THE PLOT TO KILL POPE JOHN PAUL II

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000505130058-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 20, 2010
• Sequence Number: 58
• Publication Date: January 3, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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NEWSWEEK
3 JANUARY 1982
The Plot to Kiu
Pope John Paul II
n the diml}? lit lobby of the Hotel Vitosha
in Sofia, Bulgaria, groups of swarthy
men cluster on leather couches beneath an
eternal pall of cigarette smoke. They con-
verse in a thicket of waving arms and a
babble of languages-Bulgarian, Arabic, ~
English, German, French. Inside the hotel's
garish bar, sleek, well-groomed prostitutes
ply their trade under a benevolent dispensa-
tionfrom the Bulgarian security police. The
Vitosha was built by the Japanese in 1979,
and it quickly became a hotbed of Balkan
intrigue. a haven for spies, drug smugglers,
arms dealers and urrorists in transit be-
tween Ewopc and Asia Minor. The most
celebrated guest in the Vitosba's short and
shaay history was a hardtyed young Turk-
ish hit man named Mehmet Ali Agca. He
spent about two months there in 1980. And
it was in room 910 of the Hotel Vitosha that
Agee claims he met with another Turk on
the run, Bekir Celenlc, who oSered him S 1.7
million to kill Pope John Paul II.
That is the crux of the story emerging
from an Malian magistrate's painstaking in-
vesugatioainto the shooting of 7 ohn Paul on
May 13, 1981. Though the. case remA+nc
unproven and much of the evidence is cir-,
cumstantial, there is reason to believe that
the Bulgarian secret police recruited Agra,
through Twkish intermediaries, into the
rarilcs of its hired guns, and that be was
armed and supported by the Bulgarians
when heshot the pope. "We have substantial
evidence," Italian Justice Minister Clelio
Darida told NEwsv/EEK. "This isn't some-
thing we're inventing. Agca operated in
close contact with the Bulgarians." That
much seems clear, but did Bulgaria order
Agca to shoot the pope? And was the Soviet
KGB pulling Bulgaria's strings? If so, the
trail may lead-ultimately sad by all odds
unprovably-to Y uri Andropov, the forma
secret-police chieftain who recently ascead-
od to the leadership of the Soviet Union.
Despiu bested denials from Moscow
and Sofia, the Italians are convinced that
the shooting of the pope was a deliberate
plot, non a random act of madness. Agra,
who was sentenced to life in prison for
trying to kill the pope, began to sing a year
ago. His word is hardly his bond. But on
the bibs of Agca's confession, Magistrau
}lario Martella, a careful and respected
investigator, has begun to spread his net.
So far, the Italians have arrested a Bulgar-
ian airline offtcial, accusing him of helping
to plan and carry out the attack And they
have charged two minor Bulgarian diplo-
mats and fow Twks as accomplices. Last
q+eek the Italian government threw its
weight behind the theory that Moscow
wanted the ouupoken John Paul killed to
prevent him.from interfcrirtg in Polish af-
fairs. "Ali Agca's attack on the pope is to
be considered as a real act of war in a time
of peace, a precautionary and alternative
solution to the invasion of Poland>" De-
fense Minister Lelio Lagorio told Parlia-
ment. Though it wasn't saving so, the Vati-
can seemed to agrce. "From the very
beginning, [we were) absoluuly convinced
that the KGB was behind the plot," a
high-ranking Vatican sowcc told NEws-
wEEK. "Now it turns Out to be right."
Arms and Drugs But why Bulgaria?
"Why nor Bulgaria?" responds Alessandro
Pietromarcbi, who has been in charge of the
Italian Embassy in Sofia since his ambassa-
.dorwas recalled earlier this month. "Some-
bodyobviously was stupid enough to try to
kill the pope. Why shouldn't it have been
Bulgaria?'' In fact, Bulgaria is the most
loyal of the Soviet satellites, and iu secret
service is as closely controlled by the KGB
as any in Eastern Europe (page 27).
