1 00:00:02,360 --> 00:00:05,920 Speaker 1: You're listening to Law and Order Criminal Justice System, a 2 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:09,400 Speaker 1: production of Wolf Entertainment and iHeart podcasts. 3 00:00:12,960 --> 00:00:17,120 Speaker 2: In the criminal justice system, landmark trials transcend the courtroom 4 00:00:17,200 --> 00:00:20,600 Speaker 2: to reshape the law. The brave many women who investigate 5 00:00:20,640 --> 00:00:23,480 Speaker 2: and prosecute these cases are part of a select group 6 00:00:23,560 --> 00:00:31,720 Speaker 2: that is defined American history. These are their stories. January first, 7 00:00:32,040 --> 00:00:37,760 Speaker 2: twenty twenty five, three fifteen am, Bourbon Street, New Orleans. 8 00:00:39,800 --> 00:00:42,880 Speaker 1: The countdown had passed and New Orleans was still alive 9 00:00:42,960 --> 00:00:43,720 Speaker 1: with celebration. 10 00:00:45,200 --> 00:00:47,760 Speaker 3: New Year's Eve was definitely insane. You could barely move 11 00:00:47,800 --> 00:00:52,560 Speaker 3: through the streets. The atmosphere it's just happy. Everybody's happy. 12 00:00:53,720 --> 00:00:57,240 Speaker 1: Jeremy Senske, fifty years old, in visiting from out of town, 13 00:00:57,800 --> 00:01:01,040 Speaker 1: had spent the night surrounded by thousands of other revelers. 14 00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:04,679 Speaker 1: Around three am, he set up towards his hotel in 15 00:01:04,720 --> 00:01:09,520 Speaker 1: his motorized wheelchair. But in seconds the festivities gave way 16 00:01:09,560 --> 00:01:10,760 Speaker 1: to mayhem. 17 00:01:11,480 --> 00:01:15,120 Speaker 3: There was a very loud noise, very weird, windy noise. 18 00:01:16,080 --> 00:01:17,840 Speaker 3: There was like two or three people to my left 19 00:01:17,840 --> 00:01:20,039 Speaker 3: that were on the sidewalk. There was a bunch of 20 00:01:20,040 --> 00:01:22,840 Speaker 3: people to my right. We all heard the noise and 21 00:01:22,880 --> 00:01:24,880 Speaker 3: I looked over and they all had their mouths up 22 00:01:24,920 --> 00:01:25,720 Speaker 3: and like gasping. 23 00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:28,760 Speaker 4: By the time I turned to the left, I was 24 00:01:29,160 --> 00:01:30,160 Speaker 4: just that was it. 25 00:01:30,160 --> 00:01:33,960 Speaker 3: It was like an explosion, and I basically was just 26 00:01:33,959 --> 00:01:36,080 Speaker 3: like going through the air and smashed my face off 27 00:01:36,080 --> 00:01:38,520 Speaker 3: the sidewalk, and I was laying face first. 28 00:01:38,560 --> 00:01:41,039 Speaker 4: And the other thing I saw was the truck, the 29 00:01:41,080 --> 00:01:41,679 Speaker 4: white truck. 30 00:01:42,760 --> 00:01:46,840 Speaker 1: It had accelerated through the crowd near Bourbon Street, no honking, 31 00:01:47,160 --> 00:01:47,720 Speaker 1: no warning. 32 00:01:48,760 --> 00:01:50,280 Speaker 4: I couldn't figure out what had happened. 33 00:01:50,520 --> 00:01:52,080 Speaker 3: I didn't really think that I had been hit by 34 00:01:52,080 --> 00:01:54,040 Speaker 3: the truck because I was very confused. 35 00:01:54,960 --> 00:01:58,160 Speaker 1: The truck crashed, the driver came out holding a weapon. 36 00:01:59,560 --> 00:02:03,880 Speaker 3: Gun started happening around me. I pulled with bricocheting off 37 00:02:04,240 --> 00:02:08,600 Speaker 3: the ground. I started hearing people screaming, people crying. 38 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:11,480 Speaker 1: He didn't know what to do. 39 00:02:12,400 --> 00:02:14,880 Speaker 4: Started screaming help. No one acknowledged me. 40 00:02:16,280 --> 00:02:21,480 Speaker 1: Then out of the haze shapes began to emerge, dark figures, heavy, vast, 41 00:02:21,800 --> 00:02:22,640 Speaker 1: long rifles. 42 00:02:23,760 --> 00:02:26,400 Speaker 3: I saw that the guys coming down the road with 43 00:02:26,480 --> 00:02:27,240 Speaker 3: machine guns. 44 00:02:28,320 --> 00:02:31,200 Speaker 1: These were the good guys. The people that walked towards 45 00:02:31,280 --> 00:02:31,960 Speaker 1: the gunfire. 46 00:02:32,960 --> 00:02:34,200 Speaker 4: Someone came up the truck. 47 00:02:34,720 --> 00:02:36,760 Speaker 3: Someone screamed at them not to open up the door 48 00:02:36,760 --> 00:02:39,320 Speaker 3: because there might be explosives in the door. So now 49 00:02:39,480 --> 00:02:41,240 Speaker 3: like screaming and help get me away from the truck. 50 00:02:41,600 --> 00:02:44,120 Speaker 3: It's gonna blow up. I'm thinking there's explosive in his truck. 51 00:02:44,840 --> 00:02:48,520 Speaker 3: My adrenaline kicked in because I was actually scared to death. 52 00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:54,080 Speaker 3: So I pushed myself somehow onto my back. I lifted 53 00:02:54,160 --> 00:02:55,800 Speaker 3: up my arm and my whole body had blot all 54 00:02:55,840 --> 00:02:59,000 Speaker 3: over it. I reached on to my right leg and 55 00:02:59,040 --> 00:03:01,359 Speaker 3: I picked it up. In my leg was a mush 56 00:03:01,440 --> 00:03:04,240 Speaker 3: like and a bunch of pieces, and I was holding 57 00:03:04,280 --> 00:03:07,120 Speaker 3: my leg on my chest, screaming because I couldn't feel 58 00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:07,560 Speaker 3: my legs. 59 00:03:07,680 --> 00:03:08,720 Speaker 4: I didn't know what was wrong. 60 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:13,200 Speaker 1: What unfolded in the French Quarter that night wasn't random. 61 00:03:13,800 --> 00:03:18,359 Speaker 1: It was deliberate, an active terror, designed for maximum impact, 62 00:03:18,880 --> 00:03:22,440 Speaker 1: time to strike when the world was watching. And as 63 00:03:22,520 --> 00:03:26,320 Speaker 1: Jeremy lay there, it felt like time stood still. 64 00:03:26,560 --> 00:03:29,720 Speaker 3: The first cough that came over to me, I said, 65 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:31,360 Speaker 3: my legs, my legs, my legs. 66 00:03:31,360 --> 00:03:33,079 Speaker 4: I screamed my legs, and I was like, what happened? 67 00:03:33,400 --> 00:03:34,040 Speaker 4: He said, we don't know. 68 00:03:34,080 --> 00:03:37,600 Speaker 3: You were trying to assess this situation, and he just 69 00:03:37,640 --> 00:03:40,240 Speaker 3: looked at me and said, you're lucky to be alive. 70 00:03:40,320 --> 00:03:41,840 Speaker 3: Everyone around you is dead. 71 00:03:51,040 --> 00:03:53,600 Speaker 4: I got a call get out to LaGuardia Airport. There's 72 00:03:53,640 --> 00:03:54,240 Speaker 4: been a bombing. 73 00:03:54,360 --> 00:03:56,480 Speaker 5: There was a thirty two foot crater in front of 74 00:03:56,480 --> 00:03:57,560 Speaker 5: what was left of the building. 75 00:03:57,760 --> 00:03:59,280 Speaker 1: I was trying to figure out, Am I dead? Am 76 00:03:59,320 --> 00:03:59,760 Speaker 1: I alive? 77 00:04:00,040 --> 00:04:00,240 Speaker 5: Where? 78 00:04:00,240 --> 00:04:02,520 Speaker 1: Alma? I'm Anethega Nicolazzi. 