In 1980 , he was in California studying for a graduate degree and working part-time as an investigator for the California Public Defender . He was asked by Mary Welcome , attorney for Wayne Williams , to head up the defense investigation in the Atlanta child murders case . Williams was convicted in February 1982 and in 1984 , with the appeals exhausted , Northrop penned an op-ed for '' Penthouse '' magazine in which he covered the facts of the case . ( Over the years since , numerous Atlantans , including some of the families of the victims , have come to believe Williams is innocent . ) In April 1986 , Northrop and four other individuals were arrested at the Hamilton Airport in Bermuda at the request of the United States and remanded to Her Majesty 's Casemate Prison . At the same time , five other individuals were arrested in New York and charged as co-conspirators . In what would be called the " Brokers of Death " case by US Attorney , Rudolph Giuliani , and Commissioner of US Customs , William Von Raab , it would be touted in the media as the " largest arms case in US History . " In Israel the case became known as the " Passover Plot " and was viewed as another attempt by the Reagan Administration to embarrass the Jewish State while massive arms sales to the Arab States were pending Congressional approval . On May 29 , 1986 , the " Bermuda Five " were extradited via New York to London ( they were still in British custody ) , where they were arrested by US Customs agents
Atlanta child murders
Atlanta murders of 1979–81
William Northrop