The Skies Belong to Us: Love and Terror in the Golden Age of Hijacking (45 page)

  
1
“what I did was patriotic”:
“U.S. Return Is Intended by Hijacker,”
Spokesman-Review
(Spokane, Wash.), May 7, 1977.

  
2
twice a month:
Paris embassy to U.S. secretary of state, Jun. 2, 1975 (obtained through FOIA request).

  
3
appeared quite smitten:
Willie Roger Holder, interview by author, Aug. 2011.

  
4
men too much:
Ibid., wire report by Associated Press, Nov. 24, 1978; “Shocking Case of Black American Political Prisoners in France,”
Sun Reporter
(San Francisco), Aug. 24, 1978.

  
5
time to stop running:
Holder interview.

  
6
discuss the matter further:
Paris embassy to U.S. secretary of state, Apr. 30, 1976 (FOIA); U.S. secretary of state to Paris embassy, May 5, 1976 (FOIA).

  
7
a phone call away:
Holder interview.

  
8
family in Oregon:
“U.S. Return Is Intended by Hijacker.”

  
9
“trying to get away from”:
“Eldridge Cleaver’s New Pants,”
Harvard Crimson
, Sept. 26, 1975.

10
a born-again Christian:
Eldridge Cleaver,
Soul on Fire
(Waco, Tex: Word Books, 1978), 208–212.

11
“companions to the Lord”:
“Cleaver ‘Testifies’ as an Evangelical,”
New York Times
, Dec. 12, 1976; “Cleaver Got No Help,”
Leader-Post
(Regina, Sask.), Jul. 25, 1977.

12
never followed through:
Paris embassy to U.S. secretary of state, Oct. 5, 1977 (FOIA).

13
Doctors Without Borders:
Denis de Kergorlay interview by author, Jul. 2012.

14
discuss the future then:
Holder interview.

  
1
Cutcher was also staying:
Thomas Crawford, interview by author, Oct. 2010.

  
2
they slept that night:
Regina Youngren (formerly Cutcher), interview by author, Jun. 2010.

  
3
one defendant on trial:
Crawford interview.

  
4
or April 17:
Paris embassy to U.S. secretary of state, Apr. 5, 1978 (obtained through FOIA request).

  
5
obtain a new passport:
Paris embassy to U.S. secretary of state, Bern embassy, and Zurich consulate, May 11, 1978 (FOIA).

  
6
neglected to renew it:
U.S. secretary of state to all European diplomatic posts, May 4, 1979 (FOIA).

  
7
fitting Kerkow’s description:
Paris embassy to U.S. secretary of state, Bern embassy, and Zurich consulate, May 11, 1978.

  
8
within forty-eight hours:
Kerkow’s timing was fortuitous: prior to January 1, 1978, replacement passports had been valid only until the expiration date of the one that had been lost. By changing this policy and making replacement passports valid for a full five years, the State Department made Kerkow’s ruse much easier to pull off.

  
9
absorbed the child:
Willie Roger Holder, interview by author, Aug. 2011.

10
his hijacking trial:
Paris embassy to U.S. secretary of state and Brussels embassy, Apr. 27, 1979 (FOIA).

11
prominent French supporters:
Denis de Kergorlay, interview by author, Jul. 2012.

12
the Marais district:
Joy Holder, interview by author, Apr. 2012.

13
engineering program:
Roger Holder interview.

14
psychological crises:
Joy Holder interview.

15
trial had taken place:
Paris embassy to U.S. secretary of state, Apr. 5, 1978 (FOIA).

16
the Hijacking Family:
Paris embassy to U.S. secretary of state, Oct. 26, 1976 (FOIA).

17
settle in France:
“France Convicts 4 Yanks in Hijack,”
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
, Nov. 25, 1978.

18
exonerating Holder:
Youngren interview.

19
through the motions:
Crawford interview.

20
an eye at the cheers:
Youngren interview.

21
at least 1985:
Paris embassy to U.S. secretary of state, Jun. 25, 1980 (FOIA).

22
tinge of joy:
Holder interview.

23
many splendid rooms:
De Kergorlay interview.