79 00:04:02,920 --> 00:04:05,880 Speaker 6: That's why terrorism works. It doesn't care who you are. 80 00:04:06,840 --> 00:04:11,640 Speaker 1: From Wolf Entertainment and iHeart Podcasts, this is Lawn Order 81 00:04:12,360 --> 00:04:20,640 Speaker 1: Criminal Justice System. In season one, we told the story 82 00:04:20,720 --> 00:04:24,960 Speaker 1: of law enforcement's battle against the mafia, fought in back rooms, 83 00:04:25,279 --> 00:04:29,840 Speaker 1: on wire taps, and in courtrooms. This season, we're turning 84 00:04:29,920 --> 00:04:32,479 Speaker 1: our focus to a threat that hides in plain sight, 85 00:04:32,920 --> 00:04:37,599 Speaker 1: that's harder to predict and even harder to stop. Terrorism 86 00:04:38,760 --> 00:04:41,680 Speaker 1: you'll hear from law enforcement on the front lines and 87 00:04:41,800 --> 00:04:45,880 Speaker 1: from survivors like Jeremy Sensky, ordinary people caught in the 88 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:51,839 Speaker 1: path of extraordinary destruction. Because terrorism doesn't always look like war. 89 00:04:52,800 --> 00:04:55,960 Speaker 1: Sometimes it looks like Bourbon Street at three am, the 90 00:04:56,080 --> 00:04:59,080 Speaker 1: place where a forty two year old United States Army 91 00:04:59,160 --> 00:05:03,560 Speaker 1: veteran from Texas named shamsu Den Jabbar Rammed a rented 92 00:05:03,760 --> 00:05:07,360 Speaker 1: Ford F one fifty into the crowd, and then moments 93 00:05:07,480 --> 00:05:10,400 Speaker 1: later he opened fire on responding officers. 94 00:05:11,120 --> 00:05:14,000 Speaker 7: Police now telling us at least ten people were killed 95 00:05:14,520 --> 00:05:18,720 Speaker 7: and thirty others injured. Authorities also investigating shots fired in 96 00:05:18,800 --> 00:05:21,680 Speaker 7: the area. We're hearing that the person driving that truck 97 00:05:21,760 --> 00:05:24,280 Speaker 7: then got out of the vehicle and started shooting. There 98 00:05:24,400 --> 00:05:25,760 Speaker 7: is some pretty disturbing video. 99 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:31,920 Speaker 1: The damage was devastating, at least fourteen lives lost, more 100 00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:35,640 Speaker 1: than fifty injured. We'll come back to Bourbon Street later 101 00:05:35,720 --> 00:05:39,800 Speaker 1: this season. That attack happened just months ago, and it 102 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:43,640 Speaker 1: wasn't the only one since then. There have been others 103 00:05:44,360 --> 00:05:50,479 Speaker 1: Las Vegas, Palm Springs, Boulder. These aren't isolated events. They're 104 00:05:50,560 --> 00:05:55,320 Speaker 1: more reminders of our present reality. We're tracking how terrorism 105 00:05:55,440 --> 00:05:59,320 Speaker 1: transformed and had the United States was forced to change 106 00:05:59,360 --> 00:06:04,080 Speaker 1: with it. Terrorism doesn't sleep, neither do the people fighting it. 107 00:06:07,040 --> 00:06:10,000 Speaker 1: Before we get to the motives and manhunts, we need 108 00:06:10,120 --> 00:06:13,000 Speaker 1: to better understand what's led us to where we are today, 109 00:06:13,800 --> 00:06:17,800 Speaker 1: because this kind of violence didn't just appear. It wasn't 110 00:06:17,839 --> 00:06:22,680 Speaker 1: always gunfiring, crowds or trucks used as weapons. In decades past, 111 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:27,320 Speaker 1: terrorism was aimed more at institutions rather than people, until 112 00:06:27,440 --> 00:06:32,400 Speaker 1: one day things changed. On a January afternoon in nineteen 113 00:06:32,520 --> 00:06:37,000 Speaker 1: seventy five, a bomb tore through a restaurant in Lower Manhattan, 114 00:06:37,680 --> 00:06:42,680 Speaker 1: killing innocent people. In this episode will take you inside 115 00:06:42,760 --> 00:06:46,640 Speaker 1: that attack, but first we have to understand how the 116 00:06:46,800 --> 00:06:53,120 Speaker 1: violence and the response to it evolved. The seventies a 117 00:06:53,320 --> 00:06:58,479 Speaker 1: decade defined by Vietnam, Watergate and by growing unrest at home. 118 00:06:59,160 --> 00:07:03,280 Speaker 1: America was divided and on edge. Cities like New York, 119 00:07:03,400 --> 00:07:06,480 Speaker 1: which we explored in season one, were gripped by crime. 120 00:07:07,040 --> 00:07:10,760 Speaker 1: Protesters clashed in the streets. It was a decade of 121 00:07:10,920 --> 00:07:15,560 Speaker 1: reckoning and reinvention and terrorism. It was beginning to take 122 00:07:15,720 --> 00:07:19,560 Speaker 1: root on American soil. Here is someone who can definitely 123 00:07:19,680 --> 00:07:21,760 Speaker 1: help break down its many complexities. 124 00:07:22,840 --> 00:07:25,640 Speaker 8: My name is Michael Jensen. I'm the research director at 125 00:07:25,680 --> 00:07:28,680 Speaker 8: the START Center at the University of Maryland. I lead 126 00:07:28,840 --> 00:07:31,400 Speaker 8: a team at the center that looks at extremism in 127 00:07:31,480 --> 00:07:32,360 Speaker 8: the United States. 128 00:07:33,520 --> 00:07:36,600 Speaker 1: Michael's team is part of an organization known as START, 129 00:07:36,960 --> 00:07:40,720 Speaker 1: which stands for a mouthful. The National Consortium for the 130 00:07:40,800 --> 00:07:45,480 Speaker 1: Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism. START was launched 131 00:07:45,480 --> 00:07:48,640 Speaker 1: by the Department of Homeland Security in two thousand and five. 132 00:07:49,360 --> 00:07:53,320 Speaker 1: It tracks global terror trends and analyzes why people radicalize. 133 00:07:54,480 --> 00:07:57,400 Speaker 8: When the START Center was founded, there was virtually no 134 00:07:57,640 --> 00:08:01,600 Speaker 8: data available on terrorism happening in the United States and 135 00:08:01,680 --> 00:08:03,000 Speaker 8: outside of the United States. 136 00:08:04,080 --> 00:08:07,920 Speaker 1: Today, it's home to the Global Terrorism Database, the world's 137 00:08:08,000 --> 00:08:11,760 Speaker 1: most comprehensive record of terror attacks, and trains the next 138 00:08:11,840 --> 00:08:16,760 Speaker 1: generation of national security experts. Michael's a scientist, a collector 139 00:08:16,800 --> 00:08:20,280 Speaker 1: of facts, but part of that search for understanding led 140 00:08:20,320 --> 00:08:23,680 Speaker 1: him back to a strange, almost forgotten chapter in US history. 141 00:08:24,800 --> 00:08:28,240 Speaker 8: People often forget that in the late nineteen sixties through 142 00:08:28,280 --> 00:08:31,440 Speaker 8: about the mid nineteen seventies that terrorism in the United 143 00:08:31,480 --> 00:08:34,920 Speaker 8: States was really synonymous with left wing activism. 144 00:08:36,120 --> 00:08:39,520 Speaker 1: At the time, the Vietnam War was tearing the country apart. 145 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:43,559 Speaker 1: Cities were burning, the air thick with tear gas and rage. 146 00:08:44,200 --> 00:08:47,560 Speaker 1: Civil rights marches gave weight to violent clashes, and out 147 00:08:47,600 --> 00:08:49,680 Speaker 1: of the chaos, new groups emerged. 148 00:08:50,880 --> 00:08:53,439 Speaker 8: There were a number of groups of movements dedicated to 149 00:08:53,679 --> 00:08:58,880 Speaker 8: social justice issues, civil rights issues, anti capitalist, Marxist issues, 150 00:08:59,280 --> 00:09:03,480 Speaker 8: even ethno national issues like Puerto Rican independents that were 151 00:09:03,520 --> 00:09:06,079 Speaker 8: the ones that were on the forefront of engaging in 152 00:09:06,200 --> 00:09:08,560 Speaker 8: crime and violence on behalf of their beliefs. 153 00:09:09,679 --> 00:09:13,840 Speaker 1: Groups like the Weather Underground and the Symbionese Liberation Army. 154 00:09:14,400 --> 00:09:18,000 Speaker 9: People calling themselves members of the Weather Underground last Night 155 00:09:18,120 --> 00:09:21,880 Speaker 9: planted bombs and federal office buildings in Washington and Open California. 156 00:09:22,880 --> 00:09:26,240 Speaker 8: What was key in these organizations, though, was that their 157 00:09:26,360 --> 00:09:30,040 Speaker 8: violence was largely symbolic. They weren't trying to hurt and 158 00:09:30,240 --> 00:09:33,720 Speaker 8: kill large numbers of individuals. They were trying to attack 159 00:09:34,120 --> 00:09:37,240 Speaker 8: iconic targets to draw attention to their cause. 