TRAil of A TERRoRisT - Point Park University
TRAil of A TERRoRisT - Point Park University TRAil of A TERRoRisT - Point Park University
New YorkPhotograph by Karen MeyersRevisitingthe Trail of aTerroristBy Kelli McElhinnyMarch 1973, a Palestinian terrorist group hatchedIn a plot to detonate car bombs outside of two Israelibank branch locations in Manhattan and at the El-Al airlineterminal at Kennedy International Airport in New York.Their plan fizzled, however, when faulty wiring thwarted theexplosions.Flyers retrieved from one of the cars implicated BlackSeptember, a group that also was responsible for the murderof Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics, in the attack.The Federal Bureau of Investigation issued a warrant for aBlack September member known as Khalid Duhham al-Jawarishortly after the attack, but he became a fugitive and noperpetrators were taken into custody at the time.The case remained dormant until 1988, when a youngFBI agent who had been recently promoted to the New YorkPolice Department-FBI joint terrorism task force found its20 volumes of files on his desk one morning. That agent wasMichael Finnegan.“I honestly don’t think [the supervisor] assigned methe case to find him. I think he did it to make my lifeuncomfortable,” said Finnegan, who is now an assistantprofessor in the School of Arts and Sciences Department ofCriminal Justice and Intelligence Studies.Finnegan was up to the challenge. After re-interviewingsome 300 people who were originally questioned in thedays and weeks immediately following the plotted attack, he14 www.pointpark.edu
ItalyGermanyCyprusIraqconstructed a 30-page personality profile on the suspect. Healso had colleagues in Washington alter the driver’s licensephoto from the rental car company’s files to reflect thesuspect’s appearance after 15 years.His efforts paid off in late 1990 when his review ofthe evidence and a strong network of contacts led himto a Cyprus-based official of the Palestine LiberationOrganization. Unfortunately, the suspect got wind that theFBI was on his trail and fled to Baghdad.The suspect stayed under the radar until the followingyear, when he surfaced in Rome. Finnegan had issued aprovisional warrant for Al-Jawari’s arrest in Italy, amongother countries, so Italian authorities detained him.After an extradition process that dragged on for 18months, much longer than the typical 30- to 90-day window,Finnegan flew to Italy himself in order to make sure that thehandoff didn’t get botched.“That was an unreal experience,” Finnegan said of theharrowing trip. “Switzerland banned us from their airspaceon the way back, and other countries wouldn’t let us land, sowe had to refuel in midair.“They missed on the first try, but, fortunately, it workedthe second time.”Incidentally, the United States might have missed amuch earlier opportunity to take Al-Jawari into custody.The suspect, who has also been referred to in publishedaccounts as Khaled Mohammed El-Jassem, had previouslybeen arrested in 1978 in Germany but released by Germanauthorities shortly thereafter, although he was found withover 100 pounds of plastic explosives, detonators and eightforms of photo identification under different names.“To this day, I still don’t know what his true identity is,”said Finnegan, who continues to refer to the man as Al-Jawari.Upon Al-Jawari’s arrival in the United States, he wascharged with three counts of attempted bombing, with eachcount carrying a 10-year sentence. Delays and continuancesrequested by Al-Jawari’s legal team pushed his trial backuntil March 1993, just days after the first bombing of theWorld Trade Center. At trial, prosecutors produced all threeintact explosive devices recovered in 1973 as well as Al-Jawari’s 1973 international driver’s liscense which he usedto rent the three vehicles used to plant the bombs. However,only one piece of evidence directly tied Al-Jawari to theactual devices—a lone fingerprint lifted from a propanetank attached to a bomb inside one of the rental cars—Al-www.pointpark.edu 15
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ItalyGermanyCyprusIraqconstructed a 30-page personality pr<strong>of</strong>ile on the suspect. Healso had colleagues in Washington alter the driver’s licensephoto from the rental car company’s files to reflect thesuspect’s appearance after 15 years.His efforts paid <strong>of</strong>f in late 1990 when his review <strong>of</strong>the evidence and a strong network <strong>of</strong> contacts led himto a Cyprus-based <strong>of</strong>ficial <strong>of</strong> the Palestine LiberationOrganization. Unfortunately, the suspect got wind that theFBI was on his trail and fled to Baghdad.The suspect stayed under the radar until the followingyear, when he surfaced in Rome. Finnegan had issued aprovisional warrant for Al-Jawari’s arrest in Italy, amongother countries, so Italian authorities detained him.After an extradition process that dragged on for 18months, much longer than the typical 30- to 90-day window,Finnegan flew to Italy himself in order to make sure that thehand<strong>of</strong>f didn’t get botched.“That was an unreal experience,” Finnegan said <strong>of</strong> theharrowing trip. “Switzerland banned us from their airspaceon the way back, and other countries wouldn’t let us land, sowe had to refuel in midair.“They missed on the first try, but, fortunately, it workedthe second time.”Incidentally, the United States might have missed amuch earlier opportunity to take Al-Jawari into custody.The suspect, who has also been referred to in publishedaccounts as Khaled Mohammed El-Jassem, had previouslybeen arrested in 1978 in Germany but released by Germanauthorities shortly thereafter, although he was found withover 100 pounds <strong>of</strong> plastic explosives, detonators and eightforms <strong>of</strong> photo identification under different names.“To this day, I still don’t know what his true identity is,”said Finnegan, who continues to refer to the man as Al-Jawari.Upon Al-Jawari’s arrival in the United States, he wascharged with three counts <strong>of</strong> attempted bombing, with eachcount carrying a 10-year sentence. Delays and continuancesrequested by Al-Jawari’s legal team pushed his trial backuntil March 1993, just days after the first bombing <strong>of</strong> theWorld Trade Center. At trial, prosecutors produced all threeintact explosive devices recovered in 1973 as well as Al-Jawari’s 1973 international driver’s liscense which he usedto rent the three vehicles used to plant the bombs. However,only one piece <strong>of</strong> evidence directly tied Al-Jawari to theactual devices—a lone fingerprint lifted from a propanetank attached to a bomb inside one <strong>of</strong> the rental cars—Al-www.pointpark.edu 15
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