Michael Townley
American-born Chilean former intelligence officer / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Michael Vernon Townley (born December 5, 1942, in Waterloo, Iowa) is an American-born former agent of the Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional (DINA), the secret police of Chile during the regime of Augusto Pinochet.[1] In 1978, Townley pleaded guilty to the 1976 murders of Orlando Letelier, former Chilean ambassador to the United States, and Ronni Karpen Moffitt, Letelier's co-worker at the Institute for Policy Studies. He was sentenced to ten years in prison, serving 62 months.[2] As part of his plea bargain, Townley received immunity from further prosecution; he was not extradited to Argentina to stand trial for the 1974 assassination of Chilean General Carlos Prats and his wife in Buenos Aires.[2]
Michael Townley | |
---|---|
Born | Michael Vernon Townley (1942-12-05) December 5, 1942 (age 81) |
Nationality | United States Chile |
Occupation | Assassin |
Organization | Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional |
Spouse | Mariana Callejas |
Conviction(s) | Assassination of Orlando Letelier Attempted assassination of Bernardo Leighton (in absentia) |
In 1993, Townley was also convicted in absentia by an Italian court of carrying out the 1975 Rome murder attempt on Bernardo Leighton.[3] Townley worked in producing chemical weapons for DINA which would be used against Pinochet regime political opponents,[4][5][6][7] along with Colonel Gerardo Huber[8] and the DINA biochemist Eugenio Berríos.[9] He has long maintained status as a protected witness.[10][11][3]