160 00:09:38,400 --> 00:09:44,079 Speaker 1: They often targeted symbols of power, banks, police stations, government offices, 161 00:09:44,520 --> 00:09:46,000 Speaker 1: and they were prolific. 162 00:09:47,080 --> 00:09:50,360 Speaker 8: In nineteen seventy alone, there was well over one thousand 163 00:09:50,440 --> 00:09:53,240 Speaker 8: bombings that took place in the United States that were 164 00:09:53,280 --> 00:09:56,480 Speaker 8: committed by these groups. Most of them did not produce 165 00:09:56,600 --> 00:09:59,560 Speaker 8: fatalities or injuries. They were property crimes. 166 00:10:00,600 --> 00:10:04,600 Speaker 1: The goal wasn't mass casualties. It was spectacle. These groups 167 00:10:04,640 --> 00:10:08,360 Speaker 1: wanted to shake the system, not very bodies, at least 168 00:10:08,400 --> 00:10:08,800 Speaker 1: not yet. 169 00:10:10,600 --> 00:10:13,439 Speaker 10: You know, I always liked history as a child. 170 00:10:14,679 --> 00:10:19,040 Speaker 1: That's John Fox, the FBI's official historian. He's been digging 171 00:10:19,080 --> 00:10:22,040 Speaker 1: into the bureau's past since he joined in nineteen ninety nine. 172 00:10:23,280 --> 00:10:28,360 Speaker 10: In the nineteen seventies, we saw the FBI primarily focusing 173 00:10:28,679 --> 00:10:32,160 Speaker 10: on what would be considered terrorist attacks here at home, 174 00:10:32,320 --> 00:10:33,520 Speaker 10: domestic terrorist. 175 00:10:33,280 --> 00:10:39,640 Speaker 1: Attacks, bombings, hijackings, shootouts. The Bureau wasn't even sure what 176 00:10:39,840 --> 00:10:43,160 Speaker 1: to call it. One group made their answer loud and clear. 177 00:10:44,160 --> 00:10:47,800 Speaker 11: Police are intensifying their efforts since yesterday's incidents. They're distributing 178 00:10:47,880 --> 00:10:51,480 Speaker 11: this poster all over town. These four individuals are wanted 179 00:10:51,520 --> 00:10:54,199 Speaker 11: by the FBI and the police in connection with several 180 00:10:54,360 --> 00:10:55,440 Speaker 11: FALN bombings. 181 00:10:56,720 --> 00:11:02,520 Speaker 10: The FALN was a group advocated revolution to separate Puerto 182 00:11:02,600 --> 00:11:04,000 Speaker 10: Rico from the United States. 183 00:11:05,320 --> 00:11:09,800 Speaker 1: The FALN or Armed Forces of National Liberation in English, 184 00:11:10,360 --> 00:11:13,800 Speaker 1: a nationalist group with the cause, a manifesto, and a 185 00:11:13,920 --> 00:11:17,440 Speaker 1: bomb making playbook, and unlike some of the others, they 186 00:11:17,559 --> 00:11:20,640 Speaker 1: weren't just out to make noise. They wanted the government 187 00:11:20,760 --> 00:11:21,280 Speaker 1: to feel it. 188 00:11:22,520 --> 00:11:27,080 Speaker 10: They engaged in a series of bombings and other illegal 189 00:11:27,160 --> 00:11:31,360 Speaker 10: activities to try and draw interest and concern about their 190 00:11:31,440 --> 00:11:35,160 Speaker 10: cause and ultimately to spark revolutionary activity. 191 00:11:36,400 --> 00:11:40,240 Speaker 1: The FALN wasn't acting in a vacuum. Their campaign fit 192 00:11:40,280 --> 00:11:44,000 Speaker 1: into a much larger, older story, one that stretched back 193 00:11:44,080 --> 00:11:45,000 Speaker 1: more than a century. 194 00:11:46,080 --> 00:11:50,000 Speaker 10: The rise of the Puerto Rican nationalist groups traces its 195 00:11:50,040 --> 00:11:53,400 Speaker 10: origins back to the mid eighteen hundreds and the rise 196 00:11:53,480 --> 00:11:59,199 Speaker 10: of anarchists and revolutionary communist ideologies. But over time it 197 00:11:59,280 --> 00:12:04,440 Speaker 10: broadens out as the more radical protest elements to use 198 00:12:04,559 --> 00:12:06,240 Speaker 10: violence to make their point. 199 00:12:07,720 --> 00:12:11,360 Speaker 1: That history of political violence wasn't confined to Puerto Rico. 200 00:12:11,880 --> 00:12:16,160 Speaker 1: It mirrored a broader global pattern where ideology, identity, and 201 00:12:16,480 --> 00:12:21,280 Speaker 1: armed resistance converged. Here's Michael Jensen again, this. 202 00:12:21,559 --> 00:12:25,240 Speaker 8: Is the era of anti colonial movements across the globe. 203 00:12:25,679 --> 00:12:28,480 Speaker 8: In places like Africa. We saw similar movements in the 204 00:12:28,600 --> 00:12:32,480 Speaker 8: nineteen sixties rising up to defeat colonial powers, and in 205 00:12:32,600 --> 00:12:35,240 Speaker 8: their view, they saw the United States as just that 206 00:12:35,400 --> 00:12:38,640 Speaker 8: it was a colonial power. Puerto Rico had been colonized, 207 00:12:39,120 --> 00:12:42,599 Speaker 8: and according to international law, they had the right to 208 00:12:42,760 --> 00:12:46,800 Speaker 8: defend themselves and to defeat colonizers by any means necessary, 209 00:12:46,880 --> 00:12:47,720 Speaker 8: including violence. 210 00:12:48,960 --> 00:12:52,559 Speaker 1: The fal and picked up that threat and detonated it 211 00:12:52,640 --> 00:12:56,199 Speaker 1: in the heart of American cities, namely New York with 212 00:12:56,360 --> 00:13:00,160 Speaker 1: its large Puerto Rican community. The Big Apple became I'm 213 00:13:00,160 --> 00:13:04,280 Speaker 1: a focal point. Their bombs hit Wall Street offices, the Bronx, 214 00:13:04,480 --> 00:13:10,400 Speaker 1: even Middown Manhattan. Their cause Puerto Rican independence hadn't gone away, 215 00:13:11,080 --> 00:13:15,240 Speaker 1: and they had no interest in fading quietly. If anything, 216 00:13:15,559 --> 00:13:28,319 Speaker 1: their campaign was about to grow louder and deadlier. The 217 00:13:28,520 --> 00:13:32,600 Speaker 1: ideas were already in motion. The anger had been building. 218 00:13:33,200 --> 00:13:41,120 Speaker 1: Then came the moment it literally exploded. January twenty fourth, 219 00:13:41,320 --> 00:13:44,560 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy five, was a gray winter day in Manhattan. 220 00:13:45,040 --> 00:13:48,480 Speaker 1: That afternoon, an agent hurried into the squad room at 221 00:13:48,520 --> 00:13:51,320 Speaker 1: the Upper east Side headquarters of the FBI. 222 00:13:52,280 --> 00:13:54,520 Speaker 5: He came out and he said, Hey, I got a 223 00:13:54,559 --> 00:13:57,679 Speaker 5: big bombing down in Lower Manhattan. Can you help out? 224 00:13:58,240 --> 00:14:00,200 Speaker 5: So we grabbed our bags and away we what. 225 00:14:01,920 --> 00:14:05,240 Speaker 1: It soon became a day that FBI agent Richard Banteu 226 00:14:05,400 --> 00:14:09,559 Speaker 1: would never forget. Richard and his fellow agents drove through 227 00:14:09,640 --> 00:14:13,400 Speaker 1: traffic heading south at lightning speed. Nine one one calls 228 00:14:13,600 --> 00:14:16,320 Speaker 1: flooded the city's police stations to report that there'd been 229 00:14:16,360 --> 00:14:17,040 Speaker 1: an explosion. 230 00:14:18,000 --> 00:14:20,720 Speaker 5: We pulled up I had never heard of from since Tavern. 231 00:14:21,880 --> 00:14:25,000 Speaker 1: But the target of the blast wasn't a government building, 232 00:14:25,280 --> 00:14:28,720 Speaker 1: police station, or a bank. It was a quaint little 233 00:14:28,800 --> 00:14:32,280 Speaker 1: lunch spot. The place, even back then, was a throwback 234 00:14:32,520 --> 00:14:36,240 Speaker 1: red brick colonial charm, surrounded by the glass and steel 235 00:14:36,400 --> 00:14:39,880 Speaker 1: of the Financial district. But as the FBI agents arrived 236 00:14:39,920 --> 00:14:42,080 Speaker 1: that day, it wasn't business as usual. 237 00:14:43,120 --> 00:14:46,560 Speaker 5: I just remember seeing an awful lot of grass within view. 238 00:14:47,440 --> 00:14:49,920 Speaker 5: It was mayhem there. But let me tell you, the 239 00:14:50,040 --> 00:14:54,880 Speaker 5: New York City Police had the area cording off maintained 240 00:14:54,920 --> 00:14:55,800 Speaker 5: in a crime scene. 