On May 2, 1973, New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster stopped a vehicle on the New Jersey Turnpike for a broken taillight.
Inside were three armed members of the radical Black Liberation Army.
Soon after, a gunfight broke out, resulting in Officer Foerster being shot four times and losing his life. As years pass, the demand for justice in the officer’s brutal killing continues to grow.
Joanne Chesimard, one of the individuals involved, has been evading capture. She broke out of a New Jersey prison in 1979 and has since been residing freely in Cuba.
“She should be serving a life sentence,” says the current head of the state police, New Jersey State Police Superintendent Colonel Patrick J. Callahan
Frank Connor was killed in the FALN bombing of Manhattan’s Fraunces Tavern in 1975. Courtesy Joe Connor. (Joe Connor)
The bill is also named for another victim, Frank Connor. In 1975, Connor, a New York City banker, was having lunch in the historic Fraunces Tavern when a bomb exploded, killing him and three others, and wounding more than 50 people. The device had been planted by the Puerto Rican terrorist group “Armed Forces for National Liberation” (FALN), which was responsible for a wave of terrorist bombings in New York City in the 1970s.
The FALN’s chief bombmaker, Willie Morales, also escaped a U.S. prison to find safety in Fidel Castro’s Cuba.
“We have convicted terrorists who we do have the power to get back,” says Connor’s son, Joe, who has been in the forefront of the push to return the fugitives. He says President Trump can achieve that.
“Trump absolutely can use economic power,” he says. “We have these convicted terrorists 90 miles from home, we have the economic leverage on Cuba to bring them back. Cut the deal, bring these guys back, and then we will talk about how we are going to assist Cuba in the future.”
Four people were killed, and more than 50 were injured, after a bomb exploded in Fraunces Tavern, in New York City. The FALN, a Puerto Rican nationalist group, claimed responsibility. (New York Daily News via Getty Images)
“It would really mean something, that there is justice for my dad.”
In January, Secretary of State Rubio honored Connor and the other Fraunces Tavern victims on the anniversary of the FALN attack.
“We must also recommit ourselves to demanding that wanted U.S. fugitives under the Cuban regime’s protection be brought to justice. We owe the victims and the American people our unwavering commitment to holding the Cuban regime accountable.”
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy marked the anniversary of Foerster’s murder by saying, “As we honor his memory, our commitment to justice has never wavered. More than half a century later, we continue to pursue his murderer’s repatriation to New Jersey to face the consequences of her actions.”
Colonel Callahan notes that in its 104-year history, the state police force has lost 78 troopers in the line of duty, but that Foerster’s death and Chesimard’s freedom remain “an open wound.”
“There’s not a day that goes by that I’m not trying to do something about bringing her back here,” he says.
Fox News Producer Maria Paronich contributed to this story.
