Category Archives: Terrorism

Information, research, studies, reports, analysis, and news related to terrorism.

FBI: Racketeering and Arson Charges Filed Against Members of Ironworkers Union – Places of Worship Among Arson Targets

by Michael D. Robbins
Director, Public Safety Project, PublicSafetyProject.org

Labor unions have a long history of violent crime in the U.S., including racketeering, harassment, intimidation, extortion, sabotage, arson, assault, murder, mass-murder, domestic terrorism, and more. This legacy of union thuggery continues to this day for many labor unions, and the guilty often go unpunished and are allowed to continue their anti-social criminal behavior.

Although some news reporters dubbed the O. J. Simpson double-murder trial as “the trial of the century”, another far more significant though shorter trial was given that label early in the twentieth century.

The McNamara brothers, James B. McNamara and John J. McNamara, were active in the International Association of Bridge and Structural Iron Workers, a labor union headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. The union organized and represented workers in the construction industry, and was particularly active on the West Coast. Los Angeles Times publisher Harrison Gray Otis used his newspaper to accuse the union of being responsible for the dynamiting of construction sites that used non-union labor.

On October 1, 1910, in an act of domestic terrorism and mass-murder, a bomb exploded in the Los Angeles Times downtown printing plant building, murdering 20 people and causing considerable damage to the building. Soon after that, there was another bombing at the Llewellyn Iron Works in Los Angeles.

Evidence was found linking the two McNamara brothers to these bombings, and they were put on trial. The trial began on December 1, 1911. James B. McNamara ultimately admitted to bombing the Times building, and John J. McNamara confessed to dynamiting the Llewellyn Iron Works. On December 5, 1911, Judge Walter Bordwell sentenced James McNamara to life in prison, and John McNamara to 15 years in prison.


In a more recent case of union thuggery and terrorism, an indictment was unsealed on February 18, 2014 and arrests were made in a case charging 10 members of the Ironworkers Local 401 union with allegedly participating in a conspiracy to commit criminal acts of extortion, arson, destruction of property, and assault in order to force construction contractors to hire union ironworkers.

“The strong-arm tactics we have seen in this case are outrageous and brazen,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Edward J. Hanko, adding that “violence, intimidation, arson, and sabotage are crimes which won’t be tolerated. This investigation has been wide-ranging, but it is far from over. Now that this indictment has been unsealed, we expect to hear from more victims and will aggressively pursue all other leads we receive.”

If convicted of all charges, four of the 10 defendants each face a mandatory minimum term of 35 years in prison up to a statutory maximum of 130 years.

The indictment charges RICO conspiracy, violent crime in aid of racketeering, three counts of arson, two counts of use of fire to commit a felony, and conspiracy to commit arson. RICO refers to 18 U.S. Code Chapter 96Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations.

Eight of the 10 individuals named in the indictment are charged with conspiring to use Ironworkers Local 401 as an enterprise to commit criminal acts. The indictment details incidents in which the defendants threatened or assaulted contractors or their employees and damaged construction equipment and job sites as part of a concerted effort to force contractors to hire and pay Local 401 workers, even when those workers performed no function. Among the criminal acts set forth in the indictment is the December 2012 arson of a Quaker Meetinghouse under construction in Philadelphia. … Continue reading

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UPDATE: Arab Islamic Terrorism in Israel, by Michael D. Robbins


Aerial photo of the World Trade Center collapsing after the 9-11-2001 Islamic Terrorist Attack in New York City: Israel suffered the equivalent of twenty-three September 11, 2001 World Trade Center Arab Islamic terrorist attacks in the 4.8 year period from September 27, 2000 to July 23, 2005, in terms of Arab Islamic terrorism deaths in Israel scaled up from Israel's Jewish population to the U.S. population. Photo source unknown.

Aerial photo of the World Trade Center
collapsing after the 9-11-2001
Islamic Terrorist Attack in New York City.
Photo source unknown.