241 00:14:57,000 --> 00:14:59,960 Speaker 1: Police pushed back the crowd and scanned for more bombs. 242 00:15:00,560 --> 00:15:04,960 Speaker 1: First responders locked down the scene. Medics moved fast, helping 243 00:15:05,040 --> 00:15:08,720 Speaker 1: the injured working triage on the sidewalk. The worst got 244 00:15:08,800 --> 00:15:13,040 Speaker 1: loaded into ambulances. First fire cruise check for structural damage. 245 00:15:13,920 --> 00:15:18,000 Speaker 1: What was chaos a moment ago became controlled. Nothing moved 246 00:15:18,040 --> 00:15:21,800 Speaker 1: unless it had to. Every fragment, every scorch mark was 247 00:15:21,880 --> 00:15:25,480 Speaker 1: potential evidence. That's where Richard came in. When he pulled 248 00:15:25,560 --> 00:15:27,800 Speaker 1: up to the corner of Pearl and Broad Street in 249 00:15:27,880 --> 00:15:31,120 Speaker 1: Lower Manhattan, he was hit with a signature sign of 250 00:15:31,240 --> 00:15:31,680 Speaker 1: a bombing. 251 00:15:32,800 --> 00:15:35,120 Speaker 5: If you go to these things, I don't care where 252 00:15:35,160 --> 00:15:37,720 Speaker 5: it is, it's got to smell to it. Got to 253 00:15:37,760 --> 00:15:39,840 Speaker 5: get on your hands and knees and crawl around in 254 00:15:39,920 --> 00:15:42,000 Speaker 5: the dirt and the dust and see what you can find. 255 00:15:43,400 --> 00:15:45,240 Speaker 1: That's where he uncovered a major clue. 256 00:15:46,080 --> 00:15:47,960 Speaker 5: We started finding nails. 257 00:15:48,680 --> 00:15:51,400 Speaker 1: Not from the building, but from inside the bomb. 258 00:15:52,640 --> 00:15:55,800 Speaker 5: I personally think if I was building a bomb, I 259 00:15:55,880 --> 00:15:58,320 Speaker 5: could have done a better job than nails, but that 260 00:15:58,480 --> 00:15:59,880 Speaker 5: was just simply shrapnel. 261 00:16:01,000 --> 00:16:04,560 Speaker 1: The nails may have pointed to an amateur, but the bomb. 262 00:16:05,400 --> 00:16:08,240 Speaker 5: That was not just a small bomb. That turned out 263 00:16:08,280 --> 00:16:10,320 Speaker 5: to be twenty two sticks of dynamite. 264 00:16:11,560 --> 00:16:14,760 Speaker 1: Richard continued to crawl through the torn out tavern. 265 00:16:15,520 --> 00:16:20,000 Speaker 5: And we're collecting various items which would be appropriate for 266 00:16:20,640 --> 00:16:22,360 Speaker 5: starting a criminal investigation. 267 00:16:23,480 --> 00:16:25,840 Speaker 1: That's when he happened upon something that will stay with 268 00:16:25,960 --> 00:16:26,440 Speaker 1: him forever. 269 00:16:27,880 --> 00:16:31,400 Speaker 5: I was crawling around on the floor and I remember 270 00:16:31,760 --> 00:16:36,800 Speaker 5: distinctly finding something and I said to one of the investigators. 271 00:16:36,880 --> 00:16:40,000 Speaker 5: I picked it up. I said, what is this? And 272 00:16:40,080 --> 00:16:43,160 Speaker 5: they looked at it. They felt it. It was like sponge. 273 00:16:44,120 --> 00:16:46,800 Speaker 5: I would say, no more than an inch, but it 274 00:16:46,920 --> 00:16:49,800 Speaker 5: was all over. So we decided we were going to 275 00:16:49,880 --> 00:16:52,200 Speaker 5: put it in a container and we started collecting it, 276 00:16:52,440 --> 00:16:54,840 Speaker 5: and before it was over with, we had like a 277 00:16:54,920 --> 00:16:58,760 Speaker 5: shoe box filled with this material. We couldn't figure out 278 00:16:58,800 --> 00:17:00,800 Speaker 5: what it was, and it was dru happened a snutch. 279 00:17:01,520 --> 00:17:04,000 Speaker 5: So we sent it off to the FBI lab with 280 00:17:04,119 --> 00:17:05,160 Speaker 5: a big question mark. 281 00:17:06,280 --> 00:17:08,920 Speaker 1: When they got the answer, it was something no one 282 00:17:09,040 --> 00:17:11,120 Speaker 1: wanted to hear, he says. 283 00:17:11,280 --> 00:17:13,240 Speaker 5: We found out what it was, I said, what's that? 284 00:17:14,520 --> 00:17:20,040 Speaker 5: He says human remains. Whoever, the poor soul that was 285 00:17:20,119 --> 00:17:23,879 Speaker 5: standing there when this thing went off so much force 286 00:17:24,320 --> 00:17:28,600 Speaker 5: just totally took his torso and blew it to little 287 00:17:28,640 --> 00:17:29,399 Speaker 5: pieces like that. 288 00:17:31,080 --> 00:17:35,360 Speaker 1: The attack killed four people and injured over sixty. Countless 289 00:17:35,440 --> 00:17:42,840 Speaker 1: more were impacted in ways that would stay with them forever, wives, husbands, friends, families, children. 290 00:17:44,520 --> 00:17:47,479 Speaker 6: My name is Joe Connor, and my father was murdered 291 00:17:47,560 --> 00:17:52,640 Speaker 6: by the Faln Puerto Rican Marxist terrorists on January twenty fourth, 292 00:17:52,800 --> 00:17:54,760 Speaker 6: nineteen seventy five, at Francis Tavern. 293 00:17:56,359 --> 00:17:58,800 Speaker 1: On the day of the bombing, Joe was just nine 294 00:17:58,880 --> 00:18:02,520 Speaker 1: years old. His father was Frank Connor. Frank was a 295 00:18:02,600 --> 00:18:05,280 Speaker 1: young banker who left his home in New Jersey every 296 00:18:05,440 --> 00:18:07,480 Speaker 1: day to go to his job in New York City's 297 00:18:07,520 --> 00:18:11,080 Speaker 1: financial district. In the evening, he'd return home to his 298 00:18:11,240 --> 00:18:13,159 Speaker 1: wife and to play with his two sons. 299 00:18:14,240 --> 00:18:17,919 Speaker 6: My father was a New York City kid, the son. 300 00:18:17,840 --> 00:18:20,280 Speaker 1: Of immigrants in pursuit of the American dream. 301 00:18:21,280 --> 00:18:24,560 Speaker 6: My grandmother got a job as a cleaning lady at 302 00:18:24,600 --> 00:18:28,480 Speaker 6: the old Morgan Bank Morgan Guarantee Trust Company, and she 303 00:18:28,640 --> 00:18:31,520 Speaker 6: worked nights so she could be home with my father 304 00:18:31,680 --> 00:18:32,280 Speaker 6: during the day. 305 00:18:33,400 --> 00:18:35,760 Speaker 1: In high school, Frank's mom helped him get a job 306 00:18:35,800 --> 00:18:38,359 Speaker 1: at the bank. He started off as a clerk and 307 00:18:38,480 --> 00:18:42,280 Speaker 1: eventually worked his way up to assistant vice president. Frank 308 00:18:42,400 --> 00:18:45,040 Speaker 1: was nineteen when he first met his wife, Joe's mom, 309 00:18:45,320 --> 00:18:47,359 Speaker 1: at a dance in New York's Old City Center. 310 00:18:48,680 --> 00:18:50,359 Speaker 6: She just saw the back of his head at first 311 00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:52,520 Speaker 6: and said, I want to dance with that guy. And 312 00:18:52,560 --> 00:18:54,400 Speaker 6: her friends are laughing at her, saying, you don't even 313 00:18:54,440 --> 00:18:56,800 Speaker 6: know what he looks like, and he turned around and 314 00:18:56,880 --> 00:18:59,800 Speaker 6: asked her to dance out of nowhere so she knew. 315 00:19:00,160 --> 00:19:00,320 Speaker 12: Then. 316 00:19:01,920 --> 00:19:05,280 Speaker 1: The two married and had three boys. The youngest son 317 00:19:05,400 --> 00:19:08,600 Speaker 1: passed away at a very young age, leaving the Connors 318 00:19:08,720 --> 00:19:12,119 Speaker 1: a family of four. The family moved to New Jersey. 