WEBVTT - Lawyers, Guns and Money 0:00:01.040 --> 0:00:04.160 The mystery of the seven million dollar Wells Fargo robbery 0:00:04.200 --> 0:00:07.280 in Connecticut two years ago apparently was partially solved today 0:00:07.280 --> 0:00:10.400 with the arrest of thirteen people. On a surprise disclosure. 0:00:10.800 --> 0:00:16.400 On August night, more than two hundred federal agents descended 0:00:16.480 --> 0:00:21.720 upon dozens of locations across Puerto Rico and the continental US. 0:00:22.120 --> 0:00:25.079 The FBI raids began after dawn in San Juan and 0:00:25.120 --> 0:00:28.480 nearby cities. Eleven people were rounded up in Puerto Rico, 0:00:28.800 --> 0:00:36.600 another was arrested in Dallas, one more in Boston. Thirteen 0:00:36.720 --> 0:00:40.720 suspected members of Los Macha Tero's and their associates were 0:00:40.800 --> 0:00:45.199 arrested in connection to the Wells Fargo heist, among them 0:00:45.400 --> 0:00:49.680 Juan Zigara, who learned of the indictment beforehand and fled 0:00:49.720 --> 0:00:53.800 to Mexico with his wife and kids. It didn't work, 0:00:54.720 --> 0:00:59.440 As one explains in the Last American Colony documentary, he 0:00:59.520 --> 0:01:02.240 was arrested did on the same day at an airport 0:01:02.280 --> 0:01:05.319 in Dallas as he tried to sneak back into the 0:01:05.400 --> 0:01:08.920 United States. This guy followed me, had a big cowboy 0:01:08.920 --> 0:01:11.640 hat and cowboy boots, you know, so it was pretty noticeable. 0:01:11.680 --> 0:01:15.640 And then all of a sudden, I sense. You know, 0:01:15.720 --> 0:01:18.160 the guy with the cowboy boots here on one side, 0:01:18.160 --> 0:01:22.160 and there's three other people, one on one female, and 0:01:22.440 --> 0:01:25.959 two other guys are on me, and he said, you're 0:01:26.400 --> 0:01:33.280 under arrest for bank robbery. Los Macha Terro's leader, Philiberto 0:01:33.440 --> 0:01:37.880 Ojeda Rios, was met with a starkly different approach. Around 0:01:37.880 --> 0:01:42.160 six in the morning, a team of FBI agents converged 0:01:42.200 --> 0:01:45.880 on the apartment Philiberto shared with his wife in Puerto Rico. 0:01:46.920 --> 0:01:49.880 FBI records claim he emerged from the top of his 0:01:49.960 --> 0:01:54.480 staircase and engaged in a shootout with federal agents, leaving 0:01:54.520 --> 0:01:58.920 one man permanently blind in one eye. When Philiberto was 0:01:59.000 --> 0:02:02.120 forcibly taken out of his home nearly an hour later, 0:02:02.400 --> 0:02:04.800 the FBI said he was holding a pistol in one 0:02:04.840 --> 0:02:09.160 hand and an oozy in the other. Eventually, the embattled 0:02:09.240 --> 0:02:15.560 Macha Ros leader surrendered was taken into custody. Four fugitives 0:02:15.720 --> 0:02:21.280 were also named in the indictment, including Victor Harana. The 0:02:21.400 --> 0:02:24.519 arrest would mark the start of a long and complex 0:02:24.600 --> 0:02:28.000 legal battle, one that dragged on for years and raised 0:02:28.080 --> 0:02:32.840 questions about the limits of federal law, Puerto Rico sovereignty, 0:02:32.919 --> 0:02:37.080 and the powers the President of the United States could wield. 0:02:41.520 --> 0:02:47.400 Previously on White Eagle, we did several role plays in motels, 0:02:48.000 --> 0:02:51.679 so there was gonna be no question about him being 0:02:51.720 --> 0:02:54.840 able to mobilized the guy with the element of surprise 0:02:54.880 --> 0:02:57.280 and then take him down. They buy a loader, they 0:02:57.320 --> 0:03:01.440 basically stuck it from the cash and behind him, and 0:03:01.880 --> 0:03:03.920 they take victory and they stuffed him in a place 0:03:04.320 --> 0:03:07.359 behind the false wall. What the money did was corrupted 0:03:07.400 --> 0:03:10.680 the man terris. Some wanted to keep its money. They 0:03:10.680 --> 0:03:13.560 didn't want to send any more money to Cuba. My 0:03:13.639 --> 0:03:17.160 name is sem William Phelps. I'm an investigative journalist and 0:03:17.280 --> 0:03:20.920 author of more than forty true crimes. What you were 0:03:20.960 --> 0:03:23.680 about to hear is the true story of a heist, 0:03:24.240 --> 0:03:28.240 one that funded an international independence movement and sparked an 0:03:28.280 --> 0:03:40.480 investigation spanning nearly four decades. This is White Eagle. From 0:03:40.520 --> 0:03:44.000 the start. The legal battles involving the Macha terrorist and 0:03:44.040 --> 0:03:48.680 their associates were contentious to this day. The Wells Fargo 0:03:48.760 --> 0:03:51.960 case is still considered one of the longest and most 0:03:52.040 --> 0:03:56.800 complicated legal cases in the history of federal court. There 0:03:56.880 --> 0:04:03.640 was tremendous support and sympathy, or at least neutrality, so 0:04:03.680 --> 0:04:06.960 as a result, many of the big law firms in 0:04:07.120 --> 0:04:13.200 Hartford donated their lawyers to the Welsh Fargo legal team. 0:04:13.400 --> 0:04:16.719 Ronald Kobe is a criminal defense and civil rights attorney 0:04:16.720 --> 0:04:19.520 who has been practicing law for the better part of 0:04:19.600 --> 0:04:23.840 forty years. In five, ron was fresh out of law 0:04:23.880 --> 0:04:27.279 school and off to a promising start working the Wells 0:04:27.320 --> 0:04:32.560 Fargo case and training under legendary civil rights attorney William Kunstler. 0:04:33.400 --> 0:04:36.440 Back then, Kunstler was considered one of the country's most 0:04:36.480 --> 0:04:40.080 famous lawyers, in large part because of his work representing 0:04:40.200 --> 0:04:43.880 controversial clients such as members of the Black Panther Party, 0:04:44.160 --> 0:04:48.840 the Catonsville Nine, and the Chicago Seven. Counselor and Kubi 0:04:48.920 --> 0:04:52.160 worked together for more than a decade, representing everyone from 0:04:52.279 --> 0:04:55.839 civil rights activists two members of the Gambino crime family. 0:04:56.520 --> 0:04:59.960 The pair became so well known. Also made an unoffici 0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:03.680 show cameo in a certain nineties cult classic film at 0:05:03.720 --> 0:05:07.800 one hour forty one minutes in The Big Lebowski. In 0:05:07.880 --> 0:05:13.400 the Malibu police station scene, as the dude is slammed 0:05:13.440 --> 0:05:18.640 across the desk, he utters the greatest words ever uttered 0:05:18.720 --> 0:05:23.680 in the in the history of cinema. I want to lawyer. 0:05:25.600 --> 0:05:33.600 I want, Bill Conster, if you can't tell already. Ron 0:05:33.680 --> 0:05:37.120 Koby is a dynamic character. He has a long gray 0:05:37.160 --> 0:05:40.839 ponytail and easy going demeanor. He loves to talk and 0:05:40.960 --> 0:05:42.680 is the kind of guy that will keep you on 0:05:42.680 --> 0:05:45.960 the phone for hours. He has a page on his 0:05:46.080 --> 0:05:50.080 legal website dedicated to his dogs, which he proudly refers 0:05:50.120 --> 0:05:55.160 to as his law dogs, but his resume speaks for itself. 0:05:55.880 --> 0:05:58.760 It would be unwise not to take Ron Kobe seriously, 0:05:59.440 --> 0:06:04.880 Bill and up representing Philiberto ad Rios. I ended up 0:06:04.920 --> 0:06:11.920 representing Philibert's lieutenant, if you will, Louis Alfredo coldon Osorio, 0:06:12.480 --> 0:06:16.080 you know. And it was Warren Zevron who said lawyers, 0:06:16.160 --> 0:06:18.960 guns and money, and we had at least two out 0:06:18.960 --> 0:06:21.440 of the three. We had lawyers, and we had money, 0:06:21.839 --> 0:06:24.320 and probably some people had guns too, but that wasn't 0:06:24.320 --> 0:06:28.000 a part of the legal defense. So we were prepared 0:06:28.240 --> 0:06:32.280 to fight the government, and the government was not prepared 0:06:32.960 --> 0:06:36.960 for a legal channel. It's important to note that Ron's 0:06:37.040 --> 0:06:40.960 comments are the recollections of a criminal defense attorney who 0:06:41.160 --> 0:06:45.599 argued on behalf of the macha Ros, but he provides 0:06:45.720 --> 0:06:48.680 unique and rare insight into what went on behind the 0:06:48.760 --> 0:06:52.599 scenes As those involved in the Wells Fargo heist went 0:06:52.640 --> 0:06:56.480 to trial, Ron says Day one of core proceedings turned 0:06:56.520 --> 0:07:00.359 out to be nothing short of a circus. We showed 0:07:00.440 --> 0:07:05.040 up to to the most massive military style presence I 0:07:05.080 --> 0:07:08.560 had ever seen in any case ever. You know, they 0:07:08.600 --> 0:07:14.880 had black clad snipers on the rooftop, They had shooting 0:07:14.960 --> 0:07:19.040 positions taken up all around the courthouse. They put in 0:07:19.240 --> 0:07:26.080 brand new concrete barriers to prevent suicide bombers. Everybody had 0:07:26.360 --> 0:07:32.440 an automatic rifle. The Wells Fargo case was a big 0:07:32.440 --> 0:07:37.240 opportunity for federal prosecutors. For years, the FBI and Puerto 0:07:37.320 --> 0:07:40.760 Rico and prosecutors in the US had been trying to 0:07:40.840 --> 0:07:45.480 prosecute Los Machateros members for acts of pro state violence. 