Rogue French Freemasons On Trial for Bizarre Murder Plot

IMAGE: STEFAN GLERUM FOR M LE MAGAZINE DU MONDE

by Christopher Hodapp

There's a bizarre story blowing up across French and European media this week, and it has the potential of being a public relations nightmare for the entire fraternity the likes of which we haven't seen in decades. Newsfeeds everywhere are blaring headlines about Freemasons! Mafia! Murder plots! Not since the old P2 (Propaganda Due) story in Italy in the 1980s has there been a tale so convoluted, bizarre and seriously sinister involving a group of rogue Masons. And the press is having a field day with it.

Back in July of 2020, COVID lockdowns were going on in full force all over the world. Marie-Hélène Dini was a 60-year-old business coach living in the Paris suburbs when police knocked on her door and informed her that she had been the target of an attempted murder plot being hatched by 'The Freemasons.' What unfolded was a story so bizarre, so unbelievable, so downright goofy that she couldn't believe what she was hearing. It seemed like a creepy prank cooked by imbecilic teenagers with vivid imaginations. But as it turned out, this was no ridiculous gag.

Two armed men had just been arrested near Dini's home in possession of a stolen car, guns, knives, body armor, and a tracking device. The men claimed to police that they were on a secret mission for the French intelligence service (the Directorate-General for External Security, or DGSE) to kill the lady because she supposedly worked for the Mossad, Israel's crack secret service agency. 

In reality, Dini had no connection to espionage, crime, or Israel—she ran employee coaching companies and had never even visited Israel. Police quickly ruled out the Spy vs. Spy aspect of the story, but the incident left her deeply traumatized. She installed alarms in her home, hired a bodyguard, and eventually moved away from Paris, describing the event as feeling like stumbling into a “mafia-style” world driven by power and money. 

As the investigation unfolded, police uncovered a much, much larger criminal network. 

Six years later, some twenty-two people between the ages of 30 and 73 are now standing trial at the Paris Court of Assize, between March 30 and July 17th. It is one of the largest criminal trials in French history. Few of the suspects have any sort of prior criminal record, and they come from wildly different backgrounds: four soldiers from the DGSE, three police officers, including a retired financial crime investigator, six business leaders, a building caretaker, an engineer, a medical biologist, a gunsmith, a sports coach, and a couple of gullible security guards. What appeared at first to be isolated incidents turned out to be part of a shockingly wide-ranging crime cell run by a core group of rogue Masonic lodge members who hired others to intimidate or eliminate rivals, debtors, or just annoying inconveniences. 

And here's where this story REALLY goes off the rails. Many of the alleged criminals were discovered to be members of Athanor Lodge 759, located in the Puteaux neighborhood of the Hauts-de-Seine area, a residential suburb about five miles west of Paris. The area snuggles up next to La Défense, one of Europe's' busiest financial districts where you'll find some of the tallest buildings (and wildest architecture) in the Paris metropolitan area. Now the group is accused of organizing or carrying out a wide range of crimes. The most serious charges include aggravated violence, attempted extortion, and attempted murder in an organized gang—which all turned out to have been plotted for wildly trivial reasons. 

At the center of the network are three key figures who belonged to Athanor Lodge: Frédéric Vaglio (53, a former journalist turned private security entrepreneur), Daniel Beaulieu (a 72-year-old retired DGSI intelligence officer working in economic intelligence), and Jean-Luc Bagur (69, a coaching industry executive and union leader). They allegedly used their connections to sub-contract “missions” ranging from beatings and intimidation to contract killings. Beaulieu admitted to investigators that Vaglio had ordered him to arrange the murder of Marie-Hélène Dini, pretending it was a secret intelligence mission against a Mossad agent. Beaulieu then passed the contract to Sébastien Leroy, a private security officer, who recruited the two young DGSE guards (Pierre Bourdin and Carl Esnault). The guards believed they were being recruited to carry out authorized homicide operations for French intelligence.

Investigators eventually connected a link to Bagur, 69, who was a rival business coach to Dini and the Venerable Maitre (Venerable Master, the French equivalent to Worshipful Master) of Athanor Lodge. But the alleged crimes went beyond the Dini case. From an article in the U.S. Sun Monday:

The leader of the hit squad, Leroy, told cops he or his associates carried out most of the assaults, robberies and murders for the Athanor mafia, including the 2018 killing of racing car driver Laurent Pasquali.

His body was found in a forest after he allegedly failed to pay a debt to one of Vaglio’s friends.

Crimes ordered by the organised crime group escalated with time, beginning as petty revenge attacks and escalating to homicide, according to the investigation.

