SILENT DEATH Revised & Expanded 2nd Edition by Uncle Fester Loompanies Unlimited Port Townsend, WashingtonThis book is sold for informational purpases only. Neither te aushor nor the publither wil be held accountable forthe we or misuse of the information contained inthis book Silent Death, Revised & Expanded 2nd Edition © 1997 by Loompanics Unlimited All tights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced fo stored in any form whatsoever without the prior writen consent of the publisher. Reviews may quote brief passages ‘without tbe written consent ofthe publisher as long as proper credits given. Poblished by Loompaniss Unlimited PO Box L197 Port Townsend, WA 98368 Leompasies Unlimited isa divin of LoompicsEsesrses, Ine Mustrations by Donald B. Parker and Raymond Bosworth ISBN 1-55950-159-6 [Library of Congress Card Catalog 97-71320 Contents Pref onn Chapter One ‘What Makes A Good Poison? Chapter Two Inorganic Poisons Chapter Three ‘Wac Gases (Chapter Four ‘Nerve Gas: The Poor Man's Atom Bev. Chapter Five Time Delay Fire Chapter Six Poisons From Nature Chapter Seven CIA Selfish Toxin, (Chapter Hight ‘Teeubles. (Chapter Nine Botulism Chapter Ten ‘icin Kiteben improvised Devastation Chapter Eleven Delivery To The Target. Chapter Twelve Time Dey Poisons, (Chapter Thirteen Autopsy Chapter Fourteen Chemicals 1 5 BI us BsDedication This book is dedicated 10 my enemies, without whose cooperation it would not shave been possible. PREFACE In ate, imple times, when men lived in small bands close t2 ature, there existed in each band a very respected and special Individual to whom wos enrusied the ancient knowledge of the healing and other special propertis ofthe plas which grew inthe area, This person was the shaman or medicine maa of te tribe, nd its one part of his craft wich we wll celebrate in his bonk. Tis book is a celebration of that ancient and fine ar, the art of poiscning. "The advance of medical and chenical technology in recent times ‘nas mde succesful posing more dificult than twas inthe days ‘of the shaman. The simple and easly available poisons soch 1s rat ‘poison or arsenic can al be ely detctd in the body ofthe victim fa thoroogh autopsy i done, Inthe case of inocanic poisons such as arsenic, mercury, cadmium, etc, the tale traces of these substances can be found inthe body ofthe deoeased for as Jong as the remains are around to be mnalyod. IM makes no ciference if the body is embalmed oe cremited, for thse substances are chemical cements and can't be destroyed by anything shor of muclar belle, For this reason, the soecesful poisoner must avoid such ‘Quick fixes and recun fo his cultural rot, the knowlege of the shaman, if eis to avoid detection. ‘is sad commentary on the brutish times we ive in thatthe mse ‘of deadly substances a5 a means of hnmicie i virtually unbeard ‘of, Intead of the quiet dignity of an effoctive poise, those withSilent Death lwomical inten seem to impulsively reac for @ gn, knife o cab. All these cre instruments leave no doubt as to the cause of death AAS an olf associate of mine once said, "What are we, swamp animals o€ technological wariors7” Tam afiad that, in all too ‘many ease, the answer i the former, ‘This book will atempt to cover, in simple language, the many aspects of sucessful poiconing. From the crude inccpanic (ie, ‘mineral based) poisons which get so many people a one ay tek ‘o the Big House, t the much more subtle and difficuk to detect ‘organic poisons, we will explore the methods wed by atts skid in Ge craft avoid detection. We will also cover the procedures used in forensic toxicology labs to detect the presence of one ‘substances in the body ofthe vitim. For those really big jobs, we will cover in detail the prodoction and use of some of the mare deadly war gascs. These gases were 20 horrible whe ticy were vwsnd in World War I that they have mic been used in a major war Since then. Far those who have whole armies to conquer single handedly, Pm sure te secon on the production and use of eve 2c wil interest you. These nerve gnes have been called “the ‘Poor man's alom bom,” with goed reason. They make the World ‘War I war guses lok lke kid” sf, 'm suze you'll be surprised bow easy to mmke and use these lithe gems are. Read cn and enjoy. Chapter One What Makes Good Poison? 1 Chapter One WHAT MAKES A GOOD POISON? ‘When considering the large number of substonces wich can exert a deadly effect on the human body, the question natarally mes up, "Whit makes one substance a good poison, and another ‘ mot 59 good or actually bad" The answer to thet question, of course, depends upon the circumstances in which the olson i 0 be used, What may be an excllat war gas may not be very suitable to the assassination of one person, and vice vera. Choosing the ight poison forthe job is lke calling the right play in Factball. I reuies knowtedge ofthe subject and use of psychology to make the right choice, There are, however, some general rules of thumb to follow which make the subject considerbly simpler. ‘The fist two general rules ace the golden rues of rat poisoning, Which is ony right, since most targets are rats anyway. Rule ‘number one is that the litle goodie to be delivered to the subjot inst not be overly unpalatable, This rule, of course, is just ‘common seose, but i is also the most violated rule of good poisoning. Ii unbelievable how often people do stud hing Like pt lye of cleaning uid in an intended targt’s coffe, just to ave it pat cig ut You can imagine the kind of somes this blader ‘can lead to, especially when the would-be poisner is serving the rink. A great deal of embarrassment can be avoided by paving some stetion to bow the intended arg is likly to react to the ‘deadly substance being offered. If the poison is going wo be administered by mouth, it may be wise to choose ave of theSilat Death ‘usteless, odorless poisons deseribod in ths book. Allenativey, ‘some of the trew may be mixed up beforeazet, and small drop of the mixture tasted. This may at fest glance seem focthary, bet so long asi is immediately spat oot al the mouth thoaoghiy rissa, itpomes ite danger. A good mix for really foul-tstng poise i & ‘shee of whiskey. Mare an this ner. ‘The second golden rule of mit elimination says thatthe material should not cause bait shyness before lethal dose is consumed, ‘Several factors came into play here. Most important isthe length of time between consuming the line goodée and the onset of the symptoms of poisoning. For example, let's say the mark is slow mtr, and is being given one ofthe materials which shows some cuny effect such as mmbness or burning ofthe noah soon after any is consumed. This couKt ad to failure ofthe mission, and the ‘most die consequences for the would-be poisoner, This problem ‘becomes very tricky wien a large group isto be attacked nt once since people naturally become very wary when they start to see their associates keeling over, T see several ways around this problem. Fits of al, one of the ‘low-acing poisons such asthe eqpicity bean or boli may be Served. As an allrative, one of the many fine gases described in ‘tis book may be wed. [ would especially secommend phosgene, ‘arsine and phoophine inthis respect, because they don't have mach ‘oder a lethal concentrations, and their effects re delayed 50 that sn etre group can be taken cut if 90 dsied ‘The third general rule of good poisoning is tht how quickly ‘Poison act i crucial to its value in any rsscn, To my way of thinking on tis subject, a poison should ether cause death very (uicky before help can be reached, or itt action should be very nich delayed to cause che victim to be unable to pinpoint the cause Of his distressing conttion. In this respect, I fis! some of the cancer-causing agents covered in this book are very appealing. ‘Their use requires patience, bot the knowedge that & tine bomb ‘hus been plated in the mark and is ticking sway can be veey satisfying. Chapter One What Mates A Good Poison? ‘The fourth general rule of good poisoning is thatthe material should be availible without leaving 2 tal of suspicious purchases ‘Jad the finger of guilt pointing boc tothe perpetrator. Por this ‘ean, poisons which can be obtained from plants ae exyphosized in this book. Many very beautiful plants have very deadly effets. Growing 8 few of them would raise absolutely no suspicion. In ‘addition, thee are many wild plants which are also deadly poisonous. A good field guide book, avallable at any Hbeary ot ‘oak store, won reveal to the reader a whole new werld of which the was previously woaware, It's also impetan tat the mera be locally availble. T can see lite value in substance wich one nnst travel elf way scound the word to oeain, In this same vein there are many fine ‘deadly substances which can easly be soln or "bocromed” if & ‘person knows were 10 lok for thm. See Geli a the ed ofthis ‘book ofthe chemicals mentioned inthis book alng with the major ‘industrial and commercial uses for hints on where to look for these deadly substances. ‘Te fifth and final general re of good poisoning dictates that the substance used should he very dificuk to detect inthe body, both before death to frustrate treatment, and after death 0 frustrate the easing investigation. To. make this easier, the ‘symptoms and appearance ofthe body should mimic ope ot more rarral diseases, so that death may be attributed to this disease at futopry (see Chapter Thirteen). It is also important