Secret Societies: Inside the World's Most Notorious Organizations (45 page)

According to Webster, the Zohar's original wise counsel has been “mingled by the Rabbis with barbaric superstitions,
p. 128:
Secret Societies & Subversive Movements
, p. 11.

“His chamber is lighted up by a silver candlestick on the wall”,
p. 129:
The Jewish Encyclopedia.

From there it was a small step to associate this with the Holy Grail, supposedly possessed by Templars and later Masons, inspiring fresh connections to new galaxies of secret conspiracies,
p. 130: The linkage between Kabbalah and the Holy Grail is presented with some detail and a straight face in
The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail
.

Crowley died penniless in 1947,
p. 132: Crowley's fame did not entirely disappear, in pop culture at least. His face appears amid the crowd on the album
cover of the Beatles’
Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
, and Jimmy Page, lead guitarist with Led Zeppelin, lives in Crowley's mansion in Scotland, surrounded by various Crowley memorabilia. Most surprising of all perhaps were the results of a poll conducted by the bbc in 2002 to name
The 100 Greatest Britons
: Crowley was rated 73, ahead of Lloyd George, Chaucer, Field Marshall Montgomery and Sir Walter Raleigh.

His name was Feivel Gruberger,
p. 132: Details of Feivel Gruberger/Philip Berg and the origins of Kabbalah Center are drawn from several sources, including a lengthy account in the
Daily Mail (UK)
, (May 22, 2004).

6. Rosicrucians—The Pursuit of Esoteric Wisdom, p. 139

None of these discussions took place during the remarkably long life Rosenkreuz led,
p. 140: The actual publication date of the
Fama
remains controversial. Most sources say 1614, a few suggest 1610, and
The Catholic Encyclopedia
is adamant that it was published in 1604. This latter date is curious, since it is precisely 120 years after the death of Rosenkreuz, a period of time that bears some significance—it is the number of years that the founder requested secrecy following his death and, as readers of works such as Umberto Eco's novel
Foucault's Pendulum
will recognize, it represents cycles of secrecy demanded by Templars.

… the man was “unfamiliar with the use of a pen, and it is obvious either that he copied the signature or that his hand was guided while he wrote.”,
p. 142: As quoted by Manly P. Hall in
The Secret Teachings of All Ages
. First published in 1928 (and reissued in 2003 by Penguin), Hall's book is considered a classic of its genre. It includes an extensive discussion of the role of Bacon as the true author of Shakespeare's works and serves as a prime source of the discussion of Bacon as a Rosicrucian.

Is it possible that the greatest single fount of English literature is merely a series of envelopes containing clandestine messages in murky codes?,
p. 143: The source of these claims (other sources and other claims are legion) is Hall's
The Secret Teachings of All Ages,
pp. 543–51.

In Henry IV, Part One, the word “Francis” appears 33 times on one page,
p. 143: The multiple mentions of Francis occur early in act 4, scene 1.

“Bacon is not to be regarded solely as a man but rather as the focal point,
p. 144: Hall, pp. 548–49.

A contemporary of Lippard, Paschal Beverly Randolph, was also acquainted with Lincoln,
p. 150: Details of Randolph's life are found in his work
After Death, or Disembodied Man
(Boston: Rockwell & Rollins, 1868).

AMORC
takes great pains to identify itself not as a religious order but as “a non-profit educational charitable organization”,
p. 153: As reported on the Rosicrucian Order Web site
www.rosicrucian.org
.

“We do not propose a belief system, nor a dogmatic decree”,
p. 153: amorc Web site.

“A true Rose Cross does not indulge in secret hand signs or shakes, celebrations, vain displays of wealth”,
p. 154: R. S. Clymer,
The Rose Cross Order
(Quakertown: The Philosophical Publishing Co., 1916).

“Unlike Masons, Rosicrucians have no special rings”,
p. 154: R. S. Clymer,
The Fraternitatis Rosae Crucis
(Quakertown: The Philosophical Publishing Co., 1929).