0:07:46.080 --> 0:07:49.280 More often than not, they'd come up short. Even when 0:07:49.320 --> 0:07:52.720 the group took credit for an illegal event, agents had 0:07:52.720 --> 0:07:57.880 a hard time identifying those directly responsible. Just as former 0:07:57.960 --> 0:08:03.320 FBI agent Bob Hybel, who spent years investigating Los mach Teros, 0:08:03.840 --> 0:08:08.440 the FBI didn't have the capability to penetrate these organizations 0:08:08.720 --> 0:08:12.280 because they didn't have the sufficient bilingual agents to put 0:08:12.280 --> 0:08:15.360 in San Juan to do the job. They were going 0:08:15.360 --> 0:08:18.760 through the motions with this and leaving it all up 0:08:18.760 --> 0:08:22.040 to the blue of Puerto Rico. In many ways, the 0:08:22.080 --> 0:08:26.440 Wells Fargo robbery changed all that. The mach Teros committing 0:08:26.480 --> 0:08:30.200 the Wells Fargo heist was one of the biggest mistakes 0:08:30.200 --> 0:08:34.079 they ever made. The reason is that in Puerto Rico, 0:08:34.559 --> 0:08:39.760 the legal system had been so penetrated by leftist attorneys 0:08:39.960 --> 0:08:43.920 that it was almost impossible to get a conviction on 0:08:43.960 --> 0:08:49.320 a perpetrator that you had cut in the act. The 0:08:49.400 --> 0:08:52.319 FBI didn't catch the group in the act, but it 0:08:52.400 --> 0:08:57.120 did collect a mountain of circumstantial evidence, including hours of 0:08:57.240 --> 0:09:01.920 wire tapped conversations. It wasn't always easy to decipher what 0:09:02.080 --> 0:09:05.320 was said in the tapes, though. The Macha Terros used 0:09:05.320 --> 0:09:10.520 the system of code names for nearly everything, people places, operations. 0:09:11.320 --> 0:09:15.560 Here's Harford current reporter ed Mahoney. They always had crazy 0:09:15.920 --> 0:09:19.440 up missing strat things like bank robberies, were expropriations and 0:09:19.440 --> 0:09:23.080 that sort of thing. Nearly every mach Terris associate had 0:09:23.120 --> 0:09:27.400 at least one, if not five, pseudonyms. One member went 0:09:27.440 --> 0:09:31.920 by the nickname Frank, another was known as Jumbo, Philiberto 0:09:32.120 --> 0:09:37.160 was Greco. As for its clandestine activities, The Macha Terris 0:09:37.240 --> 0:09:43.199 preferred animals for code names. La Gaviota, which translates to seagull, 0:09:43.360 --> 0:09:47.760 was the name for the Muneese air based bombing. Elchivo 0:09:48.280 --> 0:09:51.400 Spanish for goat was code for a plan to free 0:09:51.440 --> 0:09:55.920 and assassinate an incarcerated former Macha Tero who was suspected 0:09:56.200 --> 0:10:01.280 of being an informant. As for Aguila, Anka, turns out 0:10:01.600 --> 0:10:05.600 there was more to that code name. Questioned by the government, 0:10:05.720 --> 0:10:12.719 FBI agent Jose Rodriguez testified about it in court. Now, 0:10:12.800 --> 0:10:16.800 during the course of your FBI electronic surveillance, were you 0:10:16.840 --> 0:10:22.120 able to determine where Aguila was? Yes, ma'am and where 0:10:22.280 --> 0:10:26.720 is Aguila? On July the thirteenth, four, in the vehicle 0:10:26.800 --> 0:10:31.880 of Filberto Rios, a conversation was intercepted. They were discussing 0:10:31.880 --> 0:10:34.440 Aguila and the fact that his female companion wishes to 0:10:34.520 --> 0:10:37.720 be with him. They mentioned that the female companion is 0:10:37.720 --> 0:10:41.160 on probation, and they stayed in this conversation that Cuba 0:10:41.760 --> 0:10:44.280 is an attraction for him. It's real because he has 0:10:44.320 --> 0:10:49.600 been there. And who is Aguila? Aguila is Victor Manuel Hereina. 