24
resist the draft:
Ibid.; Holder interview.

25
work on his memoirs:
Ibid.

26
performed odd jobs:
Ibid.; Henri Boivin, interview by author, Jul. 2012.

27
eager to learn:
Holder interview.

28
James Baldwin novels:
De Kergorlay interview.

29
reach either goal:
Holder interview.

30
heard from him again:
De Kergorlay interview.

31
memories of combat:
Medical certificate signed by Dr. C. Louzon, Psychiatric Hospital of Vieille-Église, Apr. 15, 1981, private collection of Joy Holder.

32
assignment to the next:
Joy Holder interview.

33
hardware store:
Roger Holder interview.

34
his car for days:
Joy Holder interview.

35
possession of hashish:
Supplemental affirmation,
United States v. Willie Roger Holder
, Nov. 18, 1987; and motion for dismissal of indictment,
United States v. Willie Roger Holder
, Jan. 8, 1988, both in private collection of Joy Holder.

36
on American soil:
U.S. secretary of state to Paris embassy, Aug. 13, 1985 (FOIA).

37
powerful psychotropic drugs:
Psychiatric evaluation of Willie Roger Holder, conducted at Federal Correctional Institution in Butner,
N.C., Dec. 26, 1991, private collection of Joy Holder.

38
had finally come true:
“Ex–Black Panther Extradited to U.S.,”
New York Times
, Jul. 27, 1986.

39
the offices of IBM:
“Code Book Connected 7 to NY Bombings,”
Lewiston
(Me.)
Daily Sun
, Mar. 14, 1985.

40
“deaths taking place”:
Willie Roger Holder to Lynne Stewart, Oct. 9, 1986, private collection of Joy Holder.

41
“a life for himself”:
Judge Eugene H. Nickerson, memorandum and order,
United States of America v. Willie Roger Holder
, May 29, 1992, National Archives and Records Administration, Central Plains Region, St. Louis, Mo.

42
Torrita as her own:
Holder interview.

43
act of paternal love:
Correction to DD Form 214 for Willie Roger Holder (service no. 18910865), Jul. 19, 1978, private collection of Joy Holder.

44
was not to be:
Holder interview.

45
office that December:
Susan Tipograph, handwritten notes from meeting with Willie Roger Holder at Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York, Jul. 27, 1991, private collection of Joy Holder. I could find no record of a divorce between Holder and his first wife, Betty Bullock, a fact that suggests that this marriage was bigamous.

46
a freeway junction:
Rosemarie Wilson, interview by author, Apr. 2012; search warrant for 1117 33rd Street, San Diego, signed by Violetta Velkova, Jul. 2, 1991, private collection of Joy Holder.

47
“his psychological problems”:
Judge Nickerson memorandum and order.

48
earned in prison:
Holder interview.

49
after a few weeks:
Seavenes Holder, Jr., interview by FBI, in San Diego, Jul. 10, 1991 (FOIA).

50
“his part in history”:
Judge Nickerson memorandum and order.

51
change the world:
San Diego FBI field office to FBI director, Jun. 13, 1991 (FOIA).

52
adulterous ex-wife, Betty:
Judge Nickerson memorandum and order.

53
possessing drugs:
Ibid.

54
Mandela’s political party:
California attorney general Daniel E. Lungren to United States Probation Office, Jul. 2, 1991 (FOIA).

55
for fifteen years:
Judge Nickerson memorandum and order.

56
think it over:
Ibid.

57
“caps as you can”:
Susan Tipograph to Willie Roger Holder, May 11, 1992, private collection of Joy Holder.

58
while living in France:
“Hijacker from ’70s Lands in Trouble,”
San Diego Union-Tribune
, Jul. 17, 1991.

59
“want to back out”:
Judge Nickerson memorandum and order.

60
military-grade explosives:
Holder interview.

61
he said, the better:
Ibid.

62
brick of C-4 explosives:
Willie Roger Holder, interrogation by FBI, handwritten notes, Jul. 2, 1991 (FOIA).

63
project was complete:
Judge Nickerson memorandum and order.