that Ue substance being used is effective in very small amounts, 80 that ts Dresence does not jump out atthe person doing the lab tests at ‘autopsy. Much more on this air, bot suffice i to say now tha i the substance is exotic, it snot ely to be lok fr inthe corpse at autopsy, and if they do not look for i, twill nx be found. Along this line, I once again have to ing the praises of the time-delay Poisons, These wonierfil ite pems, ike the cancer-causing pens Which can be extracted from plants, or obtained from industrial sures, oc cooked up on your owt, guaranie almest complete safety ofthe poisone. So long as he does nat boast of his cunning,‘Silent Death ‘or gx caught in the act, I see no way fc his desde 1 land ima bbhind bars. Afterall, if the cause of an individual case of cancer ‘auld be proven, the tobacco companies would have been sued into bankruptcy years ago, ‘One quick word hace before we move on. It is natural human tendency to belive that if lite is good, mare must be better. This ‘con not be farther from the tu in the field of goed poisoning, ‘The human stomach isa sensitive organ and may very well rebel against being given « megadoee of any substance. Aa untimely attick of vomiting could very wall Jad wo failure of the mission, ‘with the most die consequennes for thse involved. A good peneal rule isto never use mice than twice the recommended dose, unless the victim is very fat, There i an adel benefit in tis, as smaller dosages are more dificult to detect later. Chapter T0 Inorgane Polsons 5 Chapter Two INORGANIC POISONS Inorganic poisoas, es was mentioned earlier, are miber] based substances capable ‘of causing death, Most of these are wat ‘popularly come to mind when somecue mentions poisons. Exanples ‘re arsenic, mercury, cadmium, and fries. These, x nul, afe really bad poisons, with a couple exceptions which wil be ‘amined in detail in this chapter. Tae best ting which can be said bout these incrgani poisons is tht they do the job wel, meaning ‘that the victim dies, andthe are prety easly available if you know ‘where to lok. Qa the ba side, they are too easy to detec, and the vetim knows pretty quickly tbat he bas been poisoned. Kt usually takes a goed while forthe victim to de, so be as pleniy of ine to say where he was served his fatal past, Why even cover these infecior substanoat? Because « quick coverage of dose bad poisons will help te reader to aporeciate the qualities that a goed posen fs, Fluorides ‘The lurid are common, exsily avilable chemicals wih Jot of uses in industry and public heath Two of the most common Duceides ace sodium uorie, NaF, snd sodiom fhuocleas, NagSiFe They lok 3 Jot ke ble silt 60 their appearance dows not cause alscm in the victim, After being servd a fatal dose of fuorde, the victim bepins to throw up and gets cramps, TheseSilent Death ‘ramps worsen untl the vitim has convulsions and tues a blue ey coor. Finally he dies, because thor stops the enzymes in ‘he body fiom functioning: Think abou that when drinking ‘occidated water. The body gets rid of fluoride vey slowly, so ‘when the body is examined at atopy, most ofthe orignal dase is sill here to be found. A quik test for Duorine i a standard part of ‘most every autopsy where poisaing is suspected. The fetal dose of ‘sodium fuerde is about S grams, for sodium Daorosilicate the fatal ‘ose is shout 1 gram They wil have no poblem detecting these ‘quanites. You can read more about fluoride poisoning in The American Journal of Medical Science, Volume 191, page 625 (1938). The nuhor is Getter Heavy Metals ‘These material have nothing to do with rock music, knstead itis €termuse to refer to mercury, lad, cadmium andthe compounds that they form. Since noe of de heavy metal are normally found inthe body in any lage amount, finding them at autopsy vill be ‘evidence encugh 10 prove poisoning. A test for the presence of Incavy metal isu standard pet of every autopsy where posing is suspected. Mercury is pretty representative ofthe whole group, 301 Will jst describe it effect without geting into eed sad cada, ‘Most of us are probably familar with mercury metal the silvery liquid thar fils some chrrometecs. ci called quicksive, and is ‘ot pariculaly dangerous, excep forts vapor, That i because dos not dissolve into the watt in the bay, soit can’t get around todo its work. The saks of mercury are mich more pisonous, and of these, comosive subimate, HgCiy is probably the wort. A person who swallows some immediately notices a harsh real tste {in his mouth followed by a burning feling inthe stomach. Soon se tat, bloody vomit stars coming, and late, bloody darth ‘The Kidneys stop working, 0 the flow of urine ccmes to a hale ‘Death can occur within one hour ftom big dose bat itis mere Chapter F009 Inorganie Poisons Uiely to cur days later rom exhaustion. The fatal dase depends ‘2 how soon ater eating the poison the victim begins to vom. If vomiting doesnot occur, .2 gram will be enough to cause death For mire information, see The American Journal of Medical ‘Science, Volume 185, page 149 (1933). The autor is Peas ‘Oxalates Oxalate sre compouads containing oxalic acid. These poisons are alot beter than the ones mentions so far because oxalic seis ‘is made from carbon and oxygen, two very eomen elements inthe body. Fortis renton, ey ae nt so bas moet of the rest of the inorganic pousons. A cremated body wil cry 0 trace of pion a the ashes. In spite of this, i is stil a bad poison because such & lange dase is nde (about 10 grams) to conse death also leaves the kidneys plogged up with calium deposits, and these will sek ‘out Ike a sore thumb at aviopsy. Oxalates are what make rhs leaves poisonons, so they’ are relly easy to get hold of Serving the i anther ‘miter. Far more informacion, sse Journal of ‘Physioiogy, Volume 16, page 476, (1894), by Howel Arsenic ‘This od stnd-by tos Teng passed the time when it was of any se It used to have going for ithe fc cat the victim could be -owly poisons, making i€ seem that he was inthe gris of some peclongediliness. Now, however, its all oo esy to detect arsenic ‘a te bods "Tha most deadly srsenic comapand is xsenie tioide, ‘AO Ihae a faint sweet taste, and a fatal dose of 2 pram Cyanides Tasso of pach and eee no doubt ot otc ofthe meter, but ever sine the Tylenol murders, coroners have cyanide on the bran, A person who has been fel sedsam er‘Silent Dent ats cyanide wil have the characteristic snl of cyanide on ther best, ao to matin moce of sl nth strech The sas, yop cyan, i och ess obvious or decade, bus ‘nt exulyaube te. Ifyou have read The Por Man's James ‘Bond nd fe like fokng sous with hydrogen eyede ICN), 1 st wr you tat the apparatus shown for making yoga cate is nt upto the tsa iquetying the as and herping a 2iguid until used. HCN tls at 26° C, whichis normal room, ‘enperture Even well below that temperate i evapocte olf fumes ike ey. If you have eve fools around with eer, ou now whit mean These fumes are very deadly, on par et 2000 sirsa dedly concentration Ifyou tit foo around with the stuf, ‘Organic Syuheses reports that if you smoke a cigar wile sound HCN, the ase of smoke wil Boome uplestaat fyou ‘re breathing in any ICN. The fatal dose of a pasta ‘mde is about -1 gam. For HCN iti about 05 gum (30 milgams). This ia litleove > ofa quar of gs, fined diet Carbon Monoxide Ae that bef coverage of some ofthe bad poison, it's move ‘on to the good ones. Carbon monoxide is « pason I can rely pet ‘excited about, to paraphrase my favorite TV salesman. I's no that «carbon monoxide is xo hard to detect that makes itso good. On the contrary 8 prety cbyious. The beaiy f carbon monoxide that ‘an attack with carbon monoxide can so easily be made to ok ike ‘an accident. vein the northern part ofthe coon), and during the cold weather season it is a very common event for people &o be ‘overtone by carbon monoxide in eit Domes. This 3 wey because ther furnace was nol burning ts fel prope, or because ® aquirel or some other ereture decided to build a nest in the exhaust flue, These facts can be taken advareage of by the Chapter Tue Irorganie Posons 8 resoureefl poisons tp make an atack appear to be an usfortunite sede Carton monoxide is coloress, odorless, astles ga withthe clrmial formal CO, Its formed by burning materials whea they do not get enough air to burn completely to carbon dioxide. 