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.

FMI: www.doj.gov, www.usmarshals.gov/investigations/taskfrcs/rftfs/ny-nj/nynjrftf.htm