S1-E08: The Ticking Clock

to the listening experience. You can purchase a copy of The Good Assassin on Amazon, Apple Books, and on bookshop dot Org. Thanks a note, this episode contains descriptions of graphic violence listeners describe and is advised. Mio was happy to be back in Paris. His children had missed him. His young son, in fact, had asked so many times when his father was coming home that MEA's wife arranged for a friend to call and pretend to be her husband.

But when the boy got on the line, he knew the voice on the other end wasn't Meos and he'd been crushed. So he was overjoyed that his father was finally home. But me his mission wasn't completed. The final act was still to take place in Uruguay and in your's apartment in the heart of Paris. The team started putting the pieces together. I'm Stephen Talty and this as good assassin's hunting the butcher. The first pile was to

find and not bendling forward file. The second clock was mine a Nazi and hearing we must thwart this shameful pass the end of a trail of blood and horror, the end of a man whose name will be written in the end Episode eight, the ticking clock. There was a lot of work to do. We've had collected all the letters and telegrams that Meo had said from the field. Neo had brought back maps of Montevideo and sal Polo, lots of information on hotels and unning cars and the

vacation home market. He'd written down exactly what he needed to go through passport control and what problems the other team members might find. Nothing could be left to chance. There was a file on Zookers, what he was like, what he didn't like, what his habits were. But they still didn't have a place with the assassination could be carried out. They didn't even know how it was going to be carried out. On the trip back to France,

knew I had given some thought to that. He was very straightforward about it, he later wrote in his memoir. I pointed out that the distant sniper shot was not, in my opinion, at least a shootable option, most because of the noise and because it would not allow us to give him the clue. Degrass I also rejected the use of poison. I gave detailed the count of the so called drinking night I had set up the Japanese nightclub. I mentioned his strange habit of sipping his drink in

an ever so slow, almost nerve wracking fashion. The sniper shot would have been a possibility if they've been carrying out the assassination on their home soil, but the team had a factor in their need to escape. It was always a temptation to devote more time to figuring out how to eliminate a target than to figuring out how to get away once you've done it. They couldn't fall into that trap. Bessad wanted everyone to suspect that Israel had carried out the killing, but it didn't want any

of its agents to actually get caught. That could lead to interrogations and other things. What they were doing wasn't legal. Secris wasn't going to get a trial or have a lawyer like Adafikman had got after Massad kidnapped him. They didn't want Massad to be the story. They wanted Suckers to be the story. So the team members had to carry out the killing, gather their belongings, and head to

the airport. They had to get on the plane and get safely back to Europe before Sucker's body was discovered. That influenced how the assassination would be carried out. It couldn't be public, it couldn't be loud, and the body had to be left out of sight so that someone didn't stumble on it and raise the alarm before the agents had time to leave the country. A hotel room, for example, was out the maid would find the body too quickly. Neo gave the finale a lot of thought.

It was his call. He had met Sukers. He had a better sense of what would work than you, even the others who've been busy training. But by the time he met with the team, me had an idea. I believe that's the best way is to lure him into a house where an elimination unit will be waiting for him. From my intense and intimate acquaintance with the late one, and from the numerous hours we have spent together, which have included many visits to various rental sights, I'm convinced

he will enter any house I do. He trusts me, but get him. Ron, the former messodge and military historian, learned later what Mia wasn't aware of at the time. Suchers did not trust Anton Kunzla as much as he believed. Still the last moment, was not fully sure that the meal is kosher. He took a picture of meal, gave it to his wife and told her, if something happens to me, if I don't come back, this is the killer. He killed me. It was a plan, but it wasn't

fool proof. Zukers had already shown that he was suspicious. He seemed to trust MEO and some little thing would send him off and they were almost back to zero again. That was the first risk. The second was Zuker's physical strength. Mio knew that you're reeve and the team members getting tired of his warnings about how tough the butcher was, but he didn't care. He was a lead agent. This was his mission. You had to see the guy to understand.

