← Conspiracy Theories, Cults, & Crimes
Conspiracy Theories, Cults, & Crimes
CRIMES: The Attempted Assassination of Pope John Paul II
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On the Crime House Original podcast, Serial Killers and Murderous Minds, we're diving into the psychology of the world's most complex murder cases.
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From serial killers to cult leaders, deadly exes, and spree killers, we're examining not just how they killed, but why.
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Is it uncontrollable rage? Overwhelming fear? Or is it something deeper? Serial Killers and Murderous Minds is a Crime House Studios original new episodes drop every Monday and Thursday. Follow wherever you get your podcasts. This is crime house. There aren't many people out there as universally beloved as the Pope. As the head of the Roman Catholic Church, he isn't just the leader of one of the world's largest religions. According to Catholic Catholic doctrine, the Pope directly communicates with God. For true believers, this means he's more than human. He's divine. With that kind of power, it's not surprising that the Pope also has the ability to influence politics. That can come with its own set of challenges. Not everyone is going to agree with the causes the Pope chooses to support. But in 1981, Pope John Paul II learned that lesson the hard way. On May 13, a Turkish nationalist named Mehmet Ali Aja became infamous for shooting John Paul in broad daylight. The Pope survived, but the attack shocked the world and it shook the very foundations of the Catholic Church. Authorities investigated the attack and tried to piece together Ajah's motives. In the end, they were left with more questions than answers. But Pope John Paul seemed to know something the police didn't. The attack on his life probably had something to do with a decades old prophecy. From UFO cults and mass suicides to secret CIA experiments, presidential assassinations and murderous doctors, these aren't just theories. They're real stories that blur the line between fact and fiction. I'm Vanessa Richardson and this is Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes, a Crime House original powered by Pave Studios. Every Wednesday and Friday, I'll explore the real people at the center of the world's most shocking events and nefarious organizations. These cases are wild and I want to hear what you think at the end of each episode. Leave a comment wherever you listen. Be sure to rate, review and follow so we can continue building this community together. And for early ad free access to both episodes, subscribe to Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts Today I'm discussing the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II by Mehmet Ali ajah. For over 25 years, John Paul II presided over the Church. He saw it through the end of the Cold War and the dawn of the 21st century. And after his Death. He was canonized as a St. John. But it's not just John Paul's near death experience that makes this story a fascinating one. It's the ongoing mystery behind the man who pulled the trigger. To this day, we don't know why he did it or who put him up to it. Was Ajah acting alone? Was he the tip of a far ranging cold war conspiracy? Or was he trying to carry out a divine vision, one that only a few people in the world knew about? All that and more coming up.
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On October 16, 1978, hundreds of thousands of people gathered at St. Peter's Square in Vatican City. The crowd was buzzing with anticipation. The Sistine Chapel stood before them. And inside, a papal conclave was underway. The it was the third of the year. The two previously elected popes both suffered fatal heart attacks not long into their papacies. Now the cardinals had gathered to choose a new pope. They hoped that the third time would be the charm. And it seemed like everything really was happening in threes, because on the third day of the conclave, at around 6pm, white smoke rose from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel. The crowd erupted in cheers and craned their necks to see the new Pope for themselves. Moments later, he stepped out onto the balcony of the chapel for his first public appearance. It was Carol Wojtewa, the archbishop of Krakow, Poland. Wojtowa, who would take the name John Paul II was a shocking choice. The last non Italian pope had reigned hundreds of years ago in the 16th century. Not only that, but John Paul was only 58 years old, making him the youngest pope since 1846. John Paul must have known his appointment would ruffle a few feathers. But he didn't shy away from the things that made him stand out. Because unlike some of his predecessors, he didn't want to maintain the status quo. He wanted to bring the Roman Catholic Church into the future. In his first sermon, John Paul said he wanted to expand the church's global reach. Almost immediately, he started scheduling papal visits to Catholic communities all over the world, from Mexico to the Middle East. But he wasn't just going to Catholic nations. He also wanted to break bread with predominantly Muslim countries like Turkey. John Paul had no idea it was home to the man who would later try to take his life. Mehmet Ali Aja was born in 1958 in the small town of Malatya in eastern