In The United States

Introduction I The Year in Review II Terrorism in the United States Arizona California Illinois Michigan Minnesota Nevada New York Oklahoma IV Current Threat V Current Trends in the United States Appendix One: Terrorism in the United States Statistics Appendix Two: FBI Counterterrorism Responsibilities

The following section describes terrorist-related events which occurred in the United States in 1995. These events included law enforcement actions and U.S. criminal court proceedings. Arizona Irish Terrorists Convicted On April 12, 1995, Michael "Mixie" Martin, a supporter of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA), pled guilty to one count of violating Title 18, United States Code, Section 371, Conspiracy to Obtain Munitions and Weapons. Martin and two other PIRA supporters, Kevin McKinley and Seamus Moley, had conspired to purchase 2,900 detonators in Tucson in 1989 and a stinger missile in Florida in 1990. Martin was sentenced to 16 months incarceration and was deported in 1996. On June 30, 1995, McKinley and Moley were sentenced to 19 months imprisonment for violation of Title 18, United States Code 33, Placing Explosives on a Motor Vehicle, and Title 18, United States Code 957, Possession of Property and Aid of a Foreign Government. They were deported in 1996. Passenger Train Derailed On October 9, 1995, a 12-car Amtrak train --the westbound Sunset Limited traveling from New Orleans to Los Angeles--derailed near Hyder, Arizona. The crash killed 1 person and seriously injured 12 others. Approximately 100 additional persons received minor injuries. On October 9, 1995, the Sunset Limited derailed near Hyder, Arizona. The crash killed one person and seriously injured 12 others.     FBI Agents, Amtrak officials, and Southern Pacific Railroad personnel went to the site of the incident. Investigation determined that a person or persons had deliberately tampered with the tracks, causing the train to derail. Investigators also found four typed letters. These letters mentioned the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, the FBI, "Ruby Ridge," and "Waco." They were signed "Sons of the Gestapo." Although a claim of responsibility was received, it is unclear whether the derailment was criminal sabotage or an act of terrorism. This suspected act of terrorism remains under FBI investigation. California Mexican Extremist Convicted On March 11, 1995, an individual placed the first of several threatening telephone calls to the First Data Corporation in Lakewood, California. The caller demanded that the president of the First Data Corporation send a letter by facsimile to Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo urging him to withdraw troops from the Mexican state of Chiapas.

The caller expressed detailed knowledge of the floor plan of the First Data Corporation's headquarters complex. He threatened to bomb the complex and U.S. Customs Service and Immigration and Naturalization Service offices in Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas, if his demands were not met. The FBI identified the caller as Benjamin Ruiz Valencia, also known as Samuel Orozco, an illegal Mexican immigrant residing in Fresno, California. Valencia was arrested and charged with making interstate threats by telephone. Valencia claimed that he made the calls because he believed that the Mexican Army was "suppressing" native peoples in Chiapas and Oaxaca, Mexico. Valencia also indicated he supported the goals of a Mexican insurgent group called the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN). On April 3, 1995, Valencia pled guilty in a California federal court. He was ordered deported from the United States on June 27, 1995. Irish Terrorist To Be Extradited On July 27, 1995, a U.S. Court of Appeals in California reversed a 1994 decision by a lower California court which barred the extradition of PIRA member James Joseph Smyth from the United States to the United Kingdom. The court also denied Smyth's petition for a rehearing. Based on the Appeals Court ruling, Smyth is now eligible for extradition. On December 18, 1978, Smyth was convicted and imprisoned by a British court in connection with activities in support of PIRA, including attempted murder. He and 39 others escaped from Her Majesty's Prison Maze in Northern Ireland in 1983. Smyth fled to the United States where he was arrested on June 3, 1992, by FBI Agents from the San Francisco Division. The British Government requested his extradition shortly afterwards.

Illinois

Libyan Mercenary Apprehended

On March 9, 1995, Top Ten Fugitive Melvin Edward Mays, a member of the Chicago El Rukns street gang, was arrested by members of the FBI's Chicago Joint Terrorism Task Force. He was charged with over 40 federal counts related to a conspiracy to conduct terrorist activities on behalf of the Government of Libya.

