Triple (33 page)

TRIPLE

She was crewed by thirty-one officers and men, not one of whom had a

good word to say for her.

The only passengers were a colony of cockroaches in the galley, a few

mice and several hundred rats.

Nobody loved her, and her name was Coparelli.

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Ten

Nat Dickstein went to New York to become a shipping tycoon. It took him

all morning.

He looked in the Manhattan phone book and selected a lawyer with an

address on the lower East Side. Instead of calling on the phone he went

there personally, and was satisfied when he saw that the lawyer's office

was one room over a Chinese restaurant. The lawyer's name was Mr. Chung.

Dickstein and Chung took a cab to the Park Avenue offices of Liberian

Corporation Services, Inc., a company set up to assist people who wanted

to register a Liberian corporation but bad no intention of ever going

within three thousand miles of Liberia. Dickstein was not asked for

references, and he did not have to establish that he was honest or

solvent or sane. For a. fee of five hundred dollars-which Dickstein paid

in cash-they registered the Savile Shipping Corporation of Liberia. The

fact that at this stage Dickstein did not own so much as a rowboat was

of no interest to anyone.

The company's headquarters was listed as No. 80 Broad Street, Monrovia,

Liberia; and its directors were P. Satia, EX Nugba and J.D. Boyd, all

residents of Liberia. This was also the headquarters address of most

Liberian corporations, and the address of the Liberian Trust Company.

Satia, Nugba and Boyd were founding directors of many such corporations;

indeed this was the way they made their living. They were also employees

of the Liberian Trust Company.

Mr. Chung asked for fifty dollars and cab fare. Dickstein paid him in

cash and told him to take the bus.

So, without so much as giving an address, Dickstein had created a fully

legitimate shipping company which could not be traced back either to him

or to the Mossad.

Satia, Nugba and Boyd resigned twenty-four hours later, as

was the - custom; and that same day the notary public of

Montserrado County, Liberia, stamped an affidavit which said

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that total control of the Savile Shipping Corporation now lay in the hands

of one Andre Papagopolous.

By that time Dickstein was riding the bus from Zurich airport into town,

an his way to meet Papagopolous, for lunch.

When he had time to reflect on it, even be was shaken by the compleidty

of his plan, the number of pieces that had to be made to fit into the

jigsaw puzzle, the number of people who had to be persuaded, bribed or

coerced into performing their parts. He had been successful so far, first

with Stiffcollar and then with Al Cortone, not to mention Uoyd!s of

London and 11berian Corporation Services, Inc., but how long could it go

on?

Papagopolous was in some ways the greatest challenge: a man as elusive,

as powerful, and as free of weakness as Dickstein himself.

He had been born in 1912 in a village that during his boy

hood was variously Turkish, Bulgarian and Greek. His father

was a fisherman. In his teenage he graduated from fishing to

other kinds of maritime work, mostly smuggling. After World

War 11 he turned up In Ethiopia, buying for knock-down

prices the piles of surplus military suppliea which had sud

denly become worthless when the war ended. He bought

rifles, handgans machin e guns, antitank guns and ammuni

tion for all of these. He then contacted the Jewish Agency in

Cairo and sold the arms at an enormous profit to the under

ground Israeli Army. He arranged shipping-and here his

smuggling background was invaluable--and delivered the

goods to Palestine. Then he asked if they wanted more.

This was how he had met Nat Dickstein.

He soon moved on, to Farours Cairo and then to Switzerland. His Israeli

deals had marked a transition from totally illegal business to dealings

which were at worst shady and at best pristine. Now he called himself a

ship broker, and that was most, though by no means all, of his business.

He had no address. He could be reached via half a dozen telephone numbers

all over the world, but he was never there-always, somebody took a

message and Papagopolous called you back. Many people knew him and

trusted him. especially in the shipping business, for he never let anyone

down; but this trust was based on reputation, not personal contact. He

lived well but quietly, and Nat Dickstein was one of the few people in

the world who knew of his single vice,

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which was that he liked to go to bed with lots of girls-but lots.- like,

ten or twelve. He had no sense of humor.

Dickstein got off the bus at the railway station, where Papagopolous was

waiting for him on the pavement. He was a big man, olive-skinned with

thin dark hair combed over a growing bald patch. On it bright summer day

in Zurich he wore a navy blue suit, pale blue shirt and dark blue striped

tie. He had small dark eyes.

They shook hands. Dickstein said., "How's business?"

"Up and down." Papagopolous smiled. "Mostly UP.

Iley walked through the clean, tidy streets, looking like a managing

director and his accountant. Dickstein inhaled the cold air, "I like this

town," he said.

"rve booked a table at the Veltliner Keller in the old city,"

Papagopolous said. "I know you don!t care about food, but 1 do.

Dickstein said, "You've been to the Pelikanstrasse?"

"Yes."

