CHICAGO -- Authorities Wednesday arrested four members of the Puerto Rican terrorist group FALN and charged them with plotting to bomb military installations in Chicago over the Fourth of July weekend.
Edwin Cortes, 28, Alejandrina Torres, 44, Alberto Rodriguez, 30, and Jose Luis Rodriguez, 22, all of Chicago, appeared before Federal Magistrate Carl Sussman on charges of seditious conspiracy. Bond was set at $10 million cash each for the three men and $5 million cash for Mrs. Torres.
Mrs. Torres was identified as the stepmother of Carlos Torres, the jailed former leader of Fuerzes Armadas Liberacion Nacional. FALN seeks independence for Puerto Rico and has claimed responsibility for more than 100 bombings and attempted bombings in Chicago and New York since 1974.
U.S. Attorney Dan K. Webb said authorities 'have specific, hard and compelling evidence' the four conspired to bomb military installations in Chicago and Illinois prisons to free jailed FALN members. The terrorists activities were to be financed by robbing the Chicago Transit Authority.
Webb said they planned to bomb a Northwest Side U.S. Marines training center Saturday morning. A CTA bus barn, where thousands of gallons of gasoline are stored, is adjacent to the training center, Webb said, and could have blown up.
'I cannot think of any other group in the nation more dedicated to random acts of violence,' Webb said in asking for the high bonds. 'They would not hesitate to flee.'
Public defender Mike Deutsch asked for leniency, saying 'it's important we not get swept up in hysteria.'
Webb said the four also plotted to bring FALN leader William Morales to assist their activities in Chicago. Morales was arrested recently in Mexico.
Webb said a special task force was able to infiltrate the terrorist network, leading to the arrests.
Six people have been killed and over a hundred maimed in the bombings.
Wednesday's arrests were the first major FALN arrests in Chicago for more than three years.
An FBI statement said the four started conspiring in April to plant explosive devices at government buildings and rob CTA train collectors to pay the rent for an apartment 'where clandestine activities could take place.'
Special FBI agent Richard F. Hahn, in an affadavit submitted to Sussman, said Cortes and the Rodriguezes were seen recently waiting near subway tellers at different stations downtown.
From May to June, Cortes and Alberto Rodriguez -- either alone or together -- were seen driving through neighborhoods near the Marines training center and a U.S. Armed Forces Reserve center.
In late June, in separate meetings between Ms. Torres and Cortes and between Roberto Rodriguez and Cortes, the participants 'discussed placing explosive devices at military installations' and planned the bombings for the Fourth of July weekend, the affadavit said.
They also discussed putting out a communique addressing the actions, Hahn said.
Wednesday's arrests were the first in Chicago since April 4, 1980, when the FBI arrested 11 FALN terrorists and two vehicles loaded with weapons in suburban Evanston. They had reportedly planned to kidnap industrialist Henry Crown, one of the world's wealthiest men, and hold him for a milti-million dollar ransom.
One of the 11 was Carlos Torres, who led the FBI's most 10 most-wanted list for his part in bombings in Chicago and New York. His wife, Maria, was sentenced to life in prison for her part in a 1977 office bombing in which a man was killed.
In March, 1982, the FALN claimed responsibility for bombings at the New York and American stock exchanges and the world headquarters of Chase Manhattan Bank and the Merrill Lynch Stock brokerage. There were no injuries and only minor structural damage.
The bombings ended a two-year hiatus during which the FBI said it thought the FALN, leaderless since the 1980 arrests, was broken.
