Shattered Lives: Overcoming the Fraunces Tavern Terror

by Jeff Ingber, Joe Connor

On January 24, 1975, six young businessmen were enjoying lunch in lower Manhattan's historic Fraunces Tavern when a bomb placed inside the restaurant exploded, tearing through the building. It had been planted by a group claiming support for Puerto Rican independence known as the "FALN," the most active domestic terrorist organization in American history. Among those businessmen were two sons of immigrants and only children-Frank Connor, with a wife and two young boys, and Alex Berger, whose wife was six months pregnant. Both were murdered, along with two other men, while dozens were injured, many horrifically. Shattered Lives, co-authored by Jeff Ingber and Joe Connor, Frank Connor's son, chronicles the origins of the Puerto Rican independence movement, its transformation into a Cuban-led Marxist cause, the FALN's decade-long reign of murder and destruction that was a precursor to future domestic terrorism, the hunt for the perpetrators by a group of dedicated FBI agents, the inexplicable escape from prison by the FALN's chief bombmaker who eventually received asylum in Cuba, and the political maneuvering that led to Presidents Clinton and Obama granting clemency to FALN members. Through extensive, exclusive interviews with survivors and family, Shattered Lives describes the devastating impact of the Fraunces Tavern bombing on the Connor and Berger families and its many other victims, including NYPD officers, uniting them in their struggle to move forward while seeking justice for their loved ones.

Genres: Nonfiction

424 pages, Paperback

Published March 28, 2018

About the author

Jeff Ingber is a former financial industry executive and current consultant. His writings include novels, screenplays, short stories, and articles. Jeff's first screenplay was the basis for the 2019 film "Crypto" starring Kurt Russell and Alexis Bledel. A previous novel, "Shattered Lives," was made into a documentary film by Mactavish Pictures. A graduate of Queens College and NYU Law School, Jeff lives in New Jersey with his wife.

Reviews

[Glen]

I won this book in a goodreads drawing.

An examination of a terrorist incident, and the man convicted of it. More than a bit Left leaning.

[Joe Schilp]

This is a very important book as it describes why Americans must have continued vigilance to protect our freedom. Almost all acts of terrorism in the last 100 years are an attempt by partially deranged and hateful people to enslave Americans under the rule of totalitarianism of some form - socialism, communism, extreme islamism. This book connects the dots between communist Cuba and the communist FALN terrorists of Puerto Rican descent who detonated scores of bombs, killing a half dozen while maiming hundreds and causing millions in property damage in the 1970s and 80s.

Of course, these terrorists were also tight with the Weather Underground terrorists of the same era; the two groups worked together to shepherd cop killers and bombers to the safe-haven provided by Fidel Castro in Cuba, a nation with whom we should have no diplomatic ties until every single criminal escaping justice is returned. And make no mistake, much of the Democrat party have been overtaken by sympathizers of these terrorists as each of the last 3 Democrat presidents have pardoned members of the FALN terrorist network and the Weather Underground. Indeed, many Democrats have celebrated the terrorists, as sickening as it is to believe, it's all true.

But this book does more than that, bringing it to a personal level by co-author Joe Conner, whose father was killed by FALN bombers at Fraunces Tavern and whose cousin was killed on 9/11. Joe's a regular guy - could be your neighbor... or even you - who was forced to live without his father from childhood while Democrat politicians declare that these terrorists should be released because their own children have lived while their terrorist fathers were incarcerated.

It's a well-written and captivating read that I polished off in a day. You really should read this book!

[Dayna]

The eponymous shattered lives leads us to a great wealth of detailed information about the FALN & our not always appropriately named Justice System. It also make a good case for eliminating presidential pardons & leaving them to the appeals courts, for there are no checks & balances when the president signs his decree. This an important & powerful book. I initially was turned off by the writing style (dangling or redundant prepositions, etc) but that coincided with the more personal sections. Once it got to the historical context, I was too engrossed with the content to notice anything else. I received a Kindle edition from a Goodreads giveaway.