Riccioni’s need for recognition and his naïveté, were becoming a dangerous combination. He began writing inflammatory memos to superior officers, the contents of which called too much attention to the Fighter Mafia. Once he wrote a letter in which he blasted the F-14 as a grossly inferior aircraft and said that the Navy should consider buying a lightweight fighter. He sent copies to top admirals. In Riccioni’s diatribes he positioned himself as the creator of the Fighter Mafia and even hinted at the true purpose of the study for which he had received funding. There were veiled references to an
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