Turkey. By the time Pope John Paul II was elected, Ajah was 21 years old and a student at Istanbul University. Publicly, he was on track to be a teacher, but privately he was on a very different path. Though he'd done well on his entrance exams, Ajah didn't spend much time in class. Instead, he hung out at the nearby Marmara Cafe with members of the so called Idealist clubs. And while the name might sound harmless, the organization wasn't. The students in these Idealist clubs were representatives for a far right Islamic nationalist group known as the Gray wolves. In the 1970s, Turkey was ravaged by violence between extremists on both sides of the political spectrum. Of the fascist leaning nationalist groups, the Gray Wolves were one of the most dangerous. The they had ties to the Turkish mafia and were suspected of drug running and carrying out political assassinations. Ajah had been affiliated with them for years by the time he enrolled in university. But it wasn't until January 1979 that he got his first assignment. On February 1, a 49 year old man was returning to his home in Istanbul. His name was Abdi Ekce and he was the editor of the major Turkish newspaper Millet. Ipekche regularly published articles that were highly critical of Turkish nationalist groups. He was an ethical, moderate voice in a country full of extremists. This reputation earned him the respect of journalists worldwide. It also put a target on his back. As soon as Ipekche stopped his car in front of his apartment building, another man ran up and shot him through the window at point blank range. The journalist died immediately and his killer fled before anyone saw him. As soon as Ipekche's body was discovered, Turkish police started scouring the city for the killer. They didn't know that the man they were looking for, Mehmet Ali Ajah, was hiding in plain sight. For someone who was supposed to be on the lam, Ajah didn't seem overly concerned. After the assassination, he participated in two robberies, including a jewelry shop where he stole cash and valuable gems. Eventually, Ajah's reckless behavior caught up to him. After four months of searching, police traced him back to Marmora Cafe near Istanbul University. In June, they raided the restaurant and arrested Ajah. Once in custody, it didn't take Ajah long to confess to the murder, claiming it was a personal vendetta. The police didn't buy it. They knew Marmara Cafe was a popular hangout for the Gray Wolves. And the authorities were certain that Ajah didn't act alone. He was covering for the real masterminds behind the plot. The police hoped Ajah's time behind bars would get him to break. But instead of giving up his co conspirators, he did something shocking. He withdrew his confession. And that wasn't the only surprise he had up his sleeve. After six months in custody, Ajah received an unexpected visit from a group of prison guards. Before he could ask what was going on, they handed him a uniform. Once he'd changed, the group escorted Ajah past eight checkpoints and out into the streets of Istanbul. And then he disappeared. After his escape, the prison conducted an internal investigation. They found that Gray Wolf agents or sympathizers had infiltrated the staff. Eventually, a guard captain and 13 soldiers were arrested in connection with the plot. But none of them were willing to talk and they had no idea where Ajah had gone. However, he'd left a clue behind in his cell. It was a letter written to his friends about Pope John Paul II's upcoming visit to Turkey that November. It said, Western imperialists who are afraid of Turkey's unity of political, military and economic power with the brotherly Islamic countries are sending the crusader commander, John Paul. And under the mask of a religious leader, if this ill timed and meaningless visit is not called off, I will definitely shoot the Pope. This is the only reason that I escaped from prison. Whether or not John Paul was warned about the attack, he didn't change his plans. He came to Turkey in November of 1979 with a heavy security presence. Despite Ajah's letter, the visit went smoothly. After three days, John Paul II returned safely to Rome. It was a relief, but it also meant Ajah was at large. The authorities had no idea where he was. But Aja did leave some more clues behind. Later in the year, two people wound up dead in connection with him. The first was a former ally who disclosed his location to the police in June. He'd been tortured and murdered. The second was a high school student who'd apparently crossed the Gray Wolves. Ajah must have known the police were starting to connect the dots. So in late 1979, he left Istanbul and returned to his hometown of Malatya. Then, on February 1, 1980, exactly a year after he'd killed Ipekche, Aja left the country. Using a fake passport, he made his way to Sofia, Bulgaria, where the Turkish mafia operated a number of safe houses. By this point, Interpol, the world's largest international police organization, was also looking for Ajah, but he was a difficult man to pin down once he was spotted taking a bus from Sofia to Belgrade. After that, the trail went cold again. Whether it was the mafia or the gray wolves, the Ajah must have had help evading authorities. And whoever his allies were, they clearly had something very important in mind for the young man, a mission that only he could complete.
