1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:05,520 Speaker 1: You're listening to Law and Order Criminal Justice System, a 2 00:00:05,600 --> 00:00:10,600 Speaker 1: production of Wolf Entertainment and iHeart podcasts. 3 00:00:12,560 --> 00:00:16,720 Speaker 2: In the criminal justice System, landmark trials transcend the courtroom 4 00:00:16,800 --> 00:00:19,520 Speaker 2: to reshape the law. The brave man and women who 5 00:00:19,560 --> 00:00:22,799 Speaker 2: investigate and prosecute these cases are part of a select 6 00:00:22,800 --> 00:00:26,599 Speaker 2: group that is defined American history. These are their stories. 7 00:00:30,680 --> 00:00:35,599 Speaker 2: December twenty ninth, nineteen seventy five, six thirty three pm, 8 00:00:35,680 --> 00:00:37,960 Speaker 2: LaGuardia airport. 9 00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:42,360 Speaker 1: Ed Longo had come to pick up his brother in law, 10 00:00:42,479 --> 00:00:45,520 Speaker 1: a routine errand the kind of thing you do without thinking. 11 00:00:46,640 --> 00:00:49,400 Speaker 3: When I arrived, I came through the store and I 12 00:00:49,479 --> 00:00:51,920 Speaker 3: came and take a look at the monitor to see 13 00:00:51,960 --> 00:00:53,280 Speaker 3: what time his flight was coming. 14 00:00:53,320 --> 00:01:00,600 Speaker 1: In the TWA terminal buzzed with post holiday chaos, Families clustered, baggage, 15 00:01:00,640 --> 00:01:04,959 Speaker 1: claim couples, reunited children tugged at weary parents ready to 16 00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:05,480 Speaker 1: go home. 17 00:01:06,520 --> 00:01:09,479 Speaker 3: I noticed I had a little time, so I came 18 00:01:09,520 --> 00:01:12,120 Speaker 3: over and I sat down an area over here which 19 00:01:12,200 --> 00:01:13,440 Speaker 3: no longer has the seats. 20 00:01:14,680 --> 00:01:17,480 Speaker 1: The seating area was less than one hundred yards away 21 00:01:17,480 --> 00:01:18,920 Speaker 1: from a row of metal lockers. 22 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:23,640 Speaker 3: I was sitting there and I decided to have a cigarette, 23 00:01:23,920 --> 00:01:26,240 Speaker 3: so I got up and I walked down towards the 24 00:01:26,319 --> 00:01:29,920 Speaker 3: lock area, which is used to be down there, when 25 00:01:29,959 --> 00:01:33,080 Speaker 3: I noticed I had no matches, so I said that 26 00:01:33,200 --> 00:01:35,440 Speaker 3: would I'm not going to smoke. So I turned around 27 00:01:35,520 --> 00:01:38,640 Speaker 3: and I sat down, and that's when the bomb exploded. 28 00:01:41,680 --> 00:01:46,199 Speaker 1: The floor buckled and ceiling panel snapped, a blast of smoke, 29 00:01:46,280 --> 00:01:49,120 Speaker 1: and glass ripped through the terminal like a shockwave. 30 00:01:50,720 --> 00:01:54,240 Speaker 4: The glass killed eleven people and injured seventy five others. 31 00:01:55,520 --> 00:02:01,560 Speaker 1: Fluorescent lights flickered and vanished. Screams echoed off concrete. 32 00:02:01,720 --> 00:02:03,960 Speaker 3: When I awoke, I was on the ground. My leg 33 00:02:04,080 --> 00:02:09,160 Speaker 3: was bleeding. There was no windows left, nothing ceiling falling down. 34 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:11,359 Speaker 3: I crawled out. 35 00:02:12,040 --> 00:02:15,120 Speaker 1: In a split second, what had been an ordinary Monday 36 00:02:15,240 --> 00:02:17,480 Speaker 1: night turned into complete devastation. 37 00:02:18,680 --> 00:02:23,520 Speaker 3: The scene was very chaotic, everybody running around, a lot 38 00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:26,160 Speaker 3: of mass confusion and a lot of people in the 39 00:02:26,200 --> 00:02:26,800 Speaker 3: state of shock. 40 00:02:28,040 --> 00:02:31,760 Speaker 1: Where the baggage carousel once stood, there was only ruin, 41 00:02:32,639 --> 00:02:39,000 Speaker 1: twisted aluminum, blood slick tiles, luggage scattered like confetti. At 42 00:02:39,040 --> 00:02:42,760 Speaker 1: the time, it was the deadliest terrorist attack ever carried 43 00:02:42,800 --> 00:02:44,000 Speaker 1: out on US soil. 44 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:47,320 Speaker 4: A retired police commander who worked on the case from 45 00:02:47,360 --> 00:02:50,799 Speaker 4: the beginning called the LaGuardia bombing the most frustrating case 46 00:02:50,840 --> 00:02:53,720 Speaker 4: of his career because, as he put it, there are 47 00:02:53,800 --> 00:02:57,280 Speaker 4: eleven open graves out there crying for an answer. 48 00:03:06,800 --> 00:03:09,079 Speaker 5: I got a call, get out to La Guardia Airport. 49 00:03:09,160 --> 00:03:10,000 Speaker 5: There's been a bombing. 50 00:03:10,120 --> 00:03:12,240 Speaker 1: There was a thirty two foot crater in front of 51 00:03:12,240 --> 00:03:13,959 Speaker 1: what was left of the building. I was trying to 52 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:15,520 Speaker 1: figure out, am I dead? Am I alive? 53 00:03:15,720 --> 00:03:16,839 Speaker 6: Where am I? 54 00:03:16,840 --> 00:03:18,320 Speaker 1: I'm Anethega Nicolazzi. 55 00:03:18,720 --> 00:03:20,080 Speaker 7: That's why terrorism works. 56 00:03:20,240 --> 00:03:21,680 Speaker 8: It doesn't care who you are. 57 00:03:22,600 --> 00:03:27,000 Speaker 1: From Wolf Entertainment and iHeart Podcasts, this is law and 58 00:03:27,200 --> 00:03:36,400 Speaker 1: order criminal justice system. Fifty years ago, a bomb tour 59 00:03:36,520 --> 00:03:41,760 Speaker 1: through La Guardia Airport's baggage claim, impacting countless lives. The 60 00:03:41,920 --> 00:03:46,720 Speaker 1: deadly attack on December twenty ninth, nineteen seventy five also 61 00:03:46,800 --> 00:03:51,720 Speaker 1: exposed the need for change. In the aftermath, federal agents 62 00:03:51,760 --> 00:03:56,680 Speaker 1: and the NYPD chased answers through wreckage and silence, trying 63 00:03:56,680 --> 00:03:59,720 Speaker 1: to bring order to a crime scene designed for chaos. 64 00:04:01,040 --> 00:04:02,120 Speaker 8: My name is Neil Moran. 65 00:04:02,920 --> 00:04:07,960 Speaker 5: Back in nineteen seventy one, after graduating from college in May, 66 00:04:08,600 --> 00:04:12,080 Speaker 5: I joined the FBI that August in the Clerical Program 67 00:04:12,160 --> 00:04:15,680 Speaker 5: and assigned to various clerical duties throughout the office, and 68 00:04:16,160 --> 00:04:19,239 Speaker 5: at that point it was a fairly good pathway into 69 00:04:19,279 --> 00:04:20,839 Speaker 5: becoming an FBI agent. 