He looked like a competitive weightlifter, so Mio kept at it. He told your Reeve again about how Zukers was a highly mistrustful man, acutely vigilant, armed with a gun, and of great physical strength. You're reeve nodded, but he was probably thinking Meo was getting a little paranoid himself. Massad agents were war veterans. They killed before the butcher was sixty four years old. They would take care of him without any problem. You Reef told me, oh, he'd done

a good job. But for the killed team getting the butcher inside the house, that was the tricky part. They would take care of the rest. If four strong Israelis couldn't handle a senior citizen, well, then Massad was in trouble. You Reef went over MEO's plan and quickly approved it, and he confirmed one important detail before the sentence was carried out. The team would read out a verdict in the name of the thirty thousand men, women and children

that Sukers had helped kill. Would be like a judge's sentence would show the world the Israelis had given serious thought to why Sukers had to die. In no way could the execution be equated with the death of his victims. They had to show that they had carefully considered his crimes. This was justice, not vengeance. This raised an intriguing possibility. If they were going to take the time to read the charges, maybe Sucres would respond. Maybe he'd even defend himself.

Maybe I thought he'd tell the Israelis why he'd done what he'd done. In my quest to know the motives behind his actions, this would be a perfect time for Suckers himself to tell his story. Or if he was truly an anti Semite at heart, maybe facing five Jewish assassins would reveal that. Maybe he'd shout some abuse at the team. They would at least be a clue. But one thing was for sure. With this plan, there would be a chance for Zukers to finally tell the truth.

Mia was satisfied all the work he'd put in had been vindicated. They were going ahead with his plan. The debate in the German Parliament was coming up in a few months. They all hoped a successful mission would influence it On the ninth of November, a letter arrived the Rotterdam po box that MEO had set up months earlier. It was from Zuker's. Following your request, I hereby enclosed my flight ticket from sal Follow to Monte Video went back, as well as a few other receipts for personal expenses.

I hope you arrival in Rotterdam and said to all these films this you hoping to see you soon. This friendship. Heppert so cares. The team was pleased. The butcher was taking the bait, but me A waited over a month, said a reply. He wanted it to seem like he was a busy man putting deals together. He couldn't appear to be too eager. Dear Abert, I thank you for your letter and forms of receipts you sent. Everything here is running as it should, and as far as business

is concerned, I have nothing to complain about. My associates are very pleased with the outcome of the trip to South America to Grasil and Uruguay. I intend to return to South America in the coming weeks in order to realize and implement various investment plans. I should therefore be grateful to you if you could manage soon after receiving this letter to make the necessary arrangements to Chile and Uruguay. I'm enclosing a banker's check for one hundred dollars to

cover your expenses. Please inform me by telegram when all the necessary papers are in your hands and you are ready for the trip. A happy New Year to you and your family. Hope to see you soon. Your friend and Tom Kumslay your rearranged with MASSAD headquarters to provide new identities for the other team members, fake names, passports and backstories that would give them a reason for being

in Uruguay. The men spent hours memorizing the details. They learned a few key phrases in Spanish and Portuguese in case they were stopped by the police or had some other problem. The four team members were almost done with their training, and Crabmagaw, the Israeli fighting system Emmi Lichtenfeld was working them hard. Neil wasn't part of the training. His job was to get the butcher into the room. That was it. They practiced the same maneuvers over and

over again. Watching the sessions, Neil later wrote he thought the instructor had the graceful movements with dancer Lichtenfeld's feet slid across the floor soundlessly as he avoided knight thrust and club swinging at his head. But according to Emi Lichtenfeld student a yl Yanilov, his graceful nature would never have been mistake in for weakness. So Emi was differently

with very high level of refined movements. So like Muhammad Ali said, he say that's like about the fly sing, Then the Krapma God teacher could look a little scary. In his white karate tunic, he had a glass of eye and half his face was frozen from an injury he had sustained on his journey to Palestine. He's spoke in a deep, bare tone with a slight lisp caused by an injury to the left side of his mouth.

