NEW YORK -- The Puerto Rican terrorist group FALN exploded four powerful bombs in the Wall Street financial district to protest 'Yankee imperialism,' damaging the New York and American stock exchanges and two other buildings late Sunday.
The blasts came one day before the 28th anniversary of the March 1, 1954, attack by Puerto Rican nationalists on the U.S. House in which five congressmen were wounded by gunfire.
The explosions came in a 30-minute span and caused no injuries. The buildings suffered only broken glass and minor structural damage, police said.
Both the New York and American Stock Exchanges said they would open as usual at 10 a.m. Spokesmen for the two exchanges said the blasts did not damage any trading facilities.
The FALN, dedicated to independence for Puerto Rico, claimed responsiblity for the bombings in a multi-page communique they had left for police found in a telephone booth about 6 miles north of Wall Street.
Police Sgt. Edward Leschack said the first explosion occurred at 11:25 p.m. at the headquarters of the Merrill Lynch stock brokerage. Ten minutes later, bombs exploded at the headquarters of Chase Manhattan bank and at the New York Stock Exchange a few blocks away. The last blast went off at 11:55 p.m. at the American Stock Exchange.
High-powered explosives -- possibly dynamite -- were used in the bombs, he said.
Witnesses said a late model four-door car crammed with people was seen speeding from the area moments after the blasts.
Shortly after the bombing, police said, a news agency reported it received a telephone call from a man claiming to be a representative of the Puerto Rican terrorist organization FALN, and directed police to an envelope in a telephone booth. The anonymous caller did not mention the blasts.
Police recovered the letter, which they described as 'a typical FALN communique' that mentioned the bombings and decried 'imperialistic forces' opposing statehood for Puerto Rico, said Patrick Murphy, the Police Department's chief of operations.
Murphy said the FALN communique said the bombings were to protest 'Yankee imperialism.'
'The FALN assumes full responsibility for the bombings which have occurred in the financial sector of Wall Street, Sunday, Feb. 28, 1982,' read the first line of the 'multi-paged' communique. Police declined to make the rest public.
The FALN -- 'Fuerzas Armadas De Liberacion Nacional' (Armed Forces for National Liberation) -- is comprised of radical ethnic Puerto Ricans living in the United States who are dedicated to independence for Puerto Rico from the United States.
Since 1974, the FALN has claimed responsibility for about 120 bombings in the New York City area, Chicago and Washington. Five people died in the attacks, four of them when a bomb went off at New York's historic Fraunces Tavern in January 1975. Last May, the FALN planted five bombs around the city, including the U.S. Mission to the United Nations.
The message also expressed 'solidarity' with radicals arrested in last October's bungled Brink's armored car robbery in Nyack, N.Y., in which two police officers and a guard were killed. Police have charged former members of the Weather Underground and the Black Liberation Army with the Nyack killings.
Steven Morales, a communications analyst who was working in the building around the corner from the New York Exchange, said that when he ran out to the street he saw 'a large, old-model, four-door car jammed with 10 or 12 people who took off like they were in a hurry.'
Pat Molloy, a security guard at Merrill Lynch, said he was manning the front desk when the blast occured. 'My ears are still ringing. I'm still shook up.' He said about 25 workers were in the building at the time.
