report from one extremely good source concluded thus:
Many of the Prince’s friends are
undoubtedly already Freemasons in one of the three major lodges. The trust-worthiest of those friends needs to
be encouraged to provide him or his designate with confidential information. It
is difficult to infiltrate these lodges through new recruits because it
generally takes years before they rise to inner circle levels, which is where
you need to be to find out what is really going on. Your project is a daunting one.
Not so daunting, as we actually
identified one such trustworthy friend who placed his loyalty to the Prince
above his Masonic vows.
He revealed to us that GLF had been active in Monaco during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, but that its influence waned upon the death of its founder, Mr. Henri Die, in 1990.
He revealed to us that GLF had been active in Monaco during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, but that its influence waned upon the death of its founder, Mr. Henri Die, in 1990.
These
Freemasons, who gathered at Henri Die’s home—Les Villas Bleues, 5 rue de
l’Abbaye, Monaco—included Victor Pastor, Michel Pastor, and Raoul Biancheri,
brother of Raymond Biancheri, Prince Rainier’s long-serving chief of staff.
After
Henri Die’s death, Raoul Biancheri re-launched GLF, but its influence
dissipated after Gaston Carrasco, his staunch Masonic right-hand man, left his
job as Monaco’s chief public prosecutor.
With
regard to the Freemason situation at the time of this briefing, we gleaned this
information from the Prince’s trustworthy friend:
· A
Masonic lodge linked to the Grand Lodge of Britain gathered once a month at St.
Paul’s Anglican Church in Monte Carlo.
Most of its members were Anglo-Saxon Monaco residents who did not
involve themselves in local political and social life.
· Monegasque
Freemasons did not meet in Monaco but belonged to lodges located in France,
particularly in Beausoleil, Menton, Nice, and Cannes.
We
made two recommendations:
1) In order to curtail
Freemason influence (that is, promotion based on membership rather than merit
within Monaco’s police force and judiciary), one should follow Britain’s
example and create legislation that obligates all new police recruits to declare
alliances to any fraternal orders or secret societies. Transparency would
result.
2) Quash any attempt to create a
Masonic lodge within the Principality.
Piers and I felt that the Prince was still unprepared for the role of Sovereign.
That afternoon, we cautioned him that upon the death of his father everyone from everywhere would come out of the woodwork to make power plays.
That afternoon, we cautioned him that upon the death of his father everyone from everywhere would come out of the woodwork to make power plays.
“Like
who,” the Prince challenged. “Hit me.”
“Tamara
Rotolo,” I replied.
It hit him harder than a slap across the face.
It hit him harder than a slap across the face.
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Tamara Rotolo and Albert |
Tamara
Rotolo was the American woman with whom the Prince had sired an illegitimate
daughter.
Rotolo had tried to sue Albert in California for child support, but the judge decreed lack of jurisdiction over the Prince. We’d acquired photographs of the Prince’s daughter, Jazmin Grace Grimaldi, born March 4th, 1992, and I presented them to him.
Rotolo had tried to sue Albert in California for child support, but the judge decreed lack of jurisdiction over the Prince. We’d acquired photographs of the Prince’s daughter, Jazmin Grace Grimaldi, born March 4th, 1992, and I presented them to him.
“You
kidding? There’s nothing I can’t
get. Rotolo is now suing her ex-lawyer
for negligence over the way he handled her case. And she’s trying to sue you again, this time
in a French court. Would you like us to
monitor this situation?”
Yes,
the Prince very much wanted this situation monitored.
The
technique we intended to use:
Our insertion-oriented Book Model, which could also be applied to others.
Simply put, we would pose an operative as a writer—a book author. We would equip the writer/author with a fully backstopped legend, replete with “book contract” from a reputable publisher.
Our insertion-oriented Book Model, which could also be applied to others.
Simply put, we would pose an operative as a writer—a book author. We would equip the writer/author with a fully backstopped legend, replete with “book contract” from a reputable publisher.
The
subject of the book: Prince Albert of Monaco.
Our investigative “author” would make
contact with celebrity magazines such as Paris
Match and the Italian Oggi,
identify the journalists charged with digging up dirt on the Prince and his
family, find out what they knew, what they were working on, and, if possible, determine
the identities of their sources, who would then be approached in similar
fashion.
Furthermore, our operative could then “leak” information we wished to see published to his new media contacts.
Furthermore, our operative could then “leak” information we wished to see published to his new media contacts.
The
Prince decreed this plan brilliant and authorized us to proceed.
Hence Operation
Hound Dog was born.
Within
two weeks I set the basics in place:
FLOATER would pose as an author contracted to write an unauthorized biography entitled Prince of Sport.
Phase One for FLOATER: fully investigate the Rotolo matter while reaching out to the tabloid press.
FLOATER would pose as an author contracted to write an unauthorized biography entitled Prince of Sport.
Phase One for FLOATER: fully investigate the Rotolo matter while reaching out to the tabloid press.
FLOATER’s
first pretext call was to Bruce McCormick of Cody, Wyoming, who possessed
photographs of Jazmin Grace Grimaldi.
These photos derived from Christmas cards sent him years earlier by
Tamara Rotolo. (McCormick befriended
Rotolo after she ambushed the Prince with daughter in arms during his visit to
Wyoming to commemorate Buffalo Bill’s historic meeting with the Prince’s
great-great grandfather and namesake Prince Albert 1st, and Rotolo
hollered to all who would listen that Albert was a “deadbeat dad” for not
recognizing his child and paying child support.)
McCormick
told FLOATER his photographs were for sale, that he’d turned down $25,000 and was looking for better offers.
He added that Paris Match paid him $20,000 for a “comprehensive interview,” and also that a “big name” freelance journalist was working on the Rotolo story.
He added that Paris Match paid him $20,000 for a “comprehensive interview,” and also that a “big name” freelance journalist was working on the Rotolo story.
Next,
FLOATER made contact with the reporter charged with the “Prince Albert beat” at
Paris Match:
Intrepid correspondent Romain Clergeat agreed to meet our “author” in Paris at FLOATER’s earliest convenience.
Intrepid correspondent Romain Clergeat agreed to meet our “author” in Paris at FLOATER’s earliest convenience.