The Skies Belong to Us: Love and Terror in the Golden Age of Hijacking (40 page)

75
perchè m’arresti?:
“Hijacker Subject of Italian Film,”
Tuscaloosa News
, Dec. 6, 1969.

76
“flew across the skies”:
“Lex Romana,”
Time
, May 3, 1971.

77
a spaghetti Western:
Rich,
Flying Scared
, 138.

78
cross the Atlantic:
“Would-Be Hijacker’s Apology Too Late,” Associated Press, Jul. 5, 2009.

79
voicing opposition:
“Plane Hijacking Assailed by U.N.,”
News and Courier
(Charleston, S.C.), Dec. 13, 1969.

80
around the world:
Arey,
Sky Pirates
, 330–31.

  
1
on Newport Avenue:
Willie Roger Holder, interview by author, Aug. 2011.

  
2
whiff of the taboo:
Elizabeth Olson (formerly Newhouse), interview by author, May 2011; “Hijackers Traced to San Diego Area,”
New York Times
, Jun. 5, 1972.

  
3
girl from Coos Bay:
Holder interview.

  
4
reedy Vietnam vet:
Elizabeth Newhouse (later Olson), interview by FBI, Coos Bay, Ore., Jun. 9, 1972 (obtained through FOIA request).

  
5
con man at heart:
Olson interview.

  
6
Holder as an Oreo:
Ibid.; Newhouse, FBI interview.

  
7
his son’s surrender:
Holder interview.

  
8
its enlistees deserted:
“Vietnam War Produces Highest U.S. Desertion Rate,”
Evening News
(Newburgh, N.Y.), Nov. 11, 1972.

  
9
accept “bad papers”:
“Black Veterans: The Forgotten Victims of Vietnam,”
Ebony
, Sept. 1974, 33–40.

10
any further medical care:
Holder interview.

11
visit his twin daughters:
Seavenes and Marie Holder, interview by FBI, San Diego, Calif., Jun. 3, 1972 (FOIA).

12
place of their own:
Olson interview.

13
who she was dating:
Patricia Kerkow, interview by FBI, Coos Bay, Ore., Jun. 4, 1972 (FOIA).

14
much of her supply:
Olson interview.

15
understanding of the Zodiac:
Newhouse, FBI interview; Holder interview.

16
trial of Angela Davis:
Holder interview.

17
Communist Party members:
“UCLA Teacher Is Ousted as Red,”
New York Times
, Sept. 20, 1969.

18
and Frederick Douglass:
Angela Davis,
Lectures on Liberation
(New York: New York Committee to Free Angela Davis, 1971),
http://archive.org/details/LecturesOnLiberation
.

19
“and are proud of”:
Catherine
Ellis and Stephen Drury Smith, eds.,
Say It Loud: Great Speeches on Civil Rights and African-American Identity
(New York: New Press, 2010), 189.

20
multiple gunshot wounds:
“Abductors, Judge Slain in Shootout,”
Palm Beach Post
, Aug. 8, 1970; “The Facts Behind the Angela Davis Case,”
Human Events
, Jun. 17, 1972, 9–15.

21
tight-fitting wig:
“FBI Seizes Angela Davis in Motel Here,”
New York Times
, Oct. 14, 1970.

22
in January 1971:
Bettina Aptheker,
The Morning Breaks: The Trial of Angela Davis
(Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1999), 26.

23
the Ku Klux Klan:
“Defendant Kicks Attorney in Face,”
Bangor
(Me.)
Daily News
, May 28, 1971.

24
the courtroom theatrics:
“Few Spectators at Magee’s Trial,”
New York Times
, Dec. 31 1972.

25
concept of force:
“Angela Davis Trial to Put San Jose on Map for Sure,”
Tuscaloosa News
, Jan. 4, 1972.

26
“release Miss Davis”:
“The Kremlin See Angela Davis as an Angela of Communism,”
Afro-American
(Washington, D.C.), Apr. 13, 1971.

27
teachings of Jesus Christ:
“The Communist Dairy Farmer Who Bailed Out Angela Davis,”
Life
, March 10, 1972, 73.

28
“my life-long husband”:
“The Facts Behind the Angela Davis Case,” 12.

