Hijacker of Delta jet captured 40 years later

Incredibly, a U.S. government fugitive task force that had been searching the last nine years for a 1970s militant who hijacked a Delta Air Lines flight, found their man in late September in Portugal almost 40 years after the incident which caught worldwide attention. George Wright hijacked the flight from Detroit to Boston two years after escaping from a prison in New Jersey. Wright had been serving a 15-to-30 year murder sentence and was eight years into his jail time when he escaped. At the time of the hijacking he was dressed as a priest and was traveling under an alias.

Delta flight 841 was a four-engine DC-8 aircraft with long range capability. The hijackers took control of the aircraft on July 31, 1972 by smuggling weapons aboard including a handgun hidden in a carved out Bible. No one was killed during the hijacking, and the aircraft and ransom were returned to the U.S. by the Algerian authorities.

According to the FBI, Wright became involved with the Black Liberation Army, an illegal underground militant group and lived in a "communal family" with other BLA members in Detroit.

In 1972 he and several other members of his communal group hijacked the Delta jet and, after receiving a $1 million ransom, released the 86 passengers and forced the pilots to fly the aircraft to Boston. At that point a flight navigator with international experience came aboard the flight as it continued to Algeria in Africa. The socialist Algerian government at the time was sympathetic to the hijackers' cause and allowed them entree into the country.

However, the Algerian President refused their request for asylum and seized the ransom money. The group worked through various channels and made their way to France.

Wright's co-conspirators were arrested and convicted in Paris in 1976 but the French Government would not extradite them to the U.S. Wright was never caught and remained at-large.

When the New York-New Jersey Fugitive Task Force was created in 2002, the Delta hijacking case became a high priority to resolve. Using Portugal's national identification registry, the U.S. Marshals Service was able to confirm a fingerprint match for Wright and quickly moved in with the assistance of Portuguese authorities. After staking out his home in a town outside of Lisbon, local police took Wright into custody. U.S. Justice Department officials hope to have him returned to the United States as soon as possible.

VIDEO:

SYNONYMS:

- military unit with specific mission: task force (cuerpo especial)

- spend time in prison: serving a sentence (cumplir condena)

- prison: jail (prisión, cárcel)

- seizing of a plane: hijacking (secuestro)

- reverend, father, man of God: priest (sacerdote, padre, cura)

- stealigng, clandestine importation: smuggling (contrabando)

- out of sight, unseen: hidden (escondido, oculto)

- sculpt: carve out (esculpir, forjar)

- payment, rescue: ransom (rescate)

- unlawful: illegal ( ilegal)

- set free: released (liberar)

- reject, deny: refuse (rechazar, negar)

- haven, refuge: request for asylum (solicitar refugio)

- take by force: seize (tomar por la fuerza, agarrar, coger)

- condemn: convict (condenar)

- bring to justice: extradite (extraditar, deportar, entregar) 

- continue to be free: remained at large (seguir en libertad, permanecer libre)

- superiority, preference, precedence: high priority (alta prioridad)

- record: registry (registro)

- mark left by a finger: fingerprint match (huella dactilar)

- support, aid, attendance: assistance (socorro, ayuda, asistencia)

- keep under surveillance: stake out (mantener bajo vigilancia)

- care, keeping, safekeeping: custody (detención)

SUMMARY:

A fugitive of the 70’s who hijacked the flight from Detroit to Boston with his communal group (Black Liberation Army) on July 31 of 1972 has been arrested 40 years later. Before hijacked the plane, George Wright, the fugitive, served a 15-30 year murder sentence, but then he escaped and he just complete 8 years into the prison. Then, dressed as a reverend and with an alias, he and his group hijacked the aircraft. The flight carried on up to Algeria, there it President didn’t allow them to rest in that country, so the criminals flight to France and there the co-conspirators were arrested but Wright wasn’t, the hijacking finished without any dead. New York-New Jersey Fugitive Task Force (created in 2002) found George Wright in Portugal because of a fingerprint of him. 

Maria Pereira and Laura Torres, 2n Batx. C