Puerto Rican Leader of Separatist Group Guilty in Escape Plot
CHICAGO — The leader of the Puerto Rican independence group FALN and three sympathizers have been found guilty of plotting to spring him from a federal prison in Kansas by using explosives and a helicopter.
The jury returned the verdicts against Oscar Lopez-Rivera and three others Thursday after 15 hours of deliberations that followed a 10-week trial before U.S. District Judge William Hart, who set sentencing for Feb. 26.
FALN, which is a Spanish acronym for Armed Forces for National Liberation, seeks independence and a socialist government for the island commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
The group has been linked to more than 100 bombings or planned bombings since 1974 in Chicago, New York and elsewhere. Authorities say at least six people have died and 100 more have been injured in FALN violence in the United States.
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