Johansson's lengthy and meandering article, readers are informed, was drawn “from discourses presented by the Grand Masters and the Imperator at the World Peace Conference”,
p. 155: Data from the Johansson article is from
Rosicrucian Digest
(No. 1, 2005) p. 10.

7. Triads—Cultural Criminals, p. 157

For much of the information on triads and tongs, I am deeply indebted to author and criminal investigator James Dubro, who summed up much of the history of these groups in his excellent book
Dragons of Crime: Inside the Asian Underworld
(Toronto: Octopus Publishing Group, 1992).

Resident Chinese usually refer to the organizations as
hei she hui
, literally translated as “black (or secret, sinister or wicked) society”,
p. 162: South China
Morning Post
, Macau Edition (December 12, 1999).

Royal Canadian Mounted Police investigators claim 14K and other triads maintain a presence in every Chinese community of substance across North America”,
p. 165: rcmp Triad files: ecdp0062.doc.

“I was not required to pay any percentage of profits to the 14K leadership”,
p. 168: Discussion Paper by the Australian Parliamentary Joint Committee on the National Crime Authority (February 1995).

One Hong Kong businessman who chose to defy triad threats was sent the severed head of a dog,
p. 169: Jan Morris,
Hong Kong
(New York: Random House, 1988), p. 44.

In Britain, the National Criminal Intelligence Service conducted a study of triad activities,
p. 170: erri:
Evaluation of Chinese Triads in Great Britain
—EmergencyNet news Service (July 21, 1996).

In 1988, an Australian government study estimated that 85 to 95 percent of all heroin entering that country was controlled by Chinese triads:
Asian Organised Crime In Australia
—
A Discussion Paper by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on the National Crime Authority
(February 1995).

… a U.S. investigation indicated that triad dominance had been reduced by competition from South east Asian countries:
Statement of Steven W. Casteel, Assistant Administrator for Intelligence, before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary (May 20, 2003).

“The leaders of the early gangs came out of the aftermath of the Vietnam war”,
p. 171: Interview with the author (August 6, 2005).

8. The Mafia and Cosa Nostra—Wise Guys and Businessmen, p. 173

In AD 1000, a wave of invasions brought Normans,
p. 174: Much of the information in this section was derived from Gaia Servadio's excellent
Mafioso: A History of the Mafia from Its Origins to the Present Day
(New York: Stein & Day Publishers, 1976).

The code of
omerta
decreed that any man who appealed for law enforcers to right a wrong was either a fool or a coward,
p. 179: Rick Porello,
The Rise and Fall of the Cleveland Mafia
(Ft. Lee, NJ: Barricade Books, 1995).

A high-ranking Italian government official recently described ’Ndrangheta,
p. 180: Italian government news release, Ministry of the Interior (September 22, 2004).

“Only blood does not betray”:
S. Accardo, as quoted by M. La Sorte, see
ff
.

…in 2004 the Italian government suggested the ’Ndrangheta consisted of 155 family clans and a total membership of over 6000,
p. 182: M. La Sorte,
The Calabrian ’Ndrangheta
(suny:
The ’Ndrangheta Looms Large
, December 2004).

Promoting the region as a holiday destination, the Calabrian tourism office admits “you will find no Florences or Venices in Calabria”,
p. 182:
Ibid
.

…you may also enter a Calabrian village and encounter a sight similar to that witnessed by the citizens of Taurianova,
p. 182–183:
Ibid
. from P. Lunde,
Organized Crime
(New York: dk Publishing, 2004).

FBI
lurkers heard Deluca instructed to repeat an oath spoken by the boss,
p. 192:“fbi tapes offer a rare inside look at Mafia induction,” the Boston
Globe
(March 27, 1990).

D'Amato was head of the DeCavalcante family, the largest in New Jersey and reputed to be the basis of the popular
Sopranos
television series,
p. 193: “Mafia Head Killed for Being Gay, Mobster Testifies,”
National Post
(May 2, 2003).

This was a matter of personal pride that the prospect of having 5000 volts of electricity blasting through his body within a few hours could not divert,
p. 196: Interestingly, Buchalter was Jewish, not Italian. It is a tribute of sorts to the power of the Mafia's code that he chose to make his statement and be assessed as a man of honor to the end.