319 00:19:12,720 --> 00:19:15,879 Speaker 1: Frank juggled night school, a day job, and together with 320 00:19:16,040 --> 00:19:19,480 Speaker 1: his wife, raising two boys, but he also found time 321 00:19:19,560 --> 00:19:20,080 Speaker 1: for some fun. 322 00:19:21,240 --> 00:19:24,440 Speaker 6: He had tons of friends, more than I've ever had, really, Like, 323 00:19:25,320 --> 00:19:27,520 Speaker 6: they moved to New Jersey and the next thing you know, 324 00:19:27,760 --> 00:19:30,000 Speaker 6: they have a bar in the basement, and you know, 325 00:19:30,080 --> 00:19:33,120 Speaker 6: it was like the early seventies and people like seem 326 00:19:33,200 --> 00:19:34,560 Speaker 6: to have a lot of fun, and there was always 327 00:19:34,600 --> 00:19:36,560 Speaker 6: people around, and he was good to be. 328 00:19:36,600 --> 00:19:40,800 Speaker 1: Around, even with the long hours in full house. Frank 329 00:19:40,960 --> 00:19:44,320 Speaker 1: always made room for what mattered most time with his boys. 330 00:19:45,440 --> 00:19:48,159 Speaker 6: My brother's two years older, so whenever we would like 331 00:19:48,240 --> 00:19:50,800 Speaker 6: as a family do stuff like together, so we might 332 00:19:50,840 --> 00:19:52,840 Speaker 6: go down and play basketball whatever, it was always Tom 333 00:19:52,920 --> 00:19:54,840 Speaker 6: and my mom on the same team and me and 334 00:19:54,920 --> 00:19:57,119 Speaker 6: my dad because I was the youngest, so it was 335 00:19:57,200 --> 00:19:59,679 Speaker 6: always us two on the same team. So I always 336 00:19:59,680 --> 00:20:02,840 Speaker 6: felt like, yeah, you know, he's my teammate to me, 337 00:20:03,600 --> 00:20:04,639 Speaker 6: you know, he could do anything. 338 00:20:05,720 --> 00:20:07,640 Speaker 1: To Frank's boys, he was their hero. 339 00:20:08,720 --> 00:20:10,840 Speaker 6: My brother had just made his communion and my dad 340 00:20:10,960 --> 00:20:13,280 Speaker 6: was going to take his communion money and spend it 341 00:20:13,400 --> 00:20:16,200 Speaker 6: on a tent because we want to go camping. So 342 00:20:16,280 --> 00:20:18,360 Speaker 6: we were at the sporting good store and I saw 343 00:20:18,520 --> 00:20:21,320 Speaker 6: Tom sever Mit autographed by Tom sever and you know, 344 00:20:21,400 --> 00:20:24,920 Speaker 6: anyone who lived around here in the early seventies, my god, 345 00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:27,760 Speaker 6: Tom sever So that's what I wanted, but he was 346 00:20:27,840 --> 00:20:29,480 Speaker 6: like looking at me, like, you know, we can't afford that. 347 00:20:29,680 --> 00:20:32,119 Speaker 6: So I went home and I didn't get my Mit. 348 00:20:32,240 --> 00:20:34,440 Speaker 6: And a couple of days later, I guess I was 349 00:20:34,480 --> 00:20:36,880 Speaker 6: hanging out down at the park and Tom came down 350 00:20:36,960 --> 00:20:38,960 Speaker 6: and said, Dad wants to see and I'm like, oh god, 351 00:20:39,040 --> 00:20:41,200 Speaker 6: what did I do now? So I rode my bike 352 00:20:41,240 --> 00:20:42,640 Speaker 6: home and when I got home, there. 353 00:20:42,640 --> 00:20:43,000 Speaker 10: Was the mit. 354 00:20:44,200 --> 00:20:47,600 Speaker 6: That was something I'll never forget and I'll always treasure 355 00:20:47,680 --> 00:20:49,800 Speaker 6: because he didn't have to get that for me. 356 00:20:49,960 --> 00:20:50,359 Speaker 10: He didn't. 357 00:20:50,800 --> 00:20:51,919 Speaker 6: It wasn't my birthday or. 358 00:20:51,960 --> 00:20:55,680 Speaker 1: Anything, but there would soon come a birthday that will 359 00:20:55,720 --> 00:21:01,040 Speaker 1: stick with Joe forever. January twenty fourth, eighteen seventy five 360 00:21:01,280 --> 00:21:02,760 Speaker 1: was planned to be a special day. 361 00:21:03,720 --> 00:21:06,280 Speaker 6: We were going to be celebrating my ninth birthday, which 362 00:21:06,359 --> 00:21:10,400 Speaker 6: was January twentieth. On my brother's eleventh, They'd. 363 00:21:10,320 --> 00:21:13,680 Speaker 1: Already celebrated with friends, so this Friday was just going 364 00:21:13,760 --> 00:21:16,920 Speaker 1: to be family. The brothers went to school, their mom 365 00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:20,560 Speaker 1: stayed home preparing their favorite dinner. Frank went to work 366 00:21:20,600 --> 00:21:23,800 Speaker 1: in downtown New York City, as he always did. That day, 367 00:21:23,920 --> 00:21:27,760 Speaker 1: Frank had lunch plans with two clients. At the last minute, 368 00:21:27,920 --> 00:21:30,960 Speaker 1: the location of their lunch moved to a different restaurant. 369 00:21:31,960 --> 00:21:34,720 Speaker 6: There was a problem with the reservation, so they decided 370 00:21:34,720 --> 00:21:36,840 Speaker 6: they would walk down to Frances, which is right around 371 00:21:36,880 --> 00:21:37,240 Speaker 6: the block. 372 00:21:38,400 --> 00:21:40,920 Speaker 1: The men sat down at a table in the tavern, 373 00:21:41,160 --> 00:21:43,000 Speaker 1: ordered their food and talked while they ate. 374 00:21:44,080 --> 00:21:46,639 Speaker 6: They were getting to the end of their meal, and 375 00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:49,840 Speaker 6: I think the check had just come. One of the guys, 376 00:21:50,119 --> 00:21:53,359 Speaker 6: Charlie Murray, talked about seeing a guy come in that 377 00:21:53,520 --> 00:21:56,720 Speaker 6: kind of looked out of place with a knapsack, set 378 00:21:56,760 --> 00:21:59,960 Speaker 6: it on a stair behind their table where they were sitting, 379 00:22:00,800 --> 00:22:03,000 Speaker 6: and I think I was scruffy looking. 380 00:22:04,240 --> 00:22:07,720 Speaker 1: This was Wall Street in nineteen seventy five. People dressed 381 00:22:07,720 --> 00:22:11,959 Speaker 1: to impress, sharp suits, crisp white shirts, and polus shoes, 382 00:22:12,480 --> 00:22:16,800 Speaker 1: business formal with a hint of swagger, not scruff so 383 00:22:16,920 --> 00:22:17,439 Speaker 1: someone like. 384 00:22:17,760 --> 00:22:20,320 Speaker 6: This guy would look very out of place. He dropped 385 00:22:20,359 --> 00:22:23,399 Speaker 6: his package and walked out, and within a couple of 386 00:22:23,520 --> 00:22:25,359 Speaker 6: minutes it detonated. 387 00:22:26,680 --> 00:22:31,159 Speaker 1: The blast tore through the restaurant, shattering windows and collapsing walls. 388 00:22:32,520 --> 00:22:35,200 Speaker 6: It was about twenty five pounds of explosives and shrapnel, 389 00:22:35,680 --> 00:22:39,120 Speaker 6: absolutely intended to inflict as much death as it could. 390 00:22:40,480 --> 00:22:43,760 Speaker 1: Word of the attack hadn't yet traveled the seventeen miles 391 00:22:43,800 --> 00:22:45,639 Speaker 1: northwest to te Neeck, New Jersey. 392 00:22:46,680 --> 00:22:48,520 Speaker 6: Tom and I went to school and came home and 393 00:22:48,600 --> 00:22:49,320 Speaker 6: went out to play. 394 00:22:50,560 --> 00:22:54,359 Speaker 1: Then Joe heard his mother scream, and the afternoon warped 395 00:22:54,400 --> 00:22:57,760 Speaker 1: from a day of soon to be birthday celebrations into 396 00:22:57,840 --> 00:22:58,680 Speaker 1: something surreal. 397 00:23:00,160 --> 00:23:03,320 Speaker 6: She called us in from playing and she said there 398 00:23:03,359 --> 00:23:06,600 Speaker 6: had been an explosion downtown and she told us my 399 00:23:06,680 --> 00:23:07,280 Speaker 6: dad was there. 400 00:23:08,560 --> 00:23:12,359 Speaker 1: At first, Joe assumed the best a child's instinct to 401 00:23:12,480 --> 00:23:14,360 Speaker 1: believe that their parent is invincible. 402 00:23:15,440 --> 00:23:20,439 Speaker 6: I remember thinking, well, he's probably injured. He was my dad, right, 403 00:23:20,560 --> 00:23:21,800 Speaker 6: He's indestructible. 404 00:23:22,920 --> 00:23:25,200 Speaker 1: His mother's intuition said otherwise. 405 00:23:26,160 --> 00:23:29,919 Speaker 6: She had called him at work and someone else picked up, 406 00:23:30,320 --> 00:23:33,640 Speaker 6: and she said she knew immediately that he was killed. 