FALN Terrorist Trial: 1981

On April 4, 1980, police in the Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois, were staking out a rental truck that had been stolen during an armed robbery earlier that day. When Luis Rosa and Alicia Rodriguez approached the truck, police arrested them. Both suspects were armed and had arrived in stolen vehicles. That afternoon Evanston police were also called to investigate a suspicious parked van. Upon arriving, officers noticed a false mustache slipping from the lip of one of the van's occupants and a pistol was discovered in the purse of another; all nine occupants were arrested. A search of the van revealed a cache of guns.

A passerby looks at damage inside the New York Stock Exchange, where Puerto Rican terrorist group FALN exploded several bombs. (Bettmann/Corbis)

None of the suspects would give their names. Consultation with the FBI, however, revealed that the Evanston police had at once arrested a major portion of the FALN's membership. Questions about the Fraunces Tavern explosion had landed Carlos Alberto Torres on the FBI's 10-MostWanted list, while his wife, Maria Haydee Torres, was suspected in the Mobil Oil bombing. The others were identified as Elizam Esc, 9bar, Ricardo Jimenez, Adolfo Matos, Alfredo Mendez, Dylcia Noemi Pagan, Ida Luz Rodriguez, and Carmen Valentin.

Haydee Torres was immediately extradited to New York to stand trial. State weapons and conspiracy charges were filed against all the other suspects, except Rodriguez and Rosa, who were charged with armed robbery, armed violence, possession of a stolen vehicle, and conspiracy.

Because those arrested considered themselves to be prisoners of war, the political overtones were felt at the trials from the start. Rodriguez and Rosa were gagged, then removed from court for incessantly shouting pro-independence slogans. Their defiance was considered a lack of remorse by the judge who, when they were found guilty, added a total of five six-month contempt of court terms to their maximum 30-year sentences. The other FALN defendants received lesser penalties. All were sentenced to three years for conspiracy to commit armed robbery and five years for possessing a sawed-off shotgun. The eight-year sentences meant that each of the defendants would be eligible for parole in four years.