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Details@jacksonhewitt.com On May 13, 1981, 60 year old John Paul II left the Vatican for his weekly appearance at St. Peter's Square. He'd have an especially big audience that day. It was the anniversary of one of the world's most famous modern miracles. 64 years earlier, in 1917, in the town of Fatima, Portugal, three children were supposedly visited by the Virgin Mary. They said she showed them three visions between May and October of that year. They were told to keep the visions a secret, but eventually the story got out, it spread like wildfire throughout the Portuguese Catholic community and made its way to the Vatican itself. The after an inquiry in the 1930s, the church officially acknowledged the event as worthy of belief, meaning the visions were considered to be miracles. And every year on May 13, it was celebrated throughout the Catholic world. That day in 1981 was no different. At 4:50pm John Paul stepped into his white open top Fiat SUV, also known as the Popemobile. He rode out into St. Peter's Square as the crowd cheered him. It was customary for the Pope to circle the square twice before giving his official address and blessing. As John Paul went around the first time, cameras snapped and his followers held out crosses for him to touch. On his second circuit. At around 5:19pm John Paul passed the southwest corner of St. Peter's Square. His vehicle slowed as he prepared to step out and formally bless those in attendance. Just then, someone shouldered his way through the worshipers. He pulled out a Browning 9 millimeter pistol, raised it over the crowd, and fired four times at the Pope. Eyewitnesses screamed as John Paul II crumpled, red staining his white robes. The assassin lowered the pistol and turned to flee. But before he could make a run for it, several spectators, including a nun, grabbed hold of him. Security members swarmed the attacker, forcing him to the ground. At the same time, another man with a gun was spotted running from St. Peter's Square. A tourist caught two snapshots of him, but everyone's attention was on the person who'd opened fire. And the second man got away unscathed. Along with the Pope, two others had been hit by Ajah's bullets. They were American tourists, Rose Hull and Ann o'. Dray. Rose had a bullet wound in the arm and and Anne had been hit in the chest. Thankfully, they both survived the attack. Meanwhile, John Paul had wounds on his abdomen, left hand and right arm. He was quickly rushed to a nearby hospital, where he immediately went into surgery. For more than four hours, doctors operated and the public held its breath. The Pope was lucky. The bullet that struck his abdomen had narrowly missed his aorta, which would have killed him instantly. Because of the near miss, John Paul was stable by the end of the night. Now it was time to bring his attacker to justice. Interpol and Italian authorities brought the suspect into custody. They searched him to make sure he was no longer armed. They didn't find any weapons, but they did discover two handwritten notes in his pocket. One said, I, Ajah, have killed the Pope, so that the world may know of the thousands of victims of imperialism. It wasn't long before the authorities identified Aja as 23 year old Mehmet Ali Aja, the same man who was wanted in Turkey for a political assassination. It seemed he'd managed to enter the country using a false Italian passport supplied by the Turkish mafia. Under questioning, Aja confirmed the existence of a second gunman, but refused to identify him. He was also extremely cagey when asked about his motive. At first he claimed to be a member of the Marxist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, or pflp. This probably wasn't true, given his history as a right wing anti communist hitman. Sure enough, the PFLP denied any connection to Ajah or the attempt on the Pope's life. From there, Aja's story only became more confusing. Next, he claimed he worked with Bulgarian intelligence. He named various Bulgarian agents he'd met with at his hotel in Sofia. Aja said that was where they'd come up with the plan to kill the Pope. Since Bulgaria had ties to the Soviet Union, conspiracy theorists wondered if the KGB itself was behind the whole plot. It seemed possible. John Paul had served as