By RUSSELL CONTRERAS
A former Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist told an undercover FBI agent he could build 40 nuclear weapons for Venezuela in 10 years and design a bomb targeted for New York City.
In audio recordings played Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque, Pedro Leonardo Mascheroni tells an agent posing as a Venezuelan official that the bombs would prevent the United States from invading the socialist South American country.
Mascheroni said his New York bomb wouldn’t kill anyone but would disable the city’s electrical system and help Venezuela become a nuclear superpower.
The 79-year-old Mascheroni was sentenced Wednesday to five years in federal prison after pleading guilty in 2013 to offering to help develop nuclear weapons for Venezuela through dealings with the undercover agent.