Through an alliance with Twkish gang-
sters, the Bulgarians preside over a brisk
inutnational trade in arms and drugs, and
they have swell-developed spy network in
Italy. The Bulgarian secret service, the DS,
has a reputation for ruthlessness; it spccia]-
izes in what one senior Western intellitteacc
agent calls "the rough end of the trade,"and
it is totally loyal to Moscow. .
If Moscow is behind Agcy and the Bul?
garians, most Western governments prob-
ably would rather not know about it; the
effects on arms control, trade and other
East-West relations could be devastating.
Perhaps for. that reason, some in the West
-suggest that the lick to Andrnpov could be
disinformation spread by his foes over-
seas-or even inside the Kremlin. And
some intelligence analysts nou that the
botched assassination attempt lacked the
professionalism usually associated with
Moscow's surrogau hit squads. For their
part, the Russians are a picture of outraged
innocence. "Bourgeois propaganda and
right-wing newspapers are spreading slan-
derous fabrications aimed at casting a shad-
ow on socialist countries, particularly Bul-
garia and the Soviet Union," said Central
Committee spokesman Leonid Zamyatin in
one of a series of exxraordinary Soviet com-
ments on the case.
And yet, who else would want the pope
dead? "You are working in a world of mir-
rors where anything is possible and where
anyone could be involved," says Lord Both-
ell, aBritish specialist on the Soviet Union.
"You have to ask who would stand to gain
most from the assassination of the pope, and
the answer must be in the Soviet empire.
He's a rallying point for the people in Po-
land, in Lithuania, in Czechoslovakia who
want to throw off the Soviet yoke, and so be .
does make an obvious target. Combine the
motive with the fact that the Bulgarians
have a proven record of assassination. and
you have to say there is at least a cirettm-
stantial case against them."
A Sage C.:c There is another, simpler
explanation, of course: that Mehmet Ali
Agca was merely a solitary lunatic. Certain-
ly berried to give that impression right afar
he shot the pope. The 23-year-old Agee
identified himself as a Palestinian, an Islam-
ic fundamentalist and an oppontnt of both
American and Soviet imperialism. He said
be had gone to London to kill "the king,"
but changed his mind when he discovered
that the king was a woman. Islamic gallant- '
ry, he said, did not prevent him from shoot- '
ing the pope. "I acted alone, and ao one
helped me," be boasted to interrogators. In
fact, Agcy had help from a huge cast of
Bulgarians, Twks and others in the terror-
ist undergrottad. And all the evidenoe sug-
gests that he is neither stupid nor cozy.
Agca was born in 1958 to a poor family in
Yesiltepe, a shantytown near Malatya, s
provincial capital in eastern Twkey. He did
well in school, worked bard to support his
family and was not particularly religiious;
his brother says be rarely. went to .the
mosque. Agcy suffered from a mild form of
epilepsy, and in high school his imperious
manner earned him the nickname Emperor.
"Terrorist orFattitstions in Turke}? norata]?
h?recruit semirc.arded illiterates as tbdr hit
men," says a former Turkish official. "Agcy
did not belong to this category. He was a
clever, brave and determined man. He was
highi}? trained."
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'f'he Gray Rolves': Eastern Turkey was a Bulgaria to maskeu in Western Europe.
battleground forthe left and right, sad Agca Tbere is not much that Turkey can do to
fell in Qith extremists from both ends of the stop this damaging two-way trade. Bulgaria
political spectrum. He developed links to ? ~ - - __ ._ .. .
the "Gray Wolves," p sits astride the most direct hi wa and rail
the rivau terrorist gl' Y
army of the neo-Nazi National Action Par- routes between Turkev and Europe. _
ty. He also became acquainted with a neigh- Two months after his escape from prison,
bor named Teslim Tore, who founded the Agca -made his way east to the city of Er-
Turkish People's Liberation Army, aMarx- zurum, when he was sheltered by a right-
ist terror group. After his arrest in,Rome, wmg university student. On the night of
Agcy claimed that in 1977 Tore took him to a Feb. 1, 1980, Agca slipped across the fron-
guerrilla camp in Lebanon for training by tier into Iran. He had no known contacts in
the pro-Soviet Popular Front for the Liber- Iran, and he spoke little Persian, so why did
Agcy go there? "A theoretical answer," says
anon of Palestine Turkish off vials have Henze, "is that he simply passed through
never been able to confirm this story, but it is Iran on his way to the Soviet Union." In any
known that Tore took hundreds of young case Agca dropped out of sight until July
Turks to Lebanon fortraining. 1980, when Omar Marsan, a 31-year-old
Interestingly, the Turkish police have Turk working fora Munich appliancx firm,
rounded up more than 40,000 terrorists over tea, him ~ ~~
the yeah, and they never once found Agcy's p~ During ~ stay at the Hotel .
