CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE

Boehme New Alemana Delicatessen 420 Avenida Pepito Moreno, San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina, October 8, 1962

For more than two centuries, the northern portion of the Andean Patagonia country rested at the feet of the majestic Andes largely unspoiled by development or intrusion by Europeans. However, those foreigners who did see the place agreed with the Patagonian pioneer, Francisco P. Moreno, that it was “a beautiful piece of Argentine Switzerland.” No one agreed more fervently and longingly than the former German SS officer Hauptsturmführer Erich Walther Boehme, now a minor businessman in the hub city of the area—San Carlos de Bariloche. Bariloche was founded only as recently as 1902 and—with the advent of the railroad in the 1930s—had grown to a population of 22,000 year-round residents and hosted several hundred thousand tourist visitors to Iguazú Falls and Nahuel Huapi National Park which surrounded the city. In the mind of Erich Boehme—and a fairly large number of other similarly entrepreneurially-minded men—Bariloche was ripe for development and to make millionaires of the developers.

The arrival of the “Gebirgsjägers” would have been the answer to his prayers had Erich been a praying man. They brought with them a financial portfolio that rivaled that of the duly elected politicians of the Argentine government and sufficient worldwide influence to be able to gather a meeting of men who could—with the swipe of a pen—make a hotel, a resort, or even a new city happen. Seated in the backroom office of his delicatessen were twenty-three well-dressed affluent men who were unknown to him a month previously but were now about to make him rich and powerful.

The close quarters of the office afforded the opportunity for all of the men to speak quietly and still be heard.

As they waited for everyone to gather and take a seat, Antoine turned to Benedettu Paganucci and said, “My friend, there are some things you and I should decide upon before we talk business with the others.”

“I agree, Laird. First, a question: what name do you use here in Argentina?”

“I am Don Pedro Altenhofen. It says so on my well-worn Argentine passport. If you care to check, you will find that I have lived in Argentina for over twenty years, having moved here from Essen. My parents were in the import-export business, and I grew up there. However, back twenty years ago, I developed a strong desire to live in the land of my ancestors—Argentina. You could check all of that out if you wished to do so. It is good to be at home.”

The thuggish Mafioso looked at Antoine’s eyes and then began to laugh.

“I was getting used to you being a three-generation Englander named Laird Eagen.”

Laughing or even smiling did not come quite naturally to the taciturn Sicilian. He was a block of a man—all muscle. He was five feet three inches tall and weighed 212 pounds. He had a knife-cut scar on his left cheek, and pockmarked skin from a bad case of untreated adolescent acne. To deflect attention from himself, he chose a conservative soft white cotton bosom fronted fitted shirt. Benedettu’s heavily muscled arms strained the shirt’s fabric.

Benedettu had tight curled black hair, an olive complexion, a strong chin and nose, large white teeth, and he rarely smiled, let alone let himself have a laugh. Even in his modified gaucho pants, he came across as the Italian thug he was.

Antoine laughed with him, then abruptly said, “Benedettu, I want you to know that all of us in the Gebirgsjägers intend to get out of our mutual business and to live ordinary, but rich, lives here in Argentina. We have no further interest in the business where you do so well, and we wish you well. However, should anyone feel that we have become weak or afraid or that we hide from them who truly know us, you can tell them that they are quite mistaken in that belief. If anyone of us should encounter violence, remember that we still have a network of very loyal people who would happily cut a few throats. I say to you, my friend, it is in your best interest and that of the Mafia or Unione Corse [Corsican crime syndicate] to let us go our separate ways in peace. Our meeting today is to offer you an opportunity to make a great deal of money in a legitimate investment—one the authorities will not question.”

