Grand Central Station Bombing

On September 10, 1976, terrorists calling themselves Fighters for Free Croatia diverted TWA Flight 355, bound for Chicago, to the Mirabel Airport in Montreal. The terrorists then instructed the pilot to radio a message directing the New York City Police Department (NYPD) to a bomb located in a Grand Central Station subway locker. Describing the bomb as a “gel” type, the terrorists threatened to detonate it if they detected any “false moves.” The group also threatened to detonate another bomb located “in a highly busy location” if their demands were not published by several newspapers, including [Page 151]the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, and Chicago Tribune. All published the demands.

The Federal Aviation Administration picked up the pilot's radio message and alerted the NYPD. The city's bomb squad roped off the area identified by the hijackers and had pried open 24 lockers surrounding locker no. 5713, ...