name on any membership list of the left or Vitosha, Agca must have come to the atten-
the right. Investigators now think that his don of the Bulgarian secret police, if they
involvement with the right-wing Gray ;weren't well acquainted with him already.
wolves may have been intended to pmvida Marsanallegedlyhelpedhimobtainaforged
hire with Gray cover, but the same mould be Turkish passport, number 136635, in the
said for his invo1vemeat with the left In say name of Faruk Ozgun: The passport, which
case, Agra watt to extraordinary lengths to Agca took with him to?Rome, contained a
establish his fascist credentials. In 1979 he fake Turkish exit visa-and a genuine Bul-
confessed to the murder of a respected loft- g~~ a,~y stamp. Marsan also introducxd
wing Turkish editor named Abdi Ipekci. "I Agca to a mysterious Bulgarian known as
did it," Agca coolly told s pros conference. Mustafa Eof. Later Agra claimed that Eof
"I killed Ipekci." Agca was locked up is the had nothing to do with the attack on the
high-security Kartal-Maltepe prison, and pope, gut Francesco Mazzola, who was Ita-
euddenly bechanged his tuna "1 did not kill ly's internal-security chief at the time, has
Ipekci, but I know wbo did," be said in the suggested that "Mustafa Eof could well
courtroom when he was standing trial. Was [have been] his contact, the man who would
Agcy tending a signal to his employers that from time to timesupply him with money,
.they had betty spring him from jail? A documentation, eu., and at the same time
month later Agca escaped from the prison providehimwithhisinstructions."
dressed is a soldier's uniform, passing Marsan also put Agra in touch with Bekir
through no lever man etgat tocxea Doors: ~~, the Turk who allegedly set the 51.7
Presumably, large bribers had been paid, and million price on John Paul's head-and
eveatuslly a captain and a dozen enlisted who turned up in Sofia three weeks ago
men were arrested as accomplices. claiming be had nothing to do with the plot
The day after his escape, Agca wrou a against thopopa Ostensibly a respectable
letter to lpekci's newspaper threatening to businessman, Celenk is alleged to be boss of
kill the pops, who was scheduled to visit alargedrug-andarms-smugglingoperation
Turkey soon. In his letter, Agca denounced in Turkey. He also is reported to have close
John Paul as "the Commander of the Cru- .links to the "godfather'" of crime in Fstan-
sades." That, of course, was long before the bul, Abuzar Ugurlu, who hap-
Solidariry movrment in Poland posed a; pens to own s lwcnrious villa
threat to Soviet dominatiop is Eastern Eu- in Sofia.
rope; if Agca was advertising himself ss a After his sojourn in the Ho-
potential ,~s~r of the -Polish pope, the tel Vitosha, Agca disappeared
market for those services did not yet exist. ; into the Turkish underground .
Still, someone took him in hand, and the ' in Western Europe, when '
evidence points to Bulgaria and its friends in i thousands of "guest workers"
the Turkish underworld. ~ have formed a labyrinthine
Damaging Trade "Bulgaria has long ', community. At various times
pLyed a major role in the Soviet program to !, he was reported to be in West
destabilize Turkey through termrtsm ~ as- ; Germany, Italy, Switzerland,
setts Paul Henze, a formaU.S. official wbo' Austria, Spain and even Toni-
worked for Jimmy Carter's National Seen- six. and along the way he was
rity Council as an expert on Turkey sad has helped by sympathizers of the
since _ investigated Agcy's background. ~Y Wolves. But bysome offi-
"The Bulgarian state export firm Kintex vial estimates, Agcy's grand
was used as a channel for smuggling weep- ~ tour cost 550,000 for vanspor-
ons to Twkish terrorists." In exchange, ration and hotel bills, a sum
Turkish gangsters smuggle drugs through that seems to be well beyond
the resources of the Gray
wolves thernselves. Eventual-
ly, Agea registered as a student
in Perugia, which entitled him to ~ ex-
tended, three-month Italian visa. Then he
took up nsidencx at a modest guesthouse in
Rome, the Pensione Ise. One fine day in
May 1981, he went to St. Peter's Square and
fired the shots that wounded the pope and
two bystanders in the crowd of tourists.