Benedettu grunted his understanding as the others entered the room and were introduced to each other. Antoine’s nine Gebirgsjägers were familiar with Benedettu Paganucci, Dominic Rizzuto, and Tony Lagomarsino from the Unione Corse; and it was almost laughably awkward to be rentroduced with their new Argentine names. The nine men had not had adequate time to become used to being Pedro T. Rodriguez, Gonzalez Martin Sanchez, Dominico Lobos, Antonio de Castro, Guglielmo Pardini, Humberto Garrido, Ismael García-Iglesias, Augustín Ruiz-Rubalcaba, and José María Zapatero. Most of the names were hard for the Gebirgsjägers to pronounce, but the Corsicans knew better than to allow anything but a slight smile of acknowledgement to crease their faces. They were also familiar with the two Swiss men—the fixer, François Gaspard Caussidière, and the banker from UBS, Liert Beili Amstutz. Liert was the only man in the room wearing a suit, and the only one whose naturally stiff demeanor did not match the faux bonhomie written on the faces of all of the other men.

The Argentines and other attendees were—until that day—strangers to the others. Besides Erich Boehme, there was a Buenos Aires banker named Gunther Horn—an unapologetic Prussian. He was as Catholic as the pope for all of his Germanic background. He had six daughters: Maria Innocenta, Maria Guadalupe, Maria Veronica, Maria Immaculata, Maria Angela, and Maria Crosifissa. Gunther was huge, massively obese—so much so that he wore what looked like an oversized priest’s cassock made of the finest silk and cotton blend. He was intolerably bigoted towards Mestizos, Negroes, Protestants, and assorted non-Germans.

The most unusual of the men in the room was an American investment banker with the Negro Industrial Bank of Washington—the oldest and largest Negro-owned commercial bank in the metropolitan Washington, DC, region. Evert Williams had been intentionally selected because of the relative obscurity of the Industrial Bank in banking circles around the world, and because he and his bank were hungry for a good new investment outside the United States to start the board’s program of diversification. He was a tall, thin, sophisticated Southern gentleman with no pretensions of fighting for equality of races. He was about money and about accumulating a good deal of it for his bank, with the source not being contested by the White establishment in the eastern United States.

He was what Negroes called a “Cordon”—a derivative of the name of a popular champagne, Cordon Negro—and a “Bear,” because he was very light-skinned and because he was (b)lack, (e)ducated, (a)nd (r)ich. He had been called worse. When he lived in Jones Beach, New York City, he had been dubbed an “African Rock Fish,” a term for Negroes indicating that all of them were very poor swimmers; and throughout his rising career, he had been called behind his back by his fellow Negroes, a “chocolate-covered marshmallow”—a black man who acts white. He ignored them all.

Evert made himself an expert on the legislative efforts to repeal the Glass-Steagall separation of commercial and investment banking act of 1933. In the first two years of the 1960s, he had been influential in persuading the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to issue aggressive interpretations of Glass-Steagall to permit national banks to engage in certain securities activities. His main credential so far as the developers were concerned was that he brought very large amounts of investment capital to the table.

The final three men in the room were there to bring the dream to physical reality. Heinrich Stracher was the artist/architect/civil engineer who conceived the actual plan. He was a pale, small, intense, nervous, man who wore pince-nez spectacles, a French beret, and a flouncy blouse and gaucho pants. He had a wispy mustache and beard that set off his face to match his intended appearance of a French impressionist painter. Despite his sui generis—almost cartoon character—appearance, he received full attention from the rest of the men due to his obvious genius, his intense passion for the project, and the captivating plans and drawings he produced.

Daniel Urquiza was the experienced developer having built similar grand projects in Buenos Aires, San Clemente del Tuyú on the Atlantic coast, and Ushuaia—El Fin del Mundo—in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. He was famous for his accomplishments in Santiago de Chile, Viña del Mar, and Concepción Chile. Daniel was a bluff man with sandy hair, a stubble beard, and the coarse features, topographical bronzed skin, and hard hands of a construction worker. He had intense silvery blue eyes, high cheek bones, and muscular arms revealed by a clean white tee shirt. He was the only man in the room wearing American three-button Levi 501 denims as a proud Germanic signature—in his mind—because the inventor of the first blue jeans was Levi Strauss, who was born in Buttenheim, Bavaria. He wore scuffed knee-high gaucho boots with spurs. As soon as he could, Daniel dominated the conversation with his intentions for bringing Heinrich’s artistry into reality.