70 00:04:22,080 --> 00:04:26,200 Speaker 1: For four years, Neil Moran worked behind the scenes. It 71 00:04:26,279 --> 00:04:29,120 Speaker 1: was a slow but steady route for him to become 72 00:04:29,160 --> 00:04:29,680 Speaker 1: an agent. 73 00:04:31,080 --> 00:04:34,039 Speaker 5: They started to have a lot of classes and my 74 00:04:34,160 --> 00:04:37,480 Speaker 5: name came up and I went to chronicle. I was 75 00:04:37,520 --> 00:04:39,880 Speaker 5: sworn in on May fifth, nineteen seventy five, and I 76 00:04:39,920 --> 00:04:43,440 Speaker 5: spent four months at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, 77 00:04:43,760 --> 00:04:44,600 Speaker 5: going through training. 78 00:04:45,600 --> 00:04:49,000 Speaker 1: That August, he got his first assignment New York City. 79 00:04:49,520 --> 00:04:52,599 Speaker 1: Sending a newly minted agent straight to the Big Apple 80 00:04:52,880 --> 00:04:54,920 Speaker 1: was a bold experiment by the Bureau. 81 00:04:55,920 --> 00:04:58,640 Speaker 5: They had never before sent what were referred to as 82 00:04:58,680 --> 00:05:02,599 Speaker 5: first Office agents back to the New York Field Division. 83 00:05:03,200 --> 00:05:05,560 Speaker 8: Basically, he really didn't know what to do with us. 84 00:05:06,040 --> 00:05:09,760 Speaker 5: What they devised was a program whereby they gave you 85 00:05:09,839 --> 00:05:13,680 Speaker 5: six months on the very prestigious criminal squads. Everybody wanted 86 00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:17,320 Speaker 5: to be on a criminal squad. Bank robberies, kidnappings, extortion, 87 00:05:17,640 --> 00:05:21,719 Speaker 5: truck hijackings, organized crime. Everybody wanted to work that stuff. 88 00:05:22,200 --> 00:05:25,599 Speaker 5: Nobody wanted to work at least as people in their twenties, 89 00:05:25,680 --> 00:05:29,080 Speaker 5: like myself kind of the slow moving things, following Russians 90 00:05:29,120 --> 00:05:33,080 Speaker 5: and people from communist countries around spy stuff. 91 00:05:34,200 --> 00:05:39,440 Speaker 1: The timing was no accident. The threats were changing and fast. 92 00:05:40,560 --> 00:05:42,560 Speaker 5: I was fortunate enough to get a signed to a 93 00:05:42,600 --> 00:05:46,600 Speaker 5: squad that, among other things, handled airplane hijackings, which were 94 00:05:46,600 --> 00:05:49,800 Speaker 5: a regular thing in the nineteen seventies, as were bombings. 95 00:05:50,640 --> 00:05:53,479 Speaker 1: By the end of nineteen seventy five, Neil was a 96 00:05:53,520 --> 00:05:56,680 Speaker 1: twenty six year old agent and still learning the ropes. 97 00:05:57,160 --> 00:06:00,560 Speaker 1: But on December twenty ninth, there was no more easing in. 98 00:06:02,040 --> 00:06:05,159 Speaker 5: It was dinner time and I was in my apartment 99 00:06:05,160 --> 00:06:07,240 Speaker 5: in the Bronx having dinner, and I got a call 100 00:06:07,279 --> 00:06:11,000 Speaker 5: from the office. Get out to LaGuardia Airport. There's been 101 00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:14,320 Speaker 5: a bombing. Members of the squad will meet you out there. 102 00:06:15,320 --> 00:06:17,320 Speaker 1: There wasn't time for questions. 103 00:06:18,120 --> 00:06:20,600 Speaker 5: I recalled the switchboard saying there's been a bombing at 104 00:06:20,600 --> 00:06:25,280 Speaker 5: the TWA terminal. That's exactly where I responded to baggage 105 00:06:25,320 --> 00:06:26,120 Speaker 5: claim area. 106 00:06:26,240 --> 00:06:31,800 Speaker 1: Specifically, the blast had ripped through LaGuardia nearly ninety minutes earlier, 107 00:06:32,400 --> 00:06:36,720 Speaker 1: but when Neil arrived at Transworld Airlines Terminal known as TWA, 108 00:06:37,240 --> 00:06:39,040 Speaker 1: it still felt like it had just. 109 00:06:39,080 --> 00:06:43,239 Speaker 5: Happened when I got out there, New York City Fire Department, 110 00:06:43,240 --> 00:06:46,880 Speaker 5: New York City Police Department, cast of thousands, just a 111 00:06:47,600 --> 00:06:51,800 Speaker 5: chaotic scene, all kinds of layers of entry to try 112 00:06:51,800 --> 00:06:55,159 Speaker 5: and get into the inner sanctum there where the terminal 113 00:06:55,279 --> 00:06:57,880 Speaker 5: was a twa. 114 00:06:57,640 --> 00:07:02,840 Speaker 1: Marked entrances, were no more sirens, barricades and debris. 115 00:07:03,720 --> 00:07:08,000 Speaker 5: I just recalled dumping my car someplace and making my 116 00:07:08,160 --> 00:07:11,040 Speaker 5: way as close as I could to hook up with 117 00:07:11,360 --> 00:07:12,840 Speaker 5: the senior people on the squad. 118 00:07:13,920 --> 00:07:16,720 Speaker 1: What he found was a crime scene still in motion. 119 00:07:17,880 --> 00:07:21,240 Speaker 5: There's still a lot of moving parts here, There's bodies inside. 120 00:07:21,640 --> 00:07:26,560 Speaker 5: There was an extensive fire, smoke everywhere where, being very 121 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:29,080 Speaker 5: restricted as to where we could actually go. 122 00:07:30,280 --> 00:07:33,840 Speaker 1: There was no clear vantage point or full picture, only 123 00:07:33,920 --> 00:07:37,160 Speaker 1: glimpses from the edge of the scene and guesses about 124 00:07:37,200 --> 00:07:39,640 Speaker 1: what was unfolding inside. 125 00:07:39,840 --> 00:07:44,840 Speaker 5: We would see ambulances pulling away, continuing, lights flashing. They 126 00:07:44,880 --> 00:07:48,320 Speaker 5: said that there were fatalities, that the injured were being 127 00:07:48,400 --> 00:07:52,400 Speaker 5: loaded into ambulances, the deceased were being loaded into the ambulances. 128 00:07:52,880 --> 00:07:55,720 Speaker 5: You know, it's important for the investigators to do their investigation, 129 00:07:56,160 --> 00:07:59,360 Speaker 5: but the first priorities to get the deceased and injured 130 00:07:59,400 --> 00:07:59,880 Speaker 5: out of there. 131 00:08:01,080 --> 00:08:07,120 Speaker 1: Outside, NYPD officers and federal agents gathered near the perimeter. Inside, 132 00:08:07,360 --> 00:08:12,840 Speaker 1: firefighters were still leading the effort, cooling hotspots, searching for survivors, 133 00:08:13,200 --> 00:08:15,280 Speaker 1: and clearing a path through devastation. 134 00:08:16,520 --> 00:08:19,360 Speaker 8: I see a lot of debris being moved. It was 135 00:08:19,400 --> 00:08:20,600 Speaker 8: a mess. It was a mess. 136 00:08:21,560 --> 00:08:25,720 Speaker 1: What was left of the TWA baggage claim was unrecognizable. 137 00:08:26,440 --> 00:08:30,200 Speaker 1: And outside of the police barriers, another kind of chaos 138 00:08:30,320 --> 00:08:30,840 Speaker 1: was building. 139 00:08:32,120 --> 00:08:36,320 Speaker 5: There's just hundreds and hundreds of people. Cars are parked everywhere. 