0:10:55.520 --> 0:10:59.319 In those wire tapped conversations, agents also learned the group 0:10:59.400 --> 0:11:03.480 was beginning to fracture. They'd hear members bickering about how 0:11:03.520 --> 0:11:06.280 to spend the money, when to take credit for the heist, 0:11:06.559 --> 0:11:09.880 or whether the Cubans took too much of the cash. 0:11:10.320 --> 0:11:12.440 The fighting got so bad at one point during the 0:11:12.440 --> 0:11:17.120 summer of the group had split into two factions, one 0:11:17.160 --> 0:11:23.720 of which included Juanzagara and Philiberto Ojeda Rios. In one exchange, 0:11:23.920 --> 0:11:27.160 Philiberto can be heard discussing how he was actually voted 0:11:27.240 --> 0:11:31.360 out of the Macha Ros Central Committee, the internal governing 0:11:31.400 --> 0:11:35.680 body that he helped found. And the guy he's a 0:11:35.720 --> 0:11:38.040 memory of the Cuban intelligence service, the guy that makes 0:11:38.080 --> 0:11:41.000 the whole thing work is so Hada, and they demoted him, 0:11:41.040 --> 0:11:45.479 you know, which is ridiculous because without him there's no organization, basically, 0:11:45.760 --> 0:11:50.960 an organization famous for its meticulous planning and secretive structures 0:11:51.240 --> 0:11:56.760 had devolved into chaos, and the FBI they took full 0:11:56.800 --> 0:12:12.600 advantage of the situation. The United States of America versus 0:12:12.679 --> 0:12:17.080 Victor Manuel Harrena at All was a legal slug, a 0:12:17.240 --> 0:12:22.319 long uphill battle with twists, turns and a seemingly endless 0:12:22.400 --> 0:12:27.240 number of procedural delays. Take as an example this fact, 0:12:27.840 --> 0:12:30.880 the first hearing in the case took place on September three. 0:12:33.080 --> 0:12:37.760 As for the actual trial, opening arguments didn't happen until 0:12:40.360 --> 0:12:46.960 there was a massive quantity of evidence against the defendants 0:12:47.000 --> 0:12:52.600 in terms of sheer volume, not quality, but volume. And 0:12:52.640 --> 0:12:55.960 what I mean by that. There were thousands of hours 0:12:56.000 --> 0:12:59.400 of wire tapped communications that had been intercepted over a 0:12:59.440 --> 0:13:03.840 period of years. There were forty five separate searches, so 0:13:04.000 --> 0:13:07.720 there were hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of pages 0:13:07.760 --> 0:13:12.000 of documents. So there was a massive quantity of evidence, 0:13:12.880 --> 0:13:18.960 but the government was amazingly sloppy. It didn't seem like 0:13:19.120 --> 0:13:22.600 any of them were preparing to process it in a 0:13:22.679 --> 0:13:27.520 way that would be usable at trial. Kuby says, even 0:13:27.559 --> 0:13:31.400 with the primary suspect nowhere to be found, it was 0:13:31.440 --> 0:13:34.600 still plenty to litigate. There were emotions to have the 0:13:34.640 --> 0:13:37.640 trial moved to Puerto Rico, where almost all of the 0:13:37.720 --> 0:13:41.560 defendants lived and where defense attorneys said they were less 0:13:41.559 --> 0:13:45.760 likely to face bias. Those were denied. There were issues 0:13:45.800 --> 0:13:49.160 with the nature of the material sees from the defendants homes. 0:13:49.840 --> 0:13:53.440 What was fair game under the warrant, what was personal? 0:13:54.080 --> 0:13:57.720 What was just the FBI grabbing anything and everything it 0:13:57.800 --> 0:14:01.840 could in case it might matter lay her. They basically 0:14:02.040 --> 0:14:07.440 took everything, and some of it was was just hysterically 0:14:07.520 --> 0:14:09.960 funny out of my client's home. I think they took 0:14:10.000 --> 0:14:14.880 a tape, a video tape called Jazzer Size your Thighs, 0:14:15.960 --> 0:14:19.400 which was an exercise video like like the Macha Terro's 0:14:19.520 --> 0:14:24.400 are going to squeeze America to death between their powerful knees. 