Thu, Sep 29, 2011
George Wright Had Escaped From Prison, Hijacked An Airplane,
Sought Asylum In Algeria
Authorities have arrested a man described as a "1970s militant"
who had hijacked of an airliner in 1972 after escaping from prison.
He had apparently been living quietly in a small town in Portugal
near a beach with a Portuguese wife and two children, now in their
20s.
George Wright was taken into custody Monday at the request of
the U.S. Government. He used the alias of Jose Louis Jorge dos
Santos, and was known around the village as Jorge or George.
Wright had been convicted in 1962 for the murder of a decorated
WWII veteran who owned a gas station in Wall, NJ. He was sentenced
to 15-30 years for killing the man during a robbery, but eight
years into his term, he managed to escape from the Bayside State
Prison farm in Leesburg, NJ, on August 19th, 1970. He became
associated with the Black Liberation Army in Detroit, and in 1972,
he and four others hijacked a Delta Airlines flight enroute to
Miami. He was disguised as a priest and using an alias. His
companion and 2-year-old daughter were also on the plane.
A report from the Associated Press indicates that the five
hijackers had the plane flown to Boston, where a $1 million ransom
was paid. They later continued on to Algeria, where the hijackers
sought asylum. The request was denied, and the plane and the money
were returned to the U.S., but not the hijackers.
The case remained among the top priorities when the New York-New
Jersey Fugitive Task Force was formed in 2002. Fast forward to the
present, when a fingerprint on a Portuguese ID card became the clue
that led the task force to Wright. He is being detained in Lisbon
by Portuguese authorities. A Justice Department spokeswoman said
extradition is being sought on the murder conviction. She said he
would serve out the remainder of the original sentence if returned
to the U.S.
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