140 00:08:36,640 --> 00:08:40,160 Speaker 5: Lights are illuminating the whole area. That trying to keep 141 00:08:40,200 --> 00:08:42,760 Speaker 5: the press out of there. They're trying to keep onlookers 142 00:08:42,840 --> 00:08:45,240 Speaker 5: out of there, and this is not an easy task 143 00:08:45,559 --> 00:08:48,320 Speaker 5: when you're trying to rope off such a big area. 144 00:08:49,200 --> 00:08:53,679 Speaker 1: With the barricades barely holding and responders packed shoulder to shoulder. 145 00:08:54,200 --> 00:08:58,640 Speaker 1: The question wasn't just what happened, but who was in charge. 146 00:08:58,840 --> 00:09:02,200 Speaker 5: It's really waiting to see bosses from our job. Bosses 147 00:09:02,240 --> 00:09:05,760 Speaker 5: from the police department, bosses from the port authority, police 148 00:09:06,240 --> 00:09:11,360 Speaker 5: bosses from alcohol, tobacco on firearms, bosses everywhere, And no 149 00:09:11,520 --> 00:09:13,800 Speaker 5: secret that a lot of bosses from law enforcement don't 150 00:09:13,840 --> 00:09:14,400 Speaker 5: get along. 151 00:09:14,520 --> 00:09:17,120 Speaker 1: So and every one of them wants to get inside first, 152 00:09:17,360 --> 00:09:22,840 Speaker 1: exactly exactly. While different commands jockeyed for control, the facts 153 00:09:22,880 --> 00:09:26,800 Speaker 1: on the ground were only just beginning to surface. No 154 00:09:26,800 --> 00:09:29,960 Speaker 1: one knew how many people were dead, No one knew 155 00:09:30,080 --> 00:09:33,520 Speaker 1: who did it. All they had was a war zone 156 00:09:33,600 --> 00:09:38,520 Speaker 1: at baggage Claim and a thousand unanswered questions. What little 157 00:09:38,520 --> 00:09:41,400 Speaker 1: information did make it out was catastrophic. 158 00:09:42,720 --> 00:09:45,840 Speaker 5: As a result of the metal which was later determined 159 00:09:45,880 --> 00:09:50,840 Speaker 5: to be a bomb inside a locker, the shrapnel flying 160 00:09:50,880 --> 00:09:54,560 Speaker 5: shrapnel had injured a lot of people. In addition to that, 161 00:09:54,640 --> 00:09:56,640 Speaker 5: there were multiple fatalities. 162 00:09:58,000 --> 00:10:01,520 Speaker 1: By dawn, LaGuardia airp Or it was still on lockdown, 163 00:10:02,280 --> 00:10:06,080 Speaker 1: the scent of smoke lingered, the baggage claim was in ruins, 164 00:10:06,720 --> 00:10:10,080 Speaker 1: the fire was out, but for agents like Neil, the 165 00:10:10,200 --> 00:10:11,840 Speaker 1: real work was just beginning. 166 00:10:14,240 --> 00:10:15,040 Speaker 8: Key thing with. 167 00:10:15,200 --> 00:10:17,680 Speaker 5: Any kind of a crime scene, obviously, is to try 168 00:10:17,679 --> 00:10:19,280 Speaker 5: and preserve the crime scene. 169 00:10:19,600 --> 00:10:21,240 Speaker 8: As cleanly as possible. 170 00:10:21,800 --> 00:10:25,679 Speaker 5: We already realized that with the fire and the number 171 00:10:25,679 --> 00:10:29,480 Speaker 5: of personnel trampling on one thing or another, that the 172 00:10:29,520 --> 00:10:32,040 Speaker 5: crime scene had been significantly compromised. 173 00:10:32,640 --> 00:10:33,880 Speaker 8: Everything is soaking wet. 174 00:10:34,080 --> 00:10:36,760 Speaker 5: Would have an uphill battle in trying to search for 175 00:10:37,120 --> 00:10:42,080 Speaker 5: things like wires, battery wires, timers, things of that nature. 176 00:10:43,600 --> 00:10:47,960 Speaker 1: In a bombing investigation, every inch of ground matters. The 177 00:10:48,040 --> 00:10:51,640 Speaker 1: goal is always the same, locate the point of origin, 178 00:10:52,120 --> 00:10:57,839 Speaker 1: recover blast components, and if possible, reconstruct the device. But 179 00:10:57,920 --> 00:11:03,040 Speaker 1: that process depends on one critical factor, preservation, and at 180 00:11:03,120 --> 00:11:06,240 Speaker 1: La Guardia that was already slipping away. 181 00:11:07,120 --> 00:11:10,040 Speaker 5: Any kind of a foreign substance. You want this crime 182 00:11:10,040 --> 00:11:14,040 Speaker 5: scene preserved in its most pristine condition as opposed to 183 00:11:14,080 --> 00:11:17,280 Speaker 5: having it doused with water. I mean, and plus it's 184 00:11:17,400 --> 00:11:19,600 Speaker 5: very cold, and I remember being there the next day 185 00:11:19,679 --> 00:11:22,480 Speaker 5: and a lot of the stuff was frozen from the 186 00:11:22,520 --> 00:11:24,520 Speaker 5: water and just a mess. 187 00:11:24,960 --> 00:11:27,920 Speaker 8: I mean, I have to say, the messiest set of. 188 00:11:27,880 --> 00:11:31,120 Speaker 5: Circumstances that I ever had to sift through debris for 189 00:11:31,160 --> 00:11:32,240 Speaker 5: an extensive period. 190 00:11:32,760 --> 00:11:35,680 Speaker 8: It made our job, obviously that much more difficult. 191 00:11:36,080 --> 00:11:39,920 Speaker 1: With the additional damage and conditions of worsening. The area 192 00:11:40,000 --> 00:11:43,840 Speaker 1: was fortified to protect whatever potential evidence still remained. 193 00:11:45,160 --> 00:11:47,840 Speaker 5: People were going to be standing there throughout the night 194 00:11:48,120 --> 00:11:50,560 Speaker 5: to try and preserve it is as much as possible 195 00:11:50,760 --> 00:11:53,360 Speaker 5: and wait for the next morning, which we all got 196 00:11:53,360 --> 00:11:56,839 Speaker 5: out there fairly early and began the task of trying 197 00:11:56,880 --> 00:12:00,840 Speaker 5: to sift through degree organizing morning. 198 00:12:00,720 --> 00:12:04,720 Speaker 1: The focus had shifted from search and rescue to evidence collection. 199 00:12:05,720 --> 00:12:10,440 Speaker 1: Investigators from the NYPD, FBI, and port authority combed through 200 00:12:10,440 --> 00:12:13,640 Speaker 1: the debris looking for anything that could tell them how 201 00:12:13,720 --> 00:12:14,360 Speaker 1: this happened. 202 00:12:15,880 --> 00:12:19,040 Speaker 5: Ourselves in the police department set up like a staging area, 203 00:12:19,040 --> 00:12:21,800 Speaker 5: if you will, in the body of the baggage area. 204 00:12:22,240 --> 00:12:23,160 Speaker 8: We all had gloves on. 205 00:12:23,240 --> 00:12:26,640 Speaker 5: It was freezing cold, dressed in layers and hats and 206 00:12:26,679 --> 00:12:30,319 Speaker 5: bringing stuff up and then just meticulously sifting through things 207 00:12:30,480 --> 00:12:36,800 Speaker 5: to look for evidence. There's clothes, remnants of suitcases, debris, 208 00:12:37,679 --> 00:12:42,800 Speaker 5: shrapnel from the lockers, concrete from pillars inside. It was 209 00:12:42,880 --> 00:12:45,800 Speaker 5: fairly significant blast debris everywhere. 