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UFO INVESTIGATOR ARRESTED ?

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Pleadian

unread,

Jun 18, 1996, 3:00:00 AM6/18/96

Does anyone know who the UFO investigator was that was arrested in New
York ?

I heard someting about the person wanting to poison someonw with radium,
or something ?

Thank you,

Michael Collins

kathy.hu...@sunysb.edu

unread,

Jun 20, 1996, 3:00:00 AM6/20/96

In <4q79c5$g...@newsbf02.news.aol.com>, plea...@aol.com (Pleadian) writes:
>Does anyone know who the UFO investigator was that was arrested in New
>York ?
>
>I heard someting about the person wanting to poison someonw with radium,
>or something ?
>

John Ford is/was president of the Long Island UFO Network. Whether or not
he was an "investigator" is debatable. Here then, posted without permission,
are two articles from Reuter's news service (Yahoo) and two articles from
Newsday (a Long Island newspaper - the ONLY L.I. newspaper, btw) about the
developments last week: (sorry it's so long - re-formatting is a pain)

-------------

Newsday

Radium From Grumman? By Olivia Winslow and Liam Pleven. STAFF WRITERS;

Ellen Yan and Barbara Chai contributed to this story. Prosecutors are
investigating whether a Defense Department employee from Medford was the
source of radium in what authorities said was a bizarre plot to slowly
poison three Suffolk County politicians with radiation. Prosecutors are
investigating whether Edward Zabo, 49, of 11 Forest Ave., provided the
means for two other men to carry out a scheme to kill Suffolk County
Republican Chairman John Powell, Suffolk Legis. Fred Towle (R-Shirley) and
county Conservative Party Vice-Chairman Anthony Gazzola by smearing radium
on their cars or injecting it in their food or toothpaste. Suffolk
District Attorney James M. Catterson Jr. said that in taped conversations
between John J. Ford, 47, a retired state court officer and the alleged
mastermind, and Joseph Mazzachelli, 42, who served time on burglary
convictions, Ford railed against the power and influence he felt the three
targets wielded. Ford, who had been active in Conservative Party politics,
and Mazzachelli are being held without bail on conspiracy to commit murder
charges. Although Catterson said it was too early to tell how Zabo
might have fit in with the conspiracy, he said Zabo potentially is one of
the sources of radium, though it was still unclear. At Zabo's house,
there were at least five lead pigs, storage containers that were tested
for radioactive m aterial, Drew Biondo, Catterson's spokesman, said. One
was found with radioactive substances. Zabo has been charged with weapons
and explosives offenses. Zabo is charged with third-degree criminal
possession of a weapon for allegedly having a detonator cord and
fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon for allegedly having
unlicensed handguns. He also was charged with a violation of state labor
laws for allegedly illegally possessing explosives without a license. He
was held without bail yesterday during his arraignment in First District
Court, Central Islip. Investigators are checking out the involvement of
more people and may make one more arrest, Biondo said. Catterson said
Zabo's name came up in conversations between Ford and Mazzachelli that
authorities taped this week to gain information on the alleged murder plot.
He was referred to in a conversation we monitored the other night as a
person from whom grenades could be procured, Catterson said. I don't
know whether that's a really good, accurate description. But anything
these people tell me sometimes I think is rather inaccurate. They live in
a different world from us, Catterson said at a news conference near Zabo's
home. Ford is head of the Long Island UFO Network and has set about
trying to prove the existence of space aliens. His whole thing was that
UFOS were invading, said Joel Martin, who until 1994 hosted a radio and
cable TV show on paranormal occurrences and had Ford on the show as a guest
several times. Martin said Ford claimed the military was covering up UFO
crashes on the East End. I stopped dealing with him because he was too
far out there. Biondo said that Zabo and Ford may have known each other
from the Long Island UFO Network. Police raided Zabo's house after he
returned home from work Thursday. Authorities said the search turned up
numerous weapons - as was the case when they searched Ford's Bellport home
at 55 Sundial Lane - and the lead containers. Ford and Mazzachelli are
accused of planning to expose the politicians to the radium in the hope
they would contract an incurable disease and die. Experts said it would
have been an inefficient way to kill, since it would take exposure over
years to produce cancer, if ever. If it didn't work, prosecutors charged,
Ford and Mazzachelli discussed using firearms. Zabo has been employed by
the Department of Defense at Northrop-Grumman's Bethpage facility since
1973 as a quality assurance specialist in electronics, said Ann
Jensis-Dale, a Defense Department spokeswoman. She declined to comment on
whether radium is stored at the facility. Northrop-Grumman is licensed
to have radium, but Dick Dunne, a company spokesman, declined to say if the
company had any. Zabo is on probation for a driving while intoxicated
conviction in March, authorities said. Meanwhile, more details have
emerged about Ford's involvement and apparent disenchantment with a faction
of the Conservative Party. While Republican Party Chairman Powell and
Towle said they didn't know Ford personally, Gazzola said he was not
surprised that his name turned up on Ford's alleged target s list. He's
part of the lunatic fringe that comes out every few years that tries to
control the Conservative Party, said Gazzola, who is also Brookhaven
town's chief investigator of code violations. He said Ford's goal for
years was to be chairman of the Conservative Party, a goal that Gazzola
said he squelched. He was always a little bit too far off to the right
and off the deep end. Everything was a conspiracy involving the CIA and
FBI.
--------------------------------------------

