Joe Connor, whose father was killed in the 1975 bombing of New York City's Fraunces Tavern by the Puerto Rican nationalist group FALN, is outraged that new City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito has called for the release of jailed FALN leader Oscar Lopez Rivera.
"This is [what] . . . the second-highest-level person in our city government is advocating for? Don't you think there could be better people that she might care about?" Connor told "The Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax TV.
"He is a sworn terrorist and unrepentant," Connor said Tuesday.
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The FALN — the Armed Forces of Puerto Rican National Liberation — claimed responsibility for the horrifying blast that killed four people, including Frank O'Connor, and injured at least 50 others — although no one has been prosecuted for it.
Rivera is serving 70 years behind bars for seditious conspiracy, use of force to commit robbery, and other crimes not related to the tavern bombing. He was offered conditional clemency by President Bill Clinton in 1999, but rejected it.
Connor, an author and businessman, told Malzberg that in 2010, Mark-Viverito petitioned her colleagues on the city council to sign a petition to release Rivera.
"[He] was a member of the FALN who blew up 130 to 150 bombs in the U.S.," Connor said.
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