2003 ricin letters

Last updated
2003 ricin letters
Nov 6, 2003 ricin letter - envelope.jpg
This envelope was sent to the White House and contained a small vial of ricin powder
Location Greenville, South Carolina
Washington, D.C.
DateOctober 15, 2003
November 6, 2003
February 2, 2004
Target U.S. Department of Transportation, The White House
Attack type
 Bioterrorism, Chemical attack, attempted poisoning
Weapons Ricin
Deaths0
Injured0
PerpetratorUnknown
MotiveRetaliation for federal trucking regulations

The 2003 ricin letters were two ricin-laden letters found on two occasions between October and November 2003. One letter was mailed to the White House and intercepted at a processing facility; another was discovered with no address in South Carolina. A February 2004 ricin incident at the Dirksen Senate Office Building was initially connected to the 2003 letters as well.

Contents

The letters were sent by an individual who referred to themselves as "Fallen Angel". The sender, who claimed to own a trucking company, expressed anger over changes in federal trucking regulations. As of 2008, no connection between the Fallen Angel letters and the Dirksen building incident has been established. A $100,000 reward was offered in 2004 by the federal law enforcement agencies investigating the case, but to date the reward remains unclaimed.

Background

Ricin

Ricin is a white powder that can be produced as a liquid or a crystal. [1] Ricin is an extremely toxic plant protein that can cause severe allergic reactions, and exposure to small quantities can be fatal. [1] The toxin inhibits the formation of proteins within cells of exposed individuals. [1] The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that 500 micrograms is the minimum lethal dose of ricin in humans provided that exposure is from injection or inhalation. [2] Ricin is easily purified from castor-oil manufacturing waste. [2] It has been utilized by various states and organizations as a weapon, being most effective as an assassination weapon, [3] notably in the case of the 1978 assassination of Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov.

Trucking regulations

On January 4, 2004 new federal transportation rules took effect which directly affected the over-the-road trucking industry in the United States. The rules took effect with a 60-day grace period and were aimed at reducing fatigue related accidents and fatalities. Called the most far-reaching rule changes in 65 years, the regulations reduced daily allowed driving time from 11 hours to 10. The most controversial measures involved the way that workdays were calculated. The calculations were not allowed to factor in such delays as food and fuel stops and other time spent waiting at, for instance, a factory for a load. The new provisions allowed drivers to stay on duty for only 14 hours, thus the time spent waiting could eat into the time a driver spent on duty. These rule changes were what the self-proclaimed "Fallen Angel" took aim at in the ricin-laden letters. [4]

Letters

October 2003 letter

This metal vial was found in South Carolina; it contained the poison ricin Oct 15 2003 ricin vial.JPG
This metal vial was found in South Carolina; it contained the poison ricin

On October 15, 2003 [5] a package was discovered at a mail-sorting center in Greenville, South Carolina, near the Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport. [6] The package contained a letter and a small metal vial containing ricin powder. [6] A label on the outside of the envelope containing the vial displayed the typed message: "Caution ricin poison enclosed in sealed container. Do not open without proper protection". [6] The presence of ricin was confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on October 21. [7] The letter inside the envelope was typewritten to the U.S. Department of Transportation, and stated: [8]

To the department of transportation: I'm a fleet owner of a tanker company. I have easy access to castor pulp. If my demand is dismissed I'm capable of making Ricin. My demand is simple, January 4, 2004 starts the new hours of service for trucks which include a ridiculous ten hours in the sleeper berth. Keep at eight or I will start dumping.You have been warned this is the only letter that will be sent by me. [ sic]
Fallen Angel [7]

Despite the potentially deadly nature of the poison, no one was exposed to, injured by, or killed by the ricin. [8] The Greenville facility where the letter was found was also declared ricin-free in the ensuing weeks. [9] In addition, the letter had no delivery address and no postmark. [10]

November 2003 letter

This typewritten letter was sent to the White House with a vial of ricin powder Nov 6, 2003 ricin letter.jpg
This typewritten letter was sent to the White House with a vial of ricin powder

On November 6, 2003, another letter, described as "nearly identical" to the October letter, was discovered. This time, the letter was addressed to The White House and it was discovered at a White House mail-processing facility in Washington D.C. [11] The letter contained a small vial of a white powdery substance that was initially tested negative for ricin. [12] After subsequent testing at the mail facility resulted in positives for ricin contamination on mail equipment, the U.S. Secret Service ordered a retest that showed by November 10 the letter was "probable for ricin". [12]

The letter was postmarked on October 17 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. [5] Though addressed to the White House, the threatening language contained in the letter was again directed at the U.S. Department of Transportation and written by an individual calling themself "Fallen Angel", as with previous letter. [5] The text of the letter stated:

Department of transportation
If you change the hours of service on
January 4, 2004 I will turn D.C into a ghost town
The powder on the letter is RICIN
have a nice day
Fallen Angel

The Secret Service did not alert the White House, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and other key agencies, including the CDC, of the discovery and positive tests until November 12. [12] In the November 21, 2003 issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report the CDC recommended that until Fallen Angel was captured, "healthcare providers and public health officials must consider ricin to be a potential public health threat and be vigilant about recognizing illness consistent with ricin exposure". [9] The CDC's November warning mentioned only the first Fallen Angel letter. [13] The discovery of the ricin letter at the White House facility was not disclosed to the public until early February 2004. [14] The public disclosure of the second ricin letter from Fallen Angel coincided with the discovery of ricin in the mail room of a senate office building. [14]

February 2004 mail room contamination

On February 2, 2004 in a mail room serving Senator Bill Frist in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, a white powdery substance was found on a sorting machine. [15] Tests on February 3 confirmed that the substance was ricin. [15] The positive test results were indicated by six of eight preliminary tests on the substance. [13] The discovery resulted in more than a dozen staffers undergoing decontamination as well as the closure of the Dirksen, Hart, and Russell Senate Office Buildings. [13] [15] The incident was treated as a criminal probe with investigators looking carefully for any connection between the ricin found at Dirksen and the "Fallen Angel" cases. [3]

Investigations

Fallen Angel

The focus of the probe by the FBI, U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) and the Department of Transportation's Office of Inspector General fell instantly upon the individual calling themself Fallen Angel in the two letters. The FBI was the lead agency in the Fallen Angel investigation. [16] Agents questioned various individuals during their probe, such as one vocal former trucker in Florida. [17] Federal officials, most notably at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), remarked that the letters did not have the hallmarks of international terrorism and were more likely produced by a homegrown criminal. [16]

On January 4, 2004 the FBI, along with the USPIS and the DOT, offered a $100,000 reward in connection with the October 2003 case from Greenville, South Carolina. [18] In late 2004 the amount of the reward was increased to $120,000. [19] The criminal has not been captured to date. [20]

Dirksen Building contamination

Immediately following the incident in Frist's office, both the FBI and the United States Capitol Police were tasked to the investigation; [11] like in the Fallen Angel investigation, the FBI was the lead agency. [16] Detectives and agents focused on the possibility that the individual responsible for the 2003 letters was also responsible for the contamination at the Dirksen building. [11] Within two weeks of the incident, investigators were questioning the validity of the positive ricin tests at the Senate building. The results raised suspicion because no source (e.g. a letter) was ever found for the ricin. It was possible that the "contamination" was from paper by-products and not ricin. [21]

However, later tests confirmed that the initial tests did not indicate a false positive and the substance was indeed ricin. [22] By the end of March 2005, there were no suspects and no confirmed source for the ricin found in Senator Frist's office. [22] Investigators also found no connection to the Fallen Angel case as of the same date. [22] Despite those developments, investigators were not yet ready to declare a dead end to the investigation. [22] As of 2008, no direct connection has yet been found between the Frist case and the Fallen Angel case and no explanation found for the origin of the ricin in Frist's office. [23]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Frist</span> American politician (born 1952)

William Harrison Frist is an American physician, businessman, conservationist and policymaker who served as a United States Senator from Tennessee from 1995 to 2007. A member of the Republican Party, he also served as Senate Majority Leader from 2003 to 2007. Born in Nashville, Tennessee, Frist studied government and health care policy at Princeton University and earned a Doctor of Medicine degree from Harvard Medical School. He trained as a cardiothoracic transplant surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital and Stanford University School of Medicine, and later founded the Vanderbilt Transplant Center. In 1994, he defeated incumbent Democratic Senator Jim Sasser. He pledged to only serve two terms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ricin</span> Type of toxic lectin

Ricin ( RY-sin) is a lectin (a carbohydrate-binding protein) and a highly potent toxin produced in the seeds of the castor oil plant, Ricinus communis. The median lethal dose (LD50) of ricin for mice is around 22 micrograms per kilogram of body weight via intraperitoneal injection. Oral exposure to ricin is far less toxic. An estimated lethal oral dose in humans is approximately 1 milligram per kilogram of body weight.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australia Post</span> Australian postal service

Australia Post, also known as AusPost, is a government-owned corporation that provides postal services to Australia. Australia Post's head office is located on Bourke Street, Melbourne, above the Bourke Street Post Office.

Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) was an international animal rights campaign to close down Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS), Europe's largest contract animal-testing laboratory. HLS tests medical and non-medical substances on around 75,000 animals every year, from rats to primates. It has been the subject of several major leaks or undercover investigations by activists and reporters since 1989.