Of course, every major project requires a necessary evil—an attorney. In the case of the newly named Pueblo Parque National Nahuel Huapi, a team of attorneys was required. The firm of Xavier Manriquez-Huelsmann and Mitarbeiter Abogados la Ley [Attorneys-atLaw], Buenos Aires, had handled almost every major building project in Argentina for the past thirty years. The firm held distinct advantages for its clients which made it indispensable. In order of importance, those advantages were: 1. Connections with the Casa Rosada. Xavier was related personally to Interim President José María Guido through his mother and to Argentine Chief of the Cabinet of Ministers, Guillermo Fernández, by marriage which gave him ready access to the Argentine seat of government at will. His large extended family had done mutually lucrative business with the government of Argentina for three decades. 2. The Huelsmann family had deep roots—five generations in Argentina—with the behind-the-scenes ruling elite and kingmakers of the German community. 3. Xavier’s perfect record of contributing an honest kickback of fifteen percent of every project profit for which his firm served as the abogados. Therefore, having the firm involved as attorneys guaranteed unexcelled three way profits—for the clients, for the firm, and for the government. 4. And, Xavier knew everyone and everything in Argentina that mattered. He was extraordinarily—almost miraculously so—effective and efficient. His presence in the back room of Erich Boehme’s delicatessen that day guaranteed the project’s success.

Xavier Manriquez-Huelsmann looked every bit the role as the major player in any room. He was fifty years old, tall, patrician, and slender. His full head of dark blond hair was beginning to gray at the temples, which gave him the appearance of mature wisdom. His slender handsome face and imperial sneer gave him the air of invincible power. He had a perfect Germanic dueling scar on his left cheek, and an athletic physique which removed any doubt about his virility and energy. He dressed the part—a freshly pressed beige linen suit, silk shirt tie made from Thailand, highly polished $2,400 Gucci horsebit loafers imported from Italy, and a diamond-encircled Rolex.

Even his car shouted his affluence. He had a chauffeur-driven Citroën DS estate wagon—a front-engine, front-wheel-drive executive car manufactured and marketed by the French company Citroën. The automobile had a most definite artistic flair and was de rigor among the very rich of Argentina. The vehicle was designed by sculptor and industrial designer Flaminio Bertoni. French aeronautical engineer André Lefèbvre styled and engineered the car. The Citroën DS was one of the few cars in the world to have the modern hydropneumatic self-levelling suspension which provided a pillow-smooth ride. The work of the designers guaranteed that Manriquez-Huelsmann’s car would be appreciated and envied for its aerodynamic, futuristic body design and innovative technology. It served Manriquez-Huelsmann’s need for subtle austentation, and in addition to its baby cheek soft ride; his car was the first mass production car to have disc brakes.

It was a measure of his importance and his wide circle of fawning associates that Daniel Urquiza, Heinrich Stracher, and Gunther Horn—the three important Argentinians—greeted Attorney Manriquez-Huelsmann—with the most respectful French etiquette. Social class distinctions imported into Argentina from the haughty French determined the importance of certain time-honored forms of correct social behavior. The classes below the rich and powerful in general greet each other by shaking hands. An embrace with a kiss on both cheeks—called the faire la bise—is reserved for two people who are close friends or relatives and of the same social class. Manriquez-Huelsmann was particularly sensitive to such nuances; so, he ignored the other lesser mortals in the room. The embrace shared among the four men took place only the first time they entered the room together and again when they parted. The men maintained their formality in their verbal greetings, so that Manriquez-Huelsmann was always Monsieur and never referred to by his given name. The men were in a public space; so, it was neither unusual nor rude that none of the four smiled or made eye contact with them. Antoine was all too aware of this set of affectations of the French, and it had chaffed him all the years he spent in France.

“Thank you for traveling all the way to my humble delicatessen in Bariloche,” Erich said when everyone was seated and enjoying some of his regionally famous delicacies—onion, cheese, and corn empanadas, Spanish sausage, Italian bruschetta, hot sweet Chilean crab cakes, torta de merengue con calafate berry frutilla, and pisco sours. “Your time is very valuable; so, I will ask Heinrich Stracher to make the formal presentation of the project.”