0:14:24.720 --> 0:14:29.480 What possible evidence could this be? They took children's coloring books, 0:14:29.520 --> 0:14:34.840 and they took everything that made any reference to Puerto Rico, 0:14:35.160 --> 0:14:39.800 all the history and literature and books on or buy 0:14:40.080 --> 0:14:44.080 or about Puerto Rico, all of the Puerto Rican flags, 0:14:44.120 --> 0:14:48.960 every scrap of anything that made reference to the thousands 0:14:48.960 --> 0:14:53.640 of your history about this place. Everything was taken as 0:14:53.680 --> 0:14:58.240 evidence of terrorism. Perhaps the biggest dilemma, though, was the 0:14:58.280 --> 0:15:02.240 issue of those wire taps. The defense filed motions to 0:15:02.280 --> 0:15:05.840 throw a large portion of that evidence out, saying it 0:15:05.880 --> 0:15:09.440 had been improperly sealed and that in some cases federal 0:15:09.520 --> 0:15:13.400 agents had listened to conversations without recording them and then 0:15:13.440 --> 0:15:16.960 they lied about it. The FBI was really, really, really 0:15:17.000 --> 0:15:23.520 good at collecting eavesdropping tapes and wire tapping and paying 0:15:23.560 --> 0:15:28.360 attention to the tapes and collecting intelligence information. They were 0:15:28.440 --> 0:15:32.760 really bad at adhering to the requirements of the wire 0:15:32.800 --> 0:15:38.160 tapping law, which meant that at the expiration of a 0:15:38.240 --> 0:15:44.600 particular warrant, the tapes had to be sealed within thirty days. 0:15:45.680 --> 0:15:50.200 What sealed actually means is exactly that they are put 0:15:50.280 --> 0:15:56.520 in plastic bags. There is a seal put on them 0:15:56.640 --> 0:16:01.240 that contains the dates, the times, that ticulars of the tape. 0:16:01.480 --> 0:16:05.400 You can't open the bag without breaking the seal. And 0:16:05.480 --> 0:16:09.520 the purpose is to maintain the integrity of the tapes 0:16:09.600 --> 0:16:12.200 where U s at trial, and also to make sure 0:16:12.240 --> 0:16:15.200 the FBI isn't doing what we know they did, which 0:16:15.240 --> 0:16:18.840 is sharing these things with other people who have an 0:16:18.880 --> 0:16:21.760 interest in the Macho terros who might want to listen. 0:16:22.560 --> 0:16:27.800 And the government totally screwed that up. A judge agreed 0:16:28.320 --> 0:16:31.560 more than half of the wire tap tapes were deemed 0:16:31.680 --> 0:16:35.120 it admissible, and the government's case against the number of 0:16:35.160 --> 0:16:39.320 Los Materos was split into two. The trial for half 0:16:39.360 --> 0:16:43.760 of the group, which included Filiberto, Ojeda Rijos, was delayed 0:16:43.760 --> 0:16:47.600 while an appellate court reviewed the tapes. The trials for 0:16:47.680 --> 0:16:52.400 the other half move forward. Philiberto was let out on 0:16:52.520 --> 0:16:56.520 bail after spending thirty two months in jail. Well, the 0:16:56.600 --> 0:17:00.880 question was where is Philoberto going to go? So Richard Harvey, 0:17:00.960 --> 0:17:05.120 who at that time was serving as co counsul To Kunstler, said, well, 0:17:05.160 --> 0:17:06.480 he can live with us. He can live with the 0:17:06.560 --> 0:17:10.160 lawyers up in Hartford in our law commune. What what 0:17:10.240 --> 0:17:14.240 could be better than living living with your lawyer, I 0:17:14.359 --> 0:17:17.760 ask you, and he did. He moved in. He's really 0:17:17.800 --> 0:17:21.400 happy to be out of prison. And he is just 0:17:21.640 --> 0:17:24.720 an amazing human being. I mean, first of all, he's 0:17:24.760 --> 0:17:28.600 a revolutionary to the marrow of his bones. He's a 0:17:28.640 --> 0:17:33.680 Puerto Rican patriot. But he can do other things. He 0:17:33.720 --> 0:17:38.800 can play the guitar, he can play the trumpet, he 0:17:38.840 --> 0:17:42.000 can do things around the house that need to be 0:17:42.080 --> 0:17:48.040 done that he was willing to do. Because Philiberto fundamentally 0:17:48.520 --> 0:17:53.840 was also a communist in the best sense of that word. 0:17:54.720 --> 0:17:59.480 He knew that he always had to contribute through his 0:17:59.600 --> 0:18:03.960 labor to everything and everywhere he was, and he knew 0:18:04.040 --> 0:18:08.399 that all labor had dignity. And so he cooked. He 0:18:08.480 --> 0:18:11.480 cooked for the house, and he was a fantastic cook, 0:18:11.560 --> 0:18:15.560 you know, making up rice and beans and mofungo and 0:18:15.680 --> 0:18:21.560 other Puerto Rican delicacies. For me, I recognized that this 0:18:21.840 --> 0:18:25.000 was a a great man of Puerto Rico. I had 0:18:25.000 --> 0:18:28.280 no idea how great, and I had no idea ultimately 