Anthrax hoaxes involving the use of white powder or labels to falsely suggest the use of anthrax are frequently reported in the United States and globally. Hoaxes have increased following the 2001 anthrax attacks, after which no genuine anthrax attacks have occurred. The FBI and U.S. postal inspectors have responded to thousands of "white powder events" and targets have included government offices, US embassies, banks and news organizations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Postal Inspection Service</span> Federal law enforcement agency

The United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), or the Postal Inspectors, is the federal law enforcement arm of the United States Postal Service. It supports and protects the U.S. Postal Service, its employees, infrastructure, and customers by enforcing the laws that defend the nation's mail system from illegal or dangerous use. Its jurisdiction covers any crimes that may adversely affect or fraudulently use the U.S. Mail, the postal system or postal employees. With roots going back to the late 18th century, the USPIS is the oldest continuously operating federal law enforcement agency.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dirksen Senate Office Building</span> Government office building in Washington D.C., United States

The Dirksen Senate Office Building is the second office building constructed for members of the United States Senate in Washington, D.C., and was named for the late Minority Leader Everett Dirksen from Illinois in 1972.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Death of Robert Stevens</span> American journalist

Robert K. "Bob" Stevens was a British-born American photojournalist for the Sun, a subsidiary of American Media, located in Boca Raton, Florida, United States. He was the first journalist killed in the 2001 anthrax attacks when letters containing anthrax were mailed to multiple media outlets in the United States. The anthrax attacks also killed four others in the United States and sickened seventeen others.

The Wood Green ricin plot was an alleged bioterrorism plot to attack the London Underground with ricin poison. The Metropolitan Police Service arrested six suspects on 5 January 2003, with one more arrested two days later.

John Patrick Tomkins is an American who was convicted of sending several threatening letters and bomb-like devices to financial firms in the Midwestern United States under the pseudonym The Bishop. A machinist and lifelong resident of Dubuque, Iowa, he is now serving a 37-year sentence in federal prison.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Make Money Fast</span> Electronic chain letter

Make Money Fast is a title of an electronically forwarded chain letter created in 1988 which became so infamous that the term is often used to describe all sorts of chain letters forwarded over the Internet, by e-mail spam, or in Usenet newsgroups. In anti-spammer slang, the name is often abbreviated "MMF".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bruce Edwards Ivins</span> American microbiologist and vaccinologist suspected for 2001 anthrax attacks

Bruce Edwards Ivins was an American microbiologist, vaccinologist, senior biodefense researcher at the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), Fort Detrick, Maryland, and the person suspected by the FBI of the 2001 anthrax attacks. Ivins died on July 29, 2008, of an overdose of acetaminophen (Tylenol) in a suicide after learning that criminal charges were likely to be filed against him by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for an alleged criminal connection to the attacks.

The 2001 anthrax attacks, also known as Amerithrax, occurred in the United States over the course of several weeks beginning on September 18, 2001, one week after the September 11 terrorist attacks. Letters containing anthrax spores were mailed to several news media offices and to Senators Tom Daschle and Patrick Leahy, killing five people and infecting 17 others. According to the FBI, the ensuing investigation became "one of the largest and most complex in the history of law enforcement".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989</span> United States law against bioterrorism

The Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989 (BWATA), Pub. L. 101–298, enacted May 22, 1990) was a piece of U.S. legislation that was passed into law in 1990. It provided for the implementation of the Biological Weapons Convention as well as criminal penalties for violation of its provisions. The law was amended in 1996 and has been used to prosecute several individuals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Security incidents involving Barack Obama</span> Assassination attempts and threats against the 44th president of the United States, Barack Obama

Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States, was involved in multiple security incidents, including several assassination threats and plots, starting from when he became a presidential candidate in 2007. Secret Service protection for Obama began after he received a death threat in 2007, while serving as the junior United States senator from Illinois and running for president. This marked the earliest time a candidate received such protection before being nominated. Security was increased early for Obama due to fears of possible assassination attempts by white supremacist or other racist groups or individuals against the first African American major party presidential nominee.

Shannon Guess Richardson is an American convicted felon and former actress. She worked in television and film roles, including The Walking Dead, but is best known for sending ricin-laced letters to U.S. President Barack Obama and New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, while attempting to frame her husband. She was convicted and sentenced to 18 years' imprisonment in July 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">April 2013 ricin letters</span> Attempted assassinations

On April 15, 2013, an envelope that preliminarily tested positive for ricin, a highly toxic protein, was intercepted at the US Capitol's off-site mail facility in Washington, D.C. According to reports, the envelope was addressed to the office of Mississippi Republican Senator Roger Wicker. On April 17, 2013, an envelope addressed to President of the United States Barack Obama preliminarily tested positive for ricin.