210 00:12:46,960 --> 00:12:52,040 Speaker 1: And then amid the wreckage something unmistakable the remnants of 211 00:12:52,200 --> 00:12:55,320 Speaker 1: twenty five sticks of dynamite along with. 212 00:12:56,160 --> 00:12:59,880 Speaker 5: Copper wire but encased in plastic, common component used in 213 00:13:00,080 --> 00:13:01,920 Speaker 5: constructing a bomb with a timer. 214 00:13:03,040 --> 00:13:03,800 Speaker 1: And it worked. 215 00:13:04,920 --> 00:13:06,960 Speaker 3: A bomb went off with such force that it ripped 216 00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:09,679 Speaker 3: apart the ground level locker room and baggage area of 217 00:13:09,720 --> 00:13:13,200 Speaker 3: the main terminal. Eleven people lost their lives and seventy 218 00:13:13,200 --> 00:13:14,319 Speaker 3: five others were injured. 219 00:13:15,720 --> 00:13:20,800 Speaker 1: People were burned, lost limbs, some thrown across the terminal 220 00:13:20,840 --> 00:13:25,520 Speaker 1: by the sheer force of the blast. Others were left unrecognizable. 221 00:13:26,800 --> 00:13:31,840 Speaker 2: One of the natures of their wounds, their injuries from shrapnel, wongs. 222 00:13:32,679 --> 00:13:41,640 Speaker 7: Apparently the explosion actually impelled building material, metal, glass. 223 00:13:40,800 --> 00:13:41,520 Speaker 2: That kind of thing. 224 00:13:42,600 --> 00:13:57,720 Speaker 1: This wasn't a message, It was a massacre. Fifty years 225 00:13:57,840 --> 00:14:03,120 Speaker 1: is a long time fact, and witnesses age, memory shift, 226 00:14:03,200 --> 00:14:07,680 Speaker 1: and paper records disappear. Finding first hand accounts became a 227 00:14:07,760 --> 00:14:09,160 Speaker 1: race against time. 228 00:14:10,000 --> 00:14:12,760 Speaker 5: And then you're trying to get eyewitness accounts. And I 229 00:14:12,840 --> 00:14:16,520 Speaker 5: also played a role, as did dozens and dozens of 230 00:14:16,520 --> 00:14:19,440 Speaker 5: other agents in interviewing witnesses. 231 00:14:19,440 --> 00:14:21,520 Speaker 8: People were calling the office. 232 00:14:22,080 --> 00:14:24,840 Speaker 1: It was a flood of tips, names, and rumors. 233 00:14:25,800 --> 00:14:29,840 Speaker 5: We had a roster of twa employees and anybody who 234 00:14:29,880 --> 00:14:32,520 Speaker 5: was on duty at that point, or people that had 235 00:14:32,520 --> 00:14:36,440 Speaker 5: called in and said they were there or saw something 236 00:14:36,440 --> 00:14:37,280 Speaker 5: when they were there. 237 00:14:37,720 --> 00:14:39,360 Speaker 8: All those leads are run down. 238 00:14:40,680 --> 00:14:44,360 Speaker 1: In the days after the attack, investigators were chasing leads 239 00:14:44,400 --> 00:14:49,600 Speaker 1: in every direction for any definitive answers for this unprecedented violence. 240 00:14:50,360 --> 00:14:54,320 Speaker 1: Bomb fragments were recovered from the blast center, mangled yards 241 00:14:54,320 --> 00:14:58,440 Speaker 1: of a suitcase, pieces of a triggering mechanism, and chemical 242 00:14:58,520 --> 00:15:03,240 Speaker 1: residue from the explosive experts at a nearby army base 243 00:15:03,320 --> 00:15:07,000 Speaker 1: helped analyze it. It was clear this wasn't crude, It 244 00:15:07,080 --> 00:15:11,400 Speaker 1: was powerful and designed to kill, but the forensic evidence 245 00:15:11,440 --> 00:15:15,840 Speaker 1: stopped short of pointing to a suspect. There were no fingerprints, 246 00:15:16,080 --> 00:15:19,960 Speaker 1: no traceable serial numbers, just the signature of someone who 247 00:15:20,000 --> 00:15:23,040 Speaker 1: knew what they were doing. The bomb had been placed 248 00:15:23,040 --> 00:15:26,640 Speaker 1: inside a coin operated locker in the TWA baggage clean 249 00:15:27,400 --> 00:15:31,160 Speaker 1: The person who planted it understood the timing. It was 250 00:15:31,240 --> 00:15:35,400 Speaker 1: two days after Christmas, the busiest travel week of the year. 251 00:15:35,960 --> 00:15:39,840 Speaker 1: The bomb had been positioned for maximum impact. Both physical 252 00:15:39,960 --> 00:15:44,360 Speaker 1: and psychological agents then turned to the locker system itself, 253 00:15:44,800 --> 00:15:48,360 Speaker 1: but in nineteen seventy five, those lockers didn't require a 254 00:15:48,480 --> 00:15:51,920 Speaker 1: name or ID, just a coin, no way to trace 255 00:15:51,960 --> 00:15:55,320 Speaker 1: who had used it. There were no surveillance cameras to 256 00:15:55,360 --> 00:15:58,440 Speaker 1: turn to, at least none that captured the locker area, 257 00:15:58,880 --> 00:16:02,240 Speaker 1: no high tech for rents tools to lift microscopic DNA. 258 00:16:02,960 --> 00:16:07,360 Speaker 1: The trail, if there ever was one, was going cold fast. 259 00:16:08,080 --> 00:16:12,800 Speaker 1: Whoever planned it didn't publicly claim responsibility, as was sometimes 260 00:16:12,880 --> 00:16:14,680 Speaker 1: the case with terrorist attacks. 261 00:16:15,480 --> 00:16:18,640 Speaker 5: There were some theories. There was no clear cut group 262 00:16:18,760 --> 00:16:22,720 Speaker 5: that emerged that may have been responsible. The Croatians were 263 00:16:22,800 --> 00:16:26,680 Speaker 5: also a very active group back then, committing a lot 264 00:16:26,680 --> 00:16:29,720 Speaker 5: of bombings. They were of interest. 265 00:16:30,640 --> 00:16:33,480 Speaker 1: Here again is FBI historian John Fox. 266 00:16:34,680 --> 00:16:39,160 Speaker 9: There have been a couple of major accusations, some suspected 267 00:16:39,280 --> 00:16:45,040 Speaker 9: fal and others suspected Croatian nationalists. There was a lot 268 00:16:45,040 --> 00:16:48,400 Speaker 9: of back and forth in Yugoslavia at the time, and 269 00:16:48,520 --> 00:16:52,760 Speaker 9: there was a group of Croatian separatists who were engaged 270 00:16:52,800 --> 00:16:54,560 Speaker 9: in terrorist type activities. 271 00:16:55,680 --> 00:17:00,560 Speaker 1: Croatian separatists were one possibility, but terrorism expert Michael Jensen 272 00:17:00,560 --> 00:17:04,240 Speaker 1: recalls they were just one piece of a much larger puzzle. 273 00:17:05,400 --> 00:17:08,679 Speaker 10: This really was the era of mass bombing campaigns in 274 00:17:08,720 --> 00:17:12,280 Speaker 10: the United States, and the FBI had a very very 275 00:17:12,320 --> 00:17:15,200 Speaker 10: long list of usual suspects to go through to try 276 00:17:15,200 --> 00:17:18,879 Speaker 10: to figure out who did this, including the FALN, the 277 00:17:18,960 --> 00:17:23,800 Speaker 10: Jewish Defense League, the Palestine Liberation Organization, you name it. 278 00:17:23,840 --> 00:17:26,200 Speaker 10: There was any number of groups that could have been 279 00:17:26,240 --> 00:17:27,960 Speaker 10: responsible for this attack. 