0:18:28.600 --> 0:18:32.560 that he would have a legacy as early as he did. 0:18:33.320 --> 0:18:35.840 But I knew that, you know, this is like Cha Bavara, 0:18:36.080 --> 0:18:42.639 you know, growing up the cheeseburger. For me. The Liberto 0:18:42.760 --> 0:18:45.760 remained in that Hartford law house for several months and 0:18:45.800 --> 0:18:48.639 then returned to Puerto Rico, where he cut off his 0:18:48.720 --> 0:18:54.000 ankle bracelet and jumped bail. More on that later, Like 0:18:54.119 --> 0:18:57.639 his mentor, Juan Zagar, spent over two years in jail 0:18:57.720 --> 0:19:02.240 before he was granted bail. Unlike his mentor, however, he 0:19:02.359 --> 0:19:06.320 stayed put his case, along with four additional members of 0:19:06.359 --> 0:19:11.200 Los MACHOs, went to trial. The trial relied less heavenly 0:19:11.280 --> 0:19:15.160 on wire tapped evidence, in part because federal prosecutors had 0:19:15.200 --> 0:19:19.080 flipped two witnesses, Kenneth Cox, a friend of One's who 0:19:19.119 --> 0:19:22.040 admitted to helping him acquire fake I d s. And 0:19:22.160 --> 0:19:25.720 Anna Gasson, wants former lover who laundered some of the 0:19:25.800 --> 0:19:30.520 stolen money. Now, what did Mr Cigara relate to you 0:19:30.560 --> 0:19:33.920 at that time he related to me that a robbery 0:19:33.960 --> 0:19:37.560 happened in Hartford. What did he say happened to the money? 0:19:37.800 --> 0:19:41.040 The money went to Springfield in cars. Did he tell 0:19:41.080 --> 0:19:44.040 you what happened to the money after he got to Springfield? Nope? 0:19:44.720 --> 0:19:47.639 Did Mr Cigara tell you what happened to Mr Harina? 0:19:48.200 --> 0:19:52.720 Yes he did. What did he say happened to Mr Harina? Well, 0:19:52.760 --> 0:19:55.679 one time he told me Mr Harina was taken on 0:19:55.760 --> 0:19:59.080 the night of the robbery from Hartford to Springfield on 0:19:59.080 --> 0:20:02.679 a motorcycle. And what happened after that? He told me 0:20:02.720 --> 0:20:07.240 he was taken to Boston, then to Mexico. Defense attorneys 0:20:07.320 --> 0:20:10.760 railed at the use of Kenneth Cox as a witness, 0:20:10.800 --> 0:20:14.760 calling him quote an accomplice, an addict, a man with 0:20:14.800 --> 0:20:18.560 a criminal record who's being paid for his testimony and 0:20:18.680 --> 0:20:22.720 kept out of prison for his testimony. For what it's worth, 0:20:22.760 --> 0:20:26.320 all of the above was true. Cox was arrested twenty 0:20:26.320 --> 0:20:29.399 one times in twenty five years, and actually went to 0:20:29.480 --> 0:20:32.439 the FBI about Wells Fargo the day after he was 0:20:32.560 --> 0:20:38.080 arrested on a shoplifting charge. Juan Zigara's ex mistress, Anna Gassin, 0:20:38.359 --> 0:20:42.520 was a far more compelling witness like one. She graduated 0:20:42.560 --> 0:20:46.679 from Harvard, where she studied biology. Her testimony went on 0:20:46.840 --> 0:20:52.600 for days and reads like a novel. I would say, 0:20:52.640 --> 0:20:55.560 there's two major reasons, which for me are part and 0:20:55.640 --> 0:21:00.399 parcel of the same thing, which is that I loved 0:21:00.440 --> 0:21:03.840 this man and respect of the values that he shared 0:21:03.840 --> 0:21:06.800 with me. It was that respect which was also part 0:21:06.800 --> 0:21:10.160 of the reason why you loved him most probably, yes, 0:21:11.800 --> 0:21:15.840 I don't know. Anna Gassin was initially charged as an 0:21:15.840 --> 0:21:19.040 accomplice in the Wells Fargo case, but was granted immunity 0:21:19.160 --> 0:21:23.080 in exchange for her testimony, and for good reason. She 0:21:23.240 --> 0:21:26.680 claimed that Juan asked her to keep about thirty five 0:21:26.760 --> 0:21:30.840 thousand dollars in a trunk under her bed, which she did. 0:21:31.920 --> 0:21:34.719 She said. One also asked her to transport money across 0:21:34.800 --> 0:21:40.720 the US Mexico border, which she didn't. Did Juan Cigara 0:21:40.840 --> 0:21:44.480 ask you to become involved in this plan to transport 0:21:44.480 --> 0:21:48.080 money to Mexico? Yes? Would you tell us please what 0:21:48.200 --> 0:21:50.560 he wanted you to do? Well, there was a couple 0:21:50.640 --> 0:21:53.879 that was supposed to drive the camping truck across, and 0:21:53.920 --> 0:21:57.119 he wanted the couple to be non Hispanic, to be white. 