`HWdest Minds': Agcy was quickly tried,
convicted and sentenced to fife in prison.
The judges wrote that Agca was only the
"tip of a conspiracy" that was "widespread
and menacing and devised'by shadowy
forces." They said the shooting was "the
result of a complex plot orchestrated by
hidden minds interested in destabilization,"
but they stopped short of giving details and
naming names. The evidence that has came
to light recently suggests that Agca was paid
and supported by Bulgarians. But did Agca
know he was working for the Bulgarian
secret police, or did ho think he was is the
employ ofthe Turkish underworld? And did
the Bulgarians--or the Soviet KGB, for that
matter want him w shoot the pope?
Enter Mario Marcella The 48-year-old
investigator first made his mark in Italy's
Lockheed scandal six years ago, and he has
a reputation for honesty and precision.
"He's a careful, responsible, cautious man,"
says a recently retired securityexpert. "He's
the reverse of a publicity-mad mythomani-
ac. He would never advance anything he
wasn't sun of. At the same time, he's fear-
less enough not to be overwhelmed by the
international implications of his findings."
.Under Martella's prodding, Agca began to
.reveal new information a year ago, perhaps
because, this time, no one had sprung him
from jail. j
Martella still has not made his evidencx
public, but reports have leaked to the feisty
Italian press. Further light on the story was
shed by ten prism specialist Claire Sterling,
writing in the Reader's Digest, and by NBC
13ewrt. According to a variety of reports,
Agcy said his escape from the Turkish
prison had been arranged by Oral Celik, a
?urkish terrorist who was last heard of is
Bulgaria. Celik also is accused of purchas?
ing the 9-mm Brownting pistol that Agea
used to :boot the pope. The pistol actually
was gives to him by another Turk, Omar
bagci, who bier was arrnted in Switzer-
land and extradited to Italy. The kry link
betwee:t the Turks and Bulgarians seems to
have been Bekir Celatlc, who allegedly of?
fered Agca a fortune to kt~l the pope. Lat?
er, he is said to have performed another
service, introducing Agca to Sergd Ivaaov
Aatoaov, the Bulgarian airline official, and
to Bulgarian Embassy employees Todor
Ayvazov and Zhelvu Ko1ev Vauilev.
Alibi: The three Bulgariaasare unimpres-
sive men. Ayvazrn?, aho 9ed back to Bu1-
garia,was acashier attheembassy is Roma
Vassilev, who also returned home one step
ahead ofthe Italian laa?, was secretary to the
Bulgarian military attaches. Aatoaov, the
only Bulgarian to be arresud so fu, ap?
peered to be a simple airline clerk; he left _
~~ I~olvz'~vzJr- f'',
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school at l 6 for two year of military service bets of the leftist Red Brigades, were stand-
before joining Balkan Airlines. His lawyer ing trial, one of their leaders said Bulgaria
soya Antonov has an alibi for the day the had offered money and orbs support for the
pope was shot and for the two days before kidnapping in order to "destabilize Italy."
that. At one point he was working as a The offer was passed along by Luigi Scric-
backup telephoaeoperator for the embassy, ciolo, a high?raaking official of the Social.
and the sight before the shooting, he ist-backed Unione Italians del Lavoro, who
served as doorkeeper at a reception. St01, reportedly has confessed to having contacts
W esura intelligence sources identified An- with Bulgarian agents.