280 00:17:28,760 --> 00:17:31,840 Speaker 1: And for many of them, the logic behind targeting the 281 00:17:31,960 --> 00:17:34,160 Speaker 1: US followed a familiar pattern. 282 00:17:35,040 --> 00:17:38,560 Speaker 10: That's a fairly common story in the history of terrorism 283 00:17:38,680 --> 00:17:43,520 Speaker 10: is that ethno nationalists organizations that are seeking independence will 284 00:17:43,600 --> 00:17:46,760 Speaker 10: launch attacks not only in their own countries, where they're 285 00:17:46,800 --> 00:17:49,119 Speaker 10: trying to separate from, but also in the countries that 286 00:17:49,160 --> 00:17:53,800 Speaker 10: they feel are supporting the authoritarian rulers that are denying 287 00:17:53,880 --> 00:17:56,639 Speaker 10: them their independence and their freedom. 288 00:17:57,119 --> 00:18:00,560 Speaker 1: If this was political, like so many bombings of the time, 289 00:18:01,119 --> 00:18:05,159 Speaker 1: one would expect some group, some one to be taking credit. 290 00:18:05,800 --> 00:18:09,400 Speaker 1: But without a name, without a message, there was nothing 291 00:18:09,480 --> 00:18:14,639 Speaker 1: to hold onto. For weeks, investigators had little more than 292 00:18:14,680 --> 00:18:18,840 Speaker 1: debris and speculation. No group stepped forward, and no hard 293 00:18:18,920 --> 00:18:23,360 Speaker 1: evidence surfaced. Back in New York City's FBI Field office, 294 00:18:23,680 --> 00:18:26,879 Speaker 1: leads were still being chased and coming up cold. 295 00:18:28,160 --> 00:18:31,520 Speaker 5: It's chaotic in the office. Bosses tearing his hair out. 296 00:18:32,040 --> 00:18:34,399 Speaker 5: People are assigning leads. What do you have going on? 297 00:18:34,480 --> 00:18:36,080 Speaker 5: I need you to run out to Queen's. I need 298 00:18:36,119 --> 00:18:37,960 Speaker 5: you to run up to the Bronx. I need you 299 00:18:38,000 --> 00:18:39,919 Speaker 5: to run to Manhattan. I need you to run to 300 00:18:40,040 --> 00:18:42,760 Speaker 5: Jersey to interview this twa employee. 301 00:18:42,800 --> 00:18:44,520 Speaker 8: So we're just plugging holes. 302 00:18:45,960 --> 00:18:49,760 Speaker 1: Witnesses were interviewed. A few thought they saw someone leave 303 00:18:49,800 --> 00:18:53,840 Speaker 1: a suitcase unattended. Others said it was a man moving quickly, 304 00:18:54,320 --> 00:18:59,400 Speaker 1: but the descriptions were vague and inconsistent. No composite sketch, ever, 305 00:18:59,520 --> 00:19:03,879 Speaker 1: led to a break and then came the silence. Days 306 00:19:03,960 --> 00:19:09,199 Speaker 1: turned to weeks and then months. No manifestos, no phone calls. 307 00:19:10,040 --> 00:19:13,240 Speaker 1: The silence became its own kind of clue and its 308 00:19:13,280 --> 00:19:17,640 Speaker 1: own dead end. But then something unexpected happened. 309 00:19:19,680 --> 00:19:23,960 Speaker 5: There was a call into CBS News Radio eight eighty 310 00:19:24,560 --> 00:19:27,119 Speaker 5: and there was a claim of responsibility and my boss, 311 00:19:27,480 --> 00:19:30,520 Speaker 5: he wanted me to go up to fifty seventh Street. 312 00:19:30,960 --> 00:19:31,639 Speaker 8: They had a tape. 313 00:19:31,640 --> 00:19:33,600 Speaker 5: They said that they would be happy to provide the 314 00:19:33,640 --> 00:19:36,840 Speaker 5: FBI with the tape with no subpoena, So they were 315 00:19:36,880 --> 00:19:38,960 Speaker 5: going to make a copy and turn it over to me. 316 00:19:39,440 --> 00:19:43,159 Speaker 5: So my boss said, get up there and get that tape. 317 00:19:43,480 --> 00:19:47,160 Speaker 1: Would this be it? They pressed play on the recorder, 318 00:19:48,200 --> 00:19:48,640 Speaker 1: kind of. 319 00:19:48,560 --> 00:19:52,880 Speaker 8: Like a muffled voice, and you heard words. 320 00:19:52,520 --> 00:19:56,119 Speaker 5: To the effect that we weren't home or a bombing 321 00:19:56,119 --> 00:19:59,840 Speaker 5: at the KWA and terminal. They were claiming to be 322 00:19:59,880 --> 00:20:04,640 Speaker 5: an offshoot of the Palestine Liberation Organization the PLO, which 323 00:20:04,720 --> 00:20:07,119 Speaker 5: was very active at the time and in the news 324 00:20:07,160 --> 00:20:07,840 Speaker 5: all the time. 325 00:20:09,200 --> 00:20:12,280 Speaker 1: For a moment, it seemed like a break, a name, 326 00:20:12,440 --> 00:20:16,000 Speaker 1: and a possible direction, but a strong disclaimer from the 327 00:20:16,040 --> 00:20:18,000 Speaker 1: PLO soon followed. 328 00:20:18,840 --> 00:20:22,840 Speaker 7: The allegation that the PLO was connected to this crime 329 00:20:23,880 --> 00:20:27,800 Speaker 7: did not reach until about four hours after the explosion, 330 00:20:28,240 --> 00:20:31,440 Speaker 7: which means that somebody was there watching and then planning 331 00:20:31,760 --> 00:20:37,080 Speaker 7: and came out with this allegation. So, whoever or whatever 332 00:20:37,400 --> 00:20:41,720 Speaker 7: group was responsible, you categorically denied that has any connection 333 00:20:41,880 --> 00:20:45,159 Speaker 7: with the PLO. We not only categorically deny, but we 334 00:20:45,280 --> 00:20:46,080 Speaker 7: condemned the act. 335 00:20:47,640 --> 00:20:51,280 Speaker 1: Like all leads before it, this one collapsed almost as 336 00:20:51,280 --> 00:20:55,080 Speaker 1: soon as it surfaced. But this was the seventies. There 337 00:20:55,080 --> 00:20:59,280 Speaker 1: were no digital trails, no advanced forensics, and no proven 338 00:20:59,359 --> 00:21:00,720 Speaker 1: algorithm to connect the. 339 00:21:00,680 --> 00:21:04,720 Speaker 5: Dots, no voice recognition back in nineteen seventy five. 340 00:21:05,520 --> 00:21:09,159 Speaker 1: And tracing the tape back to a verifiable source was 341 00:21:09,359 --> 00:21:12,560 Speaker 1: just one more task in an already frantic rotation. 342 00:21:13,760 --> 00:21:16,440 Speaker 5: The more time that goes by from December twenty ninth, 343 00:21:16,760 --> 00:21:20,679 Speaker 5: the more the investigation trail gets stale. Other than that 344 00:21:20,760 --> 00:21:23,840 Speaker 5: claim of responsibility, there was no clear cut group that 345 00:21:23,920 --> 00:21:26,879 Speaker 5: emerged that may have been responsible. 346 00:21:27,440 --> 00:21:32,560 Speaker 1: And without hard evidence, investigators were left chasing theories. One 347 00:21:32,600 --> 00:21:35,480 Speaker 1: that had come up earlier began to gain more traction. 