Krama God did require slight adjustments for the mission, having been invented to save Jewish lives, was defensive in nature. It's core philosophy was do whatever is needed to cause as much damage as possible to your attacker and get away safely. But in Uruguay the massadman would be the aggressors. All knows how Emi would have instructed the team to

locate the target's weak spot. He will tell them the slight to the most sensitive points to be very efficient in their striking with open hand or with closed fist. So he's very strongly to the knee, to the sole, reflexes to the floating griegs, liver and sleep. Go up at this line of the neck. Front of the neck. Back of the neck is extremely efficient. Go to the line of the drop to coast one cushion. Go to

the line of the eyes, especially the temples. So these are strikes that will coastal cushion and we make the person who groogi full down. They practiced disarming a target as Mill had told them. Sekers carried a gun everywhere, and Cromaga, if there was a gun involved in a fight, who always assumed it would be fired. But the massad agents wanted to immobilize Seekers before he could drive, so they practiced a blow from the back they hoped would bring the butcher down. A l can imagine what the

team was going through. He vividly remembers how hard Amy pushed him in his own training. He said, do again, not good, do do again, not go, do again twenty times, No good. Do again. I didn't even know what you wanted from me. What should I do? In that sense? I think I just too eventually, So when you think about it, it's just the agile. You have to do something you know doing, go did do better? That's it.

You read could fear a meat and Sudie practice. Kick after kick they paired off and rain blows down on the head of their opponents. Lintenbell believed the knuckles were too delicate for a good smash to the face. He preferred the meaty base of the hand, or even better, the elbow balance was key. Kick returned to position, Kick

returned to position. Kick, They drilled and drilled. We made the experience that much more exhausting for the men was that Mio wasn't even doing theneath for us, and the rest of it kept reminding them they were about to face a raging animal. Remember the late one is a strong man, and he's always armed. Even your Reeve grew impatient with him. Meo exaggerates a bit will overcome, so cooes without any problem. It was MEO's turn to be annoyed.

These Raeli Is always believed they could solve any problem. Typical saber bullshit. He was worried they were going to mess up his operation. Are you curious about something you've heard on Hunting the Butcher and want to know more? Is there something I haven't covered that you wish I would? I want to hear from you. We've set up an email address for listeners to send us questions about the show. We've received some amazing, thoughtful questions so far, and we'd

love to hear more. Record yourself asking your question, include your name and where you're from, and we'll try to answer your question on a future episode. The email address is Hunting the Butcher at Diversion Podcasts dot com. Record yourself asking a question and email it to me. The voice memos app on iPhone works well for recording yourself again. The email address is Hunting the Butcher at Diversion Podcasts dot com. That's podcasts plural. I'm looking forward to hearing

your questions. Thanks, you're even The others took all of MEO's notes, the telegrams and letters, his thoughts on the kill method and honed them into a working paper. It included maps, even timetables to and from different landmarks in Montevideo. They looked at the maps searching for the right neighborhood to rent a house. They bought summer clothes that would be right for Uruguay, and they went to various banks

and changed money for Uruguay and pesos. Then they began to look for a staging ground for the operation, a place where they could fly into, getting organized and prepare for D Day. They didn't want to be hanging around Uruguay for weeks attracting attention. They chose Buenos Aires. Meo never revealed the reason why they chose it, but my theory is that it was a big city, cosmopolitan. He got visitors from all over the world. They wouldn't stick out there, so it was a good place to lay low.

All of this work and planning took about two months. The world took no notice of their mission. The Beatles released a new album, Beatles for Sale, and college students in America were staging protests against the Vietnam War. As

for France, he was preparing for Winter Olympics. No one paid any mind to the men entering and leaving the little apartment on the avenue they were side jan Another letter arrived in the Rotterdam po box her col I completed all the arrangements as you asked, I have to passport, including the visas for Uruguaya and Chile, waiting for your arrival and for for the details concerning our joint business trip. This friendship ever took us. In the note, Zuker seemed

a little more nervous than in the previous one. Did the line about waiting for further details mean that he was having doubts? If the details weren't what he expected, would he refuse to leave Brazil? Nobody knew. The agents booked their airline tickets. Each member would be traveling separately. They didn't want to look like a team. Before their departures, the five men met for a final time in the Paris apartment. They went over the plan. They double checked

and triple checked everything. There was nothing left to do in Paris. It was a solemn moment. We were all aware that we were going to take the life of a man, but none of us had any doubt this was the just punishment for his statistic criminal Mio sat down and wrote out a telegram for Suckers, including all his travel plants. Then the members poured some drinks and made a toast best of luck. Your reef told them he wasn't much of a speech giver. The men kept