"Good." Ile Zurich offize of Liberian Corporation Services, Inc., was in

the Pelikanstrasse. Dickstein had asked Papagopolous to go there to

register himself as president and chief executive of Savile Shipping. For

this he would receive ten thousand U.S. dollars, paid out of Mossad's

account in a Swiss bank to Papagopolous's account in the same branch of

the same bank-a transaction very difficult for anyone to Uncover.

Papagopolous said, "But I didn't promise to do anything else. You may

have wasted your money."

"rm sure, I didn!t"

They reached the restaurant. Dickstein had expected that Papagopolous

would be known there, but there was no sign of recognition from the

headwaiter, and Dickstein thought: Of course, he's not known anywhere.

They ordered food and wine. Dickstein noted with regret that the domestic

Swiss white wine was still better than the Israeli.

While they att, Dickstein explained Papagopolous's duties as president

of Savile Shipping.

"One: buy a small, fast ship, a thousand or fifteen hundred tons, small

crew. Register her in Liberia." This would involve another visit to

Pelikanstrasse and a fee of about a dollar per ton. "For the purchase,

take your percentage as a broker. Do

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some business with the ship, and take your broker's percentage on that I

don't care what the ship does so long as she completes a voyage by docking

in Haifa on or before October 7. Dismiss the crew at Haifa. Do you want

to take notesr

Papagopolous smiled. "I think not."

The implication was not lost on Dickstein. Papagopolous was listening,

but he had not yet agreed to do the job. Dickstein continued. 'Irwo: buy

any one of the ships on this list" He handed over a single sheet of paper

bearing the names of the four sister ships of the CopareUt with their

owners and last known locations-the information he had gotten from

Uoyd!s. "Offer whatever price is necessary: I must have one of them, Take

your brokeespercentage. Deliver her to Haifa by October 7. Dismiss the

crew~"

Papagopolous was eating chocolate mousse, his smooth face imperturbable.

He put down his spoon and put on goldrimmed glasses to read the list He

folded the sheet of paper in half and set it on the table without comment

Dickstein handed him another sheet of paper. 'IMree: buy this ship-the

Copares?l But you must buy her at exactly the right time. She sails from

Antwerp on Sunday, November 17. We must buy her alter she sails birt

belore she passes through the Strait of Chbraltar."

Papagopolous, looked dubious. kWell . .

'Vait, la me give you the rest of it Four: early in 1969 you sell ship

No. 1, the little one, and ship No. 3, the Coparellt. You get from me a

certificate showing that ship No. 2 has been sold for scrap. You send

that certificate to Lloyd& You wind up Savile, Shipping." Dickstein

smiled and sipped his coffee.

"What you want to do is make a ship disappear without a trace."

Dickstein nodded. Papagopolous was as sharp as a knife.

"As you must realize," Papagopolous went on, "all this is

.straightforward except for the purchase of the Coparelft while &he is

at sea. The normal procedure for the sale of a ship is as follows:

negotiations take place, a price is agreed, and the documents are drawn

up. The ship goes into dry dock for inspection. When she has been

pronounced satisfactory the documents are signed, the money is paid and

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Ken Folleff

takes her out of dry, dock. Buying a ship while she is sailing is most

irregular."

"But not impossible

"No, not impossible."

Dickstein watched him, He became thoughtful, his gaze distant: he was

grappling with the problem. It was a good sign.

Papagopolous said, "We would have to open negotiations, agree on the price

and have the inspection arranged for a date after her November voyage.

Then, when she has sailed, we say that the purchaser needs to spend the

money immediately, perhaps for tax reasons. The buyer would then take out

insurance against any major repairs which might prove necessary after the

inspection . . . but this is not the seller's concern. He is concerned

about his reputation as a shipper. He Will want cast-iron guarantees that

his cargo will be delivered by the new owner of the Coparelli."

"Would he accept a guarantee based on your personal reputation?"

"Of course. But why would I give such a guarantee?"

Dickstein looked him in the eye. "I can promise you that the owner of the

cargo will not complain."

PapagDpolous made an open-handed gesture. "it is obvious that you are

perpetrating some kind of a swindle here. You need me as a respectable

front. That I can do. But you also want me to lay my reputation on the line

and take your word that it will not suffer?"

"Yes. Listen. Let me ask you one thing. You trusted the Israelis once

before, remember?"

"Of course."

"Did you ever regret it?"

Papagopolous smiled, remembering the old days. "It was the beat decision I

ever made."

"So, will you trust us againr' Dickstein held his breath.

"I had less to lose in those days. I was ... thirty-five. We used to have

a lot of fun. This is the most intriguing offer Irve had in twenty years.

What the bell, Ill do it."

Dickstein extended his hand across the restaurant tabl& Papagopolous shook

it.

A waitrem brought a little bowl of Swiss chocolates for them to eat with

their coffee. Papagopolous took one, Dickstein refused.

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