a bishop in communist Poland. Since then, he'd been a staunch anti communist, which made him unpopular in the USSR and other Eastern bloc countries. It was an appealing theory to Western neoconservatives like the newly appointed President Ronald Reagan. If the Pope was encouraging anti communist rhetoric, it would make sense that the USSR wanted him out of the way. But Ajah was a Turkish nationalist. He was just as opposed to communism as he was to capitalism. If he was actually a Soviet backed assassin, he must have been a double agent. Maybe the KGB had trained him to infiltrate the gray wolves long before the election of Pope John Paul ii. It was a reach, but the Italian courts seemed to buy into the idea. In July of 1981, just two months after the attack, Mehmet Ali Aja was sentenced to life in prison. During the proceedings, the judge hinted that another trial would come soon enough. And he said that, quote, hidden minds had been behind Ajah's actions, implying that the court was actively investigating a conspiracy. For the next several years, investigators tried to reconstruct a timeline of Ajah's movements between the killing of Abdi Ipekche and the shooting in St. Peter's Square. Maybe somewhere along the way they would find the evidence they were looking for. Meanwhile, Ab Ajah received a surprise visitor behind bars. On December 27, 1983, John Paul II, accompanied by a photographer and a reporter, visited Ajah at the Roman prison where he'd been for the last two years. Ajah, who was now 25 years old, greeted John Paul. The two men set up chairs in the corner and had a 21 minute conversation out of earshot of the press. Afterwards, John Paul gave Ajah a small box and left inside was a rosary. The Pope may have prioritized saving Ajah's soul, but the Italian government was focused on bringing his collaborators to justice. And by October 1984, investigators felt they had enough evidence to try Ajah for conspiracy. The trial started in May of 1985, almost four years to the day of the shooting. The indictment was 1243 pages long and named eight defendants. Besides Ajah, four other Turks and three Bulgarians were named as co conspirators of the accused. Only four men appeared in the courtroom. The others had already been detained in their home countries on unrelated charges. Those who weren't already in custody were charged in absentia. One of the absent defendants was Oral Chelik, a childhood friend of Ajah's who was allegedly the second gunman. Initially, Aja had refused to name Chelik, but eventually he came clean. For the prosecution, this was an important step in the right direction. It seemed like the case was open and shut. But then Ajah threw them a curveball, or several. Ajah grew more erratic each day. He was on the stand, sitting in a white steel cage in the courtroom. He loudly proclaimed to news cameras that he was Jesus Christ. He said that the end of the world was near. Ajah's unreliability as a witness wound up being the prosecution's Achilles heel. Their case relied on his testimony and his stories of secret meetings with Bulgarian intelligence officers. Slowly, piece by piece, every detail of these stories fell apart. He got key details wrong. Named individuals who had alibis and misidentified photographs. The trial lasted 10 months, until March 1986. Ultimately, it was dismissed due to a lack of evidence. But before the trial came to a close, Ajah offered one last motive for the shooting. He said God had guided him and it had something to do with the third secret of the Madonna of Fatima. Meaning it was related to the third vision, the Virgin Mary had shown those children in Portugal all those years ago. Ajah didn't elaborate beyond that. With this cryptic clue, he went back to prison, leaving the world to puzzle over his words. Up to that point, most people had assumed the date of the attack had been a coincidence. Now the public was re evaluating everything they thought they knew about the shooting. What did the assassin know about Fatima? Was this another red herring? Or had the attack been some sort of spiritual Retribution.
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What drives a person to kill? Is it uncontrollable rage? Overwhelming fear? Unbearable jealousy? Or is it something deeper? Something in the darkest corners of our psyche?
