Inside the Rise and Fall of Carlos the Jackal, the First Global Super-Terrorist
Joby Warrick’s new book details how Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, known as Carlos the Jackal, became a trans-continental terrorist and was finally apprehended after a 1994 medical operation.
In “The Jackal: The Rise and Fall of Carlos, the World’s First Super-Terrorist,” Pulitzer-winning journalist Joby Warrick chronicles the life of Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, born in Venezuela in 1949 to communist parents. After joining the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in 1970, he adopted the moniker Carlos and led the 1975 OPEC headquarters assault in Vienna, killing three and taking 62 hostages. Over the next two decades he executed bombings, kidnappings and assassinations for Middle-Eastern dictators while enjoying lavish protection in East Berlin, Budapest and Damascus.
A 1994 varicocele operation in Khartoum left him vulnerable; Sudanese commandos seized him and delivered him to French authorities, resulting in three trials and life sentences. During a 2025 prison visit, the 75-year-old inmate confessed to personally killing 83 people and ordering a thousand more, expressing no remorse and describing himself as a criminal narcissist.
Why it matters
The story reveals the origins of modern international terrorism and the role of state sponsorship in enabling such actors.
In this story