29
directed only at him:
Holder interview.

  
1
“the usual air traveler”:
James Arey,
The Sky Pirates
(New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1972), 241.

  
2
concern about one’s luggage:
H. L. Reighard and John T. Dailey,
Task Force on Deterrence of Air Piracy: Final Report
(Washington, D.C.: FAA Office of Aviation Medicine, 1978), 58–60; “Airlines Screen for Skyjackers,”
Washington Post
, Feb. 8, 1972.

  
3
or incendiary devices:
David H. Brown with John T. Dailey,
Nine/Eleven: Could the Federal Aviation Administration Alone Have Deterred the Terrorist Skyjackers?
(Bloomington, Ind.: AuthorHouse, 2004), 15–19.

  
4
offense at the intrusion:
Ibid., 20–21.

  
5
or narcotics charges:
Reighard and Dailey,
Task Force on Deterrence of Air Piracy
, 5.

  
6
done to prevent hijackings:
Brown and Dailey,
Nine/Eleven
, 28.

  
7
screening was in force:
Ibid., 23.

  
8
pay for their insolence:
“Jet Hijacker, Lured by Ransom, Captured in Capital,”
New York Times
, Jun. 5, 1970.

  
9
kissed her goodbye:
“The $100 Million Skyjack,”
Time
, Jun. 15, 1970.

10
National Airport:
“Skyjacker Beat Detector Test,”
Gazette
(Montreal), Jun. 6, 1970.

11
light a match:
“Jet Hijacker, Lured by Ransom, Captured in Capital.”

12
shot by the flight’s captain:
“Airliner Copilot Killed,”
St. Petersburg Independent
, Mar. 18, 1970.

13
“unfit to rule”:
“Jet Hijacker, Lured by Ransom, Captured in Capital.”

14
“Never go alone”:
“The $100 Million Skyjack.”

15
a populated area:
“Hijacked Jet Shadowed by Fighters,”
Boston Globe
, Jun. 6, 1970.

16
shot out its landing gear:
“Jet Hijacker, Lured by Ransom, Captured in Capital.”

17
since the hijacking began:
Roger Buchanan, “The Joy of Being Hijacked,”
North American Review
256, no. 4 (Winter 1971), 2–4.

18
his gun to fire:
Ibid.

19
from his busted nose:
“$100 Million Hijacker Lured to Capture by Phony Cash,”
Boston Globe
, Jun. 5, 1970.

20
“he made it worse”:
“Hijacker’s Discontent Is Traced to the Loss of His Job in 1963,”
New York Times
, Jun. 5, 1970; “He Battled the ‘System,’ ”
Windsor Star
, Jun. 5, 1970.

21
by his final hostage:
“Pictures on Board a Hijacked Plane,”
Life
, Jun. 19, 1970, 30–31.

22
questions about its design:
“Castro Looks at the First Boeing 747 to Be Hijacked,”
Ludington
(Mich.)
Daily News
, Aug. 1, 1970.

23
accomplice on board:
“Plane Diverted to Cuba by Hijacker Who ‘Fooled’ Pilot,”
Warsaw
(Ind.)
Times Union
, Aug. 25, 1970.

24
calling him “nigger”:
“Hijacker Sentenced,”
Lawrence Daily Journal-World
, Oct. 25, 1975.

25
with Pentagon ties:
“Nixon Jabs Congress,”
St. Petersburg Times
, Sept. 12, 1970.

26
stretched back her cheekbones:
“ ‘I Made the Ring from a Bullet and the Pin of a Hand Grenade,’ ”
Guardian
, Jan. 26, 2001.

27
planes’ blackened wreckage:
News footage of Dawson’s Field hijackings,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVIj_RF-lp0
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5de6fYWKDWU
.

28
by executive order:
“Plea on Hostages Is Made by Rogers,”
New York Times
, Sept. 9, 1970.

29
“assembled and trained”:
“The Nixon Announcement,”
New York Times
, Sept. 12, 1970.

30
$80 million per year:
“Sky Marshals to Be Costly,”
Gettysburg Times
, Sept. 16, 1970.