Israel suffered the equivalent of twenty-three September 11, 2001 World Trade Center Arab Islamic terrorist attacks in the 4.8 year period from September 27, 2000 to July 23, 2005, in terms of Arab Islamic terrorism deaths in Israel scaled up from Israel’s Jewish population to the U.S. population.” – Michael D. Robbins, Director of the Public Safety Project


Arab Islamic Terrorism in Israel

Major Arab Islamic “Palestinian” terrorist attacks from September 27, 2000 to July 23, 2005

General Information and Statistics

by Michael D. Robbins

August 4, 2005

This analysis of Arab Islamic terrorism in Israel has been updated using more complete and current data from the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), which indicates that 1,073 people have been murdered by Arab Islamic terrorism since September 2000.

Thus, Israel suffered the equivalent of twenty-three September 11, 2001 World Trade Center Arab Islamic terrorist attacks in the 4.8 year period from September 27, 2000 to July 23, 2005, in terms of Arab Islamic terrorism deaths in Israel scaled up from Israel’s Jewish population to the U.S. population.

The following data includes woundings but covers a shorter period. Between September 29, 2000 and April 1, 2005, Magen David Adom treated a total of 7,253 casualties as follows:
953 killed, 596 severely injured, 881 moderately and 4,823 lightly injured, among them 11 MDA staff members. (Israel Defense Forces casualties treated by IDF medical personnel are not included in these figures.)

Woundings include arms and legs blow off, blindings, and shrapnel wounds due to nails packed with the bombs to maximize the deaths and woundings.

Using these more recent figures, extrapolating the woundings based on the two figures for murders by multiplying by (1,073 / 953), and multiplying by 60 to scale by the ratio of U.S. population to Israel’s Jewish population, results in the following Arab Islamic terrorist murders and woundings in the U.S.: … Continue reading

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Arab Islamic Terrorism in Israel, by Michael D. Robbins


Aerial photo of the World Trade Center collapsing after the 9-11-2001 Islamic Terrorist Attack in New York City: Israel suffered the equivalent of 13.8 Sept. 11 World Trade Center Arab Islamic terrorist attacks between September 2000 and February 25, 2004, in terms of Arab Islamic terrorism deaths in Israel scaled up from Israel's Jewish population to the U.S. population. Photo source unknown.

Aerial photo of the World Trade Center
collapsing after the 9-11-2001
Islamic Terrorist Attack in New York City.
Photo source unknown.

Israel suffered the equivalent of 13.8 Sept. 11 World Trade Center Arab Islamic terrorist attacks between September 2000 and February 25, 2004, in terms of Arab Islamic terrorism deaths in Israel scaled up from Israel’s Jewish population to the U.S. population.” – Michael D. Robbins, Director of the Public Safety Project


Arab Islamic Terrorism in Israel

Major Arab Islamic “Palestinian” terrorist attacks from September 2000 through February 25, 2004

General Information and Statistics

by Michael D. Robbins

August 2, 2005

I have analyzed Arab Islamic terrorist attack data from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) official website. The total casualties in this data, which covers only September 2000 through February 25, 2004, is 547 Arab Islamic terrorist murders and approximately 2,832 Arab Islamic terrorist woundings in Israel.

If you multiply by 60, to scale by the ratio of U.S. population to Israel’s Jewish population, this would reflect the following Arab Islamic terrorist murders and woundings in the U.S.: … Continue reading

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U.S. Domestic Terrorism – Labor Union Bombings and Mass-Murders in the early 1900’s

by Michael D. Robbins
Director, Public Safety Project, PublicSafetyProject.org

Eighty-seven labor union bombings of non-unionized construction projects and businesses were recorded between 1906 and 1911. The Los Angeles Times and its owner and publisher, Harrison Gray Otis, were outspoken opponents of the labor movement and the closed shop. The Los Angeles Times downtown plant was bombed early in the morning of October 1, 1910, murdering 20 people. On the same day, a bomb exploded just outside a bedroom window at Otis’s home. Another bomb consisting of 15 sticks of dynamite was planted at the house of F. J. Zeehandelaar, the secretary of the Merchants and Manufacturers Association (M&M), but did not go off.

Labor union leaders denied that these bombings were union related, even while the union headquarters contained “100 pounds of dynamite, several yards of fuse and twelve clocks similar to those with which bombs are discharged.” … Continue reading

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