407 00:23:35,440 --> 00:23:37,920 Speaker 1: Nine year old Joe still held on to hope. 408 00:23:39,440 --> 00:23:42,359 Speaker 6: I remember thinking, well, he's probably like buried under debris, 409 00:23:42,720 --> 00:23:45,640 Speaker 6: you know, bricks or rock or something. The fireman will 410 00:23:45,880 --> 00:23:47,920 Speaker 6: will get them, you know, they'll find them and it'll 411 00:23:47,920 --> 00:23:48,320 Speaker 6: be okay. 412 00:23:49,720 --> 00:23:54,960 Speaker 1: But as people began arriving at the house, family friends, coworkers, 413 00:23:55,520 --> 00:23:56,879 Speaker 1: the silence was telling. 414 00:23:58,119 --> 00:23:59,760 Speaker 6: We got the news a few hours later. 415 00:24:01,200 --> 00:24:04,320 Speaker 1: That night, the young boys crawled into bed with their mom, 416 00:24:05,080 --> 00:24:08,080 Speaker 1: the three of them huddled together in grief, still in 417 00:24:08,200 --> 00:24:10,600 Speaker 1: shock and trying to make sense of what happened. 418 00:24:11,680 --> 00:24:15,400 Speaker 6: I remember asking, my mom, is Grandma's still our grandmother? 419 00:24:16,520 --> 00:24:20,199 Speaker 6: And you know my mom was great? She said, well, absolutely, 420 00:24:20,920 --> 00:24:25,040 Speaker 6: in very strong terms, which was very reassuring, because then 421 00:24:25,080 --> 00:24:27,200 Speaker 6: I kind of knew that the family'd be kept together. 422 00:24:28,960 --> 00:24:33,560 Speaker 1: In that moment, Joe Connor wasn't thinking about terrorism, or politics, 423 00:24:33,880 --> 00:24:37,240 Speaker 1: or his decades of advocacy that would follow. He was 424 00:24:37,520 --> 00:24:40,720 Speaker 1: just a child who lost his father, confused about what 425 00:24:40,880 --> 00:24:45,000 Speaker 1: happens to families when someone dies, not wanting his to 426 00:24:45,160 --> 00:24:45,720 Speaker 1: fall apart. 427 00:24:46,920 --> 00:24:50,240 Speaker 6: It was devastating to go one minute from celebrating your 428 00:24:50,320 --> 00:24:54,200 Speaker 6: ninth birthday with your dad to him being dead for 429 00:24:54,359 --> 00:24:54,879 Speaker 6: no reason. 430 00:24:56,680 --> 00:24:59,920 Speaker 1: Trying to move through such trauma and grief is unthinking 431 00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:03,840 Speaker 1: doable to most people, let alone for a child, But 432 00:25:04,040 --> 00:25:08,240 Speaker 1: human beings often proved to be remarkably resilient even in 433 00:25:08,320 --> 00:25:10,000 Speaker 1: the wake of incredible tragedy. 434 00:25:11,160 --> 00:25:12,960 Speaker 6: As mc Grandma Conor would say, we just did the 435 00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:13,560 Speaker 6: best we could. 436 00:25:24,520 --> 00:25:28,240 Speaker 1: In the days following the January nineteen seventy five bombing 437 00:25:28,440 --> 00:25:31,960 Speaker 1: at New York City's Francis Tavern, the Connor family soon 438 00:25:32,119 --> 00:25:33,400 Speaker 1: learned who was responsible. 439 00:25:34,720 --> 00:25:38,640 Speaker 6: They left a communic kee around the corner from Frances 440 00:25:39,240 --> 00:25:41,240 Speaker 6: in a phone booth. For those of you old enough 441 00:25:41,280 --> 00:25:43,560 Speaker 6: to know what a phone booth is, it left words 442 00:25:43,560 --> 00:25:46,440 Speaker 6: to the effect that this was an attack by the 443 00:25:46,640 --> 00:25:52,720 Speaker 6: Faln Armed Forces for Puerto Rican Independence, who hit reactionary 444 00:25:52,840 --> 00:25:56,480 Speaker 6: corporate executives is the terms that they used, and that's 445 00:25:56,520 --> 00:25:58,760 Speaker 6: a very Marxist type language. 446 00:26:00,160 --> 00:26:03,639 Speaker 1: Michael Jensen says that message was rooted in retaliation. 447 00:26:05,000 --> 00:26:07,440 Speaker 8: The reason that they did this is because there had 448 00:26:07,520 --> 00:26:11,120 Speaker 8: been a bombing that occurred in Puerto Rico in which 449 00:26:11,240 --> 00:26:15,240 Speaker 8: a couple of young independence activists had been killed. The 450 00:26:15,320 --> 00:26:19,119 Speaker 8: group blamed the CIA for orchestrating this bombing, and the 451 00:26:19,200 --> 00:26:22,040 Speaker 8: Francis Tavern bombing was their response to it. 452 00:26:23,440 --> 00:26:26,600 Speaker 1: And the location of the attack wasn't chosen at random. 453 00:26:27,160 --> 00:26:28,560 Speaker 1: Here again is John Fox. 454 00:26:29,920 --> 00:26:33,359 Speaker 10: The Francis Tavern traces back to our revolutionary days and 455 00:26:33,920 --> 00:26:37,560 Speaker 10: was a key meeting place for some of the planning 456 00:26:37,840 --> 00:26:41,000 Speaker 10: and peoples who were involved in our revolution back in 457 00:26:41,080 --> 00:26:42,720 Speaker 10: the mid seventeen seventies. 458 00:26:43,600 --> 00:26:45,840 Speaker 6: You know, it's where George Washington bade farewell to his 459 00:26:45,960 --> 00:26:51,080 Speaker 6: officers after the revolutionary war. It's really historic and significant place. 460 00:26:51,160 --> 00:26:53,800 Speaker 6: It's where Alexander Hamilton and the Sons of Liberty met. 461 00:26:54,359 --> 00:26:57,520 Speaker 6: It was chosen for that very reason as a target. 462 00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:02,640 Speaker 1: By bombing it, the the FALN sent a calculated message 463 00:27:03,200 --> 00:27:06,719 Speaker 1: they weren't just fighting for Puerto Rican independence, they were 464 00:27:06,800 --> 00:27:11,000 Speaker 1: striking at the very foundations of the American identity. But 465 00:27:11,160 --> 00:27:14,720 Speaker 1: this wasn't just cryptic symbolism. As Michael Jensen puts it, 466 00:27:15,119 --> 00:27:16,359 Speaker 1: it was a turning point. 467 00:27:17,440 --> 00:27:21,200 Speaker 8: It was really like a departure for the organization in 468 00:27:21,320 --> 00:27:25,000 Speaker 8: its level of violence. The fla in actually went out 469 00:27:25,040 --> 00:27:27,680 Speaker 8: of their way to commit attack in which they knew 470 00:27:27,800 --> 00:27:29,679 Speaker 8: people would be hurt and killed. 471 00:27:30,960 --> 00:27:35,840 Speaker 1: Until then, most domestic bombings were late night blasts, empty offices, statements, 472 00:27:35,880 --> 00:27:40,400 Speaker 1: without bloodshed. France's tavern was different. This wasn't an accident. 473 00:27:40,840 --> 00:27:43,160 Speaker 1: John Fox says, it was a shift in tactics. 474 00:27:44,520 --> 00:27:49,800 Speaker 10: The bombings claimed by the FALN were aimed at at 475 00:27:49,880 --> 00:27:55,600 Speaker 10: least some civilian casualties. Placed and detonated around the lunch hour, 476 00:27:56,320 --> 00:28:00,520 Speaker 10: obviously meant to be a more high pro file and 477 00:28:01,080 --> 00:28:02,280 Speaker 10: populated event. 478 00:28:03,600 --> 00:28:07,399 Speaker 1: Francis Tavern marked a pivot to deadly force. The bomb 479 00:28:07,600 --> 00:28:11,960 Speaker 1: was timed and placed for maximum civilian impact. It wasn't 480 00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:15,280 Speaker 1: aimed at anyone in particular, but that was exactly the point. 481 00:28:15,760 --> 00:28:18,600 Speaker 1: The explosion was meant to kill whoever happened to be 482 00:28:18,800 --> 00:28:20,000 Speaker 1: there at that very moment. 483 00:28:21,440 --> 00:28:24,880 Speaker 6: My father moved his table. If he didn't, we wouldn't 484 00:28:24,880 --> 00:28:27,399 Speaker 6: be having this conversation, might be talking to somebody else. 485 00:28:28,240 --> 00:28:31,560 Speaker 6: That's why terrorism works. That's why terrorism works as a 486 00:28:31,920 --> 00:28:38,280 Speaker 6: political tool because it's random and it's indiscriminate. It doesn't 487 00:28:38,360 --> 00:28:41,280 Speaker 6: care who you are. Anyone can die at any point. 