31
from forty-five feet away:
“For Sky Marshals, No Mace or Chemicals, It’s Just Shoot to Kill,”
Tuscaloosa News
, May 16, 1971.

32
first skyjacking czar:
“Nixon Names Gen. Davis to Head Hijacking Fight,”
New York Times
, Sept. 22, 1970.

33
skyjacker before boarding:
“Use of Armed U.S. Guards Expected as FAA Sets Up Task Force on Hijacking,”
New York Times
, Sept. 10, 1970.

34
probably wouldn’t enjoy:
Skyjacking: Hearing Before the Committee on Finance, U.S. Senate, Ninety-First Congress, Second Session, on H.R. 19444
(Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1970), 14–18.

35
drive instead of fly:
Ibid., 24–26.

36
lobbyist meddling:
“Air Tax Proposal Shelved,”
St. Joseph
(Mo.)
News-Press
, Dec. 12, 1970.

37
favor of paying customers:
“Sky Marshal Program Falls Short of Expectations,”
St. Petersburg Independent
, Jan. 21, 1972; “Sky Marshals Force May Be Trimmed,”
Nashua
(N.H.)
Telegraph
, Jun. 17, 1971.

38
his adolescent angst:
“Youth Blames Parents, School for Hijacking,”
Windsor Star
, Mar. 9, 1971.

39
in the Bahamas:
“Hijacker Flies to Bahamas via Miami, New York,”
Palm Beach Post-Times
, May 29, 1971.

40
working on a kibbutz:
“Miner Seized in Hijacking,”
Miami News
, Jun. 5, 1971.

41
death or dismemberment:
“Hijacked Victims Insurance,”
Ocala
(Fla.)
Star-Banner
, Oct. 9, 1970.

42
cared about the war:
The account of the Gregory White hijacking is primarily based on four sources: “More Counts Planned in Skyjacking,”
Lubbock
(Tex.)
Avalanche-Journal
, Jun. 14, 1971; “Jet Hijacker Held Here on $200,000 Bail,”
New York Times
, Jun. 13, 1971; “Passenger Slain in Hijack Effort,”
Star-News
(Wilmington, N.C.), Jun. 13, 1971; and “U.S. Hijacker on Murder Charge,”
Sydney Morning Herald
, Jun. 14, 1971.

43
“who have a ticket?”:
“Puzzling Problem,”
Southeast Missourian
, Jun. 14, 1971.

44
thirty minutes later:
The account of the Richard Obergfell hijacking is primarily based on two sources: “Hijacker Killed by FBI Agent at Kennedy,”
New York Times
, Jul. 24, 1971; and “Slain Hijacker Believed Trying to Fly to Girl,”
Press-Courier
(Oxnard, Calif.), Jul. 25, 1971.

45
“and crews of aircraft”:
“Air Pirate Shot and Killed,”
Spartanburg
(S.C.)
Herald-Journal
, Jul. 24, 1971.

46
but as a fool:
The account of the Paul Joseph Cini hijacking is primarily based on four sources: “Anatomy of a Skyjacker,”
Gazette
(Montreal), Oct. 21, 1978; “Pilot Kayos Hijacker with Fire Ax,”
Telegraph-Herald
(Dubuque, Ia.); “Convicted Hijacker Fighting One-Way Trip to Scotland,”
Vancouver Sun
, Jun. 24, 1982; and “Canada Jet Crew Subdues Hijacker After 6 Hours,”
New York Times
, Nov. 13, 1971.

47
of the Columbia River:
The FBI’s records pertaining to the D. B. Cooper case are archived online at
http://vault.fbi.gov/D-B-Cooper%20
.

48
all the way through:
Parachutist
, the official magazine of the U.S. Parachute Association, ran a detailed three-part series on the Cooper case in its May–July 2010 issues. The series is archived online at
http://parachutistonline.com/category/tags/db-cooper
.

49
“the System”:
“Skyjacker Made into Folk Hero,”
Deseret News
(Salt Lake City, Ut.), Nov. 30, 1971.

50
“blow some minds”:
“Song, T-Shirt Mark $200,000 Hijacking,”
Press-Courier
(Oxnard, Calif.), Jan. 7, 1972.