348 00:21:36,920 --> 00:21:40,080 Speaker 10: Some believe that this attack was committed by a Croatian 349 00:21:40,160 --> 00:21:45,520 Speaker 10: nationalists because the US was supporting Yugoslavia and was denying 350 00:21:45,640 --> 00:21:48,239 Speaker 10: them that are access to their freedom. 351 00:21:48,920 --> 00:21:53,200 Speaker 1: It was still just a theory, but a name started surfacing, 352 00:21:54,000 --> 00:21:59,160 Speaker 1: whispered in FBI field offices, scribbled in margins of case files, 353 00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:03,960 Speaker 1: the name that made their Croatian angle suddenly feel more plausible. 354 00:22:04,840 --> 00:22:13,320 Speaker 1: Zvonko Busich. On September tenth, nineteen seventy six, twa flight 355 00:22:13,440 --> 00:22:16,600 Speaker 1: three point fifty five out of LaGuardia bound for Chicago 356 00:22:17,119 --> 00:22:20,480 Speaker 1: lifted off from the very same airport a bomb had 357 00:22:20,520 --> 00:22:24,240 Speaker 1: struck just nine months earlier. On board were more than 358 00:22:24,280 --> 00:22:30,120 Speaker 1: eighty passengers, business travelers, families, civilians headed into the weekend. 359 00:22:32,000 --> 00:22:34,680 Speaker 1: What none of them knew was that among them sat 360 00:22:34,760 --> 00:22:38,280 Speaker 1: a man with a radical plan, a suitcase, and a 361 00:22:38,320 --> 00:22:43,800 Speaker 1: deadly message. Busich was a Croatian nationalist. At thirty years old, 362 00:22:43,840 --> 00:22:46,600 Speaker 1: he'd come to the United States in the nineteen seventies 363 00:22:46,600 --> 00:22:50,359 Speaker 1: with a mission to fight for an independent Croatia free 364 00:22:50,400 --> 00:22:54,919 Speaker 1: from Yugoslav rule. And that morning, Busich, along with his 365 00:22:55,000 --> 00:22:59,639 Speaker 1: American born wife Julienne, and three co conspirators, stood up 366 00:22:59,680 --> 00:23:04,160 Speaker 1: midhas flight and hijacked the plane. He claimed they had 367 00:23:04,200 --> 00:23:07,520 Speaker 1: a bomb on board, and more chillingly, he warned that 368 00:23:07,640 --> 00:23:10,400 Speaker 1: a second device had already been planted in the heart 369 00:23:10,480 --> 00:23:14,520 Speaker 1: of New York City at Grand Central Terminal. Their demand 370 00:23:15,240 --> 00:23:20,560 Speaker 1: published a political manifesto in major American newspapers outlining Croatia's 371 00:23:20,600 --> 00:23:26,280 Speaker 1: suffering under the Yugoslav regime. NYPD bomb Squad officers raced 372 00:23:26,280 --> 00:23:30,320 Speaker 1: to Grand Central to investigate the claim. They found the device. 373 00:23:30,880 --> 00:23:34,879 Speaker 1: It was real and it was lethal. When the bomb 374 00:23:34,960 --> 00:23:37,399 Speaker 1: was moved to a firing range in the Bronx to 375 00:23:37,480 --> 00:23:39,840 Speaker 1: be diffused, it detonated. 376 00:23:42,880 --> 00:23:45,199 Speaker 5: And I just remember going to bed that night and 377 00:23:45,280 --> 00:23:47,840 Speaker 5: waking up the next morning and heard that a police 378 00:23:47,880 --> 00:23:50,639 Speaker 5: officer was killed, and it happened to be Brian Murray. 379 00:23:51,880 --> 00:23:55,120 Speaker 1: Neil couldn't believe it. He just met Brian a few 380 00:23:55,160 --> 00:23:59,160 Speaker 1: months earlier. Brian Murray was only twenty seven years old 381 00:23:59,240 --> 00:24:01,800 Speaker 1: when he died. A member of the New York City 382 00:24:01,840 --> 00:24:05,560 Speaker 1: Police Department's Elite Bomb Squad unit, he was killed as 383 00:24:05,560 --> 00:24:09,080 Speaker 1: he worked to deactivate the bomb. He left behind a 384 00:24:09,160 --> 00:24:13,440 Speaker 1: wife and two children, two and four years old. Another 385 00:24:13,600 --> 00:24:19,360 Speaker 1: officer was also seriously wounded. Back on the plane, Busage 386 00:24:19,400 --> 00:24:23,640 Speaker 1: and his team diverted the aircraft to Paris, ultimately releasing 387 00:24:23,720 --> 00:24:27,960 Speaker 1: passengers and stages. When they finally surrendered, it was on 388 00:24:28,119 --> 00:24:28,800 Speaker 1: French soil. 389 00:24:29,960 --> 00:24:32,800 Speaker 10: There were strong efforts to try to connect him to 390 00:24:32,880 --> 00:24:38,120 Speaker 10: the LaGuardia pot after his arrest. In these other two cases. 391 00:24:38,760 --> 00:24:42,159 Speaker 1: The similarities were clear, the use of a locker in 392 00:24:42,240 --> 00:24:45,720 Speaker 1: a busy transit hub. Here was someone with the motive, 393 00:24:46,200 --> 00:24:51,439 Speaker 1: the ideology, and the operational know how. So investigators started 394 00:24:51,440 --> 00:24:54,359 Speaker 1: to look closer, but the evidence they'd need for an 395 00:24:54,480 --> 00:24:56,439 Speaker 1: arrest never materialized. 396 00:24:57,680 --> 00:25:01,480 Speaker 10: He always denied having any knowledge or the involvement in 397 00:25:01,680 --> 00:25:05,439 Speaker 10: the LaGuardia bomb plot, and federal authorities were never able 398 00:25:05,480 --> 00:25:07,200 Speaker 10: to prove a connection. 399 00:25:08,040 --> 00:25:10,320 Speaker 1: And then came an even stranger theory. 400 00:25:11,480 --> 00:25:14,160 Speaker 10: There have been some arguments that in fact, it wasn't 401 00:25:14,240 --> 00:25:17,920 Speaker 10: Croatian nationalists at all. It might have actually been Yugoslavian 402 00:25:17,920 --> 00:25:20,640 Speaker 10: authorities that orchestrated that attack. 403 00:25:21,720 --> 00:25:25,120 Speaker 1: In that version, the bombing wasn't the work of separatists. 404 00:25:26,080 --> 00:25:29,600 Speaker 10: There are some that believe that Yugoslavia was ultimately behind 405 00:25:29,640 --> 00:25:32,600 Speaker 10: this attack, that it was a false flag operation meant 406 00:25:32,720 --> 00:25:40,320 Speaker 10: to generate a lot of hostility and anger towards Croatian nationalists. 407 00:25:38,640 --> 00:25:42,439 Speaker 1: Meaning it would have been staged by Yugoslav intelligence in 408 00:25:42,480 --> 00:25:46,480 Speaker 1: an effort to discredit the very movement usage was fighting for. 409 00:25:47,720 --> 00:25:52,159 Speaker 10: So in terms of his actual involvement. That remains a 410 00:25:52,200 --> 00:25:53,080 Speaker 10: mystery to this day. 411 00:25:54,280 --> 00:25:57,920 Speaker 1: And just like that, the trail split and eventually turned 412 00:25:57,920 --> 00:26:03,080 Speaker 1: to dust, from one a nationalist willing to hijack a 413 00:26:03,119 --> 00:26:07,400 Speaker 1: plane for his cause, to the other an unsolved bombing 414 00:26:07,440 --> 00:26:12,000 Speaker 1: that still has no claim perpetrator, no indictment, and no closure. 