One of the charges relating to industrial espionage alleged that Leroy’s gang assaulted a businesswoman in the street and snatched her computer.

In 2019, the car of one of Bagur’s associates was set on fire after she found evidence of financial fraud within his company.

Leroy, a security guard, told investigators he was under the impression he had been acting on behalf of the French government.

He claimed Beaulieu had “manipulated” him using the idea of him becoming an informant for the DGSI domestic spy agency.

Jean-William Vezinet, lawyer for the targeted business coach Dini, said his client had been “terrified” that “people who are supposed to act for the good of society” were the key figures in the crime.

It remains unclear what evidence the prosecution has gathered from their interviews with Beaulieu, the accused ringleader.

He allegedly made an attempt to commit suicide in police custody.

Participants later claimed they had been manipulated or believed the jobs were legitimate French intelligence operations. The defendants frequently accused one another of lying or exerting toxic influence, with Vaglio described as particularly charismatic and controlling. The case highlights how personal, professional, or financial grudges—sometimes trivial—escalated into extreme violence within a network blending Freemasonry, private security, and former intelligence operatives. Ultimately, they abused the privacy of the lodge and trust between brethren, violating their obligations, and twisting the honorable symbolism of Masonic secrecy into a criminal enterprise.

If convicted, Vaglio, Beaulieu, Bagur and Leroy are all facing life sentences, along with 19 co-defendants. And of course, the European press is stressing the Masonic part of the story.

There's an old joke that, if you lock three French Masons in a lodge room together, they'll start arguing and form six new grand lodges...

The French Masonic landscape is enormous, confusing, and difficult for regular, recognized Masons to keep track of. There are at least 15 or more grand lodge-like governing bodies in France, but only one that is recognized as regular by the greatest number of Masons the world over—the Grande Loge Nationale Française (GLNF)—and it's not even the largest obedience in that country (that would be the Grand Orient de France, or GOdF). Consequently, there's little chance of the press having a firm understanding of its details when it comes to tedious and arcane details of regularity, recognition, and Masonic legitimacy.

Athanor Lodge 759 was legitimately chartered by the Grande Loge de l'Alliance Maçonnique Française (the Grand Lodge of the French Masonic Alliance, or GL-AMF), which was created in its present form in 2012. At the time, that grand lodge was largely formed by some 15,000 disgruntled Masons who had split from the Grand Loge National Français (GLNF) over a massive internal power struggle involving then-GLNF Grand Master Stifani. (see HERE for beginnings of that long tale). The GLNF is the French grand lodge overwhelmingly recognized throughout the world as regular, and the 2012 incident was an enormous upheaval at the time. It took years for the dust to settle, and the GLNF was never able to return to its former size. 

Understand that the GL-AMF today still has about 15,400 members in 684 lodges, and a strong argument can be made that they are perfectly regular in origin. In other words, it's not some small-time, bogus grand lodge masquerading as something it isn't. Like all regular, recognized grand lodge obediences, they admit only men, require a belief in God, and work accepted rituals. So, Athanor Lodge started out as a legit lodge of Freemasons. But like the old P2 lodge scandal with gangster/terrorist Licio Gelli in Italy back in the 1980s, it got twisted into someone's private hideout for criminals.

When these stories began to hit the news six years ago, I'm told that GL-AMF Grand Master Fred Picavet suspended the lodge and all of its members, including two of those currently indicted. Online chatter in France is that the lodge's Venerable Maitre, Jean-Luc Bagur, was suspended back in 2020, even before any of these stories came out, for non-payment of dues, and that he went right on running the lodge meetings, ignoring the order.

By early 2021, the main figures in the case turned against each other while in police custody. Daniel Beaulieu later suffered a serious head injury in prison (possibly from a suicide attempt) and now has memory problems—he may not be able to testify at his own trial. Marie-Hélène Dini survived her ordeal, battled cancer, and wrote a book about her experience titled It Was Not My Time, though she has struggled to find a publisher. 

As can be imagined, the press in the U.K. is eating this story up with a spoon. It plays right into their ongoing paranoia over Freemasons in police departments that has been stoked for the last couple of months. And the Italians are attempting to brand the story as a 'Masonic mafia.'

Meanwhile, the upcoming long trial will attempt to untangle the truth from the many conflicting stories in this sprawling and often absurd criminal enterprise.

There's a certain tragic irony to be found in the name of Athanor Lodge. In medieval alchemy, an athanor was a sealed stove or furnace that gave off slow, constant heat. It was used to slowly transform and refine matter, to improve it beyond its original state. Sadly, the men who joined Athanor Lodge failed to let Freemasonry refine them, improve them as men. 