During the mid-1980s, U.S. law enforcement indicted and convicted several other members of the El Rukns street gang for conspiring to commit terrorist acts on behalf of Libya. As part of the conspiracy, Mays purchased an inert light anti-tank weapon from an undercover FBI Agent.

Mays eluded authorities during an attempted arrest in 1986. He was placed on the FBI's Top Ten Most Wanted List on February 7, 1989.

On March 9, 1995, the FBI's Chicago Joint Terrorism Task Force arrested Top Ten Fugitive Melvin Edward Mays for allegedly conspiring to conduct terrorist activities on behalf of Libya.

The convictions of the El Rukns gang members marked the first instance in U.S. history that American citizens had been found guilty of planning terrorists acts on behalf of a foreign government in return for money. Domestic Extremists Convicted On December 6, 1994, Claude Daniel Marks and Donna Jean Willmott--both Top Ten Fugitives and supporters of the Prairie Fire Organizing Committee and the Armed Forces for National Liberation (FALN)--surrendered to U.S. authorities. On May 9, 1995, Marks and Willmott pled guilty to charges of conspiracy to violate laws prohibiting prison escape and other related criminal activities in federal court in the Northern District of Illinois. In 1985, Marks and Willmott purchased over 36 pounds of plastic explosives from an undercover FBI Agent in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. They intended to use the explosives in a plot to help FALN leader Oscar Lopez escape from a U.S. penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas. The Prairie Fire Organizing Committee was founded 1974 as a front for the extremist Weather Underground Organization. The FALN is a clandestine Puerto Rican terrorist group based in the continental United States. Since 1974, the FALN has been linked to over 130 bombings which have resulted in over $3.5 million in damages, 5 deaths, and 84 injuries. Prairie Fire and the FALN share similar extreme leftist ideologies. Until their surrender, Marks and Willmott spent nearly 10 years in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They lived a clandestine life using false identification under the aliases William Gregory Peters and Joanne Elliott.

Michigan

Animal Rights Extremist Convicted

On July 3, 1995, Rodney Coronado, a member of the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), pled guilty to arson charges relating to a fire he started on February 2, 1992, at the Mink Research Facility at Michigan State University. Coronado was sentenced to 57 months incarceration, 3 years probation, and restitution of over $2 million. ALF is a militant animal rights protest group founded in England in 1976. The group violently opposes the use of animals in medical and scientific research. ALF members are responsible for numerous criminal acts in Europe. The first known instance of ALF terrorism in the United States occurred at the University of Maryland in 1982.

On July 3, 1995, Rodney Coronado, member of the extremist Animal Liberation Front, Pled guilty to arson charges relating to a 1992 fire at the Mink Research Facility in Michigan.

Minnesota Domestic Extremists Convicted On February 28, 1995, the FBI concluded a terrorism prevention when a Minneapolis jury convicted Douglas Allen Baker and Leroy Charles Wheeler of violating the Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act (BWAT) of 1989. The two subjects manufactured and intended to use ricin, a highly toxic biological substance made from castor beans. On October 25, 1995, Richard John Oelrich and Dennis Brett Henderson--both identified as conspirators in the plot--were convicted of identical BWAT charges. The Patriot's Council is a small anti-government, tax protest group based in the Alexandria, Minnesota, area. Members of the Patriot's Council advocate the violent overthrow of the U.S. Government and the establishment of a new "truly constitutional" regime. In April 1991, Baker, Wheeler, Oelrich, and Henderson planned to kill a Deputy U.S. Marshal and a Sheriff who previously served papers on a Patriots Council associate. They manufactured the ricin to use as a weapon. The amount of biological agent they eventually produced could have killed over 100 people if effectively delivered. This case was the first investigation brought to trial and successfully prosecuted under the BWAT statute. Nevada Reno Bombing Attempt On December 18, 1995, an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) employee discovered a 30-gallon plastic drum packed with 100 pounds of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil. The drum had been placed behind a vehicle in the parking lot of the IRS building in Reno, Nevada. On December 28, 1995, the U.S. District Court in Reno charged Joseph Martin Bailie and Ellis Edward Hurst with planting the bomb at the IRS facility. The two men are accused of trying to detonate the device the previous evening when the building was empty. A three-foot fuse had apparently been ignited but went out prior to reaching the explosive.