Newsday

Radium Plot / 3 charged in plan to kill Suffolk
GOP boss, others

By Olivia Winslow and Liam Pleven. STAFF WRITERS;

Steve Wick and Andrew Smith contributed to this
story.

A retired state court officer and a
convicted felon have been arrested in an alleged
plot to kill three Suffolk County politicians with
radium that they planned to spread in their
targets' cars or inject in their food or
toothpaste, authorities said yesterday. Suffolk
District Attorney James M. Catterson Jr. said at
a news conference that the suspects, John Ford and
Joseph Mazzachelli, hoped that exposing the
politicians to the radioactive substance would
lead them to contract an incurable disease that
would lead to death. Police raided a second
house around 6 p.m. last night, at 11 Forest Ave.
in Medford, and arrested an alleged radium
supplier Edward Zabo, 49, after he returned home
from work, asking investigators, "What's going
on?" One of the suspects arrested earlier told
authorities about Zabo, a civilian Navy employee
working at Grumman, a source said. "He's got
radioactive stuff, not as much as at the other
place," the source said. "He's got bomb-making
material, gun powder, detonating caps . . ."
Today, police plan to send bomb-sniffing dogs into
the woods behind the house, the source said,
because "some of the neighbors say they hear
explosions in the woods once in a while."
Canisters of radioactive material were found
outside Zabo's house and in the basement, of
ficials said. Experts said the radium probably
would not have killed the men, but Catterson said
the suspects had other weapons on hand as well.
"If that [the radium] were not successful, other
things were contemplated, including the use of
firearms," Catterson said. He displayed a large
cache of weapons he said authorities found at one
suspect's home. Authorities said the
politicians allegedly targeted for murder were
Suffolk Republican Party chairman John Powell,
Suffolk Legis. Fred Towle and Anthony Gazzola,
Brookhaven Town's public safety director and
Brookhaven Conservative Party chairman. None of
the targeted victims knew the suspects,
authorities said, and no reason was known why they
would want to kill them. Powell said
conversations between Ford and Mazzachelli that
authorities taped Wednesday indicated that they
were prepared to kill him, and if they had to, his
children. Assistant District Attorney Martin
Thompson, head of the rackets squad, said an
informant in a weapons case alerted authorities to
the alleged murder plot on Wednesday. Later
that day, authorities taped the conversations
during which they said they overheard Ford and
Mazzachelli discuss the plot. The two were
arrested Wednesday night. Towle said he first
heard about the case when authorities called him
yesterday morning to tell him about the arrests.
He said he has asked police to inspect his car to
see if it has been tampered with. "It's a real
shocker. Bizarre is an understatement," Towle
said, adding that his only knowledge of Ford came
from newspaper articles he had read about UFO
observers. "I wish I could say he and I had a
fight," Towle added. "But I wouldn't know him
from a hole in the wall." But Ford's home in
Bellport is in Towle's South Shore legislative
district, which Towle said could account for his
becoming a target. But, he said, "Why not pick on
your mailman, then? Why me?" The answer to
that question remained a mystery. Powell and
Towle said they had heard of Ford. Authorities
said Ford heads a Long Island UFO Network that
tries to prove the existence of space aliens.
Catterson said the conversations authorities taped
between Ford, 47, of 55 Sundial Lane, Bellport,
and Mazzachelli, 42, of 172 Wading River Rd.,
Manorville, indicated that the politicians were
stalked. The two are charged with three counts of
conspiracy to commit murder. Ford, who until
about 1 1/2 years ago was a court officer serving
in state Supreme Court in Riverhead, faces 8 1/3
to 25 years in prison if convicted. Mazzachelli
faces 12 1/2 to 25 years on the charge. He faces
a longer sentence because he is convicted felon,
who Thompson said served two prison terms upstate
for burglary. They were held without bail at
arraignment yesterday by First District Court
Judge William Bennett in Central Islip. He
rejected defense attorneys' calls for "reasonable
bail," saying, "I'm concerned about putting him
out in the street. The conspiracy part, this is
frightening." Besides the five canisters of
radium, identified by experts at Brookhaven
National Laboratory, authorities said they
recovered scores of weapons, including about a
dozen pistols, 30 knives of numerous types and
sizes, military-style rifles, gas masks, a mine
sweeper and ammunition. Experts in nuclear
medicine said it is unlikely that radium could be
used to kill somebody, because it would have to be
delivered in concentrated doses over a long period
of time. Even lacing toothpaste might not be
effective, they said, because the intended victim
might spit out the toothpaste. "It's just not
radioactive enough," said Dr. Richard Reba, the
director of nuclear medicine at the University of
Chicago. Alan Kuehner, a health physicist
with the Radiological Assistance Program team
stationed at Brookhaven lab and working under the
auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy, said
prolonged exposure to radium on a person's skin
could lead to a burn. If radium were ingested, he
said it would concentrate in the bones and could
eventually produce cancer. Officials said there
was no health risk to anyone in Bellport community
where the radium was found in Ford's pickup truck
parked near his home. Catterson said the plot
"was only in the planning stages," but Powell said
he learned that the threat was to be carried out
against him today. Authorities said Ford was
the mastermind behind the plot and recruited
Mazzachelli. In addition to the weapons,
authorities said scores of pamphlets "The Freeman,
Ideas on Liberties" were found in Ford's home as
well. Authorities said that there was no evidence
of a link between Ford and the Freemen group in
Montana, or other militia groups. For the p ast
year, Ford has been telling a Newsday reporter
that he believed a UFO crashed in a county park in
Brookhaven, and that alien bodies were taken away
to Brookhaven National Lab. In recent months,
he told the reporter that he was being harrassed
by Suffolk County Police, and that his phone was
tapped by Naval Intelligence. In none of the
conversations did he mention the three targets.
 Ford is an enrolled Conservative and party
members said he had been active in the party in
Brookhaven. John Bloom, a party activist, said
last night that Ford had shown interest in running
for the state Assembly. Bloom said that in a
telephone conversation with Ford this year to
discuss a possible race he found Ford's stands on
issues were in line with standard Conservative
Party positions, but Ford had some views on other
subjects that Bloom advised him to keep to
himself.