their private thoughts to themselves. They were eager to get going. Three days later, Mio boarded his flight to sal Paolo. He was going to Brazil first to reconnect with Suckers. The other members would fly out later. Neo planned on meeting Suckers in the airport transit lounge before flying on to Buonos areas. He had to make sure the butcher was all in. After twelve hours in the air, the plane landed. Maa waited until after the other passengers got out,

then walked toward the airplane door. At the top of the jetway. He was heading down the stairs, lost in his own thoughts. I heard Ruko's familiar voice. Hello, he Anton, I am here. I looked down to the bottom of the stairs, and what did I see? Herbert Chukos wearing a colorful tie, holding something black in one hand and waving happily with the other. That black thing in the butcher's hand, that was a camera. He was filming me. Oh as he arrived, How on earth did he manage

to get in here? I wondered? This was a restricted area, and we were supposed to meet in the transit lounge. When Meo realized what the black object was, he was shocked. This meant that Drukos was actually filming me, immortalizing my image on film. Instinctively, I raised my hand as if in greeting, but the motion was actually tended to hide from the camera lens some of my mold distinguishing features.

It was a disaster. Suckers had sprung a trap. When you're undercover, you want there to be no record of your actual self in the mission. The documents all have your cover name, not your real one. If you're photographed, who want to be wearing your disguise. This was a time before the widespread use of surveillance cameras. Neo thought he was safe, but now the butcher he had him down on film. It was bad. That was only half of it. The other half was why was Zuker's filming

him in the first place. As the two men had been old friends. Meal might have passed it off as his body wanting a memento of their trip, but that wasn't it. This was Zukers being paranoid again. He wanted to film as evidence, just in case, Kunzla was up to no good. Sucker said he was ready to become partners, but clearly he still had his doubts. He'll never be rid of his suspicions. I thought this concern. I was fully convinced that this was yet another one of UCO's

security exercises. One false move the team might interpret as my attempt to hide from the camera, and all my months long efforts to win his trusts would come to nothing. And in fact me it was right. The butcher didn't trust him fully. Later, his wife nodded all police what happened. When Sucers returned home, my husband told me that he

had filmed Kunzla coming off the plane. He emphasized that if anything bad were to happen to him in the near future, then it was this man seen on the film waving at Harvard who would bear directed soul responsibility for it. The film and the stills taken from it would haunt the massad agent for years. When I discussed this with Gad Shimron, he mentioned how significant this became.

This photo. For many years, uh Nio told me that every time he crossed the border, somewhere on the road there was a big interval coaster wanted for murder with his picture as complet taken by a suspicious to much so Mea was coming down the steps of the jetway at the airport in Sal Paulo. He's holding up his hands like he's waving it at Sukers a friendly greeting, but in reality he's trying to block the view of his face from the camera. He's trying to look smooth, natural,

but it isn't working. He looks awkward and nervous. He's realized that Suckers has outsmarted him. Neo finally made it down to the bottom of the chet way and Suckers dropped the camera to his side. He greeted the agent. It went into the transit lounge to talk Neis flight to Buenos Aires was leaving soon, so they only had a few minutes. They ordered drinks and Mio tried to get back on track. He told Suckers he has some

good news. His partners had decided to invest heavily in South America, hundreds of thousands of dollars at the very least, and they'd agreed to bring Suekers on board. If he played his cards right, he would soon be a rich man. Zukers didn't react the way Meo had hoped. He said he had a problem. It turned out that he hadn't been telling the truth in his telegram, his visa and other documents, they weren't ready yet. He couldn't fly to Uruguay.

It was getting worse. And worse was Zuker's backing out. Had he realized he was being trapped or was he just being lazy? Meo had no idea what was going on, but he stayed in character, the character of the hard charging businessman. He got angry and loud. How could you do this? Did you say you want to be a businessman. I am a businessman and I stick to my vote. You want me said all your papers weren't older. I want you to know that I am very, very disappointed.