1 is ‘iso flammable, so care must be taken wien handing large ‘moun of te ga, ‘Carbon monoxide is poisonous Decause it pets inno the bloodstream where it combines with the beoglobin inthe blood. This combination is mot able to cany oxygen saymeee, $0 the ‘ei suffocate. The fist symptom of carbon monoxide oitaning is a headache, which is followed by weakness, mausea and dzzines, leading fimaly to © come and death. The skin of tbe ‘ili is cherry 1, a sure sign of carbon monoxide poisoning. ‘There is a formula to use i clealating the fatal dase of carboa ‘moon, Iis pretty simple, but I wil explain how (0 use i, for ‘veryene who slept trough math cas. The formulas oars exposure) (parts CO pe 1000015 ‘This means thu if the hours that the vit is exposed wo carbon ‘monoxise,times parts CO pec 10,000 sr it geeater tha 15, a fata dose has been absorbed by the target. For example, les say that the mark i in a trailer home (they have sctriously bad heaters) measuring 50 fet long, 15 fast wide ant 8 fest high, This means thar the wailer has a volume of 6000 cubic fox, becuse the formala for finding the volume ofa box-like object i eng tines ‘wid times heii Plging tis Figure ino ths orginal formal for 4 ove hur exposure, we get 6000 divided by 10,000 times 15 ‘uals 9. Any amount of carbon macexie over 9 cubic Feet is 2 lethal dose in one hour's time. With etwo hoar exposure, the lea dose i anything over 4 and one al cubic fet 1 is very important bere tht the attacker resist the normal Inman impulse to oc Coo much of the gus into the targct. AL tops, the ameunt of carbon monoxide in the blood will beSilent Death ‘messured, and anything far ubove the lethal range will be exus for suspicion [think that, taking ato account creation cf fresh ir ‘igo the target. not more than double the lethal dose of carbon rmonanide should be used. Ifthe target buldng is sealed up for cold weather that aroun should do de joh wel, 4s you can se, carbon monoxide isa very sneaky and versal poison. The question which naturally follows ia: “How does the ‘cache deliver the carbon monoxide (0 the trgee™" Te answe to ‘hai athe has several options. The simplest, ain many ways ‘Oe best courses for tho aacker to simply plg up the exh lve forthe trge’s heating stom. This wotks best for naire pas Fated buildings, less well with fuel oil heated targets, and of ‘course, not at all for eecrally heated bulking. IF the target is clectically ested, the car stack scheme that follows may be resorted to. In plugging up the exhaust flue of the target, the atticker takes care o use things Uke dry Ieaves, plant sexs, sad ‘smal plastic objects, These are ypical materials used by wild ‘ereatres to make nests for themselves in a warm place like an ‘exhaust ue: This plan of ation has the advantage thst whatever tragic events easue a all enily explained cx investigation a8 ‘imply an unfoetnate accident I his sate form af arack falls, te determined poison then mst sesoct to a move dest attack. "This 3s done by actually ‘pumping some earbon meee into the target building. Here is ‘how itis done: ‘The attcker cigs up the apparatus (ahown onthe next pags) in ‘tage or sinilar building He takes care vo rmke sure hat Fan is Set up in a window, blowing oxtward, to keep caren monoxide fr building up in tha uiing. ‘You se inthe dsgram onthe mext page, a system whi eaa be wed to make pure carbon moaotde, and then pump it iano en sutlomobile tire foe stoxage sud teaisportation. T will start by explaining the se of glassware soe i the upper eft and pt ofthe system, since tis particular rig wil be sen few more ies inthis book. Chapter too Inirgente Poms in p rc ote stopper () ae said pp surrouning ‘rom pump. ioaute ti Individual parts not drawn 10 scale ‘These two pieces of chemical ghissware are very wseful for making gases. They have ground ghss joins whieh fit 1ogaber Uighly, preventing dangerous gat sake. ‘The valve on the separatory funn! allows chemicals to be ran fom the Funnel nto the flask without taking apart the rig, causing as o spew oat ito the ar. These wo pisos of alassware ran aboot $50 each, and are well wort it To my way of thinking, no home i complet withoot some laboratory equipieat Labiag around. These two pisces are casily avulable fram sciemific supply houses (my favorte is ‘Sargen-Welch in Skokie, IH. 60077). No suspiclon wil fall cn & prion wh ones these two pisces of equipment, expecially notSlleat Death Rn sospicion of poison gas manufacture. A very poor substitute for these tv ples would bea large champsene bate withthe plastic ‘uhing coanected to the top cf the hore. This i, however, very ooe subsite which makes a mockery of the deadly serious Inasines which poisoning is. It also adds a large danger that the poisoer may become the poisone. S-necked task ‘Seperatory funnel Now for how this system works. You se the separatory funnel a the diagram has been stock int the ridile neck of the 3-necked fas. For this connection to be airtight the ground glas joints ‘mut e ofthe sume size. My favorite size i 2440, bat say sae ‘ll a. You wil also notice tt one of the necks of the 3-necked ‘atk hasbeen stppered (a cork wil do fr this, some bubble gun wil lp seal i up), and finally, into the third neck of the flask, Chapter Two Inorganic Poisons B section of clear plastic tubing hs been inserted. The diameter of ‘his thing should be big enoeg to fi tgtly into te nace of tbe flask and form a tight sal. Same bubble gum can also help to seal ‘this op. [Now noice the plstic bag that cis tubing leads to, This bag surrounds bieyle tre pump foe a fost rype pump will work as ‘well which is connected to an automobile tr, Ii very important ‘hat is bag not esi and that ube pump may be work without ‘wrecking the bag. This i all checked aut before the detersined poisone starts to make carban monoid, Finally, the automobile cre must have an inner tube init. Tis is ‘that it does aot ea while ling i, also so that the atacker say star witha deflated inner tube. This makes calelating the murk of cathen mogarde i the ie mach simpler than sting ‘with te that already has arin it "Now tht oll these things have been checked out the poison ‘aly to slat making carbon monoxide. nr the 1000 wl 3-necked ‘ask is placed $00 mi of formic acid. Tae usual grade of fori sid is 88% pure, and works quite vel Into the separatory fonae is place 100 nlf concentrated sulure acid. Good eye protection, Uke a pair of gouges, is alvay’s worn by the person osing these ‘chemicals, because strong chemisals like these cin easily case bliminess if splashad scciderally in the eyes. With his eye protection in place, the gsser opens up te valve cm te separatory fumpel and lts about half of the 100 mal of concentrated sulfur: ‘cid flow it te formic acid, ad sili aroun! mix tito the formic acki A ble bubbling may start mow, but a8 & rae, the ‘mixture mst be heated to get production of carton monoxide ping. To do this, the 3-necked sk is putin a pan that i just ale Digger around than the flask is, the yan is cen fled a ile over ‘al full of water, andthe pan and flack are put on a single burner hotplate buffer range wit infinite temperature cemol nob. One ‘ofthese costs about $20 at ce Heal hardware store, Te Beat is fumed on o he pan, and the water is brought toa ser As theSilent Death 4 sid into beats up in the ask, bubbling ou of erban monoxide (208 ing well. The reaction going on het is carbon monoxide. Sulfuric acid acts asa catalyst for this reetion by soaking up the water formed inthe reaction ‘Say the carbon monoxide begins filing up tho plas bag, tis ‘pomped joto the automobile tie. This could cequie some fast ‘pomping a fist 1 keep up, but soon the sulfuric acid wil have ‘soaked up about as much water as ican, and the bobbing out of carbon monoxide gas will tow down, Then itis time for the ‘eisorer to ad the rest of the sulfuric acid fice the separaimry funnel no the lik, an close the valve ‘The pressure in the tre ast be followed clowey afer it bein to tt fl pressure, From 500 of formic acd up to 10 cubic feet af carbon monoxide can be formed, Now te volume of be average aut tre (15 inch im, 8 int diameter inner tube) Cealeulae at shout 21 exbic fot If tis inflated to 45 Tbs. pressure, which [ think is abou the upper limit of safer, that meas i 1 holding je noel atmospheric pressure, and so means that i is holding triple the 2.1 eubic fet of catbon monoxide, oF 63 cubic fet of carbon monoxide. This means that te tre weil be pumped up to ‘maximum pressure about halfway through the reaction, and afresh ‘oe must be ready to goto hod the remaining carbon monoxide. The exact ameunt of cazbon monatide in each tire can be cakulated by finding the volume ofthe inner tbe, measuring the pressure of the gas inthe tire wth tire gauge, and plugging these fapbers into this formula: Chapter Two Inorganic Posone 1s pressure in re —— __X volume of ire = volume of gas in tre 1Silbs per sq, Inch So the pressure ofthe carbon monoxide in the tre, divide by the ‘normal atmospheric pressor of 15 tbs. por square inc, cies the ‘volume of the tis the volume of the carbon manonid gus im the tire, ‘Right tound the tte change time, to rat of bubbling may slow up again. Tis means i iste to al another dove f slr aid ‘0 the mistre. Put another 100 ml of concentrated subfatic acid into the separatory fuel, and lt i ew tothe necked Dask- ‘This will et things going again, especially ater it gets swivied to ‘So now that ur determined posoner tus this supply of ‘convenietly bated carbon monoxide, what does he do with i? He ‘moves tothe stack, and delivers tothe mark, The easost way for him todo this is to deve upto the target with the ecbon monoxise filed ies inthe trunk, roll thea upto the deli to be neoud, nde the carbon monoxide out of them through &seion of rbing into the dwelling, smal nick taken ut of the coxme of window works fine for introducing the yas ino the tart, Since ctrbon ‘manonige very clase tothe same weight as ai, twill mix evenly ‘with al the sir inthe target everrual). A nice wel to elp cover \cecks after the jb so obstruct the race exhaust before leaving the scene ‘A useful vation on ths scheme is forthe vicdin's car to be ‘tacked instead of hs home. This hs the avntage tha the car is ten easier to get to than a man’s home. Locked cos are easily pened with a thin strip of metal, and the gas piped in befere losing the car back up, This works best wim the target is guing to be taking fist ong tip withthe ar, so that sucha large aroun ‘of cazbon monoxie noed no bo used att cuases suspicion, The resling tafe