-Caveat Lector-
Boston Globe
Zakim bridge photos tied to plot
Counterfeiting said to aid bomb suspects
By Shelley Murphy and John Ellement
6/22/2001
Two white supremacists charged with plotting to blow up a Jewish or
African-American landmark took detailed photographs of the Leonard P. Zakim
Bunker Hill Bridge and financed their neo-Nazi activities by robbing a bank
and printing counterfeit money, according to law enforcement sources.
During an April search of the North End apartment of Leo V. Felton, 30, and
Erica Chase, 21, federal agents found photographs of the bridge pinned to a
wall and a calendar with the date of Hitler's birthday, April 20, circled,
according to sources.
''They aren't tourist-type photos,'' one source said. ''They depicted the
structural elements of the bridge. They were studying that bridge for a
purpose.''
The $180 million bridge spanning the Charles River was named for the
longtime Jewish activist and regional head of the Anti-Defamation League,
who died of cancer in 1999.
Also found in the Salem Street apartment were news clippings of stories
about a planned memorial service at the New England Holocaust Memorial near
Faneuil Hall, the sources said. Investigators are considering whether Felton
and Chase planned to target the bridge or the memorial, sources said.
Investigators also seized writings by Felton that suggest he considered
randomly gunning down blacks in New York City, according to sources.
Felton is now under investigation in the robbery of a bank in the Boston
area during the past year, along with an accomplice who was later convicted
of another crime and is currently in prison, according to sources.
In a photograph seized at his apartment, Felton is believed to be holding
the gun used in the bank robbery, according to sources.
The photograph, contained in court records, allegedly shows a bare-chested,
tattooed Fenton wearing a bandana around his mouth and aiming a handgun in a
firing pose.
''This guy was fully capable and committed,'' said a source. ''He found some
kindred spirits, and they wanted to be famous together.''
Felton, a member of the White Order of Thule, was indicted, along with
Chase, by a federal grand jury Wednesday on charges that they plotted to
blow up a Jewish or African-American landmark to ignite a ''racial war.''
Yesterday, Cardinal Bernard F. Law, an ally of Zakim's, decried the alleged
plot.
''Anti-Semitism and racism are virulent threats to society,'' Law said in a
statement. ''Even as we are relieved that the potential terrorist acts were
thwarted in this instance, we are reminded of the need to build a society in
which every human being is treated justly and respectfully.''
The indictment alleges that Felton had purchased 50 pounds of ammonium
nitrate, a fertilizer that becomes explosive when combined with diesel fuel.
Investigators found a recipe for the mixture, called ANFO, in a notebook in
Felton's apartment. Timothy McVeigh used ANFO in the Oklahoma City bombing.
Law enforcement sources said investigators believe they have identified all
of the people who were involved in the bombing plot, uncovered after Officer
Christopher Connolly of the Boston police caught Chase allegedly passing a
counterfeit $20 bill to a cashier at a Dunkin' Donuts shop in East Boston on
April 19.
Chase and Felton, who was parked in a car outside the Bennett Street
doughnut shop, fled from police and were arrested on counterfeiting charges
following a foot chase.
Boston police alerted the US Secret Service, which brought in the federal
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, the FBI, and Ipswich and Danvers
police as the alleged bombing plot unfolded.
Boston City Councilor Michael Ross, whose father is a Holocaust survivor,
said that the council will
present a resolution Wednesday to honor Connolly and the other police
officers who helped capture Felton and Chase.
''I am personally extremely grateful to these men who prevented something
that could have been one of Boston's worst days,'' Ross said.
After Felton and Chase were arrested, they enlisted Chase's friend, Kathy
McGaffigan, a college student from Needham, to remove the 50 pounds of
ammonium nitrate, counterfeit money, a gun, and other evidence from their
apartment, according to court documents.
Felton had been living with his wife, Lisa, in Ipswich, but left her in
early April to move into the North End apartment with Chase.
John O'Hara, the special agent in charge of the Boston office of the US
Secret Service, said agents assigned here generally seize $10,000 to $15,000
in counterfeit money every week, and more than half is computer-generated,
inkjet notes, as was allegedly done in the Felton case.
''It's a crime that gives the bad guy the ability to spite the government,
so obviously it's a very attractive crime to people who feel that the
government is oppressive,'' O'Hara said.
FBI Supervisory Agent Thomas Powers, who oversees a joint terrorism task
force, said white supremacist groups have traditionally been more evident in
the Northwest and the South.
Judy Rakowsky and Francie Latour of the Globe Staff contributed to this
report.
This story ran on page B1 of the Boston Globe on 6/22/2001.
� Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.
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Date: Fri, 22 Jun 2001 11:37:03 -0700
Subject: The White Order of Thule/Bomb Plot
From: Alex Constantine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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