He really was furious. If Sukers couldn't get out of Brazil, the mission was off. There might not be a chance to organize a second operation before the vote in the German Parliament. The butcher had messed up everything. Zukers hung his head. He was embarrassed, or he appeared to be embarrassed. I promised it would never happen again to Mio. He appeared to be sincere. After a few tense moments, Neo

calmed down. He told Seekers that Brazil was out. The partners wanted to do their business in Uruguay and Chile, so he wanted Seekers with him when he traveled to the two countries. Neo took a lot of cash out of his pocket handed it to the butcher traveling expenses. He told the butcher to get his papers straightened down. Once that was done, he would pay for his flight to Uruguay, but he had to get moving. Suckers cheered up. He agreed to get the visa a sap. He was

even a little cheeky. He asked if Meo had the addresses of the hotels they'd be staying at in Montefdello. Neo thought to himself, the best, that is forever cautious, but he memorized the names of the hotel's just in case. He recited them to Suckers, who wrote them down. It was another test. At least Mio had passed this one. A boarding announcement was made from MEO's flight to Buenos Aires. The two men parted. Neo slapped Suckers on the shoulder, told him not to let him down again. Then he

headed towards his departure. Game Neo landed in Buenos Aires, took a taxi to his hotel. The most of the team was still back in Paris. He needed to get in touch with them to tell them the mission was a go. But things started to go wrong. It turned out that the telephone and post office workers had gone on strike. It was one of those things you just couldn't predict. But it didn't matter. Mio was screwed. He

couldn't communicate with your read. The team was waiting for word from him that Seekers was still in play, but Mio couldn't make a call or send a telegram. He was stranded. Even worse, if the butcher was trying to contact him, he had no way of knowing it. Maybe Seekers was having trouble getting the right papers, Maybe he had questions he needed answers to Mea was annoyed and worried. Day after day, he checked with the front desk and asked if any telegrams had come through. The answer was

always known. The city was in the communications lockdown. Nothing was getting in or out, so Mia was going stir crazy. He had nothing to do. And he hated that. To get his mind off sukers, he took a trip to a holiday resort called my adult Plata, but it was off season. The place was half empty. Kind of depressing. Actually, Lea went back to Bueness Areas, tried to pass the time by taking long walks through the city. There were no letters. When he got back to the hotel. He

was losing precious time. The clock was ticking and Germany's vote on the amnesty statute was approaching fast. If the mission didn't move forward soon, all would be lost. Hi, this is Stephen Talty, host of Good Assassins Hunting the Butcher. The folks that helped me bring you this show, Diversion podcast Us have just launched another podcast that I think

you'll like. It's called Backstaged The Devil in Metal, a deep dive into the history of metal music, filled with never before heard interviews and stories from some of the biggest names of music, including Black Sabbath, Judas, Priest Van Helen, and many others. It's outrageous, raw and surprising at times. Backstage The Devil in Metal is out now. Follow the show on Apple Podcasts, I Hired Radio app or wherever you listen to your podcasts. Finally, on February five, the

strike ended and the telegram arrived. It was from Zookers Glato informula that all the preparations are complete. I have the documents, I Theresa. They thing to hear from you as to there, and then I joined you. Mea was overjoyed. He wrote out a telegram to the Massad team in Paris. Negotiations have finished and the transaction is about to take place. Request you sent urgently the team of experts in order to complete the transactions successfully Anton, it was time for

the team to come to Argentina. The Paris team started arriving in Buenos Aires one by one and taking the rooms in hotels downtown. Once they all made it in, your reefs sent out the word that they should meet one of the many cafes in the city. It would get the latest details from Meo and prepare for Uruguay.

The men arrived at the cafe and shook hands. Then they sat down and Mio gave them an update, recounting the story of the movie Camera and Super Continuing fear of being trapped, he warned them for the obtain time about the butcher He's like a violent animal. The minute the census that he has trapped, he muster all his strength. This, it turned out, was actually true. Zucris was preparing for his own flight to Uruguay, but before he left, he told his family, if someone comes after me, I have

a fight until the death. Meo didn't know this. He didn't know that Sucris had passed the film of Kunsla arriving in Brazil to his wife. He knew Zucris was paranoid, but he didn't know how deep it went. On February ten, Meo flew into Manto. The Dao Uruguay and the others soon followed. The debate over the statute of Limitations was only a month away now in March, and then the vote would follow in May. The clock continued to tick, and the team still didn't have a house to carry

out the execution. That was the first subjective as they did their final preparations, But once they settled into their hotels, the team realized there was a problem. The city didn't have that many houses for rent. Montefideo was a small place, not a lot of tourists, and the houses that were available were often run down. Laser Sudet, the agent who tried to kill the German chancellor ten years before, was given the job of finding a place. He had three requirements.