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Every Monday and Thursday, the Crime House Original podcast, Serial Killers and Murderous Minds dives deep into the minds of history's most chilling murderers. From infamous serial killers to ruthless cult leaders, deadly exes, and terrifying spree killers, I'm Dr. Tristan Ingalls, a licensed forensic psychologist. Along with Vanessa Richardson's immersive storytelling full of high stakes and twists and turns, in every episode of Serial Killers and Murderous Minds, I'll be providing expert analysis of the people involved, not just how they killed, but why.
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Serial Killers and Murderous Minds is a Crime House Studios original new episodes drop every Monday and Thursday. Follow wherever you get your podcasts. By March of 1986, Mehmet Ali Aja was serving life in prison. Prison for shooting Pope John Paul ii. He'd also been charged with being involved in a broader conspiracy to assassinate the Pope. But after one failed trial and a rambling testimony, the Italian magistrate had no choice but to drop the second charge. It was clear that Ajah wasn't a criminal mastermind. If he had one skill, it was misleading anyone who tried to interview him. His statements were contradictory and often outrageous. And by the mid-1980s, he was claiming to be a messiah, a reincarnation of Jesus Christ. And he'd allegedly renounced Islam and converted to Christianity. It's impossible to know if anything Ajah said was sincere, but it seemed like one person believed him. Pope John Paul ii. Over the years, John Paul met members of Ajah's family, including his mother and brother. He prayed for the man who attempted to end his life. And eventually, John Paul shocked the world when he spoke about the mysterious statement Ajah had made in court on the stand. Ajah had said that shooting the Pope was a divine mission inspired by the third Secret of Fatima. This was in reference to a supposed miracle that had happened in Portugal back in 1917. At the time, two of the secrets were known. The first was an elaborate vision of hell. It showed demons tormenting human souls in the midst of a great inferno. The second was a prediction about World War I, which was raging at the time. According to the vision, the fighting was going to come to an end. But if humanity didn't turn to God, an even worse war would break out during the reign of Pope Pius xi. This second vision turned out to be true. Pope Pius XI passed away on February 10, 1939. World War II officially began seven months later, on September 1, 1939. But the political instability that led to it did in fact begin while the Pope was still alive. The third vision was still a closely guarded Vatican secret, but not for long. As he approached his 22nd year as Pope, John Paul II requested that the Vatican make the third secret of Fatima public. It was announced on May 13, 2000, exactly 19 years after the assassination attempt. Like the other Fatima visions, it was a vivid scene. It depicted a bishop dressed in white, leading a column of priests and other worshipers up a steep mountain. At the top of this mountain stood a cross surrounded by ruins and dead bodies. As he knelt before this cross, the bishop fell under a wave of gunfire. Like the second vision, it seemed chillingly prophetic in hindsight. The Pope never came out and said that Ajah was fulfilling the prophecy. But he did say he'd been protected that day, that divine intervention ensured the shots weren't fatal. And that wasn't the only stunning announcement John Paul made that year. He'd pushed for Ajah's release and succeeded. On June 14, 42 year old Mehmet Ali Aja was pardoned for his crime. After less than 20 years, Ajah stepped out of the prison, but he wasn't a free man. Italy immediately extradited him to his home country of Turkey, where Aja had an extensive criminal record. He'd exceeded the statute of limitations for most of his smaller crimes, including robbery and fraud, but he was still a convicted murderer. As soon as he arrived in Turkey, Ajah was sent to prison and finally punished for killing Abdi Ipekche, the journalist he'd shot in 1979. In early 2005, while still behind bars, Ajah reached out to Pope John Paul II one last time. After hearing that John Paul was sick, Ajah wrote him a letter wishing him a Speedy recovery. Pope John Paul II died two months later at 84 years old. Even then, the truth about Ajah's attack remained a mystery. Lots of people still thought he was a double agent who the KGB had hired to infiltrate the Gray Wolves and kill one of the world's most prominent prominent anti communists. But when the Berlin Wall fell In the early 1990s, nobody found any documents mentioning a KGB plot to assassinate the Pope. Like a lot of conspiracy theories, this only shifted the goalposts further away. Now, proponents claimed the plot was so secretive that the