Oh, they were transformed, all right. But not in the way Masonry tried to teach them. 

BREAKING: Conference of Grand Masters PHA Declares MWPHGL of Louisiana Irregular

by Christopher Hodapp

I received a message late Thursday that the Conference of Grand Masters of Prince Hall (PHA) Masons, convening in Charlotte, North Carolina this week, just voted to declare the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Louisiana (PHA) irregular. 

This is a mess that's been unfolding for quite some time, most of which revolves around actions of MWPHGL of Louisiana’s Grand Master Ralph Slaughter. Last year’s Conference took place in New Orleans and Slaughter was expelled from attending their gathering. Now the Conference members have removed Louisiana completely.

The declaration of irregularity was made by the PHA Conference’s  Committee on Fraternal Relations. Similar to the role played by the COGMNA’s own Commission on Foreign Fraternal Relations, they do not, and CAN not, actually take any action to enforce their findings. They determine if grand lodges are regular in their origin and actions; they report their findings; and it’s up to the individual grand lodges of the Conference to withdraw recognition or remain in amity with Louisiana. However, the Conference President and its voting members have the right to deny any grand lodge the privilege of ongoing participation and attendance in their annual meetings.

As soon as I can track down more details, I'll post an update to the story.

Flash! GL of Louisiana Votes in Favor of Prince Hall Recognition... Sort Of

by Christopher Hodapp

NOTE: This story will be updated as more details are received.

This afternoon at its 211th Annual Communication in Lake Charles, the Grand Lodge of the State of Louisiana F&AM successfully voted in favor of joint recognition with a Prince Hall (PHA) grand lodge, which reduces the number of states without reciprocity of recognition down to just four now.

Sort of.

It seems that the mainstream Grand Lodge of Louisiana (established in 1812) has passed joint recognition of the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge F&AM of Maryland (PHA, established in 1876), NOT Louisiana. I think this may be the first time this has happened in the history of American Freemasonry regarding Prince Hall amity agreements.

However, the voting members of the Grand Lodge of Louisiana decided NOT to recognize their own state's Prince Hall counterpart at this time. Their decision was based upon the preponderance of evidence of ongoing irregular activities carried out by the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge F&AM of Louisiana (established in 1869) and its MW Grand Master Ralph Slaughter. 

I've been told that GM Slaughter has allegedly issued charters outside of Louisiana in jurisdictions of other existing regular grand lodges with already established territories, which violates Masonic ground rules involving regularity and recognition. I'm still seeking clarifications of that. Slaughter was also involved in a coup that split apart the MW Prince Hall's Scottish Rite Southern Jurisdiction* into two parallel groups and resulted in lawsuits over legitimacy and ownership of the organization.

With this development in mind, I can't really say "And then there were four..." regarding amity agreements between mainstream grand lodges and their Prince Hall counterparts, but I can take them off the list of the last holdouts in the U.S. So I made Louisiana a neutral gray color on the map for the moment.

The last four remaining states without any recognition between mainstream and Prince Hall (PHA) grand lodges whatsoever are: Arkansas, Mississippi, South Carolina, and West Virginia.

This story will be updated.

*Th actual legal name of their legitimate Scottish Rite SJ is the United Supreme Council, 33 Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, Prince Hall Affiliation, Southern Jurisdiction of the United States.

Slaughter's illegitimate group is ALSO calling itself the United Supreme Council, 33 Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, Prince Hall Affiliation, Southern Jurisdiction of the United States.

Grand Orient of US Loses French Endorsement

My email inbox has been inundated today with messages saying that the Grand Orient de France has voted this weekend to withdraw its treaty of amity with the Grand Orient of the United States. I have no real independent verification of this today, but if true, it's not a good development for the GOUSA, as the GOdF was about the only Masonic jurisdiction of any size or reputation that recognized them.

The Grand Orient of the USA was formed in 2005, and received a patent from the GOdF in 2008. In spite of wildly shifting claims over the last five and a half years, it is unclear how many lodges are really at work under the GOUSA, and how many members it has, outside of Halcyon Lodge in Cleveland, Ohio. Needless to say, it is considered stunningly irregular by mainstream Masonry.

The Grand Orient de France is the largest Masonic obedience in that country with approximately 50,000 members, and is not recognized as regular by the vast majority of mainstream Masonic grand lodges around the world, primarily for its policy of not requiring members to have a belief in a Supreme Being, and more recently for allowing lodges to accept women as members.