It had to look like it could be the headquarters for a rich European company. It had to have some sort of privacy so the noise of the assassination wasn't overheard. And it had to be close to a major highway so that the team could escape without getting lost in a tangle of side streets. So Det contacted some real estate agents. Every day he went looking at the houses with them, and he slowly realized there was nothing that

fit his three requirements. Either the houses looked terrible, or they had no privacy, or they weren't a part of the city that was hard to get out of. The team thought they'd planned for everything, but it was Murphy's law. If something could go wrong, it would days passed. Finally, a real estate agent called Sude. He was in a good mood. He told Sude he found the perfect place. The two of them drove out to see it. When

they pulled up to the house, Sude was happy. From the street, the place looked good, It had a garden, and it was in good shape. They walked up to the front door and the agent rang the bell. As soon as the door opened, Sedet's heart dropped. The guy standing in the doorway had side curls, he was wearing a yamaka. Sadet realized he was an Orthodox Jew. Sade cursed under his breath. The homeowner smiled and invited the two men in, but sud He just turned, walked down

the path and got into the car. If they rented the house from this guy and Zucris was killed inside, who knew what would happen. Some neo Nazis might fire bomb the place, or the homeowner and his family could become targets for nut jobs in the city. So it was a no. Sudi couldn't risk. It was the right house, but the wrong owner. The real estate agent got back into the car. He was mortified, probably angry too. He asked sud what was wrong. Sudet said, I don't like Jews.

His son told me the story when I visited him in Israel. He says it reflects his father's very dark sense of humor. He was always doing things like that. It was just part of his personality. But despite Sudet's joke, it was a bad day. The team still had no place to carry out the final act and they were

running out of time. They were hitting a wall. They looked all over Carrasco, a desirable part of monte Video with nice vacation homes near the ocean that would look good, but it was the middle of summer and there was nothing available. Things were getting desperate. Then finally a stroke

of luck, the realtor found a place. In all the massade reports I've seen, it has always been described as a house in Carrasco in Montevideo, but the Uruguayan writer Fernando Gudizoni told me that massade reports aren't exactly correct. The house they ended up with was actually located somewhere else, in another nearby town called Shangri La, which was not the original plan. They have not They wishes to rent a house in the city, but they can't. And Carrasco

was and Ea is now high level neighborhood. Sanglia was a poor town and Shanglia is outside the city. Outside it's not in Montevideo, and Carrasco is a part of monte Video. There are two different realities, and you cross pine forests two or three miles and after that you go to Shanglia is also in a in a isolated area in in a blog you have two or three houses in summer. In winter is absolutely empty. The house was small and humble, a little house, not a luxury house.

This was the only house have I about, so he thought it had potential. The house wasn't in the best shape, but it might work. One thing that bothered him, though, was that there was some construction workers fixing the house next door. If they heard a disturbance on the day of the assassination, they might come looking for the cause, or they might call the police. But said he was running out of options. He brought me about to get his opinion, and after a few minutes of looking the

place over, ne agreed there was nothing better. It would have to do. There's another curious detail that I only uncovered in my most recent research. In Massade reports, they always referred to the house as Casa Kubertini. But when I spoke to Buddhisoni, who knows the country like the back of his hand and actually grew up in Shangri La, he told me there's no record of the house ever being called at in Uruguay. They Gotini that is named the statement of Massad do not exist, never exists, that

name never existed. When I asked but his zone to speculate about where Massad got the name from, he was at a loss. I don't know, maybe a confusion. I don't know. My microchurch was very intensive and difficult, and a looking in archives and in libraries, coart don't existed. You're white. So it remains a bit of a mystery. But for whatever reason, maybe it was a code name. The killed team called the final location. They decided on Casa Kubertine, and then the team was suddenly very busy.