mah is ey tobe atl, even the a fant. The‘Silent Death 16 ‘question which must be answered before emarking on this plan is ‘whether the elimination ofthe victim is 0 importne tat i is worth ‘exposing innocent people to risk when the target becomes drowsy ‘onthe red. Carbon Dioxide ‘Carton dione (CO) is aot usually thoogit of as 2 deadly poison by the general publi, but it is, in my opinion, one of the ‘best of ll poisons. The autopsy ona person who had been poisoned ‘with carbon diaxide wouk! show nothing, just thatthe vitim bad stopped breathing and had suffocated. Not the forcible suffocation ‘wi a pillow or whatever that is cen so often in old movies. No, ‘tat ic 20 obvious because a perion who is being strangled or suffocated will wot up into his ngs ina vain atept to lar his sicwuys. He wil also inhale fibers of whatever i being wed to swffocte him All this can be found quite ensily at autopsy. “nstend, the person wi breathes in too much CO actually drowns {in te gus. Upon examinadon ofthe Body, i wil appear that the velim stopped breathing in his slew. This is not at rare an occurrence. People who suffer from a condition called aprea. wil ‘often ein thet hep because they forgat to keep bceating, othe Jack of ar can enuse # mart attack. Peeple who ave upmen usually donot know that they stop breathing in thir sleep, unless ther bod ‘partner tells them ef the condition. It is a commen canse cf carly and mysterious death. An attack with carbon dixide can exsily Jk like death fom spe, ‘COs as two main drawiacks tit we a a poison. First of al, large amount of it must be used to cause lethal effects. The ‘severally accepted lethal dos of carbon dioxide i 4%, over fly Jong period of time. To be sure ofthe job, the attacker wuld want to double this level to 8% CO;, This is large amount of 3s, ‘especially if large are i to be passed. The large ameunt which rst be used ako makes it dificult for all ofthe gas 1 dissipate Chaper Two Inorganic Porson " ut of te attack area before the Body is uiscovered. A finding of "id in his seep of natural causes” aot be expected when the people who discover the body Keel over shortly after eteing the Seconily, only a sleping person ean te easily attacked with (€0,. A person who is avake would notice the headache, dziness, and rapid besthing caused by carbon dioxide, As a eoasequence of these two drewiscks, it may be dflicalt or mpessibie to mount an ‘acack with CO; on 8 target who sleeps holed up in a heavily fovified Puchner bunker. (COs is protably the most easily avilable deadly substance, Is ‘to most common forms areas dy ice and asa pressurize a in ‘ylides. The eyindrs are moxt commonly seen in weld shops, and booked up to bee Kegs to keep tho from gong Hit cae thy Ive been tapped. Many liquor stores carry these cylinders for thet keg beer customers. (One pound of COs in either the feem of dry ise oe side a cylinder, will when expanded into the air, take up a volume of a Title over 8 cubic fet. So to caulate the amount of CO: needed 19 reduce a deadly concentration of CO; in room, we just find the ‘olume ofthe room, snd divide it by 10 to get how much CO, is ‘needed io prodoceu 10% eoneeateation of COs in the target For example, if room is 15 by 15 by 8 fet, che volume ofthe ‘om is 1800 cubic Ext. One tenth ofthat is 180 eabic fet Sinse «ne pour of COs i about 8 cubic et, we divide 180 by Band get le answer of 225 pounds of CO; neated 10 produce 2 10% ‘concentration of CO; i the roc. In dealing with cylinders, i is vitally important that pounds of pressure showing on gauge wot be mistaken for how many pounds of CO, ae inthe cylinder.Chapter Three War Gases 1B Chapter Three WAR GASES ‘The soene is France, 1915, and the ames of Europe ae locked in bloody, stalemsted trench warfare, In an effort 10 break this ‘deadlock, the German Army called upon the most powerful segment ‘of its economy, the chemical industry and the beiliant chemists Dehind it, to give them a weapon far victory. Thus was bern the ‘modem er of chemical warfare ‘The fir chemical used was chlorine. The rawlit on the unprotected Allied soles were spectacular. Thousands of slliers were citer kild or seriouly inj in one attack. Chlorine, however, is a serious drawback. I is very uoplersat to breathe, and ao gives a waring to the people being gassed. Iti, in fact, prety nasty at concentrations much 1 low to cans inhry over & short period of time, The only way people could be gassed with chlorine is if they could mot escape from the cloud of gus. You ean rove this to yourself if you want, by mixing a small amexct of ‘bleach and Suni-Flus in tiet bow, just before Cushing it down and escaping the area. The powerfl bite of chlorine i impossible to ignore. Phosgene To overcame this problem, wand nich mare power as vas introduced, phowgene. Phospene ended up causing mare det ‘nd fajury than any other gas waed in World War LI was verySilent Deata 2 sneaky, in that people often did not realie they were being gastad ‘wth phosgene, and ite eles were often delayed fora day e twa. A ew stories from World War Iwill help t illustrate these points. ‘One day during the war, British sergeant was working on some camped ylindere af phosgene, disconnacting some pipes from them fer an atack on the Gorman lines. Upon taking apart ve of the pipes, le gota snail wif of phosgene. He did't think anything of ‘and just eared on with his werk. He got a good nig’ sleep, kad a fine breakfast, bat soon afte, he became very sick and died 24 hous after his fatal wif. Moral ofthe story: people generally don't realize that they are being gassed with phosgene. Is subi, but evasating, ‘One more story: One dy, after a tish phosgene attack on the German Unes, a captured Geoman soldier was tnought in for ‘quetoning. In great spcis, he scorned the Beiish gas as useless. ‘The next day be wat dead. Moral of the story: people lite 19 be assed with phosgte, The eophora thatthe German soir ft is a rey typical sympio of phosgene. "As you can see ftom the above stories, phosgene was a great advance for the art of poisoning. It is equally useful forthe ‘assassination of one inividual, oF for assuuling heavily fori installations. For example, an ingesons soldi of foctune could topple 4 banana republic single-handedly by introducing 2 ite of {Gis a into the ventilion system of whatever buiking the rating {junta nappens to be meeting i. They would not even realize they are ‘wider attack, until they eel over the nest dry. Many other ‘strongholds of the power system (jes, those placs!) are equally ‘ulnersble to the Kind of insiiontatlack which is posible with ‘hosgene, or one ofthe oer war gases described inthis book. Why thie idea has not been put ino practice before, I eanmot imagine, It speaks pooey forthe quaity of mercenary fighting going on these days, oo much conventional inking. [Now that you see how potentially useful phosgene is, let's gat own to the aty-rity of what itis and how to get hold of some. Phosgene is aio called carbonyl chloride, or carbon axyehlrie. It Chapter Three War Gares a has the chemical forme COC, It is a gas at nocml room ‘emperatue because it oils at about 8 C, but with a lite eta Pressure becomes a quid at room temperature. For this reason it is often sored and shipped as liquid in ylnder, cn aoa ak ‘ars Iti oe hard o imagine the bavoe which would be wreaked i ‘one of these tank cars blew up while passing through a populted area, Phosgene has fut smell which has been decribed as like ‘musty hay or green corn, Phospime is very poisonous, but just how pizoncus iti has not ‘been agreed upon. Depending on which source you belive the fal dose of Phosgene for a 30 minute exposure i anywhere ftom one ‘rt in milion ai to one pat in 50,000 sic. The figure T pot the ‘most faith in says ae pati 100,000 ai foc & 30 minute expasire. Phoegene has some quicks which mast be taken fzo account to effectively use i. First of all, ts quite bit heavier ta tr, so i ‘ill snk It would not be very effective to just pipe some of it ino 3 ‘room, and expect it to make it around the targs eet from there nwodveng it into the ventilation system would be much more effecive. The mest of introducing it into the vnilationsyatern could be avoided if fans or other active methods of keeping the ic ‘moving inthe target biling are ue. Phosgene also has a strange effect on the taste of tobacco smoke. 