A bomb explodes at Fraunces Tavern. Four people were killed and more than 50 were injured. The FALN, a Puerto Rican nationalist group, claimed responsibility. (New York Daily News via Getty Images)
Joe was 9 years old the day his father was killed, and in the decades since, he has dedicated his life to bringing justice for his father and the other victims. He is the author of "Shattered Lives: Overcoming the Fraunces Tavern Terror," which is also now a documentary. Connor has, with other families, elected officials and law enforcement, waged a mission to hold the terrorists to account.
No one has ever been charged in the attack, but the man believed to be the terrorist group's chief bomb maker, Willie Morales, escaped to Cuba, where he has lived along with an estimated 50 other U.S. fugitives. A bill in Congress named for Joe's father and New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster, who was killed by Black Liberation Army militant Joanne Chesimard, aka Assata Shakur, who also is on the lam in Cuba, demands Havana return the fugitives.
"It's a very concise, clear bill demanding the return," says Connor. "There has been a mystique about the Castro regime and Che Guevara, of some fanciful romantic view of these people. But they were nothing but Marxist thugs and were waging their own war on the United States for many, many years."
In his final days in office, former President Joe Biden removed Cuba from the State Department list of State Sponsors of Terrorism.
President Donald Trump immediately put Havana back on the list, and in his first term also vowed to put pressure on Cuba to return Morales and the other fugitives.
Jessica Tisch speaks after being sworn in as the next commissioner of the New York Police Department during a ceremony at One Police Plaza Nov. 25, 2024, in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Before the ceremony marking the bombing, there was an emotional luncheon attended by family members, dozens of former FBI agents, survivors of the bombing and others.
Joe Connor's son, Frank, named for his grandfather and who is studying to be a priest, gave the benediction.
"We remember the four men who were killed 50 years ago today in this very place, and all of those whose lives were cut short by terrorism."
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Joe noted how the gathering was being held by the door where the bomb, which consisted of ten pounds of dynamite, was placed inside an unassuming briefcase.
"Cuba has to eventually turn these people over, and the only way that will happen is by keeping them on the State Sponsor of Terrorism list and by keeping the pressure on Cuba," he says. "This is the moment to do it."
Eric Shawn, a New York-based anchor and senior correspondent for FOX News Channel (FNC), joined the network when it launched in 1996. He is currently the co-anchor of FOX News Live. Shawn is also the host of Riddle: The Search for James R. Hoffa on FOX Nation, FNC's on-demand subscription-based streaming service, which is based upon his extensive reporting into the appearance of notorious Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/plea-president-trump-tell-cuba-hand-terrorist-killers-harboring