415 00:26:15,040 --> 00:26:19,560 Speaker 1: There are no documentaries, no public memorial for the eleven 416 00:26:19,680 --> 00:26:23,479 Speaker 1: people who never got to finish their trip home. And 417 00:26:23,560 --> 00:26:26,240 Speaker 1: I can tell you from having worked on many unsolved 418 00:26:26,240 --> 00:26:30,360 Speaker 1: cases over the years, that for the families, the investigators, 419 00:26:30,720 --> 00:26:33,760 Speaker 1: it wasn't just the violence that lingered, it was the 420 00:26:33,920 --> 00:26:39,720 Speaker 1: silence that followed it. Here's social psychologist Ari Kruglansky explaining 421 00:26:39,720 --> 00:26:42,439 Speaker 1: what those open cases leave behind. 422 00:26:43,680 --> 00:26:47,199 Speaker 11: People call it in psychology lack of cognitive closure. You 423 00:26:47,240 --> 00:26:50,679 Speaker 11: have lack of closure, or you have an uncertainty something 424 00:26:50,720 --> 00:26:55,359 Speaker 11: is unresolved. It's a very very difficult experience to have 425 00:26:55,480 --> 00:26:58,199 Speaker 11: this lack of closure, to have this idea that you 426 00:26:58,280 --> 00:27:02,239 Speaker 11: were diminished. Random event has happened to you, and it 427 00:27:02,280 --> 00:27:04,840 Speaker 11: can happen again, and there is nothing you can do 428 00:27:04,920 --> 00:27:05,359 Speaker 11: about it. 429 00:27:06,600 --> 00:27:10,200 Speaker 1: Some wounds begin to heal with time. This one can't 430 00:27:10,680 --> 00:27:12,640 Speaker 1: until there are answers. 431 00:27:13,600 --> 00:27:17,960 Speaker 11: These are people that suffer a lot, and presumably they 432 00:27:17,960 --> 00:27:22,919 Speaker 11: would be also more vulnerable to all kinds of narratives 433 00:27:22,920 --> 00:27:25,800 Speaker 11: that tell them what to do to alleviate their suffering. 434 00:27:36,000 --> 00:27:39,639 Speaker 1: The Leguardia bombing didn't just leave behind wreckage and grief. 435 00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:43,639 Speaker 1: It exposed a response that wasn't as unified as it 436 00:27:43,680 --> 00:27:47,880 Speaker 1: could have been. Each agency had a piece of the story, 437 00:27:48,200 --> 00:27:52,120 Speaker 1: but no one could see the full picture. Terrorsts were evolving, 438 00:27:52,520 --> 00:27:56,800 Speaker 1: they were more coordinated and more lethal. Law enforcement needed 439 00:27:56,840 --> 00:28:01,919 Speaker 1: to adapt and respond accordingly. Bureau had resources, but in 440 00:28:01,960 --> 00:28:05,800 Speaker 1: the absence of federal statues specific to this kind of attack, 441 00:28:06,280 --> 00:28:11,359 Speaker 1: the local authorities, the NYPD often took the lead. Here's 442 00:28:11,560 --> 00:28:13,560 Speaker 1: FBI historian John Fox again. 443 00:28:14,640 --> 00:28:17,720 Speaker 9: The New York Police Department actually led to task force 444 00:28:18,040 --> 00:28:22,040 Speaker 9: investigating that bombing at the time because it was largely 445 00:28:22,359 --> 00:28:26,760 Speaker 9: a local matter. Federal law would eventually expand, and of course, 446 00:28:26,800 --> 00:28:29,199 Speaker 9: bombings of planes and things like that would fall to 447 00:28:29,240 --> 00:28:32,160 Speaker 9: the FBI, but it took some time for that change 448 00:28:32,200 --> 00:28:32,639 Speaker 9: to happen. 449 00:28:33,680 --> 00:28:38,080 Speaker 1: The Laguardian investigation exposed the limits of working together without 450 00:28:38,080 --> 00:28:45,360 Speaker 1: a clear framework, especially across overlapping jurisdictions that began to change, interestingly, 451 00:28:45,520 --> 00:28:46,960 Speaker 1: with a different kind of crime. 452 00:28:49,320 --> 00:28:54,040 Speaker 9: On a somewhat separate but interrelated matter, there were also 453 00:28:54,080 --> 00:28:57,040 Speaker 9: a lot of bank robberies going on, and in nineteen 454 00:28:57,120 --> 00:29:00,480 Speaker 9: seventy nine, the FBI and the New York Police Department 455 00:29:00,520 --> 00:29:03,880 Speaker 9: agreed to work even more closely together to try and 456 00:29:04,000 --> 00:29:07,400 Speaker 9: solve especially serial bank robberies, because some of these even 457 00:29:07,440 --> 00:29:10,200 Speaker 9: were being traced to some of these radical groups. You know, 458 00:29:10,360 --> 00:29:13,600 Speaker 9: they would rob banks to fund their other activities, And 459 00:29:13,960 --> 00:29:18,040 Speaker 9: in nineteen seventy nine we created a bank Robbery task Force. 460 00:29:19,400 --> 00:29:23,040 Speaker 1: That task force became a testing ground and within a 461 00:29:23,200 --> 00:29:25,600 Speaker 1: year it led to something even bigger. 462 00:29:26,600 --> 00:29:29,920 Speaker 9: It proved so successful that the next year, in April 463 00:29:29,960 --> 00:29:34,760 Speaker 9: of nineteen eighty, we decided to formalize a memorandum of 464 00:29:34,880 --> 00:29:40,360 Speaker 9: understanding between the FBI and the NYPD about investigating terrorism 465 00:29:40,400 --> 00:29:44,960 Speaker 9: cases together, creating what becomes our first Joint Terrorism Task Force. 466 00:29:46,120 --> 00:29:49,160 Speaker 1: At its core, the Joint Terrorism Task Force, or the 467 00:29:49,240 --> 00:29:52,920 Speaker 1: JTTF as it's known, was built on a simple yet 468 00:29:52,960 --> 00:29:58,360 Speaker 1: powerful premise combine the bureau's resources and reach with NYPD's 469 00:29:58,520 --> 00:30:00,840 Speaker 1: street level experience and knowledge. 470 00:30:01,920 --> 00:30:06,720 Speaker 9: We the FBI agreed to provide space, it and certain 471 00:30:06,760 --> 00:30:13,040 Speaker 9: things nypds supplied people and their own expertise. We worked 472 00:30:13,040 --> 00:30:18,840 Speaker 9: by co locating NYPD detectives with FBI agents, and these 473 00:30:18,880 --> 00:30:25,280 Speaker 9: detectives were provided access to FBI intelligence, and it became 474 00:30:25,480 --> 00:30:30,760 Speaker 9: very successful because we could truly pool together our expertise 475 00:30:31,320 --> 00:30:32,440 Speaker 9: and access. 476 00:30:34,880 --> 00:30:38,760 Speaker 1: That access made all the difference. For the first time, 477 00:30:39,160 --> 00:30:43,920 Speaker 1: federal intelligence and local law enforcement operated not just in parallel, 478 00:30:44,200 --> 00:30:46,080 Speaker 1: but worked together in sync. 479 00:30:47,320 --> 00:30:50,840 Speaker 9: And we worked out how we would handle the information, 480 00:30:51,080 --> 00:30:54,600 Speaker 9: how we would handle do you prosecute this in a 481 00:30:54,680 --> 00:30:57,360 Speaker 9: state or local level, do you prosecute this at a 482 00:30:57,360 --> 00:31:01,440 Speaker 9: federal level? How do we deal with sharp inform and information? 