Le Group's leader, "Papa"
Le Group was a freelance information organization made up of former French Resistance fighters from World War II, operating as a private information organization that would provide information, weapons, documents, clothing, surveillance teams, vehicles, and safehouses to clients who purchased their services. They always accepted hard currency, although they never worked with governments.
History[]
Papa's son, Louis
Le Group was founded by "Papa", a former French Resistance fighter who fought Nazi Germany in World War II. His father and sister were hanged by the Germans during the war, and he fought until the Nazis were forced out of France. Essentially growing out of the resistance, Le Group was founded as a private intelligence service that would give information, weapons, documents, clothing, surveillance teams, vehicles, and safehouses to customers who gave them hard currency in exchange for their help. They had another condition: they would not work with governments, as "Papa" found governments to be too treacherous, unscrupulous, and mixed up in politics.
From 1972 to 1974, Le Group unwittingly worked with the Israeli government's Mossad intelligence agency in Operation Wrath of God. Andreas, a Red Army Faction (RAF) member, introduced Avner Kaufman (the leader of the Mossad team of assassins) to his French contact Louis, Papa's son. Louis decided to work with Avner, who was constantly given money by Israel via several bank accounts in Switzerland. Few questions were asked during the hunt for Kaufman's assigned targets, with the first one being Mahmoud Hamshari. Hamshari was bought for $300,000, and Kaufman was led to him, killing him in his hotel through plastic explosives in his phone on 8 December 1972. Next, he contacted Louis to help him in the assassination of Hussein al-Bashir, and on 24 January 1973, Kaufman killed him with a bomb in his hotel room in Nicosia, Cyprus. However, the next three targets would jeapordize Le Group's assistance to Kaufman. When Louis told him that his targets Muhammad Youssef al-Najjar, Kamal Adwan, and Kamal Nasser were all in Beirut, Lebanon, Kaufman remembered that he was not allowed to operate in Arab countries, as that was the job of the Israeli Defense Force. However, Kaufman convinced his handler Ephraim to allow him and his team to accompany the IDF on their mission to Lebanon. In "Operation Spring of Youth" on 10 April 1973, they killed all three leaders in an Israeli raid which killed 12-100 Palestine Liberation Organization guards. The raid, which hit international news, was as audacious as it was threatening to the chances of Mossad finding Ali Hassan Salameh. Louis took Kaufman to the home of his father in the French countryside, and Papa told him that he did not want to work with governments. However, he later came to see that Kaufman was doing his job because he had a family to feed, while Papa was doing his job for the same reasons. Papa angered Louis when he told Kaufman that he could have been his son.
The amoral Louis nearly got the team compromised on 11 April when they were given a safehouse in Athens, Greece for a mission to kill Zaiad Muchasi. The room was to be shared with a team of PLO bodyguards of Muchasi, and in a tense standoff, the Mossad defused the situation by claiming that they were terrorists from Basque ETA, the Red Army Faction, and African National Congress. They shared the room for the night, but they would be enemies when Muchasi was killed by a grenade. As the Mossad fled the scene in a car, their operative Carl shot the PLO bodyguard Ali, who had a heartfelt conversation with Kaufman the night before.
Kaufman again came to Le Group for help when Carl was assassinated by Dutch contract killer Jeanette in May 1974 in his hotel room in London while searching for Salameh there. Le Group tracked her down to Hoorn in the Netherlands on 21 August 1974, and they killed her when she reached for her weapon. On 14 September, team member Robert was assassinated while meeting his Belgian weapons connection. Kaufman nevertheless kept his faith in Le Group, believing that Papa could never betray him, although they sold their services to anyone who paid them. On 10 October 1974, Kaufman's remaining three-man team attempted to kill Salameh for one last time in Tarifa, Spain, acting on Louis' advice. However, they killed a PLO guard before being forced to leave, as Louis had set them up.
It is unknown what became of Le Group after 1974.