New York

Ramzi Ahmed Yousef Apprehended On February 7, 1995, FBI Agents and State Department Diplomatic Security Officers apprehended Top Ten Fugitive Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, also known as Abdul Basit Mahmoud Abdul Karim, in Islamabad, Pakistan. Officials transported Yousef to the United States the following day where he was arraigned in the Southern District of New York on charges relating to his alleged involvement in the February 26, 1993, World Trade Center bombing. On April 12, 1995, Yousef was also indicted for conspiring to bomb Philippine Airlines Flight 434 on December 11, 1994, and to bomb several other U.S. air carriers transiting the Far East. Yousef's trial began on May 13, 1996. On September 5, 1996, he and two associates were convicted of plotting to bomb U.S. airliners in the Far East. Yousef's trial for his alleged role in the World Trade Center bombing is expected to begin in early 1997. On February 7, 1995, U.S. law enforcement apprehended Top Ten Fugitive Ramzi Ahmed Yousef in Pakistan.

Ramzi Yousef Associate Apprehended On April 22, 1995, FBI Agents took custody of Abdul Hakim Murad from Philippine authorities. Philippine police arrested Murad after a fire broke in a Manila apartment in which Murad, Ramzi Yousef, and another associate were living. Inside the apartment, Philippine officials found explosives and bomb making materials. Murad was returned to the United States and arraigned in the Southern District of New York. He, along with Ramzi Yousef and Wali Khan Amin Shah, was charged with conspiring to bomb U.S. civil aircraft transiting the Far East. On September 5, 1996, Murad was convicted of plotting to bomb the U.S. airliners. He will be sentenced in December 1996. HAMAS Supporter Detained On July 25, 1995, Musa Abu Marzook--the self-proclaimed chief of the Political Bureau of a Palestinian terrorist group called the Islamic Resistance Movement (HAMAS)--was detained at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport by Immigration and Naturalization Service Agents. Marzook tripped a watchlist while attempting to enter the United States after being expelled from Jordan. On July 30, 1995, the Israeli Government formally notified the United States that it would seek Marzook's extradition to face criminal charges of terrorism and conspiracy to commit murder. On August 8, 1995, FBI Agents, acting on a warrant from an Israeli court, arrested Marzook pending a formal extradition hearing. The Political Bureau of HAMAS is believed to be the organization's highest decision-making body. Marzook has admitted to involvement in HAMAS humanitarian activities, but denies participation in the organization's terrorist acts. On May 8, 1996, a federal judge in New York determined that Marzook was eligible for extradition to Israel. HAMAS and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad have publicly threatened to retaliate if Marzook is extradited to Israel. World Trade Center Suspect Apprehended On August 2, 1995, Jordanian authorities rendered Eyad Ismoil Najim, a 24-year-old Palestinian, to FBI custody. On August 3, 1995, Najim was arraigned in the Southern District of New York and charged with bombing and conspiracy violations in connection with the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. He has pled not-guilty to charges related to the World Trade Center attack.

On October 1, 1995, Egyptian Shaykh Abdel Rahman (left) was convicted of seditious conspiracy in a 1993 New York terrorism plot. El Sayyid Nosair (right) was convicted of the 1990 murder of militant Rabbi Meir Kahane.