--------------------------------------------------
-

Yahoo - Third Man Arrested in N.Y. Radioactive Plot

Friday June 14 2:55 PM EDT

Third Man Arrested in N.Y. Radioactive Plot

RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (Reuter) - A third suspect was arrested
Friday in an alleged bizarre plot to kill several local
Republican politicians by exposing them to radioactive material,
officials said.

Police found a small quantity of radium and weapons in the
Medford, New York home of Edward Zabo, who was taken into
custody, officials said.

Two other men, one of them the president of the Long
Island ``UFO Network'', were arrested and charged Thursday with
conspiracy to commit murder. Further arrests were expected,
officials said.

District Attorney James Catterson said Thursday the alleged
plot was ``something out of a novel.''

The plotters were ``so obsessed with hatred'' that they
planned to spread radioactive material in their targets' cars or
food in hopes they would contract incurable diseases and die, he
said.

Catterson said one suspect, John Ford, had solicited people
to use radium isotope against Suffolk County Republican Party
leader John Powell when an informant alerted the authorities
Wednesday. Ford was then recorded on tape allegedly outlining
the plot.

The targets included two other Republicans -- county
legislator Fred Towle and Brookhaven public safety director
Anthony Gazzola.

Investigators found five canisters of radium, a low-level
radioactive material, in Ford's home, Catterson said.

Catterson described Ford as a former court officer and
president of the Long Island ``UFO Network.'' Also arrested on
Thursday was Joseph Mazzachelli, 42, of Manorville, New York.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Thursday June 13 5:58 PM EDT

NY Police Uncover Plot Against Politicians

RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (Reuter) - Investigators uncovered an
apparent plot to assassinate several Long Island, New York,
local 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.

Catterson said one of the suspects, 47-year-old John Ford,
was soliciting people to use radium isotope against Suffolk
County Republican Party leader John Powell when an informant
alerted the District Attorney's office Wednesday. Ford was then
recorded on tape outlining the plot.

``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.

Apart from Powell, others targeted included two other
Republicans, county legislator Fred Towle and Brookhaven public
safety director Anthony Gazzola.

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

Investigators found five canisters of radium, a low-level
radioactive material, in Ford's home, Catterson said.

``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.''

Catterson described Ford as a former court officer and
president of the Long Island ``UFO Network.'' The other man
arrested was identified as 42-year-old Joseph Mazzachelli of
Manorville, but no further information was available on him.

Investigators also found a cache of rifles and handguns,
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.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Thursday June 13 3:39 PM EDT

Plot against GOP Politicians Uncovered

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

``The plot was where an individual so obsessed with hatred
or 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 targeted in the plot was
Suffolk County Republican party chairman John Powell. Others
included county legislator Fred Towle and Brookhaven public
safety director Anthony Gazzola.

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 John Ford,
47, of Bellport and Joseph Mazzachelli, 42, 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.

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.

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