Terror Suspects Linked to Huge Robbery Seized

WASHINGTON —  An army of 200 FBI agents swept down on Puerto Rico Friday and arrested at least 12 members of a suspected left-wing nationalist terrorist group in connection with one of the largest cash robberies in U.S. history, a $7-million Wells Fargo heist in 1983.

But FBI Director William H. Webster said that the suspected ringleader of the robbery, one of the 10 most wanted men in America, had escaped and been given sanctuary in Cuba. Webster charged that a “substantial portion of the money is in the care and custody of the Cuban government” and that one of the terrorist suspects had been trained in Cuba.

“Cuba’s aggressive support of terrorism has not gone unnoticed,” the FBI said in a statement issued in Washington.

One Los Angeles-based FBI agent was wounded in the eye by a shard of flying metal when a terrorist suspect fired 30 rounds from a machine gun. The machine gun was then shot from the hands of the terrorist by an expert from the FBI’s highly trained hostage rescue team, Webster said. The wounded agent’s condition and identity were withheld.

After searching 30 sites in Puerto Rico, the FBI said that four terrorist suspects were still at large late Friday, including the alleged ringleader, Victor Manuel Gerena in Cuba. One woman was taken into custody in Boston on related charges, but she was not accused of being part of the outlaw organization.

The terrorist group, called Macheteros, or “machete wielders,” has been linked to the deaths of two U.S. sailors and three other persons in a string of attacks in recent years on government facilities and property in Puerto Rico, including the ambush of a Navy bus and the blowing up of nine National Guard jet fighters.

Linked to Terror Incidents

In total, the FBI said, the group was responsible for six of the 16 significant terrorist incidents that occurred in the United States in the last two years.

Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III said the crackdown signals terrorists “that our response to their cowardly acts of violence will be decisive.”

An eight-count indictment by a federal grand jury in Connecticut charged 17 persons with crimes ranging from robbery to racketeering to interstate transportation of stolen goods. Of those charged, 12 were arrested in Puerto Rico Friday. A 13th person taken into custody there was the wife of an alleged terrorist, and she was accused of assaulting a federal officer.

Financing Terrorism

The indictment did not directly connect the terrorist suspects to attacks on U.S. facilities but said the stolen money was to be used to finance terrorist activities.

“The indictment is based primarily on the bank robbery, but it also alleges conspiracies which included the terrorists’ incidents . . . and for which they can be separately convicted and punished,” Webster said at a news conference in Los Angeles.

He said those arrested in the sweep across the island were important leaders of the Macheteros.

“I don’t think we have by any means arrested sympathizers here,” Webster said. “We have focused on those who, according to the grand jury indictment, participated both in the robbery and the conspiracies in which the other terrorist activities were involved.”

Huge Robbery

The Sept. 12, 1983, robbery at a Wells Fargo depot in West Hartford, Conn., involved $7,007,151.98 in cash. It has been widely reported as second only to an $11-million theft from an armored car company in the Bronx in 1982, but the FBI would say only that the Wells Fargo take was one of the top 10 in U.S. history.

Gerena, 27, a native of the Bronx, was a security guard at the Wells Fargo depot. Two co-workers were bound at gunpoint as Gerena allegedly made off with the cash.

The indictment said that Gerena and an unknown amount of the money were transported by the other terrorists to Mexico two weeks later. At some unknown time, the cash and Gerena were taken to Cuba, the indictment said. Gerena was placed on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list last year.

Agents Hidden

Webster--who was in Los Angeles to address a gathering of former FBI agents--said that his 200 special agents, including the 50-member hostage rescue team, were sent to Puerto Rico a week in advance of the sweep and kept “very carefully” hidden.

Puerto Rico, a territorial commonwealth of the United States, has been deeply divided for years among activists who want full statehood, those who demand independence and others who prefer the current governmental relationship with the United States.

The FBI identified the Macheteros as a “primary” terrorist organization seeking independence for the island. The indictment charged also that the group was seeking “the establishment of a socialist-communist form of government in Puerto Rico.”

John Balzar reported from Washington and Peter H. King from Los Angeles.