The world of super sleuths

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33189, 31 March 1973, Page 11

The world of super sleuths

(From DON RISEBOROUGH) lan Fleming would have been envious of the men from Intertel, whose everyday worldwide crime - busting activities show up James Bond’s antics as being just a tiny bit oldfashioned. The tentacles of Intertel, a Washington - based organisation, stretch from Biafra to the Bahamas, Switzerland to St Martin, and touch on such exotic places as Paradise Island, Curacao, The Hague, Las Vegas and Algeria. The men of Intertel (short for International Intelligence, Inc.) are a shadowy collection of government supersleuths who have gone into business for themselves, particularly specialising in industrial security and the growing problem of underworld infiltration into legitimate business. Formidable team Included among them are Sir Ranulph Bacon, retired head of Scotland Yard and former head of Interpol, Robert Peloquin, former chief of the Organised Crime Strike Force and formerly of United States Navy Intelligence and the National Security Agency, forerunner of the C.1.A., and M. F. A. Lindsay, retired commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Also Edward Mullin, former F. 8.1., former C.I.A. and chief investigator with the 0.C.5.F., William Kolar, former director of intelligence for the Internal Revenue Service, and Fen Richards, former Director of Enforcement, United States Customs Bureau. A truly formidable group, whose name really does inspire fear in the underworld and anyone else who might cross their path. Intertel claims to be the

only organisation of its kind in the world and since its inception in 1970 has performed services for more than 200 corporations in the United States and all over the world. It is close-mouthed about its clients but is reported to have — or have had — connections with the National Football League, Time Inc., International Telephone and Telegraph, the London “Daily Mail,” and Howard Hughes's Nevada operations among others. Tracking drugs It has tracked down missing drug supplies to Biafra, sent men from The Hague to Curacao in hot pursuit of Howard Hughes’s money, in an effort to determine whether the recluse multimillionaire was swindled when he bought huge mining tracts, and unmasked Helga R. Hughes as the real Mrs hdith Irving. Are the cargo facilities at a major truck terminal or a giant airport riddled with or controlled by organised crime? Intertel will advise on cleaning them out. Is a large city police department rife with graft? Is a gambling casino in the Caribbean an obvious plum for hoodlums from the United States? Just call Intertel. It has, or will come up with, the solution. With the aid of contacts throughout the world, Intertel is prepared to advise business clients about racketcontrolled labour unions, on uprooting gamblers and loan sharks from offices and plants, and on systems to prevent the theft ‘of credit cards and the use of stolen ones. At the same time, Intertel insists it is not a detective agency, that it does not use wire-tapping (although it knows how to find and clear out bugging devices) and claims no special access to secret government dossiers. “We don’t need them,” explained Peloquin. “As far as organised crime

is concerned, there is so much on the public record that we have no reason to even want government files.” And for all their shadowy activities Peloquin insists that Intertel men work as systems consultants. He says: “We’re not there just to catch the thief. Some 60 per cent of all organised crime’s income derives from legitimate business and we can render our most valuable service by helping to keep that figure from growing.” Intertel’s job, he adds, is “locking the door of the barn before the horse is out.” Sources and contacts When the Intertel men first got together back in 1970 (young American millionaire James Crosby is said to have put up two million dollars to get the outfit going) they brought with them a wealth of informers, sources and contacts, the likes of which foreign Government and underworld gang leaders would dearly like to get their hands on. It has paid off handsomely. Take the case of the disappearing load of drugs destined for Biafra during the civil war. several years ago. An American drug company gave planeloads of drugs to the stricken country. Eighteen months later, the company received a letter from a gangster in Buffalo saying the drugs were intact but that they had never reached Biafra. Would the company like to buy them back — at a higher price, naturally? Intertel was called in. Peloquin recognised the name of the gangster who signed the letter and went to Buffalo. In an interview in "Tropic” magazine he related how the drugs were finally tracked down: “We really put the heat on the guy,” he said. “How, if we’re no longer in law enforcement, do we put the heat on someone? “Well, he knows we’re not with the Government any more, but he also knows we

know a lot of guys who are with the Government, and he knows they’d dearly love to know what he’s up to. "He dropped out of the drug scheme, told us his contact was in Switzerland and then washed his hands of the whole project. “Now we had to look in Switzerland, so 1 got on the telephone with Sir Ranulph. “In addition tp being head of Scotland Yard, he was head of Interpol, so he knows everybody in his line in Europe. “He came up with someone in Switzerland who owed him a favour or whatever, and we got to the Buffalo guy’s contact and found out the drugs were in a warehouse in Africa. “There were three possible place* in Africa, but the best bet . . . was the Ivory Coast. “Sir Ranulph made contact with the police there. We hired a man indigenous to the Ivory Coast to do some work. “And there the drugs were — in a Government warehouse. “Best of all. the stuff that might be lethal was there the stuff was listed and destroyed. . . .” Carry-overs Ed Mullin, the former F B I. and former C.LA. agent said: “A lot of your informers carry over when you leave the Government. “There are guys who, through the years. I’ve been able to push a little money to. They’re still available, and you can use them the same way.” Admits Peloquin, “There aren’t many patriots — people who will come forward with information just for the good of the community. "We all know them from government work. People don’t tell things without some reward.” The reward, most of the time, is money. Intertel never talks about its fees except to say it charges much like lawyers — on either a retainer or hourly fee basis.