The Italian police thwarted this operation with sting operation and confiscated a 190-gram uranium bar. But, paradoxically, the incident revealed how the United States has done its part to contribute to the loose nucs problem. APP continued as an integral part of our Cold War competition with the Soviet Union for influence in the third world. According to Fleishman, police and intelligence officials in Italy acknowledged they failed to capture the mob's entire fissile stockpile. There may be seven other bars, comprising 1,330 grams of uranium, most probably all hidden in Italy.
Missiles are definitely on the world market.
In Part IV, Fleishman continues his discussion of criminal activities by describing an incredibly amateurish operation to smuggle enriched uranium out of Russia. What is frightening about this incident is how easy it was for such a bumbling collection of criminals to get their hands on six pounds of highly enriched uranium in the first place. Think about the keystone cops when you read this one. The four part series in the Philadelphia Inquirer helps enormously to clarify some of the strategic issues and responsibilities raised by the rapidly growing loose nucs crisis. Loose nucs in Russia are clearly a legacy of the Cold War, but Russia is not the only source of loose nucs.