If you are not a Mason, and are looking to join the Freemasonry that is recognized the world over as regular and the legitimate heir to the traditions of the lodges that formed the first Grand Lodge in London in 1717, click here to find the regular, recognized grand lodge for your state or region, as well as links to the historically African-American grand lodges of Prince Hall Freemasonry. Be aware that membership in groups like the GOUSA does not allow you to travel and visit more than a tiny handful of their own new lodges, and that the overwhelming majority of the world's Masons will not regard you as a legitimately recognized member. Only you can answer for yourself how important that is to you.

Women Not Flocking To Grand Orient of France

In 2010, France's largest Masonic obedience, the Grand Orient de France, with about 50,000 members, voted to admit women into its lodges. The decision was left to the individual lodge, and required no special permission.

Well, women aren't exactly flocking to the doors of the GOF's lodges. According to Au GODF : mais où sont les femmes ? by François Koch:

• 53 women are now members of GOF (including twenty affiliations transferred mostly from the Grande Loge Feminine de France)

• 160 requests for initiation of women or affiliations by existing sisters are being processed.

• Only one in five GOF lodges have refused to accommodate women.

The Grand Orient of France does not require its members to profess a belief in a Supreme Being, does not require lodges to have a Volume of Sacred Law on their altars, and does not prohibit taking official positions on religious and political issues. It is regarded as irregular by the majority of the Masonic world.

There are at least ten Masonic allegiances of varying importance in France. The GOF has just under 50,000 members. The Grande Loge Nationale Française (male only) has about 38,000 members, and is the obedience that is most uniformly recognized as regular by the majority of grand lodges around the world. The male only Grande Loge de France (GLdF) has 28,000.

Women make up approximately 17% of the Freemasons in France at various other grand lodges. Le Droit Humain (DH) is a Co-Masonic obedience which claims 15,000 members, and the Grande Loge Feminine de France (GLFF), represents some 14,000 women.

It should be noted by all of us in the US that every one of the grand lodges in France have steadily increased their membership over the last six years.

"Imakegarb" Makes Good in UGLE Competition

The Spring 08 issue of Freemasonry Today is online now.

One of the news items concerns the international call for papers by the UK's Internet Lodge No. 9659, sponsored by the United Grand Lodge of England's Pro-Grand Master, Lord Northampton. Of the 77 papers from 16 countries, judged by an international panel, two of the three winning entries were by Americans.

Lady Mason Wins Major Award

There was an international entry for the Internet Lodge Short Papers Competition, sponsored by Lord Northampton, the Pro Grand Master, and this worldwide flavour was reflected in the winners.

Of the 77 entries received, 70 were valid for entry into the competition. Entries were received from 16 countries – Australia, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, England, Greece, India, Italy, Lebanon, New Zealand, Poland, Spain, Thailand, USA and Wales.

There were three award categories: The Northampton Award for the best paper overall, the World Award for the best short paper by a Mason who is not a member of a Lodge under the UGLE and the Nova Award for a Brother who has been a member of the Craft for less than five years and has not been Master of a Lodge.

The winner of the Northampton Award is Alan Bergin. His paper is entitled "Were King Solomon’s Pillars Hexagonal?" Brother Alan is a Dorset Mason, currently living and working in Tenerife and a member of Tenerife Lodge No. 117.

The World Award prize went to Karen Kidd for her paper "I am Regular." Ms Kidd is a member of Shemesh Lodge No. 13 under the Honourable Order of American Co-Masonry in Seattle.

The Nova Award was won by Michael Halleran of Emporia Lodge, Kansas, with his paper "Tomato, To-Mah-To – Shibboleths Beyond the Craft." Michael also presented another paper to Quatuor Coronati Lodge two weeks before the Internet Lodge presentations.

Competition judges were Rich van Doren from the USA., Alan Tibbetts from Canada, Steve Burgoyne from South Africa, Andreas Rizopoulos from Greece and Alan Wyer and Stephen Wall, both from the UK.

The overall quality of the papers was such that the international judging panel had difficulty in choosing the winners. The winners were announced on 14th March at Freemasons’ Hall, Bridge Street, Manchester, with the Pro Grand Master presenting the prizes.

The success of the competition means that it is all set to become an annual event. Details will be on the Internet Lodge website, www.internet.lodge.org.uk shortly.

If you hang out in Masonic discussions forums, you've probably come across postings by Karen Kidd, who travels under the screen name Imakegarb (that's her up top with Lord Northampton). Congratulations to Brothers Bergin, Halleran and Kidd for their work, their contributions and their achievements.