0:21:57.800 --> 0:21:59.840 By a couple, you mean a man and a woman, 0:22:00.240 --> 0:22:03.440 man and woman. Yes, he had already had the man 0:22:03.520 --> 0:22:06.080 who was supposed to drive across, and there was a 0:22:06.119 --> 0:22:08.480 woman who was supposed to come from Puerto Rico to 0:22:08.560 --> 0:22:11.800 drive across, and she couldn't because of some health reasons 0:22:11.880 --> 0:22:15.879 or something. What's more, Anna testified that Juan had admitted 0:22:16.000 --> 0:22:19.919 he was behind the Wells Fargo heist. She said he 0:22:19.960 --> 0:22:23.639 also asked her deposit cash into her bank account and 0:22:23.680 --> 0:22:26.960 write checks to people in Puerto Rico, some of whom 0:22:27.000 --> 0:22:30.680 were later found to be alias is of Matris members. 0:22:31.640 --> 0:22:34.800 Then there was his own written account of Wells Fargo, 0:22:35.280 --> 0:22:38.960 a manuscript that Juan hoped would one day be turned 0:22:39.000 --> 0:22:42.199 into a screenplay. He told us the purpose, as you 0:22:42.280 --> 0:22:44.720 understood it, for the writing was to be made into 0:22:44.800 --> 0:22:47.520 a movie. It was going to be turned into a 0:22:47.560 --> 0:22:51.720 screenplay by someone else. So his objective was to write 0:22:51.720 --> 0:22:55.840 down what exactly had happened so that someone else who 0:22:55.880 --> 0:22:58.320 was a writer could then turn it into a screenplay. 0:22:58.800 --> 0:23:05.560 What I saw was his version, not the screenplay. Lawyers 0:23:05.600 --> 0:23:09.639 for the defense called Wan's manuscript questionable, saying it was 0:23:09.680 --> 0:23:13.199 a work of fiction and that key details didn't line up, 0:23:15.000 --> 0:23:18.080 But the testimony along with some of the wire tapped 0:23:18.080 --> 0:23:24.480 evidence did the trick. On April eleven, Juan Sagara was 0:23:24.520 --> 0:23:29.240 convicted on eleven counts, including aiding and abetting a robbery 0:23:29.440 --> 0:23:34.000 and helping to transport stolen funds. He was sentenced to 0:23:34.160 --> 0:23:38.840 sixty five years in prison. The other men received varying sentences. 0:23:39.280 --> 0:23:43.080 Two were found guilty of conspiracy, another of conspiracy and 0:23:43.119 --> 0:23:49.720 the transport of stolen money. The last was completely exonerated. Philiberto, 0:23:50.200 --> 0:23:52.840 who was still on the lamb, was sentenced to fifty 0:23:52.880 --> 0:23:58.600 five years in absentia. Fundamentally, the Wells Fargo case was 0:23:58.640 --> 0:24:03.840 an attempt to crown laws the Puerto Rican Arms Struggle 0:24:03.960 --> 0:24:09.200 independence movement, but to do so in a place where 0:24:09.200 --> 0:24:12.840 there would not be so many sympathizers to that movement. 0:24:13.760 --> 0:24:17.320 After the Wells Fargo verdicts, questions shifted from who was 0:24:17.400 --> 0:24:20.479 responsible and whether they'd be caught, to a debate that 0:24:20.520 --> 0:24:24.520 has continued for the better part of forty years. Were 0:24:24.560 --> 0:24:27.560 members of the Macha terris violent terrorists who robbed the 0:24:27.600 --> 0:24:32.080 bank or were they at war with an occupying force 0:24:32.359 --> 0:24:48.920 and within their rights under international law. In most cases, 0:24:48.920 --> 0:24:52.440 the crime story usually ends with the trial and conviction, 0:24:53.320 --> 0:24:59.120 but This is unlike most cases. It's complex and politically charged. 0:24:59.440 --> 0:25:02.359 It's not some plea about a robbery. And to truly 0:25:02.480 --> 0:25:05.919 understand the surprising fate that would befall a number of 0:25:05.960 --> 0:25:10.640 the Macha Tero's, including Victor Juan and Philiberto, we need 0:25:10.680 --> 0:25:13.919 to take a step back several decades in fact, and 0:25:13.960 --> 0:25:17.320 look at their efforts in the context of a larger movement, 0:25:18.040 --> 0:25:23.720 one of mass protests, clandestine organizations, and open rebellion in 0:25:23.760 --> 0:25:27.639 the halls of Congress. Those movements date back to the 0:25:27.680 --> 0:25:30.439 moment of the Spanish American War, when there were already 