Posted on 08/27/2004 8:46:09 PM PDT by Royal Guardsman
NYC police on watch for Port courthouse bomber By Andy Smith and Stephanie Akin Staff writers
New York City police are targeting a man who bombed Newburyport Superior Court 28 years ago, saying he poses a threat to next week's Republican National Convention.
But an anti-war activist group has accused police of trying to "smear" their reputation by linking the group with the convicted radical who terrorized New England with a series of bombings in the 1970s.
New York City police say Richard J. Picariello, 55, is among 50 activists whose criminal histories will earn them extra attention next week. In 1977, Picariello was sentenced to 10 to 15 years in federal prison for his role in 13 bombings carried out in the summer of 1976. Picariello and his underground militant group targeted the Newburyport Superior Courthouse on Bartlet Mall, a post office in Seabrook, a prop-jet airliner at Logan Airport and a National Guard Armory truck in Dorchester. No one was killed in the bombings.
Picariello, formerly of Middleton and a graduate of Masconomet High School in Topsfield, was released from federal prison on Dec. 19, 1984.
Picariello has been identified by police as a member of ANSWER (Act Now to Stop the War and End Racism). ANSWER spokesman Bill Hackwell said yesterday he did not know whether Picariello will participate in the group's protests at next week's Republican National Convention in New York City.
Hackwell said Picariello's crimes are over 25 years old, and ANSWER does not "check demonstrators' I.D.'s."
"It's very sleazy that the Bush administration, police and corporate media are taking away the focus from what's happening in this country," he said. "We're outraged at this administration and we plan to demonstrate in a peaceful, organized way. But they're trying to set up a climate of fear and intimidation and project us as violent anarchists."
Since being released from prison, Picariello has tempered his methods of political protest. But brushes with the law have continued, as recently as last March. Suffolk County Superior Court spokesman David Procopio said yesterday Picariello is due in court Sept. 20 for status hearings in two misdemeanor cases.
Procopio said Picariello was arrested in March and charged with repeatedly putting political stickers on a Boston business near the Park Street MBTA stop. Picariello allegedly put at least 30 stickers on the business, replacing them one-by-one as the business owner removed them from his storefront window.
Later that month, Picariello was charged with disorderly conduct while protesting President George W. Bush's fund-raising appearance at the Park Plaza hotel. Procopio said Picariello allegedly became "belligerent and hostile toward police" after repeatedly refusing to step back from barriers for Bush's motorcade.
Picariello's last known address, according to Procopio, is at the New England Shelter for Homeless Veterans on 17 Court St. in Boston.
Established in the wake of 9/11, the international group ANSWER has local affiliations in Boston and Springfield. Hackwell said the group's primary cause is opposition to the Bush administration's military and economic policies, particularly in Iraq, Palestine and Haiti.
Earlier this week, a U.S. District Court upheld the city's denial of a request from ANSWER to stage a rally tomorrow in Central Park. The city claimed an expected crowd of 75,000 would cause too much damage to the lawn.
Hackwell said since demonstrators can't be prevented from going to the park on their own, ANSWER is teaching them what type of signs, noisemakers and displays are allowed on the Great Lawn. Although he expects an orderly demonstration, Hackwell said the city has created a contentious environment for protesters.
"The city has painted people into a corner," he said. "If anything happens, it's the city's fault. We did everything they asked in terms of the permitting process well in advance."
In 1971, Picariello pled guilty in Lawrence Superior Court to holding up and robbing three liquor stores in Lynnfield and Peabody. He received a suspended sentence and was placed on probation. But a bank robbery conviction a year later landed him in Thomaston State Prison in Maine.
There, Picariello met Joseph Aceto and Everett Carlson, both from Portland, Maine. The three became part of a militant prison reform group called SCAR (Statewide Correctional Alliance for Reform). They later collaborated on the string of bombings, assisted by Edward Gullion of Dorchester, a friend of Picariello.
Police said the group's actions were intended as revenge for abuses Picariello and his co-conspirators claimed to have suffered in prison. According to published reports, prison guards beat Picariello with an ax handle in 1974. He and another prisoner were later awarded $1 in damages for suffering cruel and unusual punishment.
The bombings began in May 1976 with a control room at Central Maine Power Co. in Augusta, Maine. Eyewitnesses helped police make a composite sketch that was eventually matched to a picture of Picariello.
On the weekend of the Fourth of July bicentennial, the group executed a three-day bombing spree that claimed a commercial aircraft, a post office and a National Guard truck, and caused $375,000 of damage to the Newburyport Superior Courthouse.
During that summer, a group that would be linked to the foursome also set off bombs at Suffolk County Courthouse in Boston and Middlesex County Superior Courthouse in Lowell.
Plans to bomb the Boston A&P headquarters and kidnap two Polaroid executives were never carried out.
Police suspected the group planned to blow up the Topsfield state police station. That operation was botched when police spotted Aceto dropping off Picariello and another man in front of the building. Aceto sped off at 100 miles per hour and crashed the car into a tree. Police arrested him and found 22 sticks of dynamite in the car.
Picariello led authorities on a three-month manhunt before being arrested in Fall River. One of four men involved in the bombings, he was placed on the FBI's Most Wanted list and was the last suspect to be arrested.
During the group's trial, Aceto testified against the other three men. As a result, he only served two years and eight months in prison. Picariello was sentenced to serve 10 to 15 years; Guillon was sentenced to 8 to 15 years; and Carlson received 7 to 10 years. Members of the group testified that they financed their activities by robbing banks.
GOOGLE Search Term: "Richard Picariello"
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Richard+Picariello%22&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&filter=0
My wife is a 1970 grad of Newburyport HS.
Jack
Thanks for that info.
If the shoe fits ....
Just a new name for an old bunch. They shuffled the chairs a bit and put on a new coat of the same Red paint is all.
>>>>New York City police are targeting a man who bombed Newburyport Superior Court 28 years ago, saying he poses a threat to next week's Republican National Convention.<<<<
Ping
With a rap sheet like that, the SOB should still be in jail.
Picariello, formerly of Middleton and a graduate of Masconomet High School in Topsfield, was released from federal prison on Dec. 19, 1984
New math?
Whats the deal?
10 to 15, out in 7?
Quite true. Ramsey's been around for a long time and someone was handling him who goes back even further.
Richard J. Picariello was my first arrest as a police officer.
I was a rookie cop back in Nov 1970 and he was arrested for burglary in Wakefield Mass.
From there he did the other crimes in Lynnfield and elsewhere and then fled to Maine and as they say the rest is “history”....
bump
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