Mail Isolation Control and Tracking (MICT) is an imaging system employed by the United States Postal Service (USPS) that takes photographs of the exterior of every piece of mail that is processed in the United States. The Postmaster General has stated that the system is primarily used for mail sorting, though it also enables the USPS to retroactively track mail correspondence at the request of law enforcement. It was created in the aftermath of the 2001 anthrax attacks that killed five people, including two postal workers. The automated mail tracking program was created so that the Postal Service could more easily track hazardous substances and keep people safe, according to U.S. Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) kept records on the American singer Michael Jackson, which were released under the Freedom of Information Act posthumously on December 22, 2009. In response to perceived threats against Jackson and allegations of child sexual assault made against him, the FBI made several investigations into Jackson, none of which led to charges.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Ricin: Biotoxin. Emergency Response Safety and Health Database. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Accessed April 20, 2009.
  2. 1 2 Facts About Ricin Archived 2009-05-05 at the Wayback Machine , Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, March 5, 2008, accessed May 5, 2009.
  3. 1 2 Johnston, David, and Hulse, Carl. "Ricin on Capitol Hill: The Overview; Finding of Deadly Poison in Office Disrupts the Senate", The New York Times , February 4, 2004, accessed May 5, 2009.
  4. ↑ Jacobs, Andrew. "Truckers Look in Their Ranks for 'Fallen Angel' Writer", The New York Times, entire paragraph reference, February 5, 2004, accessed May 5, 2009.
  5. 1 2 3 "Ricin Letter", (Press release), Federal Bureau of Investigation , February 23, 2004, accessed May 5, 2009.
  6. 1 2 3 Lemonick, Michael D. "Homegrown Terror", Time magazine, February 16, 2004, accessed May 5, 2009.
  7. 1 2 Drociuk, Daniel. "Epidemiological Investigation of a Ricin-Containing Envelope at a Postal Facility – South Carolina 2003", Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , 2005 Preparedness Conference, accessed May 5, 2009.
  8. 1 2 "FBI offers $100,000 reward in ricin case", CNN.com , January 9, 2004, accessed May 5, 2009.
  9. 1 2 "CDC warns of potential for ricin poisoning", Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, University of Minnesota, November 20, 2003, accessed May 6, 2009.
  10. ↑ "Fallen Angel Focus of Ricin Probe", redorbit.com, February 5, 2004, accessed May 5, 2009.
  11. 1 2 3 Hancock, David. "Ricin Letters Still a Mystery", CBS News , February 5, 2004, accessed May 5, 2009.
  12. 1 2 3 Locy, Toni, and Johnson, Kevin. "Feds didn't report ricin for five days", USA Today , February 4, 2004, accessed May 5, 2009.
  13. 1 2 3 "Ricin in Frist's office closes 3 senate buildings Archived 2009-05-19 at the Wayback Machine ", Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, University of Minnesota, February 3, 2004, accessed May 5, 2009.
  14. 1 2 Benedetto, Richard. "Secret Service investigated ricin quietly", USA Today, February 4, 2004, accessed May 5, 2009.
  15. 1 2 3 "Frist: Ricin confirmed but no illness reported", CNN.com, February 4, 2004, accessed May 5, 2009.
  16. 1 2 3 Borenstein, Seth, and Chatterjee, Sumana. "Source of ricin may come from within the U.S. Archived 2009-05-18 at the Wayback Machine ", Knight-Ridder Newspapers, via kaleo.org – Ka Leo, February 5, 2004, accessed May 6, 2009.
  17. ↑ Appelbaum, Binyamin. "Ricin probe targets man on Southside", Florida Times Union , February 15, 2004, accessed May 5, 2009.
  18. ↑ "$100,000 Reward Archived 2006-09-23 at the Wayback Machine ", (Press release), Federal Bureau of Investigation, January 4, 2004, accessed May 5, 2009.
  19. ↑ Staff. "Reward in ricin inquiry increased", The Washington Times , December 23, 2004, accessed May 5, 2009.
  20. ↑ Emsley, John. Molecules of Murder: Chemical Molecules and Classic Cases, (Google Books), Royal Society of Chemistry, 2008, pp. 9–12, ( ISBN   0-85404-965-7).
  21. ↑ "NBC: Investigators question ricin test results", NBC News , February 18, 2004, accessed May 5, 2009.
  22. 1 2 3 4 "Still No Suspects in Ricin Case on Capitol Hill Archived 2004-10-21 at the Wayback Machine ", WTOP.com, March 31, 2005, accessed May 5, 2009.
  23. ↑ Ryan, Jeffrey R. and Glarum, Jan F. Biosecurity and Bioterrorism: Containing and Preventing Biological Threats, (Google Books), Butterworth-Heinemann, 2008, p. 148, ( ISBN   0-7506-8489-5).

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.