One interesting side note - our English brethren may be feeling infiltrated by Yanks this year. Not only did two of these three awards go to Americans, but the Worshipful Masters of both Internet Lodge and Quatuor Coronati Lodge this year are Americans.

All 70 of the eligible papers are available here.

Paris Perambulations Part 2

Templars may be hard to find in Paris, but Masons aren't, in spite of the clammy hands the French press often get over Freemasonry.

There are at least fourteen grand lodges at work across France, of male, female and co-ed composition.

• The Grande Loge Nationale Française (left) is located at 12 rue Christine-de-Pisan. The GLNF (35,000 members, 1,487 Lodges) is the one most US grand lodges recognize as being regular, and the only French grand lodge most US Masons can visit without risking their dues card.

The location is tricky to find, and not on most of the free maps handed out by hotels. Trust me, the overwhelming majority of Paris taxi drivers WON'T knnow where this is, and almost none will be able to find it. The Wagram Metro station is the closest. Inside you'll find a museum, library, a bar, and several lodge rooms, including the massive Grand Lodge room.

Grand lodge Room, GLNF
What is striking about this particular temple complex is the modern design that extends to the architecture, the furniture, even the lighting and artwork - proof that a modern facility can be every bit as impressive as an older one.

There are at least two lodges that meet at the GLNF Paris complex that work in English. Stability-Concorde, No. 29/42 meets on the 1st Wednesday, from September through June (except January and September when it meets on the 2nd Wednesday). Contact their Secretary at stability-concorde@paris.com

Phoenix Lodge, No. 30 meets on the 4th Monday of January, March, May, September, and November. Phoenix is a research lodge, and lectures are given in English or in French (translation to the other language is provided at each meeting). Contact their Secretary at phoenix3012000@yahoo.fr

• Several years ago, I had dispensation to visit brother Mike Segall's lodge at the Grande Loge de France, at 8 rue Puteaux (26,300 members, 753 Lodges). It's a half block north of the Rome Metro station. Their building houses the grand lodge room (left), a slightly smaller Franklin D. Roosevelt lodge room (named after the US president, even though we don't bother to recognize them, but probably named back when we did), plus a handful of very small, intimate lodge rooms for no more than 20 or so members. There's a massive dining facility with private rooms, and a VERY well-stocked wine cave.

In spite of the disastrous stink that came and went in the US when the Grand Lodge of Minnesota briefly granted recognition to the GLdF, and the subsequent fiasco at the Conference of Grand Masters of North America, there was nothing irregular going on in their lodge. It is male only, works to the glory of the Grand Architect of the Universe, and opens the Volume of sacred Law (the Bible, in this case) on its altar.

The Franklin Delano Roosevelt lodge room (GLdF)
Masonic politics being what they are, I am unable to legally sit in the same lodge with Brother Phillipe Benhamou, the co-author of the French version of Freemasons for Dummies, La Franc-Maconnerie Pour Les Nuls, which is, for a fraternity supposedly about universal brotherhood, pretty dumb. And pretty sad.

• The Grand Orient de France, makes its home at 16 rue Cadet (46,000 members, 1,052 Lodges), behind an anachronistic aluminum-façade that looks bizarrely out of place, like the international terminal from Charles De Gaulle Airport got plopped down in an otherwise charming street. The Cadet Metro is the closest.

I have been here three times and been told every time they are fermé to visitors 'today.' Maybe it's just to me they are closed. But then again, I've had the same situation at Les Invalides.

Two other large grand lodges are at work in France that also make their headquarters in Paris.

• Le Droit Humain, at 49 Boulevard de Port-Royal (15,000 members, 550 Lodges), is a "mixte," or co-Masonic grand lodge. Maybe it's fitting that their grand lodge building is in Montparnasse, where Kiki hung out and the wildest part of the roaring 20s were happening. There's no need to have an Order of the Eastern Star in France, since feminine and mixed lodges have been around since the 1740s. (Likewise, there's no need for the Shrine in France because the French never punted the booze out of the lodge buildings the way only the Americans have done.)

• The largest female-only grand lodge in France is theGrande Loge Feminine de France, at 60 rue Vitruve (11,600 members, 351 Lodges). Again, female Masons have been in France almost since Freemasonry appeared. Often called "adoptive rites," Napoleon's empress Josephine was a Mason, as was American expatriate, dirty-dancer, singer and Allied spy, Josephine Baker.

• There are at least nine other grand lodges in France, and probably more.

(Membership figures are according to the 2006 numbers from Quid, an online French almanac, and are based on reports from the grand lodges.)