Muharem Kurbegovic

Muharem Kurbegović (born 1943), also known as The Alphabet Bomber, is an immigrant from the former Yugoslavia who was a terrorist. His most notable act was a 1974 bombing of the Los Angeles International Airport on August 6, 1974, killing three and injuring thirty-six.

Kurbegovic was nicknamed "The Alphabet Bomber" because of his alleged plan to attack places in an order that would make an anagram of Aliens of America. "A" for airport, "L" for locker, etc.^[1] He later disputed this and stated that his objective was to "undermine and erode the foundation of Western Civilization, which is the Holy Bible".^[2]

Kurbegovic was one of the first to use what was called "information warfare",^[1] taking responsibility for other attacks under the alias of a SLA member named "Rasim".^[3]

Early life

Kurbegovic was born in Sarajevo in 1943. He studied engineering in Europe before moving to America in 1967,^[4] where he found work in the aerospace industry. He pretended to be a deaf-mute to dodge service in the Vietnam War,^[1] communicating at work through written notes.^[5]

Kurbegovic frequently spent his time in taxi dance halls, and was arrested in 1971^[6] in such a venue on the charge of masturbating in one of the bathrooms.^[5] Although he was found not guilty, the record of his arrest resulted in his inability to get a business license for a dance hall and also affected his application for American citizenship, which was made in 1973.^[6] This resulted in his personal vendetta against the judge and Los Angeles police commissioners,^[4] which grew into demands for an end to immigration and naturalization laws, as well as any laws about sex.^[7]

Terrorist actions

In the early morning hours of November 9, 1973, three residences were burned by an arsonist. Their owners were the municipal court judge who had presided over Kurbegovic's trial,^[8] and two of the members of the Los Angeles Police Commission which had rejected Kurbegovic's request for a dance hall license.^[9] In early June 1974, an arson device was placed in the gas tank of one of those two commissioners.^[9]

On July 4, 1974, fires were set using gasoline at three apartment buildings in Santa Monica and Marina Del Rey

In mid-June 1974, nine postcards, addressed to each of the U.S. Supreme Court justices, were intercepted at the Palm Springs post office when a cancelling machine broke tiny vials of chemicals that Kurbegovic had placed under 11-cent stamps. On July 7, Kurbegovic left a tape cassette in a planter at the Los Angeles Times, claiming that he had put nerve gas into tiny lead disks on the postcards.^[1]

On August 16, after Kurbegovic sent a warning, police discovered and defused a 25-pound bomb that he had placed in a locker at a Greyhound Bus station in Los Angeles. It was the most powerful the Los Angeles Police Department bomb squad had handled up to that time.

At 8:10 a.m. on August 6, 1974, a bomb placed by Kurbegovic inside a coin-operated public locker exploded in the Pan American Airlines lobby of the Los Angeles International Airport. There were about 50 people in the lobby at the time of the explosion.^[10] Three people were killed and thirty-six were injured, including a priest who lost a leg.^[2]

Arrest, trial, and conviction

In mid-August 1974, Kurbegovic declared that he was going to come to Washington, D.C., and throw a nerve gas bomb at President Gerold Ford, then just ten days into his presidency.^[11] Within one day, the CIA, the U.S. Secret Service, and other law enforcement agencies, working out of the White House basement, identified Kurbegovich; he was arrested on August 20.^[12]: 379 The group had identified his Yugoslav origins, using a CIA voice analysis of his tapes, with court records of the cases handled by his first targets—the judge and the police commissioners—triangulating his identity.^[1]

In November 1974 Kurbegovic asked to be deported;^[13] the court rejected his request. His trial was delayed for years on grounds of mental incompetence. He chose to defend himself at his trial, and frequently did odd things such as claiming to be the Messiah, and having outbursts at the judge and prosecutors. In October 1980, after an eight-month trial, he was convicted of 25 counts of murder, arson, attempted murder, possession of explosives, and exploding a bomb;^[14] in November he was sentenced to life in prison.^[15]

In August 1987, Kurbegovic was denied parole, after claiming he was infected with AIDS by prison officials.^[2] In 2002, he filed a writ in the Superior Court of California claiming he had "been a member of the Al-Qaida terrorist organization since 1963”.^[1] In September 2008, he was again denied parole.^[16]

See also

• Domestic terrorism in the United States

Further reading

• The Alphabet Bomber: A Lone Wolf Terrorist Ahead of His Time, Jeffrey D. Simon, March 2019, Potomac Books, ISBN 978-1-61234-996-1

References

1. Dickey, Christopher (February 26, 2003). "Shadowland: T is for Terrorist". Newsweek. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
2. Pristin, Terry (August 26, 1987). "1st Parole Bid Denied for 'Alphabet Bomber'". Los Angeles Times.
3. Ayton, Mel (2014). Hunting the President: Threats, Plots and Assassination Attempts--From FDR to Obama. Regnery Publishing. pp. 123–125. ISBN 978-1621572077. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
4. Tucker, John B. (2000). Toxic Terror: Assessing Terrorist Use of Chemical and Biological Weapons. MIT Press. p. 77. ISBN 9780262700719. LCCN 41-24478. Retrieved 2017-08-28.
5. Getlen, Larry (2019-04-05). "How threat-spewing Alphabet Bomber taught cops to hunt down lone wolves". New York Post. Retrieved 2024-04-12.
6. "Police Believe Suspect in Coast Bombing Acted Alone". The New York Times. August 22, 1974. p. 40. Retrieved April 11, 2024.
7. Simon, Jeffery D. (2019). "The Alphabet Bomber". Potomac Books, an imprint of the University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 978-1-61234-996-1.
8. Jones, Jack (1974-08-22). "How Police Got Lead On Suspect In "Alphabet" Case". Newspapers.com. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2024-04-12.
9. "People v. Kurbegovic - Court of Appeals of California, Second Appellate Division, opinion". Justica.com. December 29, 1982. Retrieved April 11, 2024.
10. Associated Press (August 7, 1974). "Airport Blast Kills 2". Daytona Beach Morning Journal.
11. Alexander, Andrew (December 19, 1983). "Police, CIA Thwarted 1974 Plot to Kill Ford" (PDF). Atlanta Constitution. Retrieved April 11, 2024.
12. Smith, Richard Norton (2023). An ordinary man: the surprising life and historic presidency of Gerald R. Ford (First ed.). New York: Harper, An Imprint of Harper Collins. ISBN 978-0-06-268416-5. OCLC 1335403341.
13. UPI (November 21, 1974). "Suspect in Coast Bombing Asks Court to Be Deported". New York Times. p. 35. Retrieved April 11, 2024.
14. Archives, L. A. Times (2006-10-16). "Alphabet Bomber guilty of murder". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2024-04-12.
15. "Bomber gets life in prison". upi.com. UPI. November 25, 1980. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
16. "'Alphabet Bomber' is denied parole". San Bernardino Sun. 2008-09-05. Retrieved 2024-04-12.