Frank Terpil
 Frank Terpil  (spook) | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 1940 Brooklyn, New York, USA |
| Perpetrator of | Arms for Libya |
Frank Terpil worked for the CIA and was a close friend of Ted Shackley. He officially left the agency in 1970, and was charged in absentia in the Arms for Libya and another arms deal, but fled the USA and as of 2014 was one of more than 70 U.S. fugitives reported to have received safe haven in Cuba.[1]
Contents
Background
He was born and grew up in Brooklyn, New York.[2]
Career
He worked with Ted Shackley and Edwin Wilson. The New York Times reported that Terpil "was dismissed by the C.I.A. in 1971 after a six-year career as a low-level operative",[3] though others report that he was forced to resign in 1970 "after the agency learned that when he was posted in India he ran a hard-currency scam through Afghanistan, for his personal profit".[1]
Criminal charges
In 1980, Frank Terpil was charged in absentia in the Arms for Libya case, together with Edwin Wilson for conspiring to training Libyan terrorists in making bombs out of lamps, ashtrays and alarm clocks, and in shipping tons of C-4 from USA.[3]
A New York State court sentenced him in 1981 to 53 years in prison after trying him in absentia on charges of conspiring to smuggle 10,000 submachine guns (either to Africa or South America).[3]
Defection to Libya
Terpil left USA and appeared in Lebanon in 1980, shortly before he was sentenced in the Arms for Libya case.[2] In 1981 Terpil defected to Libya. There assisted Muammar Gaddafi by training his forces in terrorism and “eliminating” his opponents — most of them Libyan exiles living abroad.[2]
Defection to Cuba
In 1995 he was stopped by the Cuban authorities. It was initially unclear whether they would extradite him to USA< but they did not.[3]
It is believed that Cuba’s General Intelligence Directorate hired him as an operative under the operational alias "Curiel".[2]
Terpil admitted to working for dictators such as Uganda’s Idi Amin, Iraq’s Saddam Hussein and Anastasio Somoza in Nicaragua, as well as the governments of Saudi Arabia, Iran and Egypt.[1]
In December 2013 he gave an interview for “Mad Dog: Inside the Secret World of Muammar Gaddafi”, a British documentary film. He had been living in Cuba, and gave "the impression of leading a somewhat bored life". He recounted hiring two Cuban exiles from Miami, telling them they were to assassinate Ilich Ramírez Sánchez (Carlos the Jackal). The Cubans backed out when they realized the real target was a foe of Ghaddafi.[1]
An event carried out
| Event | Location | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Arms for Libya | Libya US | Around 20 tonnes of C-4 plastic explosive, training in bomb making, together with thousands of rifles, handguns & other weapons sold by a CIA operative to Muammar Gaddaffi's Libya in the late 1970s - early 1980s. Then "the biggest arms-dealing case in U.S. history", still lacking its own page on Wikipedia as of 2020. |