New York City Terrorists Convicted On January 9, 1995, jury selection began for the trial of Egyptian Shaykh Omar Abdel Rahman and nine other defendants. These subjects were charged with seditious conspiracy and other crimes in a June 1993 plot to bomb major landmarks in New York City and assassinate prominent politicians and foreign leaders. The seditious conspiracy charge included the February 1993 World Trade Center bombing.  On October 1, 1995, a New York jury reached guilty verdicts on 48 of 50 charges. Shaykh Abdel Rahman was convicted of seditious conspiracy, solicitation to murder Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, conspiracy to murder President Mubarak, solicitation to attack a U.S. military installation, and conspiracy to conduct bombings. One defendant, El Sayyid Nosair, was convicted of the November 5, 1990, murder of militant Jewish leader Rabbi Meir Kahane.

In the only acquittals, subjects Ibrahim Elgabrowney and El Sayyid Nosair were found not guilty of the June 1993 plot to bomb New York City landmarks. However, they were found guilty of the broader seditious conspiracy charge. Considering the potential lethality of the plot, this case represents the most significant terrorism prevention inside the United States in recent history. Ramzi Yousef Associate Apprehended On December 12, 1995, the FBI arrested Wali Khan Amin Shah overseas and returned him to the United States for his suspected participation in the bombing of Philippine Air Line Flight 434 on December 12, 1994, and a January 1995 conspiracy with Ramzi Ahmed Yousef and Abdul Hakim Murad to bomb U.S. air carriers transiting the Far East. On December 13, 1995, Shah was indicted in the Southern District of New York, on six counts relating to this case. On September 5, 1996, a New York jury found Shah guilty. He will be sentenced in December 1996. Oklahoma Oklahoma City Bombing At approximately 9:02 a.m., on April 19, 1995, an improvised explosive device placed in a rented truck destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. The blast killed 168 people and wounded hundreds of others. Property damage was assessed in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The FBI classified this incident as a known act of terrorism. On April 19, Timothy James McVeigh was arrested in Oklahoma for vehicle and weapons violations. On April 21, 1995, McVeigh was charged with violating Title 18, U.S. Code, Section 844 {f} and 2, Maliciously Damaging and Destroying a Building by Means of Explosives. On May 11, 1995, Terry Lynn Nichols was charged with the same violation. On August 10, 1995, a federal grand jury in the Western District of Oklahoma returned an indictment charging McVeigh and Nichols with the bombing and the homicides of several law enforcement officers who were inside the building. The indictment identified McVeigh and Nichols as co-conspirators and charged them with one count of Conspiracy to Use a Weapon of Mass Destruction to Kill Persons and to Destroy Federal Property, one count of Using a Weapon of Mass Destruction to Kill Persons, one count of Malicious Destruction of Federal Property, and eight counts of First Degree Murder. Following a petition by defense attorneys, on December 4, 1995, the U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver appointed Colorado U.S. District Judge Richard P. Matsch to hear this matter. Although the venue moved to Denver, a trial date has not been set. If convicted, McVeigh and Nichols could face the death penalty. Domestic Extremists Arrested On November 11, 1995, FBI Agents prevented a potential act of terrorism by arresting Ray Willie Lampley, Cecilia Lampley, and John Dare Baird in Vernon, Oklahoma. Lampley, who has described himself as a "prophet of the most high," is a militia leader with strong anti-government views. He advocates stockpiling homemade bombs and other weapons to fight a "foreign invasion." Lampley has also written to public figures, prophesying their deaths as divine retribution for "corrupt actions." On November 11, FBI Agents executed a search warrant on Lampley's residence. During the search, officials found and seized components necessary to manufacture an ammonium nitrate explosive and a homemade detonating device. Lampley and his associates were considering using this device to attack civil rights offices, abortion clinics, and federal agencies. Lampley, his wife Cecilia, and Baird were arrested at the scene without incident. Larry Wayne Crow, another subject in the investigation, turned himself in to U.S. Marshals in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on November 14, 1995. The Lampleys, Baird, and Crow were charged with one count of Conspiring to Build and Possess a Destructive Device in violation of Title 18, U.S. Code, Section 371; Title 26, U.S. Code, Section 5822. They were convicted in U.S. court on April 24, 1996.