Cobra (14 page)

Van Wyk pushed more print-outs across to Benny. ‘Read
these
first. That’s how they put two and two together.’

Griessel picked up the top page.

INTERPOL

General Secretaria
t

200, quai Charles de Gaull
e

69006 Lyo
n

Franc
e

Intelligence report: Cobra/B79C1/04/03/2007/19/03/2009

Report date: 2 May 2010

Report submitted by: Stefano Masini, Procura della Repubblica presso il Tribunale di Milano

Interview by: Stefano Masini, Procura della Repubblica presso il Tribunale di Milano

Interview with: (Name withheld, paid informant, Bari.)

Interview venue: Bari, Italy

(Edited Transcription, translated by M.P. Ross, Interpol, 19 May 2010)

SM: The shell casings found on the scene of the Carnevale killing are engraved with a snake, and the letters N and M. Do you . . .

X: (Expletive.) That’s bad, man
.

SM: Have you ever heard of such markings
?

X:Yes, yes, I’ve heard the rumours, lots of rumours. It’s the Cobra. Ver
y
dangerous guy.

SM: Does he work for ‘ndrangheta?

X: No, (expletive) no, he’s a freelancer, he works for anybody, he’s a gun for hire. Very expensive, hundred thousand euros for a hit, but they say he never misses, he always delivers. If the Cobra takes a contract on you, you’re (expletive) dead, man. For sure.

SM: Do you know who he is?

X: Nobody knows this guy. He’s a ghost. Just bullshit stories . .
.

SM: What stories
?

X: Bullshit, man. Some say he was in the French Foreign Legion, and he lives in Amsterdam, or Madrid, or Marseilles, but they don’t know. Nobody knows. Lots of stories, lots of rumours. The wannabes, they talk about him, they want to be him, man. If you want a clean hit, no comebacks, you get the Cobra. (Expletive) psychopath, man, they say he has the eyes of a snake, you know? He never blinks, cold eyes . . . That type of shit, people make it up. They even say he killed his own father, I mean, you know, there’s a new . . . how do they say? A new . . . twist every time . . .

SM: How did he kill his father?

X: It’s crap, man
.

SM: I’m sure. But let’s not waste a good story
.

X: (Expletive.) Don’t write in that report that this came from me. I need the money, man . . .

SM:Of course . . .

X: OK. So . . . They say, he killed his father, because he needed a reference, you know? To get business. Three, four years ago, in Portugal. His father was this retired Russian Army colonel, worked in Africa most of his life teaching those baboons to shoot each other with an AK, you know? What do they call them? Military advisor? So this Russian colonel (expletive) some black woman in one of those hell-hole countries, got her pregnant. And then he just left, never cared for the kid or the woman. Big suffering. But she knew his name and everything. So this kid grew up and he joined the French Foreign Legion, became a real killer, you know? A badass soldier. No fear. Nobody (expletive) with him. And then he left, and became The (expletive) Cobra, man, they say it was his first hit. He traced his father, the guy had retired to Portugal with all his stolen African money, and that was the Cobra’s first hit with the snake on the bullets. That’s where it all started.

SM: So he’s a mulatto?

X: That’s what they say
.

SM: Who
?

X: You know. The rumours. Just guys talking shit
.

SM: Guys in the trade
?

X: Yes
.

SM: Has anybody actually seen him
?

X: Maybe the bosses
.

SM: Capos
?

X: Yes. They say, two of them have met the Cobra. But in the beginning, few years ago, when he was selling
.

SM: Selling what
?

X: His service. You know. He had to market himself, in the beginning. As an assassin.

SM: Anything else?

X: Not really. OK maybe ... But you know this is really all (expletive) crap. Because of the snake on the bullets, they make up new things.

SM:Tell me anyway.

X:They say there’s this tattoo he has. Bird and a snake. On his arm.
Right here. Guy must love snakes
.

SM: That’s it
?

X: There’s nothing else to tell. Oh, they say, if you want to contact him, you place an ad on . . . what’s it called . . . . ? Loot. That’s it
.

SM: Loot
?

X: Yes. It’s a website in England where you can sell anything. So you place an ad and you use the word snake, like ‘snake for sale’ or something, some special code. And then he will contact you. (Expletive) snakes. I mean, you have to be a psycho man, to be that into snakes.

Griessel looked up at van Wyk. ‘There’s a lot of speculation.’

Van Wyk nodded. ‘It gets better. Read the next one.’

He picked it up and read.