Stracher did so with a flair. He had fine water color renditions of the Pueblo Parque National Nahuel Huapi drawn to scale and showing—with almost breathtaking flair—the artistic conception of an attractive wedding of Bavarian and Andean mountain lodge leitmotifs—sturdy tuff stone, slate, and fitzroya structures. He showed large color photographs of the Civic Center, the Edificio Movilidad, Plaza Perito Moreno, the Neo-Gothic San Carlos de Bariloche Cathedral, the Llao Llao Hotel, the Domingo Sarmiento Library, the Francisco Moreno Museum of Patagonia, the City Hall, the handsome and quaint Post Office, the Police Station, and the Customs Buildings. He spread the elaborate plans around tables in the office showing skiing, trekking, mountaineering, golfing, and swimming facilities, hotels and restaurants, and of course, chocolate shops for which Bariloche was famous—all yet to be developed. The proposed streets were wide and left space for outdoor cafes and boutique shops. He included plans for a large casino, a shopping mal, a business center, and a diversity of churches, synagogues, and even a small mosque.

Stracher’s concepts and the flair with which he presented them received approbation from the serious men in the room which was unprecedented. They applauded. Daniel Urquiza provided a concise but detailed discussion of the practical elements of construction of the development and was greeted with similar enthusiasm.

Erich stood again and introduced Xavier Manriquez-Huelsmann, Evert Williams, Gunther Horn, Liert Beili Amstutz, Benedettu Paganucci, and Don Pedro Altenhofen—the financial might of the project. In the interests of brevity, the assembled financiers had elected Don Pedro to be their spokesman since he and his Gebirgsjägers were slated to be the major shareholders by virtue of their dominant financial contribution.

Antoine [aka Don Pedro] was brief. He gave a listing of the agreed-upon financial makeup of the project. Each financial institution’s contribution and percentage profit share was listed in order of amount. The list contained the signatures of the men in the room. The project’s estimated cost was to be eight billion US dollars over a ten-year period. The estimated profits were forty-five billion dollars over twenty to twenty-five years. The number of full-time employees of the corporation was expected to be between three and four thousand.

Xavier then stood and explained tersely how the government would be involved and how it would be rewarded. He omitted names and his personal trade secrets. The measure of his status was such that such details were not expected, and his guarantee of success was accepted by all of the powerful men without demurrer. The Pueblo Parque National Nahuel Huapi development was officially underway, and Antoine and his Gebirgsjägers breathed mutual sighs of relief and pleasure at the prospect that—at last—they would be truly free: free of the gulags, the crime syndicates, the world’s law enforcement authorities, the Nazi hunters, and of the fear of financial want.

They were unaware of the forces marshalled against them, headed by INTERPOL.

Recipes for Lunch in “The Little Switzerland or Little Bavaria of South America”

Steamed Chilean Crab—Serves 1 per Crab

Ingredients

-4 Chilean crabs, one loaf fresh warm bread, 4 garlic cloves, assorted fresh herbs (especially fresh dill), 1 cube salted butter, 1 red chili pepper.

Preparation

-Steaming crabs—add about 2 in. salted water in the bottom of a large steam pot. Place crabs into boiling water in a steamer basket to ensure even cooking—otherwise the bottom crabs will be boiled and not steamed. Allow~15–20 min. to cook through.

-Cleaning cooked crabs—As soon as the crabs are cooled, clean by removing the triangular panel on the back of the crab (easy to lift, remove, and discard). Hold crab body firmly and remove or crack open the top shell and use the open cavity as a bowl. Chilean crabs have copious meat in that space. Discard the so-called “crab butter” which is bitter. Remove the gray gills and discard. Clean interior with copious amounts of cools water. An alternative is to break the crab in half and set halves on a platter for serving.

-Preparation of Red Chile butter:

Ingredients

-1 cube melted, salted butter, 4 minced garlic cloves (1–4 as preferred), 8 tbsps fresh chopped dill, 1 finely diced red chili pepper

-Mix ingredients, warm, and pour over crab.