64
by the following week:
Special Agent David Torres, California Department of Justice, affidavit, Jul. 2, 1991 (FOIA).

65
“boat putty”:
Judge Nickerson memorandum and order.

66
given them the slip:
Ibid.; Torres affidavit.

67
in Santa Barbara:
Torres affidavit.

68
Terror by Fiat:
FBI, report on execution of search warrant in connection with investigation of Willie Roger Holder, Jul. 9, 1991 (FOIA).

69
with the Black Panthers:
Susan
Tipograph, interview by author, Feb. 2011.

70
competent to stand trial:
Psychiatric evaluation of Willie Roger Holder.

71
big-time political terrorist?:
Jason Brown, interview by author, Jun. 2010.

72
sting operation going:
Judge Nickerson, memorandum and order.

73
recapturing past glory:
Ibid.

  
1
“costs appear enormous”:
William M. Landes, “An Economic Study of U.S. Aircraft Hijacking, 1960–1976,” National Bureau of Economic Research, Oct. 1977,
http://www.nber.org/papers/w0210
.

  
2
of Landes’s study:
Research and Innovative Technology Administration, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, “Historical Air Traffic Statistics, Annual 1954–1980,”
http://www.bts.gov/programs/airline_information/air_carrier_traffic_statistics/airtraffic/annual/1954_1980.html
.

  
3
jumped from the cockpit:
“The Hijacking: ‘The Whole Thing Was Just Some Pathetic Cry for Help,’ ”
Evening Independent
(St. Petersburg, Fla.), Mar. 14, 1978.

  
4
his outstanding debts:
“Suspect to Face Air Piracy Charge,”
Bulletin
(Bend, Ore.), Aug. 24, 1979.

  
5
her mother’s lover:
“17-Year-Old Girl Held in Hijacking,”
Milwaukee Journal
, Dec. 22, 1978. The girl in question, Robin Oswald, was trying to liberate Garrett Brock Trapnell, who had been wounded by FBI agents while hijacking a TWA flight in January 1972.

  
6
afoul of the law:
“Disheartened Refugees Try Hijacking as a Way Home,”
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
, Aug. 19, 1980.

  
7
country at large:
“12th Hijacking Try and 9th Success,”
Deseret News
(Salt Lake City, Ut.), Aug. 5, 1983.

  
8
to face prosecution:
“Castro Returns Two Cuban Hijackers,”
Palm Beach Post
, Sept. 19, 1980.

  
9
the mentally unwell:
Laura Dugan et al., “Testing a Rational Choice Model of Airplane Hijackings,”
Criminology
43, no. 4 (2005), 1041, 1043.

10
in American airspace:
FAA, Office of Civil Aviation Security, “Criminal Acts Against Civil Aviation 2000,”
http://www.skyjack.co.il/pdf/Criminal_Acts_Against_Civil_Aviation_2000.pdf
.

11
instructional videos:
Cletus C. Coughlin et al., “Aviation Security and Terrorism: A Review of the Economic Issues,”
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Review
, Sept.–Oct. 2002, 9–24.

12
was just $12,000:
Paul W. Parformak, “Guarding America: Security Guards and U.S. Critical Infrastructure Protection,” Congressional Research Service, Nov. 12, 2004,
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/RL32670.pdf
.

13
in a military cemetery:
My thanks to Roger Holder, Joy Holder, and Rosemarie Wilson for sharing the memories included in this section. The Angela Davis quote comes from “Kathleen Cleaver and Angela Davis: Rekindling the Flame,”
Essence
, May 1996.

14
Western Airlines Flight 701:
Hannah Cooney, interview by author, Coos Historical and Maritime Museum, Apr. 2011. Patricia Kerkow declined to be interviewed for this book. For the record, this was her
one statement to me: “I have no intention of meeting with you or putting my family through that ever again.”

15
let alone her crime:
Author’s visit, May 2011.

16
swap in 1972:
Elizabeth Olson (formerly Newhouse), interview by author, May 2011.

17
seems to believe:
Paris embassy to U.S. secretary of state, Bern embassy, and Zurich consulate, May 11, 1978 (obtained through FOIA request).