9. Yakuza—Traditions and Amputation, p. 199

“The nobles, courtiers and even the ladies in waiting of the women's quarters were slashed to death”,
p. 202: J. N. Leonard,
Early Japan
(New York: Time-Life Books, 1968), p. 58.

In addition to incomplete pinkies, Yakuza members may be identified by their extensive tattoos,
p. 204: Davis E. Kaplan and Alex Dubro:
Yakuza—The Explosive Account of Japan's Criminal Underworld
(Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1986).

The
sokaiya
are chosen for their vehement style, capable of shouting down anyone who tries to silence them,
p. 207: Christopher Seymour,
Yakuza Diary—Doing Time in the Japanese Underworld
(New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1996).

10. Wicca—The Great Goddess and the Horned God, p. 209

“Without witches, some late medieval theologians were left facing their questions as to why bad things happen”,
p. 213: Walter Stephens,
Demon Lovers: Witchcraft, Sex and the Crisis of Belief
(Chicago: University of Chicago, 2002), p. 100.

… celebrated on February 2 to mark the first stirrings of spring and the return of light to the world,
p. 223: On this basis, the sabbats do not apply to countries south of the equator.

“That was done which may not be done except in great emergency”,
p. 227: Philip Heselton,
Gerald Gardner and the Cauldron of Inspiration—an Investigation into the Sources of Gardnerian Witchcraft
(Milverton: Capall Bann Publishing, 2003).

“witches are consummate leg-pullers; they are taught it as part of their stock-in-trade”,
p. 227: G. B. Gardner,
Witchcraft Today
(San Francisco: Citadel Press, 1954/2000), p. 27.

11. Skull & Bones—America's Secret Establishment, p. 229

“On the west wall hung, among other pictures”,
p. 230:
Fleshing Out Skull & Bones
(Walterville, OR: TrineDay Press, 2003), p. 473.

Howard Altman, an award-winning U.S. writer and editor, reported that in 1989 a man named Phillip Romero visited him,
p. 231–232:
Ibid
., pp. 33–36.

Adding to the story's veracity is the reported existence of a privately printed document,
p. 232: Rob Rosenbaum, “More Scary Skull and Bones Tales,” the New York
Observer
(2002).

The reward for Bonesmen may have been worth the humiliation,
p. 237: Ron Rosenbaum, “The Last Secrets of Skull and Bones,”
Esquire
magazine (September 1977), p. 89.

“We speak through a new publication, because the college press is closed to those who dare to openly mention ‘Bones’,
p. 237:
Fleshing Out Skull & Bones
, pp. 3–4.

Prescott Sheldon Bush, Yale ’17, was ideal Skull & Bones material,
p. 238:
Ibid.
, p. 40.

Hitler mesmerized Thyssen as, in fact, he mesmerized virtually an entire country desperately in need of strong, decisive leadership,
p. 239: Thyssen described this transaction, along with his motivations, in his tell-all book
I Paid Hitler
(New York
:
Farrar & Rinehart, 1941).

For the latter, he turned to Thyssen's steel mills, whose profits soared in the following years, overflowing into the coffers of the Bank voor Handel en Scheepvart in Rotterdam and the Union Banking Corporation in New York,
p. 241: A postwar investigation of the Thyssen family's role in arming Nazi Germany estimated that the family's interests had provided the following proportion of Germany's national output in 1938:

50.8 percent of pig iron

41.4 percent of standard plate steel

36.0 percent of heavy plate steel

38.5 percent of galvanized sheet steel

45.5 percent of steel pipe

22.1 percent of wire

35.0 percent of explosives

Source:
Elimination of German Resources for War
, U.S. Congress report,

Sub-Committee on Military Affairs (July 2, 1945), p. 507.

The bank's Russian connection inspired Lord Bearsted of Britain to recommend that Union Banking cease its dealings with Stalin,
p. 241: W. Averell Harriman papers, Library of Congress (September 12, 1927).