Hijacker Is Glad He's Back in U.S., Rails Against Reds
By MARY VOBORIL
Herald Staff Writer
One of 30 Americans just freed from Cuban jails
asked a hushed courtroom audience Tuesday to wipe out communism, "humanity's
vomit."
Anthony Garnet Bryant, accused of hijacking a plane
from New York to Cuba in 1969, first told U.S. Magistrate Charlene Sorrentino
that he was "deliriously happy to be back" in the United States.
Then he turned to the audience.
"I spent 12 years in Cuba," he said. "Communism
is humanity's vomit. Wipe it out."
Bryant, who arrived Monday from Havana, is being
held on $500,000 bond. He bad grinned broadly throughout his brief
initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Miami.
"I've never seen anybody smile quite so much.
You look like you're happy to be here," Sorrentino said. After his
statements, she welcomed him back to the United States.
A FEDERAL public defender was appointed to represent
him, and a hearing on whether he should be sent back to New York to face
air piracy charges was set for Nov. 5.
Also in federal court Tuesday were two suspected
rapists and a third man accused of hijacking a southern Airways flight
bound for Miami from Memphis, Tenn. in 1972.
They, too, Were among the 30 Americans released
from Cuban jails Monday.
In that hijacking, the plane crisscrossed the country
in a 30-hour, three-nation odyssey in which a ransom of $2 million was
paid, a co-pilot was shot in the right arm and one of 26 passengers on
board suffered a heart attack.
Like Bryant, Henry DeWilliam Jackson Jr., Melvin
Charles Cale and Louis Moore, also known as Louis Douglas Cale, are being
held on $500,000 bonds.
At the time of the hijacking, Jackson and Moore
were being sought by Detroit authorities in connection with nine rapes,
two assaults with intent to rape and one gross indecency case.
MOORE, HOLDING a dog-eared, crumbling piece of paper,
also started to make a statement.
"We want to appeal to this court that we not be
tried for any alleged crimes," Moore said.
All three men swore they were without money to hire
an attorney. Sorrentino appointed Ron Dresnick, Mike Doddo and Mike
Brodsky to represent them and set a removal hearing for Nov. 5.
A fifth American who was released from Cuban jails
Monday only to face criminal charges in the United States was Terry Byerly.
Byerly, also known as David Keene, is wanted for
breaking parole in High Point, N.C. Sorrentino ordered him held without
bond, noting that federal law makes no provision for bond in parole violation
cases. Byerly was paroled in connection with a narcotics case.