James Bond: Casino Royale

Dossier for M

Two weeks before, this memorandum had gone from Station S. of the Secret Service to M., who was then and is today head of this adjunct to the British defence ministries:
To: M.

From: Head of S.

Subject: A project for the destruction of Monsieur Le Chiffre (alias 'The Number,' 'Herr Hummer,' 'Herr Ziffer,' etc.), one of the Opposition's chief agents in France and undercover Paymaster of the 'Syndicat des Ouvriers d' Alsace,' the communist-controlled trade union in the heavy and transport industries of Alsace and, as we know, an important fifth column in the event of war with Redland.

Documentation: Head of Archives' biography of Le Chiffre is attached at Appendix A.  Also, Appendix B, a note on SMERSH.

We have been feeling for some time that Le Chiffre is getting into deep water. In nearly all respects he is an admirable agent of the U.S.S.R. but his gross physical habits and predilections are an Achilles heel of which we have been able to
take advantage from time to time, and one of his mistresses is a Eurasian (No. 1860) controlled by Station F., who has recently been able to obtain some insight into his private affairs.

Briefly, it seems that Le Chiffre is on the brink of a financial crisis. Certain straws in the wind were noticed by 1860 — some discreet sales of jewellery, the disposal of a villa at Antibes, and a general tendency to check the loose spending which had always been a feature of his way of life. Further inquiries were made with the help of our friends of the Deuxième Bureau (with whom we have been working jointly on this case) and a curious story has come to light.

In January 1946 Le Chiffre bought control of a chain of brothels, known as the 'Cordon Jaune,' operating in Normandy and Brittany. He was foolish enough to employ for this purpose some fifty million francs of the moneys entrusted to him
by Leningrad Section III for the financing of S.O.D.A., the trade union mentioned above.

Normally the Cordon Jaune would have proved a most excellent investment; and it is possible that Le Chiffre was motivated more by a desire to increase his union funds than by the hope of lining his own pocket by speculating with his employers' money. However that may be, it is clear that he could have found many investments more savoury than prostitution, if he had not been tempted by the by-product of unlimited women for his personal use.

Fate rebuked him with terrifying swiftness. Barely three months later, on the 13th April, there was passed in France Law No. 46685 entitled Loi Tendant â la Fermeture des Maisons de Tolérance et au Renforcement de la Lutte cohtre le Proxénitisme.

(When M. came to this sentence he grunted and pressed a switch on the intercom.
'Head of S?'
'Sir.'
'What the hell does this word mean? ' He spelt it out.
'Pimping, sir.'
'This is not the Berlitz School of Languages, Head of S. If you want to show off your knowledge of foreign jawbreakers, be good enough to provide a crib. Better still, write in English.'
'Sorry, sir.'
M. released the switch and turned back to the memorandum.)

This law (he read), known popularly as 'La Loi Marthe Richard,' closing all houses of ill- fame and forbidding the sale of pornographic books and films, knocked the bottom out of his investment almost overnight, and suddenly Le Chiffre was faced with a serious deficit in his union funds. In desperation he turned his open houses into 'maisons de passe' where clandestine rendezvous could be arranged on the border-line of the law, and he continued to operate one or two 'cinemas bleus' underground; but these shifts in no way served to cover his overheads, and all attempts to sell his investment, even at a heavy loss, failed dismally. Meanwhile the Police des Moeurs were on his trail, and in a short while twenty or more of his establishments were closed down.