KGB had made sure to destroy those documents before the collapse of the ussr. It wasn't just Cold War conspiracy theorists who endorsed this story either. Despite the lack of evidence, the Italian parliament publicly proclaimed that the Soviet Union was responsible for the attack. Meanwhile, Aja continued to enjoy being one of the world's most infamous men. While in prison, he asked Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown to team up and co write a book called the Vatican's Code. Brown said no. But that didn't stop Ajah from making other wild suggestions, like volunteering to go to Afghanistan to kill Osama bin Laden. After all the drama, Ajah was released from prison in 2010 at 52 years old. Having spent nearly 30 years behind bars, he said it was finally time to share his side of the story. In January 2013, he wrote a memoir. It was published in Italian, and the translated title is they Promised Me Heaven, My Life and the Truth about the Attack on the Pope. In it, he claimed that the assassination attempt on John Paul II wasn't ordered by the KGB or the Turkish mafia. According to Aja, the hit was put out by Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini. The Vatican wrote this and every other claim in the book off as yet another lie. And they were probably right. Many of Ajah's anecdotes were disputed by the evidence. In his telling, he named documents that didn't exist, correspondence he'd never had, and announcements the Vatican had never made. Over a year later, on April 27, 2014, John Paul II was canonized as a saint by Pope Francis. That December, Mehmed Ali Aja visited the tomb. He paused silently by John Paul's tomb, set down two bunches of white roses, then left. It was the first time he'd been to the Vatican since the shooting. As of this recording, Ajah is still alive. Most recently, he made the offer to welcome the newly appointed Pope Leo XIV to Turkey. Unsurprisingly, the Pope declined. Unless Ajah comes forward with new verifiable evidence, we're left with just a few plausible theories about who, if anyone, sent him to kill the head of the Catholic Church. It's no secret that the USSR didn't like Pope John Paul ii, but for such an enormous conspiracy, the lack of evidence is telling. Or maybe it was carried out by a third party like the Ayatollah. But once again, all we have are Ajah's own words to back up this idea. Maybe Ajah was acting alone with his childhood friend Oral Chelik running cover for him, but that would require a lot of coordination. In the end, the most likely culprits were the Gray Wolves and their allies in the Turkish mafia. It seems possible that they wanted to make good on the threat Ajah issued back in nineteen nineteen seventy nine. I'd love to know what you all think who was behind the assassination attempt. Let us know in the comments. If the Gray Wolves were responsible, we may never know what they hoped to gain from this act of terror, but we do know that Ajah was no mastermind. He was barely even a true believer. The most revealing thing about him wasn't what he said, but how he said it. Once he was caught and facing life in prison, he decided to make the most of his 15 minutes of fame. He didn't convert from Islam to Christianity, he converted from extremism to opportunism. Thanks so much for listening. I'm Vanessa Richardson and this this is Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes. Come back next week. We'll decode the episode together and hear another story about the real people at the center of the world's most notorious cults, conspiracies and criminal acts. Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes is a Crime House original powered by Pave Studios. Here at Crime House, we want to thank each and every one of you for your support. If you like what you heard today, reach out us on social media, rimehouse on TikTok and Instagram. Don't forget to rate, review and follow Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes Wherever you get your podcasts, your feedback truly makes a difference and to enhance your Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes listening experience, subscribe to Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts. You'll get every episode early and ad free. We'll be back next week. Next Wednesday. Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes is hosted by me, Vanessa Richardson and is a Crime House original Powered by Pave Studios. This episode was brought to life by the Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes team. Max Cutler, Ron Shapiro, Alex Benidon, Natalie Pertzovsky, Lori Marinelli Sarah Camp, Robert Teamstra, Leah Roche and Michael Lang. Thank you for listening. What drives a person to murder? Find out from a licensed forensic psychologist on Serial Killers and Murderous Minds. A Crime House Original Podcast New episodes drop every Monday and Thursday. Follow wherever you get your podcasts.