Earl Krugel
| Earl Leslie Krugel | |
|---|---|
| Born | November 24, 1942 |
| Died | November 4, 2005 (aged 62) Federal Correctional Institution at Phoenix, Arizona |
| Cause of death | Murdered by another inmate |
| Occupation | Jewish Defense League activist |
| Criminal charge | Federal terrorism. Conspiracy to bomb up a mosque, the offices of US Congressman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), and the offices of the Muslim Public Affairs Council |
| Criminal penalty | 20 year prison sentence |
| Spouse(s) | Lola |
| Motive | Anti-Arab terrorism |
| Conviction(s) | Guilty plea |
Earl Leslie Krugel (November 24, 1942 – November 4, 2005) was the West Coast coordinator of the Jewish Defense League. In 2005, he was sentenced to prison on charges of terrorism after he confessed plotting, with the group's leader Irv Rubin, to blow up the office of Arab-American congressman Darrell Issa and the King Fahd mosque in Culver City, California. He was kept in protective custody for three years for the 2001 bomb plot. He was transferred to a medium security federal prison following his sentencing where he was then murdered three days later by a fellow inmate, who struck him in the head with a block of concrete.
At one time, Krugel worked as a dental assistant in the San Fernando Valley, California. He was active with the Jewish Defense League since its founding in 1968.
In November 2001, he was arrested at his home in California after receiving a delivery of gunpowder. Bomb components including pipes, end caps, detonators and gunpowder were confiscated along with multiple rifles and handguns. In December 2001 Krugel and Rubin were arraigned on conspiracy charges to send explosives to the Sherman Oaks, California office of U.S. congressman Darrell Issa, a Lebanese-American, and to bomb the King Fahd Mosque in Culver City, California. According to the affidavit in support of the charges, Krugel had stated to an FBI informant that "Arabs needed a wake-up call and the JDL needed to do something to one of their 'filthy mosques'. According to the San Francisco Chronicle the affidavit also "painted a picture of a tiny gang that sat around talking about what to blow up but generally shied away from blowing up people.
In 2003, the bombing charges were dropped and Krugel was allowed to plead guilty to reduced charges of conspiracy to violate civil rights, and to a weapons charge. U.S. District Court Judge Ronald S.W. Lew accepted the plea.. Part of the plea agreement demanded that Krugel reveal the names of all JDL activists involved in the 1985 bombing of Alex Odeh's office. The plea agreement was later retracted with details sealed to the public. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison in September 2005.
On November 4, 2005, at the Federal Correctional Institution in Phoenix, Arizona, Krugel was murdered by a member of the Aryan Brotherhood, who used a concrete block to strike his head. Krugel had been at the medium security prison for just three days.
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