August 21, 1975

By Nicholas Lackeos

Terrorist bombings in Miami have more than doubled in the past 10 months, and police have yet to solve any of them.

The fire bombing yesterday of two Cuban pharmacies that send medical supplies to Cuba were the latest ones.

During that same period, nearly three times the number of bombs were discovered before exploding and were safely diffused.

Police say only two arrests were made the previous year, and that was only after a bomb blew up in the bombers' hands.

Metro Lt. Marshall Frank, head of the crime scene section, said 24 bombs exploded and 15 others were disarmed from October, 1974, through July this year.

In the same 1973-74 period, he said, 14 bombs exploded and six were disarmed. Bomb threats rose correspondingly, with 384 calls recorded in 1974-75 and 185 in the 1973-74 period.

The low number of disarmed bombs fives no indication of the drama and high risk involved.

The metro bomb squad rushed to a Cuban-owned business house last April and found 14 pounds of dynamite wired to a detonator.

Bomb specialist Newton Porter and technician Jerry Lauck didn't know how much time they had. The face of the clock that would trigger the bomb was covered with tape they dared not strip away.

The two men disconnected the blasting caps that linked the clock-operated firing mechanism to the charge. Two minutes later, the clock triggered the mechanism, but the bomb had been safely disarmed.

Frank said only 15 bombs were found this year in tracking down the 384 threats. The squad always responds to a specific threat, he said, but doesn't bother with "vague" threats that fail to give a location.

"There is no set rule on whether a building is to be evacuated, but occupants are always told to get out when a suspicious device is found on the scene," he said.

Investigation has shown most of the bombs are set in the Cuban community, but few bombs are found as a result of the scare calls, and few bombings are ever solved, Frank said.

Many of the Cuban community bombings often appear as if they were politically inspired, according to Det. Sgt. Jack Deremer of Metro's Organized Crime Bureau.

"The whole picture is very vague," said Deremer, complaining that because few bombers are ever caught, police can often only speculate on motive. "Political motivation is often used to disguise criminal motivation. It throws the investigation off."

Deremer said that after many bombings, Latin newspapers often received calls where someone issued a "communique" claiming to be a part of a political group and claiming that that group was responsible for the bombing.

"Sometimes there are two of three different communiques from two or three different groups, all taking credit for a bombing," Deremer said.

Deremer also said he thought bombs were often planted as a warning to the victim rather than to cause bodily harm since many bombs planted at buildings exploded at night when nobody was there.

No arrests for bombings were made this year, and only two arrests were made last year after a bomb, being put together by two Cubans, blew up in their hands, mangling both men.

Luis Crespo, now serving four years in prison for making a bomb, lost an eye, a hand and two fingers while placing the plastic explosive in a book that would have triggered a blast when it was opened. It was never revealed who the target was going to be.

Humberto Lopez Jr., his partner, received facial wounds and fled the country before he could be tried.

Crespo and Lopez defended themselves as Cuban freedom fighters, and Miami Mayor Maurice Ferre gave a character reference to Dade Circuit Judge Arden Siegendorf for the two. Siegendorf sentenced Crespo reluctantly, saying, "My heart is with the people of Cuba … but I must take into account my responsibility to protect society."

The case, however, triggered a special strike force probe of "political-type" bombings and bomb threats.

Police said a minor bombing injury occurred when someone opened the door of a truck which triggered an explosive. There were no further details on that case.

There was only one injury in the 1974-75 period, and it was last October when Nightclub owner Stuart Goldman had both legs blown off of his body when eight pounds of dynamite exploded in his Cadillac.

The case is still unsolved.

Deremer feels the high rate of unsolved bombings is due partly to fear.

"It’s the psychology of terrorism. If there are any witnesses in bombings, they're afraid to say anything due to the nature of the crime. And we really can't do anything unless the public cooperates, so the bombers walk around with a sense of immunity."

Julius Mattson, special agent in charge of the FBI's Miami division, said agents worked on 12 bombings in Dade in the past year, but did not make any arrests.

"They (Cuban-Americans) come from a culture that believes in handling their own problems," said Mattson, adding that bombings can't be solved when witnesses will not testify.

He said FBI agents have narrowed several bombings to four political activist groups in the Cuban community. "We're talking with these groups about the bombings. As long as we can't solve them, it's an effort to prevent them."