Reuters Story - NY Police Uncover Plot Against Politicians

[jmueller@ucla.edu (Jeff Mueller)]

1,001 Uses for Radioactive Material - check this one out:

NY Police Uncover Plot Against Politicians

June 13, 1996, 4:38 PM EDT

RIVERHEAD, New York (Reuter) - Investigators uncovered an apparent plot to
assassinate several local Long Island, New York, politicians with
radioactive material, Suffolk County authorities
said Thursday.

District Attorney James Catterson told a news conference that two men had
been arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit murder. The alleged plot
was ``something out of a novel,'' he
said, with radioactive material and weapons discovered in a house in
Bellport, Long Island.

``The plot was where an individual so obsessed with hatred for mainstream
political figures, who with ballistics people would spread radioactive
material in the seat of his car, in his food or some
proximity to him in the hope that he would contract incurable diseases and
cause his death,'' Catterson said.

Among those on a list of people targetted in the plot was Suffolk County
Republican party chairman John Powell. Others included county legislator
Fred Towle and Brookhaven public safety
director Anthony Gazzola, both also Republicans.

Long Island is the political stronghold of Republican Sen. Alfonse D'Amato,
but he was not on the plotter's list.

Authorities identified the two men arrested as 47 year-old John Ford of
Bellport and 42-year-old Joseph Mazzachelli of Manorville.

Investigators found five canisters of radium, a low level radioactive
material, in Ford's home. He was described by authorities as a former court
officer who once headed a UFO organization.

``Any potential threat to public health and safety has been eliminated,''
Catterson said in a statement. ``There is no danger to the community and the
material has been removed to a facility
capable of its proper disposal.''

Investigators also found a cache of weapons, ammunition, a mine sweeper, gas
mask and assorted militia literature, the Suffolk County District Attorney
said. It was not known whether the men
belonged to a militia.

© Reuters Ltd. All rights reserved. 


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