Car Bombs Are Nothing New

avatar
(Edited)

100 years ago today, a horse-drawn wagon filled with 100 pounds of dynamite and 500 pounds of cast iron window sash weights used as shrapnel exploded in Manhattan’s financial district, killing 40 people and wounding several hundred.

544DC0AFCA0C4A328978DB8F1953644D.jpeg

Aftermath of the bombing (public domain photo).

The Wall Street bombing case has never been officially solved. Blame was cast at various groups: Russian Bolsheviks, American communists, Wobblies, Italian anarchists. Arrests were made of the usual suspects but all were released. The consensus now among historians is that Mario Buda was probably the bomber. Soon after the attack he fled to Italy. From 1927-1932 he was imprisoned by Mussolini’s regime. Later, French Communists claimed he was working for Mussolini’s fascist secret police. Buda lived fairly quietly until 1963. Did the U.S. ever seek his extradition or did prosecutors not think they had enough evidence?

September 16 has another grizzly reputation: the 2007 Nisour Square Massacre when Blackwater mercenaries opened fire, killing 17 civilians in Baghdad.



0
0
0.000
1 comments
avatar

Not comforting as I send my kids to the first day of school in the middle of a pandemic!! ;)

0
0
0.000