488 00:28:41,960 --> 00:28:44,040 Speaker 6: I think people really need to understand that that no 489 00:28:44,080 --> 00:28:46,280 Speaker 6: one's immune from this crap, and you don't have to 490 00:28:46,560 --> 00:28:49,400 Speaker 6: go around your life worrying about it, but you do 491 00:28:49,560 --> 00:28:52,640 Speaker 6: kind of have to understand that it can happen. It 492 00:28:52,720 --> 00:28:54,080 Speaker 6: could happen to anybody. 493 00:28:54,200 --> 00:28:59,040 Speaker 1: Unfortunately, this is how we understand terrorism to work today. 494 00:28:59,880 --> 00:29:03,160 Speaker 1: Leans meant not only to destroy, but also to shock, 495 00:29:03,400 --> 00:29:07,320 Speaker 1: spread fear, and force attention. But in nineteen seventy five 496 00:29:07,840 --> 00:29:11,080 Speaker 1: that idea hadn't fully taken hold. It was a lesson 497 00:29:11,200 --> 00:29:15,240 Speaker 1: being learned in real time. As this new brutal reality 498 00:29:15,400 --> 00:29:19,400 Speaker 1: became clear, law enforcement also needed to pivot to try 499 00:29:19,480 --> 00:29:23,400 Speaker 1: and tackle it, and as the bombs kept exploding, they 500 00:29:23,440 --> 00:29:28,680 Speaker 1: would need to make a plan and fast. The bombing 501 00:29:28,760 --> 00:29:32,480 Speaker 1: at Francis Tavern sent shockwaves through New York City. The 502 00:29:32,760 --> 00:29:35,840 Speaker 1: FBI quickly ramped up its surveillance and cracked down of 503 00:29:35,920 --> 00:29:36,680 Speaker 1: the Faln. 504 00:29:37,600 --> 00:29:40,480 Speaker 6: They never left the news cycle, and they couldn't catch them. 505 00:29:41,680 --> 00:29:45,920 Speaker 1: Despite the pressure and urgency, the fal In seemingly stayed 506 00:29:46,000 --> 00:29:49,840 Speaker 1: one step ahead. They vanished into safe houses and silence, 507 00:29:50,120 --> 00:29:53,880 Speaker 1: leaving investigators with little left to track. But over time 508 00:29:54,360 --> 00:29:56,160 Speaker 1: law enforcement did make headway. 509 00:29:57,360 --> 00:30:01,920 Speaker 9: There was an unnumbered, undated Communica's that body fail and 510 00:30:02,040 --> 00:30:07,520 Speaker 9: logo that used the rhetoric that has become quite common 511 00:30:07,600 --> 00:30:08,680 Speaker 9: in their communic cayse. 512 00:30:10,240 --> 00:30:14,160 Speaker 10: There were a number of FALN members arrested over the 513 00:30:14,400 --> 00:30:18,960 Speaker 10: coming years. Several of them were associated with the frances 514 00:30:19,080 --> 00:30:19,880 Speaker 10: tavern bombing. 515 00:30:21,280 --> 00:30:25,440 Speaker 1: Arrest trickled and slowly, some tied to bomb plots, others 516 00:30:25,520 --> 00:30:29,920 Speaker 1: to weapons stockpiles, and some suspected in the France's tavern attack. 517 00:30:31,080 --> 00:30:35,920 Speaker 6: These guys were extremely disciplined. They left one fingerprint in 518 00:30:35,960 --> 00:30:38,440 Speaker 6: there one hundred and thirty bombings, but other than that, 519 00:30:39,000 --> 00:30:42,440 Speaker 6: they were absolutely clean in the way that they went 520 00:30:42,520 --> 00:30:47,560 Speaker 6: about their business. They were Cuban trained, financed to a 521 00:30:47,680 --> 00:30:52,600 Speaker 6: large degree the art of spycraft through the Cuban intelligence services. 522 00:30:52,920 --> 00:30:56,760 Speaker 6: So the FBI and the MPD really didn't know what 523 00:30:56,880 --> 00:30:58,280 Speaker 6: they were up against with these guys. 524 00:30:59,480 --> 00:31:02,800 Speaker 1: And at the center of the f ALN's destruction was 525 00:31:02,840 --> 00:31:05,800 Speaker 1: still out there as dedicated to the cause as he'd 526 00:31:05,880 --> 00:31:08,520 Speaker 1: ever been. Here's Michael Jensen again. 527 00:31:09,640 --> 00:31:14,160 Speaker 8: William Morales was the f ALNS chief bomb maker, and 528 00:31:14,720 --> 00:31:19,719 Speaker 8: he was discovered in nineteen seventy eight because he accidentally 529 00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:23,840 Speaker 8: detonated an explosive device in which he severely injured himself 530 00:31:24,080 --> 00:31:28,000 Speaker 8: and disfigured himself. That's how the authorities came to identify 531 00:31:28,880 --> 00:31:29,720 Speaker 8: and to nab him. 532 00:31:30,520 --> 00:31:33,000 Speaker 11: When the bomb exploded yesterday, it blew up in the 533 00:31:33,080 --> 00:31:36,680 Speaker 11: hands and face of William Morales. Today police told us 534 00:31:36,760 --> 00:31:39,640 Speaker 11: that they've known for some time of Morales's link to 535 00:31:39,840 --> 00:31:42,400 Speaker 11: f ALN suspect Carlos Alberto Torres. 536 00:31:43,760 --> 00:31:46,840 Speaker 1: He'd been building bombs in a secret apartment in Queens 537 00:31:47,400 --> 00:31:49,800 Speaker 1: and you may know the saying, if you play with fire, 538 00:31:50,160 --> 00:31:51,440 Speaker 1: eventually you get burned. 539 00:31:52,640 --> 00:31:54,760 Speaker 6: On what would have been by dad's thirty seventh birthday, 540 00:31:54,840 --> 00:31:58,840 Speaker 6: July twelfth, nineteen seventy eight, William Morales was torking a 541 00:31:58,960 --> 00:32:02,120 Speaker 6: pipe bomb when it exploded. There must have been some 542 00:32:02,320 --> 00:32:05,040 Speaker 6: of the explosive got caught in the treads and when 543 00:32:05,080 --> 00:32:07,440 Speaker 6: he torqued, it blew up and blew off nine of 544 00:32:07,520 --> 00:32:11,320 Speaker 6: his fingers, one of his eyes, and ripped through the 545 00:32:11,720 --> 00:32:13,000 Speaker 6: Queen's bomb factory. 546 00:32:14,120 --> 00:32:18,160 Speaker 1: But even mangled and half blind, his self declared mission 547 00:32:18,320 --> 00:32:18,880 Speaker 1: came first. 548 00:32:20,240 --> 00:32:23,840 Speaker 6: He immediately turned on the gas in the place and 549 00:32:23,920 --> 00:32:26,880 Speaker 6: went into the bathroom to try to shred evidence. 550 00:32:28,200 --> 00:32:31,320 Speaker 1: While severely injured, Morales survived. 551 00:32:32,040 --> 00:32:36,000 Speaker 8: He was arrested, He was charged and convicted, sentenced to 552 00:32:36,600 --> 00:32:39,880 Speaker 8: eighty nine ninety years in prison. He actually ended up 553 00:32:40,200 --> 00:32:45,240 Speaker 8: escaping from a prison ward out of Bellevue Hospital, and 554 00:32:45,360 --> 00:32:49,480 Speaker 8: he eventually made his way to Cuba and Castro gave 555 00:32:49,560 --> 00:32:50,720 Speaker 8: him safe haven there. 556 00:32:51,960 --> 00:32:55,800 Speaker 1: Instead of serving out his sentence, Morales has remained in Cuba, 557 00:32:56,000 --> 00:33:00,280 Speaker 1: avoiding accountability. And for Joe, it felt like a second 558 00:33:00,400 --> 00:33:02,000 Speaker 1: kind of trauma, a betrayal. 559 00:33:03,240 --> 00:33:05,720 Speaker 6: This is a guy with one finger and one eye 560 00:33:06,360 --> 00:33:10,959 Speaker 6: being that dedicated to his cause. That event woke us up. 561 00:33:11,000 --> 00:33:16,400 Speaker 6: That was jarring, and to me, Morales became the face 562 00:33:16,480 --> 00:33:19,360 Speaker 6: of the faln in my head. And you know, faln 563 00:33:19,480 --> 00:33:21,920 Speaker 6: and ev il felt like they were the same word 564 00:33:22,040 --> 00:33:22,200 Speaker 6: to me. 565 00:33:23,840 --> 00:33:26,880 Speaker 1: For decades, Joe fought to bring Morales back to the 566 00:33:27,040 --> 00:33:27,760 Speaker 1: United States. 567 00:33:29,160 --> 00:33:31,640 Speaker 6: I started writing letters to the State Department, to the 568 00:33:31,840 --> 00:33:35,920 Speaker 6: Justice Department, to Secretary of State and warn Christopher. I 569 00:33:35,960 --> 00:33:39,240 Speaker 6: think was at the time, because I wanted Morales return. 