Although 'Broken eggshells' is a completely ficticous work, several of the characters, places, and groups within the book paralell factual events. Here is a list of all the historical references where fact is often stranger than fiction:

Henri Rucaarte
When it comes to Mafia connected businessmen going missing in strange cirmcumstances, the list is pretty endless. Mafia accountants seem to have the same career prospects as Christmas turkeys. The two that star at the top of this huge list stand head and shoulders above the rest. They are Michele Sindona and Roberto Calvi. Both these men knew each other. They both had connections with the Vatican Bank. They both were members of the breakaway masonic lodge P2. They both managed to lose a lot of other peoples money in banking scandals.

Michele Sindona faked his own kidnapping and was then kidnapped for real by the very people who had arranged the fake one. He was eventually jailed and died of strycninne poisoning.

Roberto Calvi was brought in to help clear up the mess that Sindona had created and promptly filled various bank accounts with more holes than a piece of swiss cheese. He was found hung under Blackfriars Bridge, London in 1982. Although the original verdict was suicide a later inquiry reached the conclusion that... Suspicion fell on Francesco Di Carlo, the Mafia godfather oversseing the interests of the Corleone faction in London at the time. Di Carlo has since turned informer and claimed that although the order was given for him to kill Calvi, he took too long about it and so some members of the Neaploitan Camorra stepped in to carry out the task. How kind of them.

MasonHarvest
Few will be under any illusions over the significance of the name here. There is a hint of the P2 conspiracy creeping into this name. In many of the big financial scandals a lot of companies fall under suspicion that turn out to be front companies for more illegal ventures. Sometimes these businesses are exposed as ficticious fronts that exist only on paper, some of these companies turn out to be legitimate businesses that are used for laundering the profits of crime. Some of these ventures remain as mysterious companies whose reason for creation and role in the conspiracy remain as intriguing side issues that are never fully resolved. The BCCI scandal had Capcom as its intriguing side issue, the Italian banking scnadal of Sindona/Calvi had Moneyrex.

Toenails Lodge
Tonails Lodge is completely ficticious. Having said that, there is a strange group in Italy that calls itself Phalange Armata (Armed Falange). There is mixed opinion as to whether ths group is a serious and deadly organisation as it claims or just a bunch of bored layabouts that phone up after any bombing and mumble "Oh yeah, we did that."

Most reports write them off as the latter, it's all too easy for these groups to claim responsibility for anothers work. What with the growing interest in intellectual property rights though, we may see terrorist groups suing each other for lost business if this continues.

There has been the odd occasion where the Falange seems to have had prior knowlegde of an attack. This is usually a good indication that the group isn't some bored gang of students with a stolen penguin in the fridge and may actually be as credible as they claim. The phone call before the event is the terrorists copyright claim.

The school of thought that places the Falange within the league of serious and dangerous groups usually refers to this group as a front for another group or perhaps a consortium of groups. It is widely alleged that the Armed Falange may, in fact, be a public face to take responsibility for political ttacks carried out by the Mafia, a runaway group of Freemasons (P2), and several other elements including corrupt politicians and members of the Italian security services.

SOIRRU
Does this shady group really exist? I have no idea. I have put the question to Scotland yard and will update this entry as soon as they reply.