For the Australian politician, see Michael Townley (politician). For the Grand Theft Auto V character, see Michael De Santa.
Michael Townley
Born
Michael Vernon Townley
(1942-12-05) December 5, 1942 (age 81)
Waterloo, Iowa
Nationality (legal)
United StatesChile
Occupation
Assassin
Organization
Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional
Spouse
Mariana Callejas
Conviction(s)
Assassination of Orlando Letelier Attempted assassination of Bernardo Leighton (in absentia)
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]
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]
^Summary of Investigation, January 21, 1982, gwu.edu. Accessed July 31, 2023.
^ ab"Diplomat's Assassin to be Freed". Washington Post. 1983-07-26.
^ abWillan, Philip (11 March 1993). "Agent of Chilean secret service convicted of murder attempt". UPI.
^Cite error: The named reference contrerasuse was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Cite error: The named reference protection was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Cite error: The named reference donmanuel was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Cite error: The named reference leadassassin was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Manuel Salazar Salvo, Roto el pacto de silencio en la inteligencia militar Archived 2007-09-21 at the Wayback Machine, Punto Final, n°611, 24 March – 6 April 2006 (in Spanish)
^Michael Townley fue interrogado por muerte de Frei Montalva, Radio Cooperativa, 30 March 2005 (in Spanish)
^Cite error: The named reference townleywitness was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Cite error: The named reference witnessprotection was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
Michael Vernon Townley (born December 5, 1942, in Waterloo, Iowa) is an American-born former agent of the Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional (DINA), the...
In 2004, MichaelTownley, Trevor Philips, and Brad Snider partake in a failed robbery in Ludendorff, North Yankton, resulting in Michael being presumed...
CIA. However, a letter which was written by renowned DINA assassin MichaelTownley in 1976 noted the existence of a network of individual Southern Cone...
Townley is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: A. C. Townley (1880–1959), American political organizer, founder the National Non-Partisan...
at the Wayback Machine. The Guardian. 8 October 2015. Townley, Michael (13 March 1978). "Townley Papers, "Confesión y Acusación [Confession and Accusation]...
the ninth-floor balcony of the building across the street. In 1983, MichaelTownley admitted to his role in carrying out the assassination of Prats on...
grenades. In January 2005, former Chilean secret police operative MichaelTownley, then living in the United States under a witness-protection program...
DINA in Buenos Aires in 1974, with the help of former DINA agents MichaelTownley and Enrique Arancibia. Cuban diplomats were also assassinated in Buenos...
other cases linked to atrocities in Chile — Virgilio Paz Romero and MichaelTownley — are wanted in Chile for the detention, torture, and killing of Spanish-Chilean...
husband, Michael Moffitt, was injured but survived. Several people were prosecuted and convicted for the murder. Among them were MichaelTownley, a U.S...
Drake-Brockman, who sat with the CP on election to parliament. Independent: MichaelTownley (Liberal Party from Feb 1975) The NSW portion of this vote was telling...
in Argentina on 20 June 1973, and then met with US-born DINA agent MichaelTownley in 1975 to prepare Chilean Christian Democrat Bernardo Leighton's failed...
uncovered evidence that MichaelTownley, a DINA US expatriate, had organized the assassination of Orlando Letelier on behalf of Chile. Townley and Armando Fernandez...
MichaelTownley described Contreras as the "intellectual author" behind the atrocities committed by DINA. In his March 13, 1978 "confession," Townley...
electronic and chemical warfare laboratory was installed in the house of MichaelTownley and Mariana Callejas in Lo Curro [es], located at Via Naranja 4925...
Vía Naranja house in the sector of Lo Curro, shared by DINA agent MichaelTownley and where Eugenio Berrios also worked. There, he was tortured and subjected...
Tom Drake-Brockman of the National Alliance and independent Senator MichaelTownley winning the other seat. In the final weekend of matches in West Germany's...
retrieved 2021-01-26 World Almanac 1967, p257 World Almanac 1982, p750 Michael Deibert (2014). In the Shadow of Saint Death: The Gulf Cartel and the Price...
declassified in 2000 and published by the National Security Archive, MichaelTownley, the DINA international agent responsible for the Assassination of...
to wait for one of them when leaving a party, she met MichaelTownley. That same year, Townley, at seventeen, fell madly in love with her, and despite...
cans for easy use, which, according to testimony by former DINA agent MichaelTownley, was one of the planned procedures in the 1976 assassination of Orlando...
for Military Dictatorship. Gwu.edu. Retrieved August 6, 2010. William Michael Schmidli, "Human rights and the Cold War: the campaign to halt the Argentine...
game portrays a faked death.: 27 In the first mission "Prologue" MichaelTownley (main protagonist) robbed a bank in North Yankton, then used a bullet...
Global Information
United States
Chile