FBI Foils RNC Bomb Plot

(Minneapolis, Minnesota) A 23-year-old Michigan man, Matthew Bradley DePalma, was arrested at a residence in south Minneapolis last Sunday for allegedly manufacturing and possessing Molotov cocktails he intended to use at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul.

According to the FBI, last July DePalma attended the CrimethInc Convergence, an anarchists gathering held annually, in Wisconsin and was overheard to say that he planned on making bombs to blow up the RNC.

He also discussed making Molotov cocktails with a thick flammable liquid to replace the customary gasoline. DePalma said it would "stick to a target and burn longer and hotter."

DePalma's conversations, recorded on Aug. 20, described a plan to place a bomb near the Xcel Center during the RNC in an effort to disrupt the convention. The plan involved entering the tunnels near the center and using either Molotov cocktails or a chemical bomb to destroy electrical cables and cause a power outage.

DePalma, the affidavit states, also described a related plan to use napalm-filled Molotov cocktails on the streets against police officers stating, "I will light one of those pigs on fire."

According to an FBI affidavit, DePalma went to the Hennepin County Library on Aug. 18 and researched explosives devices. On Aug. 21-22, he purchased supplies and manufactured two jugs of a napalm-like flammable gelatin. On Aug. 25, DePalma went to a remote rural location to assemble and test chemical bombs and Molotov cocktails.

On Aug. 30, DePalma was arrested by the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force and charged with illegal possession of Molotov cocktails. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for later today.