tonov as a Bulgarian spy. When Martella Scrieaolo has been accused of several
brought Antonov and Agca together in a offenses: complicity in the Dozier kidnap-
prison meeting room, be asked the Bulger- ping, political and military espionage, ter-
iaa, "Do you know this man?" Aatonov re- rorism and spying on international labor
plied, "No." Then Manella asked Agca, "Is leaders. One of those leaders was Splidar-
tais the man you identi5ed from a photo- ity's Lech Walesa, who visited Rome early
graph?" Agcy answered, "Yes, I think so." ' last year to meet the pope sad was escorted
According to press reports, Agra had five around town by Scricciolo.
phone numbers in his pocket when be was Italian investigators claim to have uneov
arrested. Two were for the Bulgarian Em- eyed a whole range ofillicit Bulgarian aetivi-
bassy,one was for the Bulgarian Consulate, ties is their country. Last month police in
another wu for the Balkan Airlines office the northers city of Trento arresud 100
and the last was Ayvazov's unlisted home people on charges of smuggling arms and
phone number. Lour, Agca accurately de- drugs through Western Europe. And last
scribed Ayvazov's apartment is detail and week they brought the Bulgarian conaea
said the plot was hatched there. He claimed lion full circle by issuing as arrest warrant
that on May 11 and 12, the days just before in the arms and drugs case for the ubiqui?
the shooting, be went to St. Peter's Square loos Bekir Cdenk, alleged paymaster of the
with Antonov and Ayvazov to pick the best papal plot sad now aguest of the Bulgarian
spot from which to shoot. government.
On the day of the attack, according to this 5cbolarihip': Despiu all the evidence, it
account of Agca's confession, he met Aa- is hard to believe that Bulgaria would ia-
tonov and Ayvazov is the Piazze della~ Re- spire aaythiag asprovocative--even down-
pt:loblicx (map, page 24). Thep wear back to right mtpid-as an attack on the pope.
Ayvazov's apartment, when the Bulgar? "T'he trouble with the Bulgarian theory is
inns y-icked up at least one pistol and a bomb that the plot was so; . , so unpmfessiona~ "
they would use "to amuse panic." The three sputter a diplomat whoa own country has
men allegedly drove together to St. Peter's bees a target for terrorists. "After Agca was
is as Alfa Romeo. After the shooting they caught, the Bulgarians sbortlda't have left
planned to mat Dotards the Caaadiaa Em- Antoaov is the country for even 1 S minutes,
bossy on the Via dells Conciliuione, the but a year and a half later, he's :till selling
main stmt leading away from Vatican dry. tickeu is Rome." Evea strong pmponeata
Ever sins the shooting of the pope, there of the conspiracy theory aa't esplaia why
has boa speculuion that Agcy had one or the Bulgarians allowed themselves to be-
twoaccomplices is StPeter's Squue. Sofar come directly involved is planaiag sad ear-
then has bees no resolution of that mys- tying out the attack. They can't explain why
lay. One man who was photographed run- the Bulgarians left Aatonov in place-and
niag away from the scene was thought to be why Agra wasn't murdered right after he
Gny Wolves sympathizer Omar Ay, who pulled the trigger.
now is beck home in Turkey facing a polio- Although Aga apparently was paid,
cal-murder charge. Agca reportedly de- armed and directed by the Bulgarians for
scribed Ay as a tourist, and Manilla is said months, the decision to:hoot the pope may
to be unconvinced that Ay had any role in have ban entirely his own. "It is pocstble
the plot; eves sow, the magistrau has not the Bulgarians had given Agca and. ]other
iuued as arrest wamat for Ay. fugitive terrorists] a 'schola:ship''to leap
Other intriguing evideacx of a Bulgarian them available," says a West German'
connection has turned up in a sepanu ter. ~ source. "Agra and other may rhea have
rorism case, the kidnapping last year of U.S. advanced the assassination plot on their'
Brig. Geo. James Dozier. Odense Minister ,, own sad surprised the Bulgarians." Aa-
Lgorio said last week that Italian "coon-) ova ~~Y is that some middle?level Bul-
terintelligenct has ban monitoring every ' garisa ~~ ~y have hatched the plot
radio transmission by the Bulgarian secret ~ 'without official sanction. "All intelli-
services for some time." He reported two ! genes services Dome up with harebrained
periods of "unusual traffic": one at the time ~ schemes; you remember the various CIA
of the papal shooting, the other during the plans to kill Castro," says John Erickson,
six weeks that Dozier was held before his professor of history at Edinburgh Uaiversi-
rescue. When Dozier's kidnappers, mem- tyandalesdingauthorityontheSoviet-bloc
works, it's the Order of Lenin sad vodka all
rour-d, and if it doesn't, you deny you had .