1k makes what would normally be a fine smoke taste Ike rlled up hay. Whether this would alert the mark{s, or just make than curse heir brand of smokes is dificult to say, but this propery of ‘phosgene should be kep in mind. The atackers cou we this to their ‘sdvanage to warm them when they are being exposed to phoogene. ‘The change intobaco tase expecially ranouncat in pipes. Phosgene hs another strange property in that i wil rst meta ‘objects when it gets out in te at. This is because Phosgene reacts ‘wth the water inthe air to maks hydrochlorie acid, which then rts ‘met. This rust takes afte while to develop, co it will ct alert the victims, butt cou be of help to investigators late, to dtene the ‘te of the atack. This reaction of phosgene with water makes Phosgene west a ny weather,Silent Death 2 “The mical effects of phosgene are very interesting. At the commended concentration, about one part in 100,000 sir, the ‘tim does not notice anything, Pexhaps sight tng in te oat ‘or smarting ia the eyes, but this very quickly passes and all seems ‘wal tothe mark. Phosgene ga has no color s there is nothing he ‘would see which would Up him off. Fllowing the exposure to the fat the victim feels fine. He may, infact, feel euphoric. Lite does {he vitim know that his Tungs have been seared, and ae ling up wvth Quid, while be is feeling 90 good. Thea, unfortunately for the fargo, he begins to fel sick Jaut how Jag it takes 1 begin feting sok Sopends en ow large a dose of the gas the victim reeived. With ‘smaller doses, t ould tke as Jong as 2 days. ‘The victim finds that the mest insignificant effort will send is polis trough the roo, nnd hie trtured ngs acting foc breath. The ‘pers literally begin to down n foi sping from hs ung tissues. comes up tthe mouth as a watry fd with some blood int, The vied may gurgle up 2 half gallon ofthis stuf per hour, until he finally loses the stength to cough i up. This could take a log as todays t0 do. ‘Naturally, « person dying this way is probably not going to be ‘ited os a atural death. The question i, what ill tbe listed as? People with fang heart often die with thir Ings filled with Dit, as do heroin junkies suffering from overdose, bat their ngs are not ‘seared like the phosgene victim. Unles te victim liked to siff glue and ater strange thing, i sa god bee tha an investigation would ‘be lanebed after death to determine wiser the vietim accidently ‘ammo io contact with something, which seared the surface of his lungs, or was murdered. Because this is such an exotic way 10 de, cos are going to favor the finding of acetal death, nies some strong bit of evidence shows up (ce, witnestes, insurance o other rmetve, or finding the phosgene-usted gas site) to show that the vitim was mardered. Of couse purchases of phosgene by suspect ‘would be damning evidence, “How then does « person get some phage? Fox some, it may be simplest to steal some or 1 have i given to them fram a camecticn Chapter These War Gases B in the chemical industry who cam heist it for them. Phosgene is wsed a Jotin the dye industry, and toa lesser extent thoughout the cherical ‘manufacturing industry. 1 is usualy found in gas cylinders under ressre hough tis sometimes found as solution intone. For those of us who don't ave the conections to get phosgene fr ts, it 6 wise fo mike some up frem seratch It is not pasticully thard, noe dangerous if some basic precautions are taken. As always, take care, work while yobe, wad safety fst! Phosgene was frst made in 1812 by John Davy by mixing ogee carbon monoside and chlorine, and Jeting the mixture sic in the sunlight This is bow phosgene go iis name, “phos” meaning light ‘and gee meaning made From. This sun intersting rection, bot it {is just not practical for cooking some up because the amount of product made isso low. You mestly get back the earboa mance and chlorine you started with; only « somal amcuix of phosgene is ‘mode, ‘The giam chemical manufucturers make phosgene by passing 2 ‘misture of chlorine and carbon moouxide over a specially made catalyst of charcoal This is a good. cheap mthod, but it is not sible forthe home experimenter. The Poor Man's James Bond clams tat phosgene can be made by seting 2 pan fled with carbon tatracherse (dry cleaning Tid) ‘oma radio and leting i sit. Sorry about his, Kot, but ic jot sit 50. The carbon tetrachloride wil ust beat up units boiling point of| 76°C is ache, then it wil just bol away. No measurable amounts ‘of phosgene can be muds by. this method. Pechaps this misunderstanding got started because if carbon terachlcide is splashed onto red hot metal fair amount of phougene is made. This [is one of he dangees of using a fise extinguisher charged with carbon tetrachloride, and could peaps be used in an emergeey 10 make some phosgene. You can bet that yeu will never see tat one ex MacGyver! ‘Te best way for phosgene to be made on a firly small scale is by reacting Turning sulfuric acid with carbon twrachoride. Carbon texachloie is filyexslyavalable atthe hardware store ata verySilent Death 14 ‘heap prise. Ii becoming scarcer lately hecause it has been found ‘that peofonged exposure to carbon terachlride ean canse liver problems, but # can ail be found at these easy sources. Fuming Sulfuric acid isa fusly common laboratory chemical costing sbout 535 per pint when purchased in small amounts. Is « mixture of sulfur trie in lar acid, with the ssl concentration of sulfur twioxde ($0), abo called oleum) in the sulfuric acié being in tie range of 20%. ‘The reaction that actualy takes places between the sul trioxide inthe fuming sulice acid, andthe carbon tener SOs CCh —_p COCh + 280H01 sulfur carbon phosgene chloro- ‘Wioxde tetrachloride sulfonic acid Phosgene is produced, and bubbles out of the mixture. The chloresulfonic ack prevooed as a byproduct stays as a liguid ‘iscolved in the unreacted salucc cid, No beating ie aeeded Yo make this rection g, so production of pbosgene is very quick and simple. Grenades producing phosgene can also be devised. “Tomake phosgene, te sae combination of separatory fnne ead Soecked flask is used as was shown in the section on carbon ‘mewoxide. Instead of the tre storage system used for carbon monoxide, however, we have instead used a length of viny] bing leading to the target. This is becasse phosgene doct unbelievable things to rubber, ike turing it int an oly gpo. For this eason, the inseene mast be directly pumped ino the yetilation sysuen of whatever boing is to be attacked. The oir intake of an sir conditioner is a very convenient place to inode gases into a biking. Th cat that the conditioner makes will Belp to hegp the ‘phosgene stirred up inthe ai, rather than leing it sete into the low points of he bulking Chapter Three War Gares ‘Sep funn ‘containing fuming Stopper lure aie Section of tubing leodig to target ‘A convenient sired tach of phosgene fo show how this systema voris is aboot 7 of cubic foo of plwgene Tht it enough ‘hoxgene to make one pat in $0000 couctation of phosgene in 4 bulling 33,000 cubic fect large. In acting the amount of gus sstually dived to the target it mst be remembered that the fs Fest has fill up the flak ar be length of tubing. Soe ohm of the sic spce eft above the camical in he Has, and ho volume of the inside of the length of tubing must be mubraced Som the otal amount of zs proce. "Now to begin. To make 7 cubic foot of phosgene, 100 ml of ‘xtbon tetrachloride is patito the 3-aecked fake The section of tubing, sper, ant separ fue ace all po securely in pace. “Then 230 of fuming sulfur: acid spin he separtry uae (Carta! Fuming sulfrc ac is even werse than replat slic Acid. Always wear gloves and eye proton) The vale of the separtr) fama ie oped tle, nd a slow seam of fing ‘llr oi is allowed to flow nt the 3-nckel la. I wed ‘round to help mi ti, and alneet immediately phe begins to bubble out ofthe misture. The ete of ation of fuing elie cd shoud be conto to keep th amount af phosgene bubbling ‘uta any ime der control. The reaction i pretty wel done abot 5 minutes fe th lst fhe fing safe sid hs bon ew the eben terachlrid, so lng nthe mixing was OK. Th gid Jeftin the ask an then be ase ct with water (watch out fo mace ues! and the whole system packed up aad moved oo of the ara.Steut Death 26 [Now for a few notes on this proces. The amount of fuming sullurie acid sed was caleulat on having the 20% sulfur trioxide {ye of fuming sulfuric acd the fuming sulfuric asi was intend 40¢e sulfur trioxide, then only tal as mac would have to be used. ‘Theze is also no need to sick w thes cubic foce sind butch. A ‘sch of any sie can be made, To mule half as much, use half as much of beth chemicals. Finally it is wital that only faring sulfuric acid be used in this reaction. If cedinary concentrated sulfuric acid i se, the reaction takes another couse. Hyogen chloride gas (HCD 5s produced along with the phosgene, and his i vey unsalistactory bprause the inease bite of HCL ween breathed in would alert the vicums. The reaction done this way also requires heating, amd the auktion of infusorial earth a5 a catalyst. (See Chemical Abstracts, ‘VoL. 17, page 1395, sad VoL. 13, page 2492.) ‘A grenade for phosgene would be a very handy ching. The swacker(s) could thn just drow it tthe target and takeoff, instead ‘ot having to stick around to supervise the delivery of phospene to the urge. The commotion caused by throwing a grenade will probably ruin the dement of surprise and stealth forthe atacker, but the ace tions where this is justified. For example, 2 greaade dcopped ‘down a large vetiaon shat would probably never be noticed until it was to late, In designing. 