483 00:31:01,560 --> 00:31:05,360 Speaker 9: Because protecting their identities of your sources of information is 484 00:31:05,400 --> 00:31:10,120 Speaker 9: incredibly important. The Joint Terrorism Task Force Agreement enabled us 485 00:31:10,160 --> 00:31:12,960 Speaker 9: to do this so successfully that it became the model 486 00:31:13,040 --> 00:31:18,960 Speaker 9: for creating these kinds of organizations and other jurisdictions as well. 487 00:31:19,080 --> 00:31:21,960 Speaker 1: For agents like Neil, who had worked side by side 488 00:31:22,040 --> 00:31:26,640 Speaker 1: with the NYPD in the Mayhem of LaGuardia, the JTTF 489 00:31:26,960 --> 00:31:30,040 Speaker 1: wasn't just a good idea, It was long overdue. 490 00:31:31,160 --> 00:31:33,680 Speaker 8: It was huge. I worked on a task force with 491 00:31:33,720 --> 00:31:34,600 Speaker 8: the police Department. 492 00:31:35,000 --> 00:31:37,320 Speaker 5: To me, it was the best thing that happened to 493 00:31:37,360 --> 00:31:40,000 Speaker 5: the FBI to have the new York City Police Department 494 00:31:40,120 --> 00:31:43,920 Speaker 5: and other agencies eventually come over and be housed in 495 00:31:44,120 --> 00:31:47,720 Speaker 5: FBI space. It's a group effort, and the FBI has 496 00:31:47,760 --> 00:31:50,920 Speaker 5: good sources. The police department has good sources. Two heads 497 00:31:50,920 --> 00:31:53,280 Speaker 5: of better than one. Police department has a different way 498 00:31:53,320 --> 00:31:55,320 Speaker 5: of doing things. The FDI's got a different way of 499 00:31:55,320 --> 00:31:59,400 Speaker 5: doing things. When you're out there, it's really a breath 500 00:31:59,400 --> 00:32:03,320 Speaker 5: of fresh air to work with people from other agencies. 501 00:32:05,000 --> 00:32:10,080 Speaker 1: Out of frustration came a new kind of force, unified, relentless, 502 00:32:10,160 --> 00:32:12,920 Speaker 1: and built to fight a new kind of war, and 503 00:32:13,040 --> 00:32:16,760 Speaker 1: American law enforcement assembled a new kind of machine to 504 00:32:16,840 --> 00:32:21,440 Speaker 1: fight it, the Joint Terrorism Task Force. But just as 505 00:32:21,480 --> 00:32:24,560 Speaker 1: that machine was finding its rhythm. 506 00:32:24,320 --> 00:32:28,280 Speaker 10: New movements were really starting to emerge in the United States. 507 00:32:28,680 --> 00:32:31,160 Speaker 10: One was the modern white power movement. 508 00:32:32,240 --> 00:32:35,040 Speaker 9: The FBI is now saying there was a nationwide white 509 00:32:35,040 --> 00:32:39,360 Speaker 9: supremacist terror group called the Order, using spectacular robberies to 510 00:32:39,400 --> 00:32:42,040 Speaker 9: bankroll a campaign of hate and assassination. 511 00:32:43,360 --> 00:32:47,880 Speaker 1: The next wave wasn't about independence, it was about dehumanization 512 00:32:48,120 --> 00:32:52,360 Speaker 1: and domination, and the face of domestic terrorism was about 513 00:32:52,400 --> 00:32:56,520 Speaker 1: to change again. Not New York, but in backwards armories, 514 00:32:56,880 --> 00:33:03,320 Speaker 1: gun shows and extremist newsletters. 515 00:32:59,560 --> 00:33:03,600 Speaker 12: And police in Denver believe the June murder of a 516 00:33:03,640 --> 00:33:07,520 Speaker 12: popular radio personality there may have been a racially motivated assassination. 517 00:33:07,920 --> 00:33:10,640 Speaker 12: Talk show host Alan Berg was shot twelve times while 518 00:33:10,640 --> 00:33:12,480 Speaker 12: he was standing in the driveway of his home six 519 00:33:12,520 --> 00:33:15,480 Speaker 12: months ago. Berg, who was Jewish, was an outspoken critic 520 00:33:15,520 --> 00:33:18,040 Speaker 12: of racism and anti Semitism, calling himself the man you 521 00:33:18,160 --> 00:33:20,760 Speaker 12: love to hate to receive numerous death threats on his 522 00:33:20,840 --> 00:33:21,560 Speaker 12: talk show. 523 00:33:27,040 --> 00:33:31,120 Speaker 2: Next Time on Law and Order, Criminal Justice System. 524 00:33:30,880 --> 00:33:34,760 Speaker 10: White power, white supremacist organizations. These were much more violent 525 00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:37,840 Speaker 10: organizations than their left wing predecessors. 526 00:33:38,280 --> 00:33:41,560 Speaker 6: Four of them get together, they hit a cash career 527 00:33:41,680 --> 00:33:45,239 Speaker 6: from a Continental armored truck and on this one they 528 00:33:45,240 --> 00:33:48,920 Speaker 6: get about forty thousand dollars. They've just robbed an armored truck. 529 00:33:49,360 --> 00:33:53,680 Speaker 3: David Lane was a klansman, a supremacist, so Burg takes 530 00:33:53,720 --> 00:33:57,880 Speaker 3: him on. He doesn't intellectualize the guy. He just ripsel 531 00:33:58,320 --> 00:34:01,320 Speaker 3: and I believe that was the night that they decide 532 00:34:01,520 --> 00:34:04,480 Speaker 3: they're going to kill him. 533 00:34:05,160 --> 00:34:08,520 Speaker 2: Law and Order Criminal Justice System is a production of 534 00:34:08,560 --> 00:34:14,160 Speaker 2: Wolf Entertainment and iHeart Podcasts. Our host is Anna Sega Nicolaze. 535 00:34:15,000 --> 00:34:18,680 Speaker 2: The show was written by Cooper Mall, executive produced by 536 00:34:18,719 --> 00:34:23,040 Speaker 2: Dick Wolf, Elliot Wolf and Stephen Michael at Wolf Entertainment 537 00:34:23,880 --> 00:34:28,400 Speaker 2: on behalf of iHeart Podcasts. Executive producers Trevor Young and 538 00:34:28,480 --> 00:34:34,800 Speaker 2: Matt Frederick, with supervising producer Chandler Mays and producer Jesse Funk. 539 00:34:35,520 --> 00:34:39,960 Speaker 2: This season is executive produced by Anna Sega Nicolazi. Our 540 00:34:40,040 --> 00:34:44,480 Speaker 2: researchers are Luke Stantz and Carolyn Tolmidge. Editing and sound 541 00:34:44,520 --> 00:34:49,040 Speaker 2: designed by Trevor Young and Jesse Funk. Original music by 542 00:34:49,160 --> 00:34:54,120 Speaker 2: John O'Hara, original theme by Mike Post with additional music 543 00:34:54,200 --> 00:34:59,000 Speaker 2: by Steve Moore and additional voice over by me Steve Zarnkelton. 544 00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:03,160 Speaker 2: Special thanks to Fox five in New York for providing 545 00:35:03,320 --> 00:35:07,440 Speaker 2: archival material for the show. For more podcasts from iHeart 546 00:35:07,480 --> 00:35:12,120 Speaker 2: in Wolf Entertainment, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or 547 00:35:12,160 --> 00:35:15,640 Speaker 2: wherever you get your favorite shows. Thanks for listening.