Fugitive Who Hijacked Delta Plane In 1972 Caught In Portugal
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) -- A convicted killer who escaped a New Jersey prison in 1970, then hijacked a U.S. airliner two years later, has been captured in Portugal.
The FBI says George Wright was arrested Monday by Portuguese authorities at the request of the U.S. government.
Wright was convicted of the 1962 murder of a gas station owner in Wall, N.J. Eight years later, he and three other men escaped from the Bayside State Prison in Leesburg, N.J.
The FBI says Wright became affiliated with the Black Liberation Army and in 1972 he and his associates hijacked a Delta flight from Detroit to Miami. After releasing the passengers in exchange for a $1 million ransom, the hijackers forced the plane to fly to Boston, then on to Algeria.
Wright was the last remaining fugitive.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
