January 24, 1975: The FALN Bombing of Wall Street

January 24, 1975: A Puerto Rican separatist group calling itself the FALN -- Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional, or "Armed Forces of National Liberation" -- plants a bomb that kills 4 people and injures 58 others, at The Anglers' Club of New York.

Previously, on October 26, 1974, the FALN set off 5 bombs in Manhattan. The bombs were set off in the Wall Street area in Lower Manhattan, in Rockefeller Center in Midtown, and on Park Avenue on the Upper East Side. Clearly, they were meant to show the disparity between these places of great wealth and the poverty of both Puerto Rico and of Puerto Ricans living on the American mainland, including in New York City. The bombs caused considerable property damage, but no injuries, let alone deaths.

But the following January 24, an FALN bomb killed 4 people and injured 58 at The Anglers' Club, at 101 Broad Street in Lower Manhattan. The club was located in the dining room of the Frances Tavern, where George Washington had given his Farewell Address in 1783. A note from the group said that the bombing was in retaliation for a blast on January 11 in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, which the FALN said had been placed by the CIA, and had killed 2 people and injured 11.

Their bombing campaign climaxed on October 27 with nine nearly simultaneous explosions in New York, Washington, and Chicago that produced only property damage. Bombings continued sporadically thereafter.

In April 1980, 11 FALN members were arrested in Evanston, Illinois, on charges including robbery, conspiracy, and weapons violations. They were convicted in both state and federal courts, and sentenced to prison terms of as long as 90 years.

In 1999, amid political controversy and over the objections of the FBI, President Bill Clinton granted clemency to 14 convicted FALN members, none of whom had been involved in the bombings (a detail that Clinton's critics declined to mention), claiming that their sentences were disproportionate to the crimes. 

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January 24, 1975 was a Friday. Baseball was out of season. The baseball season had ended 12 days earlier, when the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Minnesota Vikings to win Super Bowl IX.

There were 7 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Buffalo Braves, 105-99 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.

* The Boston Celtics beat the Kansas City-Omaha Kings, 96-87 at the Boston Garden.

* The Detroit Pistons beat the Atlanta Hawks, 113-103 at Cobo Hall (now Huntington Place) in Detroit.

* The Chicago Bulls beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 86-81 at the Chicago Stadium.

* The Houston Rockets beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 95-95 at the Hofheinz Pavilion (now the Fertitta Center) in Houston.

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the New Orleans Jazz, 110-108 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

* And the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 119-97 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum.

There were 5 games in the American Basketball Association:

* The New York Nets beat the Kentucky Colonels, 112-110 at the Nassau Coliseum. Julius "Dr. J" Erving led all pro scorers on the night with 42 points.

* The San Diego Sails beat the Virginia Squires, 108-105 at The Scope in Norfolk, Virginia.

* The Memphis Sounds beat the Spirits of St. Louis, 107-103 at the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis.

* The Indiana Pacers beat the San Antonio Spurs, 114-105 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.

* And the Utah Jazz beat the Denver Nuggets, 119-116 in overtime at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City.

There were 2 games played in the NHL. The Vancouver Canucks beat the Atlanta Flames, 4-1 at The Omni in Atlanta. And the California Golden Seals beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 6-1 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

And there were 4 games played in the World Hockey Association:

* The Minnesota Fighting Saints beat the Toronto Toros, 7-5 at the St. Paul Civic Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.

* The Phoenix Roadrunners beat the New England Whalers, 4-1 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix.

* The Edmonton Oilers beat the Houston Aeros, 7-5 at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton. 

* And the Vancouver Blazers beat the Winnipeg Jets, 4-3 in overtime at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.