Posted on 12/07/2004 6:39:20 PM PST by leadpencil1
3:02 PM EST,December 7, 2004
NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- The FBI announced Tuesday that it will offer a $1 million reward for information leading to the capture of Victor Manuel Gerena, a former Wells Fargo guard accused of robbing an armored truck of $7 million in 1983.
The robbery of the Wells Fargo truck in West Hartford is considered an act of domestic terrorism because it was allegedly carried out by 19 members of the Puerto Rican nationalist group Macheteros, or Cane Cutters, the FBI said.
The reward is the largest offered for a fugitive in Connecticut history and sends a signal that the robbery and other old cases remain under active investigation, authorities said.
"The increased reward sends out a strong message to those who may contemplate engaging in terrorist-related criminal activity that the passage of time will not diminish law enforcement's resolve to find those who commit such acts and bring them to justice," said Michael J. Wolf, Connecticut's top FBI agent.
The government has said the group recruited Gerena to carry out the robbery, then helped him escape to Cuba. Proceeds from the robbery - the largest in U.S. history at the time - were used to fund acts of terrorism, Wolf said.
Gerena, who is on the FBI's list of top 10 most-wanted fugitives, allegedly injected two other guards with a sleeping substance to facilitate the robbery.
Gerena could be in Cuba, Mexico or Florida, Wolf said.
snip..................
The two other fugitives are brothers, Avelino and Norberto Gonzalez Claudio.
One man imprisoned in the case, Juan Segarra Palmer, was granted clemency by President Bill Clinton in 1999.
Only about $80,000 of the stolen money has been recovered. The government believes most of it was used in Puerto Rico to finance the independence movement.
(Excerpt) Read more at ctnow.com ...
Maybe he's working as a gardener at Bills new library
Never accuse the FBI of being slow-reacting.
So is the FBI prepared to write Castro a check for $7 million if he turns this guy over?
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