Law enforcement officers have foiled an alleged plot by two skinhead neo-Nazis who aimed to assassinate Barack Obama and kill 102 other people, according to court records unsealed today.

Daniel Cowart, 20, and Paul Schlesselman, 18, were arrested in Tennessee on Wednesday and charged with making threats against a presidential candidate, conspiring to rob a gun store and possessing an unregistered firearm.

They planned a "killing spree" in which they would target a predominantly black high school, killing 88 people and beheading 14 others, before trying to shoot Obama. They intended to wear white tuxedos and top hats during the assassination bid, said Jim Cavanaugh, the special agent in charge of the ATF's Nashville office.

"They said that would be their last, final act, that they would attempt to kill Senator Obama," he said. "They didn't believe they would be able to do it, but that they would get killed trying."

The 88 and 14 are believed to be coded references to Adolf Hitler and David Lane, a white supremacist who died in prison last year. H is the eighth letter of the alphabet, and 88 represents the phrase "Heil Hitler," Cavanaugh said; 14 is a reference to a 14-word summary of Lane's views: "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children."