570 00:33:39,560 --> 00:33:41,440 Speaker 6: That was before we even had emails, so these were 571 00:33:41,560 --> 00:33:44,000 Speaker 6: letters and I still have some of them. They you know, 572 00:33:44,080 --> 00:33:46,520 Speaker 6: were sent back and forth where the you know, they 573 00:33:46,560 --> 00:33:49,320 Speaker 6: acknowledged that, you know, he's Morales is there, he's a terrorist, 574 00:33:49,400 --> 00:33:52,000 Speaker 6: but we have no extradition treaty with Cuba, which as 575 00:33:52,040 --> 00:33:54,880 Speaker 6: it turns out, isn't exactly true. So I really kind 576 00:33:54,920 --> 00:33:56,680 Speaker 6: of pushed that, and. 577 00:33:56,760 --> 00:34:00,400 Speaker 8: To this day there are still demands for him to 578 00:34:00,480 --> 00:34:03,960 Speaker 8: be extradited back to the United States to serve out 579 00:34:04,160 --> 00:34:04,840 Speaker 8: his sentence. 580 00:34:06,360 --> 00:34:09,560 Speaker 1: There's obviously much more to this story and many more 581 00:34:09,640 --> 00:34:11,680 Speaker 1: layers to go, and we'll get to some of that, 582 00:34:11,920 --> 00:34:14,680 Speaker 1: but for right now, this is the point to remember. 583 00:34:15,760 --> 00:34:19,200 Speaker 6: No one was held accountable, specifically for my dad's murder. 584 00:34:20,520 --> 00:34:24,040 Speaker 1: It's another type of wound that remains open for the victims, 585 00:34:24,239 --> 00:34:28,600 Speaker 1: the survivors, and those impacted by the blast. No justice 586 00:34:28,719 --> 00:34:30,920 Speaker 1: for the four who were murdered by that bomb. 587 00:34:31,960 --> 00:34:37,040 Speaker 6: It was my dad, Alejandro Berger, and Jim Gezork. 588 00:34:37,719 --> 00:34:41,720 Speaker 1: And the fourth victim, Harold Sherburn, succumbed to his wounds 589 00:34:41,760 --> 00:34:45,080 Speaker 1: at the hospital. For the ones who made it out alive. 590 00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:49,320 Speaker 6: Bill Newhall was at the table and he survived and 591 00:34:49,400 --> 00:34:53,800 Speaker 6: he's still passing shrapnel. He still has hearing issues. He 592 00:34:53,880 --> 00:34:56,680 Speaker 6: says this will eventually kill him. Just didn't happen that day. 593 00:34:58,080 --> 00:35:02,520 Speaker 1: Each tragedy affects not only the actual victims, It goes 594 00:35:02,800 --> 00:35:04,000 Speaker 1: many more layers deep. 595 00:35:05,120 --> 00:35:07,719 Speaker 6: My kids even are affected by it, and they never 596 00:35:07,800 --> 00:35:10,600 Speaker 6: met their grandfather. I mean, my poor kids. They had 597 00:35:10,640 --> 00:35:13,320 Speaker 6: nothing to do with any of this, but they've suffered 598 00:35:13,360 --> 00:35:16,759 Speaker 6: because of when had happened, and probably from my fighting it. 599 00:35:18,280 --> 00:35:22,200 Speaker 1: As the survivors of the Francis tavern bombing continued to reel, 600 00:35:22,840 --> 00:35:26,960 Speaker 1: law enforcements scrambled to tackle this growing threat, and they 601 00:35:27,000 --> 00:35:30,840 Speaker 1: were building the system while under fire. While threats multiplied 602 00:35:30,880 --> 00:35:35,160 Speaker 1: in the shadows, from separatists and nationalists to far left radicals, 603 00:35:35,480 --> 00:35:38,080 Speaker 1: the blueprint on how to carry out these attacks was 604 00:35:38,080 --> 00:35:42,280 Speaker 1: spreading faster than their response, and as the enemy evolved, 605 00:35:42,680 --> 00:35:45,720 Speaker 1: America's defenses looked for new ways to meet the threat. 606 00:35:47,360 --> 00:35:52,799 Speaker 10: In the nineteen seventies, the assignment of responsibility and even 607 00:35:52,960 --> 00:35:58,960 Speaker 10: the definitions of crimes related to such things weren't always cleared, 608 00:35:59,280 --> 00:36:03,239 Speaker 10: and often in times the state or local police would 609 00:36:03,320 --> 00:36:04,200 Speaker 10: take precedence. 610 00:36:05,520 --> 00:36:09,560 Speaker 1: It was a patchwork response to a national problem. Departments 611 00:36:09,920 --> 00:36:14,279 Speaker 1: agencies both local and national continued to respond, but the 612 00:36:14,360 --> 00:36:18,120 Speaker 1: one thing they lacked was an actual integrated system. While 613 00:36:18,160 --> 00:36:21,960 Speaker 1: they shared, there was no real time intelligence sharing. They 614 00:36:22,080 --> 00:36:25,960 Speaker 1: worked together, yet not as a unified front. Federal agents, 615 00:36:26,160 --> 00:36:30,719 Speaker 1: bomb squads, arson units all working parallel cases rather than 616 00:36:30,800 --> 00:36:34,240 Speaker 1: lock and step. And as the dust was still settling 617 00:36:34,320 --> 00:36:38,839 Speaker 1: from the Francis Tavern bombing, terror struck again, we had 618 00:36:38,880 --> 00:36:39,239 Speaker 1: to up the. 619 00:36:39,239 --> 00:36:41,560 Speaker 12: Jane juppet program to bring you this further update in 620 00:36:41,600 --> 00:36:46,120 Speaker 12: connection with the tragic disaster at LaGuardia Airport tonight, in 621 00:36:46,239 --> 00:36:50,640 Speaker 12: which a powerful bomb explosion that devastated the baggage area 622 00:36:51,600 --> 00:36:55,319 Speaker 12: in the main terminal at the airport killed at least 623 00:36:55,360 --> 00:36:59,360 Speaker 12: twelve persons and injured at least seventy five others. 624 00:37:06,360 --> 00:37:09,879 Speaker 2: Next time on Law and Order Criminal Justice System. 625 00:37:10,160 --> 00:37:12,600 Speaker 5: R Ricola switchboard, saying there's been a bombing at the 626 00:37:12,640 --> 00:37:13,960 Speaker 5: TWA terminal. 627 00:37:14,520 --> 00:37:21,560 Speaker 12: The explosion actually impelled building material, metal glad bodies inside. 628 00:37:21,719 --> 00:37:23,040 Speaker 4: There was an extensive fire. 629 00:37:23,600 --> 00:37:26,840 Speaker 8: This really was the era of mass bombing campaigns, and 630 00:37:27,239 --> 00:37:29,960 Speaker 8: the FBI had a very very long list of usual 631 00:37:30,080 --> 00:37:32,200 Speaker 8: suspects to go through to try to figure out who 632 00:37:32,280 --> 00:37:32,520 Speaker 8: did this. 633 00:37:32,960 --> 00:37:37,520 Speaker 10: Some suspected fal and others suspected Croatian nationalists. 634 00:37:44,000 --> 00:37:47,360 Speaker 2: Law and Order Criminal Justice System is a production of 635 00:37:47,400 --> 00:37:53,040 Speaker 2: Wolf Entertainment and iHeart Podcasts. Our host is Anna Sega Nicolazzi. 636 00:37:53,840 --> 00:37:57,440 Speaker 2: The show was written by Cooper Mall, Executive produced by 637 00:37:57,560 --> 00:38:01,840 Speaker 2: Dick Wolf, Elliot Wolf and Even Michael at Wolf Entertainment 638 00:38:02,719 --> 00:38:07,160 Speaker 2: on behalf of iHeart Podcasts. Executive producers Trevor Young and 639 00:38:07,320 --> 00:38:13,600 Speaker 2: Matt Frederick, with supervising producer Chandler Mays and producer Jesse Funk. 640 00:38:14,360 --> 00:38:18,799 Speaker 2: This season is executive produced by Anna Sega Nicolazzi. Our 641 00:38:18,880 --> 00:38:23,279 Speaker 2: researchers are Luke Stantz and Carolyn Tolmage. Editing and sound 642 00:38:23,360 --> 00:38:27,839 Speaker 2: designed by Trevor Young and Jesse Funk. Original music by 643 00:38:28,000 --> 00:38:32,920 Speaker 2: John O'Hara, original theme by Mike Post with additional music 644 00:38:33,040 --> 00:38:37,839 Speaker 2: by Steve Moore and additional voice over by me Steve Zernkelton. 645 00:38:38,760 --> 00:38:41,960 Speaker 2: Special thanks to Fox five in New York for providing 646 00:38:42,160 --> 00:38:46,240 Speaker 2: archival material for the show. For more podcasts from iHeart 647 00:38:46,320 --> 00:38:50,960 Speaker 2: in Wolf Entertainment, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or 648 00:38:51,000 --> 00:38:54,440 Speaker 2: wherever you get your favorite shows. Thanks for listening.