Anthony Pearson

Anthony Pearson was a former British Special Airborne Service (SAS) officer who ran a company called Strategic Intelligence Services, located in London. His firm provided espionage services to Israel, among others.¹

Pearson was known for recruiting mercenaries from Lafayette, Louisiana, and sending them to various parts of the world. His men were involved in helping the Muslim government's troops in southern Sudan fight against Christian-Animist revolutionaries in the early 1970s. In November 1981, some of his men participated in an unsuccessful coup in the Seychelles, where they were arrested for bringing in AK-47s in golf bags.¹

According to Mossad files, Pearson could also arrange assassinations for $50,000, splitting the fee with a hit man recruited in Louisiana.¹

Pearson recruited Nicholas Davies, the London Daily Mirror foreign editor, for Mossad in the 1970s. He also worked with Mohammed Radi Abdullah, a former colonel in the Jordanian Army. Pearson used Radi's unwitting help to acquire intelligence about Palestinian organizations in Europe by selling arms to them. This allowed Pearson to pass intelligence to Mossad about the groups' movements and weapons. Based on Radi's tips, 14 or 15 Palestinians were eliminated over a two-month period.¹

In 1978, Pearson offered Radi a £200,000 loan, making it clear the money came from an Israeli source, and recruited him to work for an antiterrorist group in Israel run by Rafi.¹