U.S. Fugitive Claims New Identity [1962 murderer/1972 hijacker George Wright, held in Portugal]

Associated Press ^ | October 01, 2011 | unattributed

[Hunton Peck]

Captured American fugitive George Wright will claim a new identity to prevent the U.S. from extraditing him, his lawyer said Saturday.

Wright, 68, became a Portuguese citizen, called Jose Luis Jorge dos Santos, in 1991 after marrying a Portuguese woman, lawyer Manuel Luis Ferreira told The Associated Press.

Ferreira said in an interview that Wright's new identity was given to him by West African country Guinea-Bissau when it granted him political asylum in the 1980s and was accepted by Portugal.

The U.S. is trying to extradite Wright to serve the remainder of his 15- to 30-year sentence for a 1962 murder in New Jersey. He had served more than seven years before breaking out of prison in 1970.

But Ferreira said his client argues that he has the right to serve the time in Portugal because he has Portuguese citizenship based on his new identity.

***

Official documents belonging to Wright and provided to the AP show Portugal accepted his new identity papers when it granted him citizenship.

Wright has a Portuguese passport, issued in 2007, and other documents including a Portuguese social security number, driving license and voter registration card.

"There's no doubt whatsoever about his nationality," Ferreira said, adding that Jose Luis Jorge dos Santos "is now his real name."

Wright broke out of the Bayside State Prison in Leesburg, New Jersey, on Aug. 19, 1970, after serving more than seven years of his sentence for killing a man in a 1962 gas station robbery. He was also part of a Black Liberation Army group that hijacked a U.S. plane to Algeria in 1972.

Wright was captured in a seaside village near Lisbon on Monday, after decades on the run, and is detained while the court rules on his case.

[Hunton Peck]

Kathleen Soliah couldn't stay out of prison by pulling this kind of crap, but she did manage to drag things out for a while, and gain some sympathy from idiots who think that running from a murderous past somehow makes things better.

[missnry]

So - when you enter a country they don’t ask you to fill out any paperwork asking you if you are a FUGITIVE do they? I am sure he answered that truthfully when he entered Portugal and they just took him in. They probably needed to meet their quota of murderers to become citizens./sarc

[MadJack]

Send in the drones.

[Kickass Conservative]

>”Send in the drones”<

What are a bunch of Obama Voters going to do? ;0)

[Tainan]

This guys story is quie a bit more complicated that simply entering Portugal and asking for a new I.D.
Back in the '70s (and today also), there were underground groups set-up which provided travel arrangement's for radicals fleeing legal problems. This Black Panther group fled to Cuba, Algeria, Guinea-Bissau and established contacts with agreeable groups, mainly communist/USSR front groups in obtaining money, travel documents and logistics.
Most of his immediate group was caught over the years by this yokel managed to get Guinea-Bissau, a former Portuguese colony to issue him legitimate travel papers for his immigration to Portugal.
Once he arrived in Portugal he merely laid-low, married a lawyer (that can be an asset) and bided his time doing the 'paper-work' dance. He was granted a new identity by playing the game according to their rules.

However, hid fingerprints on his newly minted ID papers sent up a red flag at the local INTERPOL office.

Thus his real identity was found out and his being taken into custody shortly after.

Lovely village he lived in. Near the ocean. All the locals called him by his American name...imagine that!

[Squantos]

Bump to the top post...... Good read. Thanks.

[missnry]

This guys story is quie a bit more complicated than simply entering Portugal and asking for a new I.D.

I agree - somewhere along the line he lied on paperwork he had to fill out to gain citizenship.

[Cindy]

Thanks for the ping Squantos.

[wiseone]

always laughable that these African loving Black Liberation Army thugs always end up in a European country,double standards,he’l get off,Portuguese have the most liberal laws,in EU

[mosesdapoet]

Isn’t there a close associate of Obama who participated in some bombings which ended up killing somebody who publicly wiped his feet on the American flag still running around ?

[Hunton Peck]

That rings a bill, er, bell....