anything to do with it."
Such doubts may neverbe hcidto r~ but
Italian officials are convinced that they can
make the Bulgarian connection stood np. A
courtroom test, however, is unlikely just
now. "It will be at least aaotha year before
Italy has the case ready enough to prose-
cute the people we have arrested," Justice
Minister Darida told NEWSWEEY. Mam-
while, Bulgarisiscomplainingbrtterlyandis
taking out its wrath on two Italian citizens. .
Paolo Farsetti, 34, and Gabn' Trevisin,
26, were put on trial in Sofia last t~etk for al-
legcdly photographing Bu1g:Erian military
sites last summer. A Bulgarian official of-
fered, in effect, to swap them for Sergd Aa-
tonov,butthe Italians turned down thedeaL
No one will ever establish, one way or
another, whether Yuri Andmpov and the
KGB were involved. It is difficult to believe
that the Soviets would expect the murder of
the pope to solve their Polish problem. To
some, it seems odd that the Soviets would
puttheirfatein thehandsofBulgariansaad
Turks, depriving themselves of the control
that is so essential to a ticklish intelIigeace
operation. And some analysts ffad it simply
inconceivable that the Soviet leadership
would deh'berately embark on a policy of
killing other world leaders.
Still, on at least a hypothetical plane, the
possibility of Soviet involve-
ment is hard to dismiss out of
hand. The Soviets always have
had ample control over the
Bulgarian secret service, and
the use of Bulgarian and Turk-
ish intermediaries would have
given them the deniability that
is just as important as control.
"The Bulgars wrll carry the
can," says a leading British. in-
telligencx specialist who is in-
clined to believe the theory.
"The Russians will make sure
there is no blowback to them,
whatever happens."
Symboh Whether or not the
Soviets planned the attack on
the pope, they were its princi-
pal. beneficiaries. "Many peo-
plc belicwe the whole develop.
meat of Solidarity in Poland
was the result of the pope's election," says
Harvard historian Richard Pipes, who re-
cently left his post as chief Kremlinologist
for the National Security Council. "He
was the symbol of Polish Roman Gatholi-
ctism and Polish nationhood. He embodies
the very spirit of Pound, exactly the spirit
Moscow wanted to snub." In fact, the
assassination attempt sad the serious
wound it caused have sapped the pope's
spirit. "It has left him weak, subject to
intense fatigue," says a sourcx is the Vati-
can's Secretariat of State. "It has short-
ened his life expectancy and made him lose
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his fire. He is s different per-
son since May 13."
What if Andmpov did order
or condone the shooting? Some
people think that proof might
do more harm than good. West-
ern governments would have
to respond in some fashion,
jeopardizing their political and
economic relations with the se-
cret-police chief who is now
ensconced in the -Kremlin.
Some Catholic leaders worry
that the Soviet bloc would re-
spond bycrackingdown harder
on their church. "We want jus-
tice to be done, but we don't
want to unnecessarily hurt rela-
tions with the Fast," says a
Vadcaa source close to the
pope. But the search for the
men who planned John Paul's
murder leads through a wilder-
ness of mirrors, and the trail
will neve! be traced conclusively. The plot
against the pope is not a detective story with
a tidy en ding. It is a cautionary tale about the
perils of an increasingly dangerous would.
RvssFLL wATSON .~ F.LAIr~ sclot.INO snd
GAROLYN FRIDAY is Rome, DAVID G MARTIN
in WatLinstoo, ZOFIA SMARDZ in Sofia
and bureau n~orts
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