Page 4 of 5
In Creative Loafing's attempt to get to the bottom of the whole saga, we did the obvious asked for evidence. Bannon and his publisher supplied CL with reams of documents, most of them ancillary copies of news magazine and website stories about Interpol and the fact that the agency targets terrorists and child pornographers; no mention was made, however, of killings by Interpol agents. The publisher also provided some rather oblique documents showing what they allege to be Korean bank statements showing money given to Bannon by Interpol, as well as alleged Interpol papers "seeking to recruit a Crime Intelligence Officer for its Trafficking in Humans Crime Sub-Directorate." The recruitment documents are so specific they even include working hours: "37 1/2 hours a week with a 45-minute lunch break." They were all documents that we or anyone else could have typed up at the office with the help of a Korean dictionary and some creative government doublespeak. There was really nothing conclusive about any of it -- no official Interpol seal, no signature, nothing.
Lynda Hatch, publicity director of New Horizon Press, Bannon's publisher, says that given the clandestine nature of Bannon's assignments, the "trail of evidence is sometimes murky and indistinct," and that "the organization (Interpol) will claim no knowledge of him."
Hatch is right. We contacted Michael Rose, chief press officer for Interpol in Lyon, France. (To date, it appears that CL is the only media outlet to have contacted Interpol to get their reaction to Bannon's book.) When asked to confirm or deny if Bannon had ever worked for Interpol, Rose responded with this official statement:
"Interpol's General Secretariat in Lyon has no record of David Race Bannon having been employed and no knowledge of individuals mentioned in Mr. Bannon's book. Interpol exists to facilitate the exchange of information between the world's law enforcement agencies and to provide analysis of criminal data and other services. Accordingly, if the claims in Mr. Bannon's book are in fact as have been reported to Interpol, they can only be seen as deceptive and irresponsible fantasy."
Bannon says he expected nothing less from Interpol.
"The official Interpol stance has always been that they're really nothing more than a clearing house of data," Bannon says. "It's so simplistic it's almost funny --that they're nothing more than a giant computer. Then why do they need this vast network across 170-plus countries with officers all over the world?" Bannon says the only way to really support his story is through the testimony of others.
CL tried that route as well. In his book, Bannon writes often about Lee Hyung-Jin, who Bannon says is a longtime friend and Korean NIS agent he worked with on many cases. There is a testimonial signed by a Hyung-Jin in Bannon's book, which, in broken English, essentially supports Bannon's story. At our prompting, Bannon said he contacted Hyung-Jin, who he says is now a college professor in South Korea, and asked him to contact us. A few days later, I received an email from a Hyung-Jin that, again, in broken English, backed up Bannon's story, saying his book was "sad but true," and even though he lived a "careful life with a college job," he would talk to CL for the story. In his email, Hyung-Jin indicated Bannon had forwarded him my number, and he would call. I responded and asked what day and time would best fit his schedule. I never heard from him again.
There's also a testimonial in Bannon's book from Jacques Defferre, the man Bannon claims recruited him into Interpol. Bannon said he contacted Defferre and asked him if he could contact CL for this story. Moreover, Fortson of the Observer received an email from Defferre, which she quoted in her story, saying he was angry with Bannon for telling everything to an "unforgiving world," but that Bannon "must write the truth as he must breathe, it is his nature." Fortson, who never spoke to Defferre in person, also forwarded my contact information to Defferre via email. I never heard from him. In fact, CL still doesn't really have any proof that Defferre or Hyung-Jin actually exists.
Bannon has also written several stories for Kungfu Qigong magazine, including one in the November/December 2001 issue about his involvement in the Wonderland Club arrests. In that story, Bannon, using a knife and baton, busted into a hotel room and rescued an 8-year-old girl who had been kidnapped by members of the child pornography network. After the story was published, several people wrote letters to the magazine, some saying the story was absolute hogwash, and others --including, yes, Hyung-Jin and Defferre -- to commend Bannon on a job well done. We tried to contact Martha Burr, who was executive editor of Kungfu Qignong at the time, to ask if she believed Bannon's story. Associate Editor Gene Ching responded, and informed us that Burr no longer worked for the magazine. When we asked Ching if he believed Bannon, he replied, "To be honest, I don't really know. I've never really interacted with Bannon personally so I haven't formed an opinion of him either way. When that article was published we had a few skeptics, but we also had many supporters contact us. I will be very interested in your findings."
