Survivors, kin of victims of Fraunces Tavern bombing by FALN in 1975 still seeking justice

Leonard Greene, Colin Mixson and Rocco Parascandola, New York Daily News on Jan 24, 2025

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NEW YORK — Fifty years after Puerto Rican terrorist group FALN bombed the historic watering hole Fraunces Tavern in Manhattan’s Financial District, a son of one of the four victims killed in the deadly attack is still seeking justice.

Joseph Connor is urging the new Trump administration to put pressure on the Cuban government to release the suspected bomber accused of planting the explosive that killed four people in 1975, including Connor’s father, Frank.

Connor, survivors and law enforcement officials are specifically seeking the extradition of FALN member William “Guillermo” Morales, who has been given political asylum in Cuba.

“It’s exhausting and I’m getting old for this but I want to find justice,” Connor, 59, told the Daily News on Thursday.

“It’s at the point now where I have less animosity toward the terrorists than the politicians, who used my father’s life for political gain. The terrorists didn’t promise me anything. The politicians did. They said they were going to fight for this, but they were just using my father for political gain.”

Connor joined survivors and law enforcement officials at the tavern on Friday to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the attack during which the Puerto Rican nationalist group Fuerzas Armadas de Liberacion Nacional, or FALN, bombed the historic tavern.

The video player is currently playing an ad. Though no one was ever charged in the attack, FALN, which planted more than 100 bombs in New York City and Chicago during the 1970s and ’80s, proudly claimed responsibility.

The victims included Frank Conner, 33, a banker; Harold Sherburne, 66, a businessman; James Gezork, 32, an executive visiting from Wilmington, Del.; and Alejandro Berger, 28, a chemical company executive from Philadelphia.

The lunchtime blast also injured about 50 people. Some of the survivors lost legs, fingers, and eyes.

The bomb exploded at 1:29 p.m. as scores of patrons were enjoying lunch in the tavern and the club on the floor above it.

Young Joseph Connor had celebrated his ninth birthday just three days before the bombing. He said he was playing outside with his friends when his mother called him in to deliver the crushing news.

“We just got home from school,” Connor said. “We went outside to play. The bombing had already happened, but news didn’t travel as quickly then. My mom called my father at work and someone picked up. She thought it was my father but it was someone else.

“We knew there was an explosion but we didn’t know if he was alive or dead. I remember thinking he was under the rubble and hoping a firefighter was going to rescue him.”

Officials said the tavern was likely targeted because of its proximity to Wall Street and because of its colonial past which dates back to the days of George Washington. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

“We mark this date to remind ourselves from New York City, terrorism did not begin on Sept. 11, 2001,” said NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch.

“The Fraunces Tavern attack was one of the most violent acts of domestic terrorism in our city’s history and it was part of a wave of extremist attacks that struck the nation throughout the ’70s and the ’80s. Choosing Fraunces Tavern is no coincidence either. Its deep roots in American history date back to George Washington at the end of the Revolutionary War, and these terrorists knew their heinous act would get even more attention because of this.”

Tisch and other law enforcement leaders also denounced Cuba for harboring other wanted fugitives, like the ones suspected in the 1973 shooting of a New Jersey trooper who was gunned down with his own service weapon by members of the Black Liberation Army. Two other suspects were convicted of the murder, but a female suspect escaped custody in 1979 and fled to Cuba.

“Our New Jersey State Trooper family has lived a 52-year nightmare after the assassination of Trooper Werner Foerster on the New Jersey Turnpike,” said Wayne Blanchard, head of the New Jersey State Troopers Association.

”We stand here united with our colleagues in law enforcement and the Connor family to bring these domestic terrorists to justice.”