INTERPOL

General Secretariat

200, quai Charles de Gaulle

69006 Lyon

France

Intelligence report: Cobra/B79C1/04/03/2007/27/6/2010

Report date: 27 June 2010

Report submitted by: Superintendent Marie-Caroline Aubert, InterpolGeneral Secretariat, Lyon

Investigation: Murder of Zakhar Perminov, Vila Praia da Ancora, Portugal on 13 September 2006

Source: Dossier of the Polícia de Segurança Pública, and personal interview with Superintendent Christóvã Formigo, Polícia de Segurança Pública, Lisbon, Portugal

(Translated by P. A. Shilling, Interpol, 28 June 2010)

At 07.55 on the morning of 13 September 2006, the body of Zakhar Ivanovich Perminov was found (by a Portuguese cleaning woman) in the living room of a villa on the outskirts of Vila Praia de Âncora, a coastal holiday resort in northern Portugal, about five kilometres south of the Spanish border.

Perminov had been shot twice – once in the forehead, and once through the heart. Bullets recovered from the crime scene indicated a Heckler & Koch MK23 (a weapon popular with American Special Forces) and Cor Bon ammunition (45 ACP +P 230 grain).

Two shell casings that were found on the scene match this firearm and ammunition. The casings were engraved with the likeness of a snake with a flared head, and the initials/letters NM (capitalised, no full stops).

The villa had no security measures, and no sign of forced entry was found. According to a statement by the cleaning woman the villa’s glass sliding doors leading to the pool were never locked when Perminov was in residence.

No forensic evidence of the intruder, other than the shell casings and bullets, was found on the scene. No arrests were made, and the dossier is still open.

Perminov, the deceased, was a Russian citizen. The Russian Embassy in Lisbon supplied limited details about the deceased’s career, but it was confirmed that he was a retired former Russian paratroop colonel. Perminov served as reconnaissance squad leader for the 103rd Guards Airborne Division in Vitebsk in Belarus, and was deployed to Mozambique as military advisor to the Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO) from 1978−1980. He also served in Angola as a member of the staff of the Soviet chief military advisor, Lieutenant-General Leonid Kusmenko, in 1986.

Re. Intelligence Report Cobra/B79C104/03/2007/19/03/2009:

After a written submission to the Mozambican Embassy in Paris, it was confirmed that Zakhar Ivanovich Perminov was registered as the father of Joaquim Curado. Joaquim Curado was born on 27 January 1979 in Cuamba, Mozambique, to Dores Branca Curado (herself born of a Makua mother and Portuguese father).

The Mozambican authorities also confirmed that the same Joaquim Curado is still a citizen of that country. A passport was issued to him (in the name of Joaquim Curado) in 1999, and was replaced by a new passport in 2003. (Note: It is common practice for the Légion étrangère [L.E. or French Foreign Legion] to confiscate enlistees’ passports, which might explain the replacement.)

This 2003 passport was used for a return journey from France to Mozambique in 2006, but no further legal entries/exits were logged.

It was further established that a Joaquim Curado, a Mozambican citizen (passport number corresponded with first issued Mozambican travel document), served in the Légion étrangère from 2000 to 2005 as Legionnaire 1e Classe (Lance Corporal/1st Class Legionnaire) in the 1st Foreign Regiment (1° RE).

(Note MCA:The insignia of the L.E.’s 1st Foreign Regiment [1° RE] is a framed bird of prey [black] and a snake [green]. See Intelligence Report: Cobra/B79C1/04/03/2007/19/03/2009, page 2:‘There’s this tattoo he has. Bird and a snake. On his arm. Right here. Guy must love snakes.’)

According to his partially and unofficially released L.E. records, Curado received special forces training, and showed no exceptional leadership skills. However, he was regarded as a proficient soldier and excellent marksman, and served with distinction in several African operations.

He is 1.89 metres (6 ft 2 inches) tall, and weighed 95 kg (209 lbs) at induction into the L.E.

Curado was honourably discharged from the Légion étrangère at his own request in 2005, having served his compulsory five-year term. In the same year, on the strength of his L.E. service, he was granted French citizenship, and thus now holds dual citizenship of Mozambique and France. A French passport was issued to him on 19 January 2006. The passport has not since been used for travel outside the European Union.

No current address was found for Joaquim Curado.

(Note MCA: A theory might be formulated that Joaquim Curado is the assassin known as ‘the Cobra’.)

* A photograph of Curado was supplied by the L.E. and is herewith attached. It was taken during his L.E. induction in 2000.

17

INTERPOL

General Secretariat

200, quai Charles de Gaulle

69006 Lyon

France

Intelligence Report Addendum: Cobra/B79C1/04/03/2007/04/ 07/2010

Report date: 14 September 2010

Report submitted by: Superintendent Marie-Caroline Aubert, Interpol General Secretariat, Lyon

Investigation: Series of murders in the European Union connected to ‘The Cobra’ (Original dossier Cobra/B79C1/04/03/2007)