PRISON AWAITS GUN-RUNNERS TERPIL KORKALA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP04-00312R001001820025-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 15, 2009
• Sequence Number: 25
• Publication Date: June 9, 1981
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2009/01/15: CIA-RDP04-00312RO01001820025-5
ARTICLE APPEARED THE WASHINGTON STAR
ON PAGE__. Z.,_ - 9 June 1981
prison Awaits
Gun-Runners
Terpil, Korha a
NEW YORK' (AP) - Two fugitive
American gun-runners with exten-
sive ties to international terrorists
`were sentenced in absentia to a
-maximum of 17 and two-thirds to-53
years in prison yesterday by a judge 1
who said the defendants "trade in
death and destruction." =
Their clients were said to have in.
eluded Idi Amin, ousted dictator of
_;.
Uganda.
"They have-no allegiance to'any
flag; they prosper- in a world at war.
wherever terrorism and torture are,
they are;' Justice Thomas Galligan
said in Manhattan's state Supreme
Court .'about Frank .Terpil and
George Gregary Korkala; who failed
to appear for their trial on charges
of selling 10,000 machine guns::..:
Terpil, 41, a former CIA agent, and
Korkala, 40. a New- Jersey business-
man, were convicted May 15 of sell-
ing the. guns-to two undercover de-
tectives posing as Latin American 1
terrorists.
Their trial ' began last September
but Terpil and Korkala'. jumped
$100,000? bail each- and prosecutors
said they fled the country. i ~, ' .
The defendants also were convict-
ed of selling 10 million rounds of am,
munition, a bomb, firearm silencers
and four other guns..:=:..
The firearms were sold here in No-
vember and December 1979 during
negotiations in which the defen-
dants were said to have displayed a
wide variety of weapons, including
poisons intended for assassinations.
- Terpil and Korkala were arrested
Dec. 22,1979. in the New York Hilton
Hotel after receiving a S56,000 down
payment on a S2 million contract to
purchase the machine guns.
In seeking.' the maximum sen-
tence.- Assistant District Attorney
Matthew Crosson said,"It was hard
to believe,.. two men could rise to
the level of perversity to make a liv-
ing out of killing human being_; to
make a mechanism of death..,They
have contributed'to instability and
to chaos throughout the world."
. The prosecutor said Terpil and
Korkala "will be apprehended" and
will serve their sentences. - --
-Despite - the charge. of ' bail-
jumping, defense lawyers said their
absence was involuntary, but gave
no public explanation of the circum-
- stances.. :-,..
- "These defendants are in, all re-
spects more violent, their conduct is
far more egregious than most any
'other defendants before this court,"
the judge said in imposing the maxi-
mum sentence.
Under the terms, the defendants
are not eligible to apply for parole
'until they have served 17.and two-
thirds years.
Approved For Release 2009/01/15: CIA-RDP04-00312RO01001820025-5