"THE MAN WHO SHOT THE POPE"

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01070R000100540012-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 18, 2007
• Sequence Number: 12
• Publication Date: January 25, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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RADIO TV REPORTS, INC.
Today
STATION WRC TV
NBC Network
January 25, 1983 7:00 AM CITY Washington, DC
"The Man Who Shot the Pope"
BRYANT GUMBEL: In Closeup this morning, NBC News
diplomatic correspondent Marvin Kalb joins us, he's with us
in our Rome studios with a followup report on his controversial
program "The Man Who Shot the Pope."
Good morning, Marvin.
MARVIN KALB: Good morning, Bryant.
That was four months ago and much has happened since
then. The Turkish killer Mehmet Ali Agca has been in jail but
he has been singing and the Italian judge has been listening.
And an Austrian has been arrested, several Turks have been
arrested, and a Bulgarian.
The silence ended last fall, in part because NBC's
report encouraged others to follow the story. Then a confirming
bombshell. On November 25th Italian police arrested a Bulgarian
Sergei Ivanov Antonov, described as head of the Bulgarian airline
office in Rome on charges of active complicity in the attempted
assassination.
None plays a more central role than the Roman magistrate
Ilario Martella. Cautious and courageous, with a reputation for
honesty, Martella has been accumulating evidence for more than a
year. He has said little, traveled much. To the United States,
Turkey, West Germany, Switzerland, untangling a web of conspiracy
that has its roots in Bulgaria.
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Omar Bacci, a Turk who helped Agca with the gun. He
was arrested in Switzerland last summer, held at the Ragensdorf
Prison near Zurich, until, at Martella's request, he was
extradicted to Rome on October 16th, 1982.
Musa Chela Chelabi, another Turk implicated with Agca
in the papal plot. He was arrested by West German police on
November 3rd, extradicted to Rome on January 14th. He's now
confessed to having dealth with Agca.
Horst Grumier, an Austrian arms smuggler, involved in
getting the gun to Agca. He was arrested on January 11th,
charged with smuggling new Soviet weapons across the Czecho-
slovak border into Austria. He is being held in the Kornuberg
Prison outside of Vienna.
This stunning string of arrests and extradictions
angered and alarmed Bulgaria and the Soviet Union. Both denied
any involvement in the papal plot.
On December 17th what rarely happens in Bulgaria
happened, foreign correspondents were invited to a news confer-
ence. Present for questioning were Bekir Celenk, a Turkish
smuggler accused of having bankrolled the plot. Italy had issued
a warrant for his arrest on October 26th. The Bulgarians put
him under police custody on December 9th. Celenk posed as a
hurt angelic innocent. Zhelyo Vasilev, former aide to the Bul-
garian military attache in Rome, fingered by Agca, along with
Antonov, an active accomplice in the plot. He, too, professed
outrage and innocence.
And Totos Donanov Aivazov, described as a financial
officer at the Bulgarian embassy. He had diplomatic immunity
and could not be arrested.
These Bulgarians were known to Agca only by code names.
He identified them from a batch of 56 photographs provided by
Martella.
GUMBEL: Marvin, you've listed a string of arrests for
us, we've heard the official government denials. What's the next
step; where does the investigation go from here?
KALB: Well, Bryant, it appears that it's on the final
lap for Judge Martella right now because, the old saying that
there's no honor among thieves apparently is true. Everyone is
talking, everyone is singing.
GUMBEL: Is this free from the realities of Italian
politics? To what extent is Italian politics playing a role in
the investigation?
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KALB: Well, I think that to a degree there is some role
but the basic role is being played by the magistrates here, the
judges. And they seem to be, for the most part -- for the most
part -- immune to the full thrust of Italian politics.
GUMBEL: You mentioned at the tail end of your investi-
gation -- of your report, rather, than administration officials,
CIA officials, have been discouraging pursuit of the story by
US newsmen. Why?
KALB: Well, Bryant, this is a very important and
shocking detail that has come up. A number of key members of the
CIA, both here and Rome and in Washington, have been actively
discouraging American newsmen, as well as the Italian
investigators from pursuing this story. In part, the reason lies
in the fact that there are many in the US and Western Europe who
would rather, at this point not be presented with evidence of
Soviet complicity because in their minds it could very well
shatter hopes and assumptions about detente, about trade, about
the possibility of getting arms control agreements. They'd
rather not know.
GUMBEL: All right, Marvin, thank you very much for
joining us this morning.
KALB: Marvin's update on "The Man Who Shot the Pope"
can be seen tonight on NBC, 8:00 o'clock Eastern Time and that'll
be at 7:00 o'clock Central.
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