2 grenade for phosgene, we coms to several Aiicules. First of all, bth ingredients used in the making of Phosgene ace Liquids. This makes the design of a grenade moce complicated than if one of the ingrediems was a solid. Secondly, fuming sulfuric acd i a really nasty substamoe. I gives off fumes that develop pressure if i i warm. I als relly corrosive to a wide vanety of substances. To complicate things farber, tie two ingediens must be bed together in ene place Joag enough fr ther to mix and start ract. ‘The design you seo onthe nent page solves these dificult, and works reasonably well Chapter Three War Gazer Hole drills cap serowed onto =< top of pine FS Section of, ‘threaded pipe 4 Ceramic vase fits with fuming sulfuric acid stoppered with cork totes with wax | — coramic vas fils with CC, stoppered sth core Botiom of pipe closed a ‘The dea here is for the fragile ceramic vases to be shttoed when the greande hts pays, allowing the chemicals to mix, spewing ‘Phosgene out the hole dried in the top of the pipe. For this to woek ‘every time, the containers inside te pipe mast have some room to fiy round inside the pipe so that they re sure tobe abatered on impact. ‘The cork in the contniner of foming sulfuric acid must be costed with ‘wax to keep the cid from dssaving the work wile the grenade isin ‘storage. AS an eltemativ, the CCL, could just be poor nue the pipe Instead o kept ina container inthe vase. This woul help shrink the ie ofthe grenade for esir throwing, The disadvantages of doing ‘this are: (L) the grenade would huve 0 be kept upright 0 keep fora spiling the CCl, and (2) tbe poo of quid could act a «cushion forSilent Death 2 the vase comtining the fuming sulfuric acid, preventing it from breaking on impact. This design could be sealed up for use as a ‘bom 10 be dropped ora ssplanes. The grenade should contain at Teast ewice as mich feng slfue aid as earbon techni, jst swith the gas generator, Arsine ‘Arsine (Ast, als called arsenirettedydroge) is a very ood geuztal porpoce poison. That's not o say that itis a pret paiscn. 1No, ft laives trices which could conccivably be deteced ‘These ‘tages are very sigh, however, 30 they may not be connected to the foe conten ofthe mark. The trace that asine Faves i «small truce of arsenic inthe urine, Wheter ths woul! be enmug 0 allow the coraner to plese togethe the elves amd diagnose arsine wool! depend upon the sil ofboth the coroner and te pisone. Aer all, ‘weal have some arsenic in our bods lng with traces of very ‘er eetnent kno. becomes matter of judgment say at what point the level of substance in the body besomes abnocma. "Now tha nave head the bad stuff about arin, lets move on to is god points 1 a very deadly gus. A concentration of one parti 100,000 over a few hours ie deadly. Over seeter periods of time, the exact lethal dose is a tte of debate. The figures given here are tom The Texicalogy of Industrial Inorganic Polsons, which states thatooe part in 2000 air vera few minutes is deadly. Over a period ‘of aboot half an hou, one pat in 4000 is deal. Over a period of an our, ane part in 60,000 ean cause deat ‘Asie also very exaric, This isan importa. pont in its fave, ‘because it meant (atte correct solution src less Hkely to come to the mints of the people doing any post-nartent investigation. Poisoning by aniae is occasionally seen in industria accidents, but roc offen enough te keep it athe freon of the rand of exons. favo never heard of case of boil poioning with arsine. That lone is enough to recoramend it Chapter Three War Gate » ‘The symptoms of arsine poisoaing do not belp much in dingnosing 4 To sare wit, it is ne ivitucing tothe subject whi be is being ‘desed withthe gas. Ar the high concentrations needed for lea eft ‘over a fw minutes time, ther isan aval smell like gic, bt atthe ‘ower concetratins it s nothing that oul cause alarm or stick out ‘in is memory. After being dosed, there i latent peti of upto & ay ora before any symptoms sbow up. ‘When the ist symptoms appear, they don't mean very mach. The subject feels lousy. has trouble bresthing, vomits et, aed Mood in the urine because his red blood ces are belag dissolved. "Eventually, his kidneys shut down because they et plonged up with ‘debris from those broken up red bod cel, Tis breaklown ofthe real blood calls is called bemelyss, and is a symptom of 4 wide variety of conditons. Finally, arsine is «very easy poison to make and we, The Ingretiets are cheap and plncifel (except for arzenic trioride, ‘Ae/Os. which would be most wisely beisted) ant safe to handle unt they are mixed together to make arsine gene for arsine is mich simpler ane more productive than the phosgene grenade. ‘There are two cally good methods fer making urine. One ie about 1 good asthe othe, and the method chosen depends om which raw materials the stacker can most easly get bit hance on. Method ‘number o0e is based upon the reaction tha takes place between zine ‘Power and hydrochloric acid. Many school boys have found out tat ‘wben you mix these two togetber, the zinc fizzes like crazy, producing hydrqgen gas. Whilo zine is undergoing thie reaction, i ‘becomes whats termed a powerful adver, If some arsenic trioxide is mined into the bnew, it wil get reduced, which inthis case means its orygen atoms get replaced with hydrogen atoms, and arsine is produced alg with whatever hydrogen doesn't get used up. Stn + BHC! + AsO, ~2AsHy + SZnCke zine hydro —arsonio arsine chlotic acid toxideSilent Deh 0 ‘This is sowhere peat so complies it may sae. In fit, cwally ding is simple that F's sue a oak} cold be ined to doit To px ging making some uric, he same yp peertor ‘eS to make caton monn and pegene 1S ued. (And you dh bllowe me when Tai oo amis comple wit one? no the lis part of the st-up i ood 30 pms ersniewowie and 20 grams of zine powder. Those to inst shoul be mixed topeher as terongsy a posible Before puting them in he Sask “Then ancher 70 grams of arsenic Wii is weighed ut and is Gxoted in bytroetlere ac. The hyrochloic acid T would ‘eeonimend for this purpose can be obtied from the local hada stor and is 28% hydrochlod ai. I may be sold under the mmo ‘artic aid, Seven hae 700) maa it wil be ned, 6 the ‘taker wil ease ou hat much and pt the 70 prams of ASO: init Te acidarseaic mixare is en poured imo the separator fume and when tbe atacker i ody 0 ake arin he valve on the separstory fue is pene, and he intr is allowed 9 can down ena zine power as Mik. "When he ci i tbe zinc, gs produ is eazy. Some oft is yop, and some fit arsine. Team be piped ix the are ‘vi a selon of tubing, ort canbe tos in sm aurobe tie. Secaute of he exterly poo mst of arin hs may oaly ‘be atampad under the best condone of vention. "The poisonee ‘nl al oo eatily tecone Iie pisore tying 0 fil te wth ftsine thor excellent Yea. The anor of arsine predaced ‘cording a those rotons in about abit. "A otnde for amine wing hese hema is prety easy to put togter, tad oul be alt of fn. See te Gagan onde nox page ‘ihn he bot beaks, te cbemicls mix tet, and clod of sssine is rocd. The resus can be devastating in an enclosed te, One daback that ans Bus as x assault pn is hat it dees ot have ood knock-down power ets ae delayed fora dy oro. A wise cin wil kp thi in ind when pleaing an ssaale Chapter Taree War Gaves a ‘The outside of the bottle A fragile thar sized bottle filed wth 800 mi of 200 grams of zine powder, hyroctioic acid and 100 grams of AsO, Pascoe ‘The ote good matic for making asive is by reacting ted sulfuric acid with zine arsenide (ZmAs). Zine arsenide rty be lifielt to find, but it has the advantage that arsine is simpler to make witht To make 1¥ cubic fet of arsine, 350 grams of 24)A5y Js placed inthe flask, and then aboot a quart of battery acid (avaable a ardware stoves and garages) i rn down ono ftom a ‘sepuritory funnel with swclng of the flask to mix them tothe, A grenade using these chomicals would have the bot fille with the bbanery ae, the bole would then be wrappad with foi, and the {pee he bem hel woul ile th 28 gre ef ass,‘Silent Death 2 [Now fora last few woeds on arena. Arsne is a flammable 25,30 ‘it would atch om Bie if stroam of it was spewed into a. ignition source Kis alo quite ait heavier dh air, so i wll site into “shatever Tow areas it en ind nleas hea inthe tangs area is kept ‘moving with a fan or somthing similar. For more information on tine and phosgene, see The Medical Aspects of Chemical Warfare by Exward Vedder. This fine book gas ito real detail on just what these chemical warfare agents will do tothe human body, an! also ‘mes io some detail on the (fle in the ease of arsine) mesial ‘teatments used forthe victims of theses gases. Phosphine Ina lite know gar named phosphine, we encounter wht is, ‘without a doubt, the very best gas for producing death by causes Unknown” This sbilty that phosphine has fr evading the coroner's alempis to find the cause of tbe mu’ domise is 9 strangely under- ‘epte, vet exciting ability, The “in the know” seem to think that ‘it would be reckless and. ixesponsble to Jet de public know jest what ae the limits o thee bites. Foe dhe its uct beter to et the public belive i hee infallibiity and cumisience. This is typical of the way tha the power structure inthis suppose fee country ‘manipulates the flow of infonuatcn to the public. To their credit ‘you have to admit hat they doa cally masterful job of manipulating ‘the media and the reslting low of information, since the vast jority of the population, and even the media swine thomselves do tt notice the liners they wear. After all propaganda is wh they et in Rusia, Here we get the “news. Phosphine’s ability to disappear in the body can be expsined | prety simply. The chemical ormnla for phosphine is PH, meaning it 5 composed of one stom of pnosphorous, and tree atoms of hydrogen. As Tim sure all of you Know, your body hs a lot of phosphorous floating around in i, for building teeth and bones, and tw perform & wie vires of eter functions inthe cells. Most of this Chapter Three War Gases 3 ‘phosphorous is in the form of phosphate (PO,) snd pyrophosphate (P.0;) When phosphiae is absorbed ino the bly, fst does its diny work, producing sympeoms similar to arsine, then it gos ‘oxidized to the forms normally seen inthe body. For this reason, ‘when Quincy and his ghoulish brothers at the morgue start examining