0:25:30.440 --> 0:25:32.760 folks who wanted to seek independence in the way that 0:25:32.840 --> 0:25:36.800 Cuba was seeking independence. Dr Yari mar Boni a Ramos, 0:25:36.960 --> 0:25:39.879 who spoke in the last episode, is an expert in 0:25:40.000 --> 0:25:43.600 Caribbean politics. She also runs a center for Puerto Rican 0:25:43.680 --> 0:25:47.040 Studies at Hunter College in New York. That current was 0:25:47.119 --> 0:25:51.680 always sustained and always had important figures, most notably, of course, 0:25:53.280 --> 0:25:57.000 Pedro Albizu. Compost is often called the father of Puerto 0:25:57.080 --> 0:26:00.760 Rico's moderate independence movement. He was born just a few 0:26:00.840 --> 0:26:03.800 years before the US annexed the island and spent a 0:26:03.840 --> 0:26:07.000 majority of his life either fighting for independence or in 0:26:07.080 --> 0:26:11.879 prison for his efforts. Here's retired FBI agent Bob Hybel. 0:26:12.480 --> 0:26:15.639 What happens is that a nationalist group is swarmed, was 0:26:15.680 --> 0:26:19.159 called the Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico. Albiscampos becomes the 0:26:19.320 --> 0:26:24.639 leader of that group. They're quite militant, They participating in 0:26:24.640 --> 0:26:31.280 elections in they're defeated, significantly defeated. From then on they 0:26:31.280 --> 0:26:35.679 turned the violence. Lbizo compost was a man of bold action. 0:26:36.160 --> 0:26:38.480 He led a strike on Puerto Rico's Light and Power 0:26:38.520 --> 0:26:42.040 company for its alleged monopoly on the island. He was 0:26:42.080 --> 0:26:45.760 a Harvard educated lawyer who represented sugarcane workers in a 0:26:45.840 --> 0:26:50.560 lawsuit against the sugar industry. In ninety seven, roughly one 0:26:50.640 --> 0:26:53.600 year into a ten year prison sentence for a conspiracy 0:26:53.680 --> 0:26:58.200 to overthrow the US government, peaceful protests by his Nationalist 0:26:58.320 --> 0:27:02.040 party turned deadly. The poets a massacre is one of 0:27:02.119 --> 0:27:06.080 the clear examples of criminalization and stay balanced against the 0:27:06.160 --> 0:27:10.800 pro independence movement that University of Illinois professor Dr. Jose 0:27:11.160 --> 0:27:14.440 tell us. It took place in the context of the 0:27:14.520 --> 0:27:18.919 encarceration of pederal bisup Campos and all the leadership of 0:27:18.960 --> 0:27:24.160 the Nationalist Party. The new leadership of the party organized 0:27:24.160 --> 0:27:28.720 a demonstration and the Puerto Rican State and with the 0:27:28.720 --> 0:27:32.840 support of the US, denied the permit for this public 0:27:32.880 --> 0:27:36.960 demonstration English. You know, it was just a political rally. 0:27:37.840 --> 0:27:42.680 And when they canceled the authorization to have that rally, 0:27:42.840 --> 0:27:47.440 the insular police, now the Puerto Rican police, just started 0:27:47.680 --> 0:27:53.880 shurting and around twenty people die, around hundred were injured. 0:27:54.760 --> 0:27:58.320 No one was arrested or formally held accountable for the 0:27:58.359 --> 0:28:02.520 pont massacre. By the time albi Zoo Compost was released 0:28:02.520 --> 0:28:05.879 from prison in nineteen forty seven, tensions had started to 0:28:05.920 --> 0:28:10.040 boil over. People were angry about the ongoing police repression 0:28:10.240 --> 0:28:13.440 as well as a controversial gag law. By October of 0:28:13.520 --> 0:28:18.080 nineteen fifty, thousands of pro independence activists had had enough 0:28:18.359 --> 0:28:22.000 in stage revolts in towns and cities across Puerto Rico. 0:28:22.680 --> 0:28:26.480 In Washington, d C, two men attempted to assassinate President 0:28:26.520 --> 0:28:29.879 Harry Truman in the name of independence. One of the 0:28:29.880 --> 0:28:34.440 men was killed, the other jailed, along with Albizoo composts 0:28:34.440 --> 0:28:41.800 in thousands of others. Then, four years later in Washington, 0:28:41.880 --> 0:28:45.280 D C. Ruthless fanatic violence erupted in the halls of 0:28:45.320 --> 0:28:48.360 Congress three men and a woman believed to be members 0:28:48.360 --> 0:28:51.640 of the Puerto Rican Nationalist gang that in November nineteen 0:28:51.720 --> 0:28:55.840