AR groups infiltrated by Mary Lou Sapone

[Guest guest]

In the current issue (July/August, 2008) of Mother Jones, there is an article

entitled " There's Something About Mary: Unmasking a Gun Lobby Mole " by James

Ridgeway, Daniel Schulman, and David Corn. The article is about a woman named

Mary Lou Sapone, whose maiden name is Mary Lou McFate. On behalf of the

National Rifle Association (NRA), Sapone infiltrated groups that advocate gun

control. But before her involvement with the NRA, Sapone infiltrated a number

of animal rights groups. See the following.

 

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[from

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2008/07/mary-mcfate-sapone-gun-lobby-nra\

-spy-3.html]

 

" Sapone's earliest known private intelligence operation occurred in the

mid-1980s, when she served as an operative for Perceptions International, a

Connecticut-based security firm. Working for Perceptions, which has since been

shuttered, she infiltrated the animal rights community for US Surgical

Corporation, a target of activists who objected to its testing on dogs.

 

" According to a 1989 article in New England Business, Sapone appeared on the

animal rights scene in 1986 and quickly became 'involved in at least a half

dozen animal rights groups.' She 'made a point of getting to know all of the key

people in the movement,' and 'traveled around the country to most protests,

meetings and conferences.' At meetings, activists would later say, Sapone

advocated taking illegal or violent action to advance the movement.

 

" She befriended a 33-year-old activist named Fran Trutt, who in November 1988

would be arrested for planting a remote-controlled pipe bomb near the parking

space of US Surgical chairman Leon Hirsch. According to Trutt, on her way to

carry out the bombing she lost her nerve and placed a call to Sapone, who

convinced her to follow through with the plan -- a fact that prompted activists

to accuse Sapone of acting as an agent provocateur. (Another Perceptions

International operative, Marcus Mead, drove Trutt to US Surgical on the day of

the attempted bombing.) "

 

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See also:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Lou_Sapone

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran_Trutt

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_provocateur

 

-- Mike