The son of a man killed 38 years ago in the infamous FALN bombing of Fraunces Tavern in lower Manhattan says he’s incensed that Melissa Mark-Viverito — who lobbied for the parole of an imprisoned ringleader of the terrorist group in 2010 — has been elected City Council speaker.
Joe Connor, 47, a bank vice president, said it was “disgraceful” that Mark-Viverito supported a parole bid for FALN leader Oscar Lopez Rivera.
“I would like to ask her how she could possibly expect to have the second-most important position in our city, while advocating for a terrorist whose group attacked and murdered New Yorkers,” Connor said. Connor’s dad, Frank, was among four people killed in the 1975 lunchtime bombing by the Puerto Rican separatist group.
In 1981, the majority of the FALN terrorists were sentenced to 50- to 70-year prison terms. In 2010 Mark-Viverito asked her council colleagues to sign a petition supporting Rivera’s parole bid, describing him as a political prisoner.