All he wanted was “money and power.”
In exchange, he agreed to build 40 nuclear weapons for Venezuela, including a bomb that would target New York.
Pedro Leonardo Mascheroni didn’t know it, but he was talking to an FBI agent with a tape recorder when he made this deal. The agent posed as a Venezuelan official.
“I’m gong to be the boss with money and power. I’m not an American anymore. This is it,” Mr Mascheroni said to his wife, who was present during the conversation. Mascheroni is a naturalized American citizen. He is a former Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist.
Mr Mascheroni went on to say that exploding a nuclear bomb in New York City would not kill anyone, but would merely disable the city’s power grid. That statement, coupled with the fact that he is 79 years old, makes me wonder if he’s playing with a full deck.
Whether he was or not, he was sentenced to five years in prison with another 3 years of supervised release. His wife was sentenced to a year and a day in prison.
The FBI emphasized that there is no evidence the Venezuela was involved in such a plot.
From Yahoo News:
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A disgruntled, former Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist promised to build 40 nuclear weapons for Venezuela in 10 years and design a bomb targeted for New York City in exchange for “money and power,” according to secret FBI recordings released Wednesday.
In the recordings, Pedro Leonardo Mascheroni tells an agent posing as a Venezuelan official that the bombs would prevent the United States from invading the oil-rich nation and brags to his wife that the passing of secrets would make him wealthy.
“I’m going to be the boss with money and power,” the naturalized U.S. citizen from Argentina is heard saying. “I’m not an American anymore. This is it.”
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