Now that they had a location, they had to prepare. The five men drove from one end of the city to the other, memorizing its layout. They drove the streets around Casta Kubertini, finding the best ways in and out. They studied how polite and patient Uruguayans were when they drove, and anyone who spent time in Israel knows how foreign the style of driving would be to an Israeli. Former Massad agent Abner Abraham put it like this, Well, it's real.

You know. People are very nervous, they are very nervous and they don't want to wait. Well, it's like, who'll teach you to drive like this? You don't know how to drive? Okay, you need to learn again. But you know, sometimes it's not only to say something against the other drivers. Sometimes you stand near his car and you open your window and you need to educate him why you don't this, and why do you don't this? And you have to keep the right and why you keep the left? And okay,

you need to edit the team. And it might seem small, but the team needed to learn to keep their Israeli habits in check. This meant no aggressive driving, no road rage. They didn't want to stand out. Your reef had warned them that they had to avoid police attention at all costs, so they always kept the speed limit. You're even brought in someone from the Foreign Service already stationed in South

America to serve as an advisor. He wasn't trained with the team, but he knew the language and could also function as a lookout. On the big day, Mio sent a telegram to Zukers, Dear Herbert, business running well, your help needed. I would be glad if you could join me in Monte Video. On the morning of February. That was the date that Yerev had chosen. Three was his birthday, and he considered it his lucky number. He didn't want

any more bad luck. Maybe this would help. The next day there was a reply from Zuker's dear Anton, arriving by Varic flight on a few hours later, another telegram arrived, changing the airline from verig to Air France. But the butcher was coming. The men made their final plans. Meo rented Zukers a room at his hotel, even though if all one according to plan, he would never sleep in it.

He read the newspapers each and every morning, looking for anything that would interfere with the mission, a road closing, a parade, anything, And after a few days he found one one of the streets they were going to use for the escape would be closed for repairs. The men jumped in their cars and found an alternate route. Sod went shopping. He visited the local luggage stores looking for something to put Seeker's body. They didn't want to leave the corpse just lying on the floor of the Cossa

Kober teeny, but the butcher was so big. Nothing that Sudied saw would fit. Finally, he found his store selling those huge traveling trunks that people back in the day used when they sailed to the other side of the world. He pulled a tape measure out of his pocket, got the dimensions, yes, if there was anything bigger, salesman said no, so the Sudeep bought it. According to former intelligence officer Chris Costa, lining up every detail of the escape is

just as important as executing the mission itself. It's easy to plan, and everybody likes tactics. Everybody likes talking about tradecraft. The harder partners to talk about what comes after. So you have to think about the end state of what you want and then work it backwards. That's part of planning an operation. Meal paid the hotel and rental car bills in advance. He didn't want any last minute complications there. Even bought two tickets for a flight to Chili, which

he and Sukers would never take. It was like method acting. Everything had to appear to be real, so we did everything as if it was real. For their final meeting before the butcher arrived, the men chose a restaurant that me had been to before on one of his trips with Zukers. They sat at the table and began talking in low voices. They didn't want to attract attention. It didn't look like a band of assassins. If you spotted them having their drinks and chatting, you might think they

were middle managers or insurance agents. As they were talking, the waiter walked up. Shloum, he said in Hebrew. He told the five men that he was originally from Hungary but had served in the Israeli Defense Forces. He heard them speaking Hebrew and he'd come over to greet his fellow Jews. The men looked at each other and broke out laughing. They thought they were being discreet, but here

they've been outed by a Hungarian waiter. They lowered their voices even further and talked about On the night of the Neo went to bed early. He said he wanted to recharge his batteries for what was coming, the crucial day judgment Today, Ye good assassins. Hunting the Butcher is a production of Diversion Podcast in association with I Heart Radio. This season is written and hosted by Stephen Tlalti, produced

and directed by Scott Waxman and Jacob Bronstein. Executive producers Scott Waxman and Mark frances Story editing by Jacob Bronstein with editorial direction from Scott Waxman and mangesh At Ticket editing, mixing and sound designed by Mark Francis, with the voices of Nick Afka, Thomas Amrie, Angele, Andrew Polk, Mindy Escobar Leants, Steve Routman and Stefan Brudnitsky. Theme music by Tyler Cash. Archival research by Adam Shapiro, thanks to Oran Rosenbaum at ut A Diversion Podcasts