the boy Muid of vietim of phosphine, there i nothing fr them to see. Phospine certainly comes close to perfection asa poison! Perfection, ofcourse, has its price. Thats the way ofthe wold. In {he cas of phosphine, the price i thai is eificult wo make, delve, ‘or sore safely. That isnot to say tat the tas is impesible, Quite ‘the contrary. It is wall within the ability of almost everyone to use ‘phosphine effectively. I just must be understood up fro that ‘Phospine requires more care ia ts use than any eter substance scused inthis book, with the exception a he neve gases. ‘The cause of this dfcuty is de fact that phosphine, as normally ‘Prepared, will burst into flames when ic comes i contact with i, ‘This desuoys the phosphine, making the tack fue. ‘The resuking flames could also injure the woul be attacker, and sgl ay deme of suprise the ama may he ad ag fx ‘Phosphneiseif does not spontansously burt iato Oames in st, ‘but an unavoidable byproduct of making if, diphosphine (EL) does, and i the spark that sets off the whole mixture. The method given here for pricing phosphine overcomes tis siiclty, allowing the phosphine to dois uoaveidable thing without setting ff the whole mixture. Ifa resuroefl poisonee could obtain a cylinder of pare ‘phosphine from a Iborstory somewhere, all this hale could be ‘voided and the gas could be used directly ftor the olin. These cylinders ae hard to ome by, however, because phosphine i lacking ‘in practical uses in the laboratory. I is somo prety exotic stuf, 30 ‘exotic thet the majority of chemists have no idea the stuff exists. I als ranks prety close tothe ast thought that would eatec the ind. ofthe typical coroner. Phosphine is a very deadly gas, about as deadly 2 arsine. Ie colossal has a fou! smell dt has been compared to reten fish,‘Sitent Death 4 “This foal smell meas tat it must be used a the lower concentration levels 1 keep the tanger from being driven stom the poison zoae by the odor. It may also be wsefl to mask the smell with avy doses of "room freshener or whatever ele may bo useful fr covering the smell of rte sh. “The deadly dosage of phosphine is about the same as for sine. ‘As usual for gases, the desdly concentration depends on bow ong ie ‘etm vl be breathing che misture. Inthe case of phosphine, ti (qt scopiable to gn well over the lethal limit o be sure that an exceptionally tough mark does mot exeype his fate. Tis is ocause ‘hoephine is destroyed inthe body, so ther is no need to keep doses {94 mini oma is dain mnt die. oon he beat dosage of phosphine iso concentration af one part in 4000 for 8 petiod af at least an hou. Lower concentrations of it can be used if the exposure is longer. “The symptoms cf phosphine poisoning take a wie ro came on, specially a the lower doses and concentrations. Up 10a day & ew0 fan pass bere the symplans begin, soit is a very sneaky poison. "The symptoms stat with a dificult in beating along with pain in the chest. This leads into the rest of the symptoms of arsine peisocing,leding finaly to death if.a fatal dose has been sbscrbe, Tecate there is io ats for phaschin: poisoning. “There are evo prety goed mnthads fr making phosphine. Both of them ate gas generator type processes. There is mo prennde for phosphine because of its tendency to burst into lames on contact ‘wih ir nless precautions ar taken, ‘Tae method of meking phosphine that wes the simplest and mest ‘evsily availabe chemicals i by reacting white (rit may be alld Yellow) phosphorous with sodium hydride (potassium Iydroxide ‘wll work as wel) aa solution of water. The reaction goes iis way’ Pit QNAOH = +3HO__.PHs+ —SNaHPOs Phos- sodium water phosphine sodum Phons hycroxide hypo- phosphite (Cheyer Three War Gases 35 So yellow (or white, but yp re) phoephoroas, wich isin the fora ‘€ Ps, reacts with sodium hydroxide in water make phowpine snd sodium hypoposphite, whichis a sob chat stays disolve in the ‘water. The byproduct diphospie, which is the eause of its ‘arab in aris not shown inthe above reaction, but tis made onesies Now for a wor abut phospboreus, There are two common fers ‘of phosphorous: red and yellow, which softm called white, Te re ormis not very dangerous and is used alot in match manfactre. It js of 0 use in making phosphine. The yellow fom is prety ‘dangerons foe several reasons. Frst of all, it most be kept under ‘water, or at least covered with film of wate, because i buss inn flames on conse with ait. That explains is use in imcentizy shes and bombs and fiewks. Secondly it must nt be touched with bare fingers, or nasty burns will result. Finally, it is a prety good, but ‘quite deeetable poison when swallowed. About SO liars wil 0 nani, Now with all the preliminaries wen care of, re is how an attacker can make phosphine aod deliver it tothe warpt. (On the next page we se aeslinde ef rittogen or COs, which ‘can be picked up very easly at a weking supply shop, tached to ‘one neck of the now very familiar 3-necked flask. As usual, the ‘center nec olds the separatory fonne, an the lst neck tached to 2 section of plastic (Gear vinyl ring which lacs to the target area to be gassed. The 3-necka! flsk siting on the cols of an ‘lect hotplate When i is time to make phosphine, te auacker secures the 3- necked flsk in an upright positon sad fis it mary half fll of iste water. Tenth slicks of yellow phospaorous ae quick pat into the flack and sabmerged under the water. This mst be dine ‘quickly so thatthe sticks of phorphorous doa't dey off and ignte ‘during the wansfec. To make % of a cubic foot of phospine, 125 ‘ams of phosphorous is required Then 200 grams ofa good quality Iye such &s Red Devil or High Testis solve ina pial of ditiled ‘wate. After itis dissolve, a flow of es fom the lindo is beginSilent Death 6 md continwed until thes is swept cut ofthe thing and Mask. This will ake a few minutes, After thatthe ox plate is tured ato the {Bask and the vater brought up co a simmer Then the low of gs is ‘fared up ngs and the solution of Tye in water 8 put into the ‘separatory funnel, a itis cn in 100 mf at time at S minute intervals. During ths time, cboot 30 cubic feet of gas shocld have ‘owed ont of the cylinder, x arate of I cube foot per mini, if flow mete is atached eo the cylinder. ‘Sep funnel filed with ‘solution of lye in water se =e * yinasrot Niregren, ‘Tubing ta target aren 8r00, >-necked task, half fl ‘of wator and phosphorus Hotplate Parts not drawn to seale Chapter Three War Gases 0 ‘This inpot of net gas wil lute the phosphine down 1o abet 2 or 3 parent of the otal mexcue, When iti his ist, i is wo longer able to be detonated when the ciphosphine in it igtites en contact ‘wih air, In Os woy, phosphine can be made sod usd silly, with ‘very satisfying ress ‘Tais same apparatus can be used w make phosphine from other ‘henicals. Exteminstors may havea chemical called zine phasphie, “Zo, fr dealing with as. Iisa gray pode. If 260 grams of is placed in te I-neced flask (no water in the Mas) and 8 pint of | hardware store hyUrochlois acd is run down cota it from the Separatcry funnel, about LN cubic fox af phosptine will be made [Natural the low of inert gas is required with this method ssn Foe more information on the effects of phosphine, se The American Journal of Medal Science, Votome 208, page 223 ass)Chapter Four [Nerve Gas: The Poor Man's Atom Bomb 8 Chapter Four NERVE GAS: THE POOR MAN’S ATOM BOMB [Byer since the detonation of the first atomic weapon in 1945, the {op prioity of each navn that came to poses thee weapous has ‘een to ep other “less responsible” nations from gxining acess to ‘ese weapons, and abave alo prevent ther fll into the hance ‘of private “wcrois.” The very ides of some. group puting {together a “basement nue” and dangling this weapon of decision ‘over tbeir heads isthe uimate nightmare for these “responsible” ‘tear criminals. All this concern is quite understandable since miclear weapons are extraorinaiy spectacular and very macho, However, thete is another weapon of mas destruction tat is just as devastating to ‘buman life. A well-placed nerve gas bomb of sufiiet size could inflict a death toll on a ety comparable to that of a medium-sized uke. ‘With llth scrambling that has taken place over the years by various groups and nations for the moclear weapons of muss dstroction, why bas the chemical weapon of decision been so roundly ignored? 