-Serving crab—forget about potatoes or rice, etc. Include a simple fresh garden salad with lots of herbs and garlicky Red Chile butter with fresh dill.

Schweinshaxe

Zutaten

-Salz, Pfeffer, Paprika,1–2 Zwiebeln, 1 Karotte, 1 Lauch, 1 Stange Sellerie, 1 Stück Brotrinde, 3/8 to 1/2 Liter kochende Flüssigkeit.

Zubereitung

Schweinshaxe mit Salz, Pfeffer und etwas Paprika einreiben, zunächst mit wenig kochendem Wasser in geschlossenem Bräter dämpfen. Gemüse grob schneiden. Nach etwa 15–20 Minuten Schwarte karoartig einschneiden. Dann Bratzutaten zugeben und bei guter Mittelhitze (220-200^° C) unter öfterem Begießen etwas 1 1/2 Stunden braten, bei Bedarf etwas kochende Flüssigkeit seitlich nachgießen. Kurz vor beendeter Garzeit mehrmals mit Bier bestreichen und kurz überbraten, wodurch Schwarte schön knusprig wird.

Hasenpfeffer

Zutaten

-1 Kaninchen ca 500 g, 1 Karotte, 2 Stangen Sellerie, 3 Zehen Knoblauch, 1 Zweig Rosmarin, 3 Lorblattblätter, 500 ml Rotwein, 250 ml Fleischbrühe, 6 Esslöffel Olivenöl

Ham hocks

Ingredients

-salt, pepper, paprika, 1-2 onions, 1 carrot, 1 leek, 1 celery stalk, bread crust, 3/8 to 1/2 liter boiling liquid.

Preparation

-Rub the ham hocks with salt, pepper, and some paprika. Steam them with a little boiling water in a covered pan. Chop the vegetables in large chunks. After 15–20 minutes, make diagonal cuts in the ham hock rind. Add the vegetables and roast uncovered at 220–200^° Celsius for about 1 1/2 hours while basting frequently. Add boiling liquid as needed. Before it is done, brush well with beer and turn the heat up briefly until the rind is nice and crisp.

Rabbit Stew

Ingredients

-1 young~½ lb. rabbit, 1 carrot, 2 stalks celery, 3 cloves garlic, 1 sprig rosemary, 3 bay leaves, 500 ml red wine, 250 ml meat stock, 6 tbsps olive oil.

Zubereitung

-Zerteiles Kaninchen waschen und abtrocknen. Sehnen entfernen. Karotte und Selleriestangen grob zerkleinern. Knoblauchzehen halbieren. Rosmarinzweig mit den Lorbeerblättern zusammenbinden. Alles mit dem Fleisch zusammen in eine Schüssel geben und mit dem Rotwein angießen. Diese Marinade abgedeckt an einem kühlen Ort 24 Stunden stehen lassen.

-Das Fleisch dann herausnehmen, abtrocknen und mit Mehl bestäuben. Die Marinade durchsieben, Wein und Gemüse bereitstellen. In einem Bräter das Olivenöl erhitzen, das Fleisch rundum kräftig anbraten, salzen und pfeffern. Temperatur verringern. Gemüse, Knoblauch und Kräuter mit andünsten, Rotwein und 250 ml Brühe angießen. Den Bräter zudecken und das Fleisch bei geringer Hitze etwas 2,5 Stunden weichschmoren. Das Fleisch und den Kräuterbund herausnehmen, die Sauce pürieren, abschmecken und mit dem Fleisch servieren.

Preparation

-Cut up, trim, wash and dry meat. Chop carrot and celery. Halve garlic cloves. Tie rosemary and bay leaves together. Put all in a bowl with meat and add wine. Cover marinade and set in a cool place for 24 hours.

-Take meat out and strain marinade. Put liquid and vegetables aside. Heat olive oil in roasting pan. Sear meat and add salt and pepper. Lower temp. Braise vegetables and herbs. Add wine and meat stock. Cover pan and stew meat on low heat for about 2½ hrs. Remove meat and bundled herbs, puree remaining sauce, season to taste, and serve with meat.