The story of the world's first super-terrorist

August 25, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

In 1975, Carlos the Jackal took over the headquarters of OPEC in Vienna with a six-person team, kidnapped 62 oil ministers and staff, and flew them around North Africa on a ransom mission that ended with the hostages freed and Carlos paid millions. As they walked off the plane, some hostages asked for his autograph. One of the pilots kept his personally inscribed autograph for years. This was the high point of a career that made Carlos—born Ilich Ramírez Sánchez in Venezuela—the world's first "super-terrorist," a man who lived like a playboy, wore designer clothes, and turned terrorism into a celebrity performance long before Al-Qaeda redefined the threat for a new generation.

The making of a mercenary revolutionary

Carlos was the son of a devout Marxist father who named his children after Lenin. He left college and traveled to the Middle East in 1970 to join the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a radical Marxist Palestinian group led by Wadi Haddad. The PFLP had developed a new model of international terrorism: instead of attacking your enemy directly, you go outside your territory and bring the rest of the world into your struggle by hijacking planes or attacking airports, forcing global media to cover your cause.

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What you'll learn

1 (02:06) **Introducing Carlos the Jackal** - Joby Warrick explains why he returned to an earlier era of terrorism, before Al-Qaeda, when hijackings were routine and terrorists could become media celebrities.
2 (03:12) **Carlos's Unlikely Origins** - The world's most famous Palestinian militant was actually a Venezuelan Marxist, the son of a man who named his children after Lenin.
3 (04:15) **The Birth of Modern International Terrorism** - Warrick sets the scene: after Israel's 1967 victory, with no pathway to a Palestinian state, groups like the PFLP turned to terrorism as their only recourse.
4 (05:54) **Carlos's First Assassination Attempt** - The PFLP saw Carlos as a valuable asset: brave, multilingual, and able to travel without suspicion. His first test was to kill a wealthy Jewish businessman.
5 (08:47) **The Grenade in the Shopping Center** - In 1974, while a separate hostage crisis stalled, Carlos took his own initiative: he dropped a hand grenade into a crowded Parisian shopping center, then calmly walked away through the chaos he created.
6 (13:06) **The Lax Security of the 1970s** - Warrick describes an attempt to shoot down an Israeli airliner with rocket-propelled grenades, noting how easy it was to bring weapons onto planes without metal detectors or pat-downs.
7 (15:00) **The Paris Apartment Shootout** - The incident that cemented Carlos's fame: French police, acting on a tip from a captured associate, raided a party at one of Carlos's girlfriend's apartments.

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Show Notes

National security writer Joby Warrick tells the story of “Carlos the Jackal,” the world’s most notorious terrorist of the ‘70s and ‘80s. He became so famous for his brazen attacks and playboy lifestyle that, once, when he was releasing hostages from a hijacked airplane, several asked him for autographs. Warrick’s book is The Jackal. He spoke with Dave Davies.

Also, Maureen Corrigan reviews three suspense novels: The Intrigue, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Under the Falls, by Richard Russo, or The Blue Flame, by George Pelecanos.

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