1 believe thit combinwton of factors ate ‘esponsble for this situation. First ofall, nerve gas isnot lod and spectacular Ike 4 nuclear bomb is, so it does nct inspire in the popular conscioumess the perception af power and feclings of tertor that a nuke does. Since the peeetion of power is just as Jmporant to the psychology of poliieal struggles 1s sctullySiteat Death 0 possessing thin is a contributing factor towards the orbaning of these cereal weapons. ‘Seconlly, nerve ets and other chemical weapons have not been popularized and romanticized by our calor the way that mks have been, To illustrate my point, just consider the ptbora of movies and books dealing with tome aspect of nuclear devastation fc its aRrrmath. Tit list i nely endless, Add to this the many Pressure groupe whose sole purse ist agitate forthe dismantling of clear wespoos and power plans. Thre is jst no counterpart to this for chemical weapons, in spite oftheir aazing destructive tbilies, The sole exception (o this that I'am aware of is a movie called And Millions Will Die starring Richard Basehart, made in 1973, This movie deal with a nerve gas bomb planted in Hoog ‘Kong and the effort of authorities to defuse it ‘Finally there is de almost universal belie thatthe only way any ‘person o group could obtain a neve-gxs bomb is to steal one from fn Army stockpile. The origin ofthis strange belie is prety hard foe me to fathom, but ic has probably been plate in the popalar foomciousness by the goverament throgh their lackeys in the ‘media. Theft may be the only way any grovp sboxt of major ‘gpreramenal status coud obtain a nuk, bot tis is definitely not the cate for nerve ga. Afterall, neve ga is just a chemical, and oe a vey complicated or dificult substance to make. The experience in mexdern times with clandestine drug laboratories ‘shonld be enoggh to wake clear my point that just becewse a ‘chemical i not available through regular chnnels doesn’t make i Sane compe a strc pata. Cisryg ay expe mse owes sors jae Gmemode i past oe Chapter Four [Nerve Gas: The Poor Man's Atom Bomb a racing cy 4 wrt esi ing cn be pid by 1t has loog amazed me while reading and watching excerpts of sangland nad ober uneven he iig ore by men on foe with pemooirsined weapons. I it mo ‘wonder nating eve get seit in uch a vay. Owe ean oa ‘ender tte inligece snd imitation of thse peopl wen ‘reapon of decision cas be conti in a gage wo clit the ey phn a-hole. ‘The particular problem of delivering nerve-gss bombe via sical wil pow be dscusod in deta. The ae fr fever oblms wih hi ath han teers, so tp my epee ‘best mod Is abo the met et tel ring response of teor from the unafced populations in eh losin The fx coo metods would wodubtdly remind tem of Shite ‘Moslem iets, and jas rouse them to anger aginst their sand etn creme. ‘The design of the bombs isthe first consideration of say attack. Since the bombs should explode in midair for best results, care rat be tam ne coercion of th etaton sytem Ii juss mater of towing te reotd an rxslag tem splatter on the ground below. To ensure thatthe bomb explode in ‘the air, several strict guidelines must be followed. First of al the riot mst ow awa abide yng. ad wick cae to {he planed side forth tack. Avery satiny ade fore eves lack i 1000 fet. This lite hgh enough for the safety te pl, yt ow ecg that eer in th eight of bomb dtetcatin willbe kept emia. “The aca design of nerves bomb designs to ep in mii shoul have ho exponve charge in he eter of the aso eve aga: Naturally, woul! bt doo hve ask of Cypamite ‘Boating around ina jug of Sarin, and the activeingraient splashing allover the atackers Ise, hee 40. oucs ber bons oak be taped together in a triangular pattern, and a stick of dynamive‘Sitet Death 8 place in he comer space between te three Dots, The result 8 ‘bomb containing jus shor of one gallo of nerve agent. ‘Contolng the height at which the bomb goes off requires tht the face atached to the explosive charge be of good quality, burning at steady and prediciable rate. The time required for an object fo fal given distance can be calculated using the following Sonal: J 2Xtha height to fll ‘Time to fal (hn soconds) =, Tae ‘So the time it takes an objec wo fall given numberof feet is the ‘square root of twice the height of tho fall divided by 32. Foe ‘czample, if the bomber is rising along. at 1000 fext, and crontion is desired at 150 fet, tbe bomb has 850 feet to fll. "Twice 850 feet is 1700 fet, Severn hundred (1700) fect divided by 32 is 53, The square 001 of 33 ia litle ove 7.25 seconis. To {gt detonation at the height of 150 feet a seen of fuse taking ‘out 7 and quarter seconds to bum is required. "The best height for detonation ofthe bor depends onthe size of the bomb, and how lard the wind is blowing. With « bomb containing aboot 1 gallon of nerve gas, and winds berwoen 10-20 ph, the best height i fam 100 to 200 fee. With a lrger bomb, ‘or mate calm conitons, chile hight is called for. ‘The best spacing for the bombs also depends upon thei size and ‘weather condition, but for the standard contions mentioned. 2 spacing of mile to % mie wil give sold covecage downwind. Synthesis of Nerve Gas ‘The synthesis of nerve gas is act 8 project to be undertaken ligy. It is one of the most dangerous projects which can be done in the lborctory. The danger comes from tho fac that ite bt on Chapter Four [Nerve Gas: The Poor Man's Atom Bomb 2 (he sin translates ito miserable death mimes Inter. Begimrs at ‘orpunic synthesis are notrions for sping the things they are ooking ont theses, 90 this sa ob for @ seasoned veteran. For this reason, a certain amoutt of chencal expat il oe assumed inthe following seen. It is mea. to Be filly unéestoed by anyone who has mode it through a couple semesters of ecllgeevet cocgac cemisty. ‘The care required inthe manufacture of nerve gases can bet be ‘strated with a few stories from the World War TL nerve-pss factories of Nazi Gemaay. These factries were tity cuming ‘out abun fr most ofthe duration of the war. AS to why thy did not concentrate ther efort on the much mere potent Sarin, 1 ca only. ewe two guesses. Ether they found fectory-tale prdbetion of Tebun tach easier, of they were ha0g up oa Tabu because cyanide is used in its preston. Everybody knows bow big the Nazis were on cyan twas certainly nota mater of not bing fain ith Sarin since tar big man, Gesard Schrader, Jed eter that invented he bo, ‘The stndard dress forthe workers in th neve-gas factories was ‘rubber suit mde of to layers af rubber with layer of hth in besween, ad a respraior. Even withthe protective clothing, most ‘of tae workers suffered from varying degrees of poitooing. ‘Accidents; of couse, happened with the most deadly entequenses. On one occasion, some pipefities were working on & section of pipe wen the pipe drained oat Tabun on them. They all died within minutes. Another time, seven workers were 2apped in the face witha gushing sre of Tabu In Spe of med 2 intensive media effort, five of them at Tina laboratory, accents can be avoided mach more easily than ina facacry sting. Even so, protective clothing is dette alot foc, A sua wet suit with god ruber gloves (oot surgical elves ‘because they're tno thin) end face shield wouk be idea. A bat nearby filled witha concentrated sofution of bicarbonate of sais ‘nother nocesity. This for washing off any sil that may hit the skin A good bood for exhausting fines tothe ouside has to rakeSilent Death 50 igh on the ist of prioiies also, Add to this some atropine sults for emergency frst sid. Tho antiotal dase is 4 milligrams by injcton every 10 minutes until sigas of atropine poisoning appear. 2-PAM is also bof Formerly, there were no laws prohibiting anyone in te Unite Saas from munofucturing verve gas. Shorty aiec publication of the Git eition ofthis book, however Her Kobl, one of my state's senntors, inroduced a bill 19 the Senate which made iegal produto of merve gas and ober substances, och as sien, which ‘could be used as weapons of mass destrction. The penalty for doing 30 is aow Me in. privoe. Apparetly these nao inded people consider the manure of nerve gas to bean ancsocal ck. Asa esl Destro not adverse the mature of the product too widely "The equipment needed for production of neree ga is basically the same a tat noded to produce metanphetamine (xe Secrets of Methanpheramine Marujocre by Uncle Fese) ot any ther of ‘wide range of organic chemicals. The standard sling kit with a ‘ately of sizes of round-bottom Dakss a must, a8 4 magnetic stnrer-bapinte and a good source of vacuum such as & propcly working aspire. “This section will concentrate on the mansfactre of Sarin, with ‘nly pissing reference made to the manufacture of the other nerve gees. There are several practical reasoss for this. Sara is considerably more poteat than Tabun, yet not appreciably more ficult 10 make. Tabun uses in its unamfscwre the chemical ‘whitleblower’s dalight,eyune, soi is best to stay aay from it Sonn is a litle more potent than Sarin, but good, reliable nection fo its preparation jastbave not been published, to the best of my Imowisdge Iwill ater nuke some specultions on its ‘afin that fel 30 sure of that I would bet ny bottom dolar they are comece. Even $0, it is best fo sick to the sure ting. I'm se you wil agree wih my logic. ‘Very goed directions fo the symbess of Tabanan be found in ‘an artsle by Holastedt in Acta Physiol. Scandinavia, poge 25 of Chapter Four [Nerve Gas: The Poor Man's Atom Bomb 3 ‘Supplement $0. Also of ioterest in the sme aril sa compound that is few times more potent that Tabun called dimetyimido- isopropory-phospbory| cyanide. Diretons for is manufacture are {found on page 27 of sume article ‘The synthesis of another also-ran nerve gas, called DPF, is lescribed in detail by its inveer in a very fine book ied Some Aspects of the Chemistry and Toric Action of Compounds of Phosphorous and Fluorine by B.C. Saunders. More detail of ts preparation are covered in an artic in the Joumal of she ‘Chemisiry Socien of London, page 695 to 699 (1948) by Saunders tt Stacey, DP oay wet ta Tab bt te oak is good reading as it covers ow industialscale production problems were oFercome. Sarin was made in Germany daring World War 1 by the following proces: cH Se 9 ae oN, CH,PCL, + NaF + CH,CHCH,—> Cu.CHCH, F ‘This method was workable, alhough he yields were Jow and the ‘product was always contaminated with bypeodocts, Puc is next {0 Godliness even in nerve gas! This process could sil be made 1 work todsy, since the starting material, methylphosphonic