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The authorities had been watching the would-be supervillain since 2012, when he approached the Israeli embassy in New York City, showed up at a synagogue and Jewish community center, and called his Congressman asking for support for his plan to build a deadly X-ray device. All contacted law enforcement. Later that year, he reached out to Barker with the idea that the KKK leader could help him.Crawford emailed Barker, "unbeknownst to the government," according to the FBI, and the two began to collaborate. Barker became so involved that on July 27, 2012, Crawford told an undercover FBI agent he was in contact with to call Barker, according to emails obtained by VICE. "The knights [Barker's group] may have the resources to invest and bring the project to fulfillment," wrote Crawford.Then, on August 7, Barker was arrested on unrelated federal charges of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, according to Forsyth County, North Carolina, law enforcement officials and sources close to the investigation against Crawford.Three days after he was arrested, he told the cops about Crawford's scheme. "While sitting in the can, on August 10 he called the FBI and sold the government this ridiculous story about how he had information of a plot with enough explosives in New Jersey to blow up New Jersey and New York together," said one source familiar with the case against Crawford.On VICE News: The US Army's Top General Points a Spear at Russia
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Barker apparently remains in the FBI's good graces, even though he is the chief suspect in the painting of a swastika on a synagogue in Southeastern Virginia in July 2011—a hate crime has gone curiously unpursued, according to local and federal law enforcement, KKK members, and synagogue officials."Chris Barker gives the Klan a black eye." –KKK Leader Billy Snuffer
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