Jewish activist who plotted to bomb LA mosque murdered in prison

07 November 2005

November 07, 2005

An activist of the Jewish Defense League imprisoned for plotting to bomb a California mosque and the office of a Lebanese-American congressman has been killed in jail. Earl Krugel, 62, was attacked at a federal prison in Phoenix, Arizona, on Friday. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has launched a murder inquiry. Krugel's wife, Lola, said the FBI told her another inmate had struck her husband on the head from behind with a cement block. "Earl never saw it happening," she told the "Associated Press" news agency. "He was exercising." Krugel was sentenced to 20 years in September after admitting the plot charges. He had been at the prison for only three days. The FBI arrested Krugel and another leader of the Jewish Defense League, Irv Rubin, in Los Angeles in 2001. The former dental assistant, was charged with conspiring to bomb the King Fahd Mosque in Culver City, Los Angeles, and a field office of the Republican congressman Darrell Issa. Bomb-making equipment was found at Krugel's home.