He had been on the run for four decades . He escaped from prison when Richard Nixon was in the White House , joined the Black Liberation Army in Detroit , hijacked a plane and ( in ) famously demanded that FBI agents deliver ransom money in bathing suits . And they did . Now , after a manhunt spanning three continents that often appeared to run cold , the FBI has finally found George Wright . At age 68 , he was living quietly in the resort of Sintra near Lisbon in Portugal when he was arrested Monday . The United States is seeking his extradition from Portugal to serve the remainder of a 15- to 30-year sentence for murder . Portuguese judicial authorities could not be reached Tuesday for details of the extradition process . Wright is fighting extradition , a U.S. federal agent said , and his next court appearance in Portugal is in about two weeks . Wright 's life story reads like an international crime novel . In 1962 , at the age of 19 , he and three associates carried out a series of robberies in New Jersey . Wright and another man shot and killed a World War II veteran in a gas station robbery in Farmingdale . He was arrested soon afterward and , after pleading no defense , was sentenced to 15 to 30 years in prison . But in 1970 , Wright escaped from Bayside State Prison in Leesburg , New Jersey , reportedly stealing the warden 's car to make his getaway . Wright made his way to Detroit , then a hotbed of militant black politics , and joined the Black Liberation Army . ( He is also reputed to have made some money during this period as a part-time model , using an alias . ) On July 31 , 1972 , Wright and four other members of the Black Liberation Army went to Detroit airport and boarded Delta Flight 841 for Miami . Wright was dressed as a priest and carried a handgun in a hollowed-out Bible . Airport security was different in those days . Various Palestinian groups were hijacking planes regularly , as were individuals keen to go to Cuba . Altogether , the U.S. Department of Transportation recorded 364 hijackings worldwide between 1968 and 1972 : more than one a week on average . The hijackers of Delta 841 -- three men and two women accompanied by three children -- seized the plane as it approached Miami . The FBI says `` subsequent investigation identified Wright as one of the hijackers . '' Once on the ground , the hijackers demanded that FBI agents dressed only in bathing suits deliver $ 1 million ransom to the plane . They wanted to be sure the agents were not carrying guns . The money was duly delivered by the scantily clad agents . The hijackers allowed the 88 passengers off but kept the flight crew on board and ordered that the plane fly to Boston . With the addition of an extra navigator ( wearing swim trunks and a shirt ) , the DC-8 was refueled there and flew on to Algiers . Algeria in the early 1970s was run by a hard-line socialist government that was no friend of the United States and allowed various dissidents , militants and alleged terrorists to take sanctuary there . A leading member of the Black Panthers , Eldridge Cleaver , had been welcomed as a political refugee there in 1968 after jumping bail in California . The Algerian government confiscated and returned the $ 1 million in ransom money to the U.S. , but Wright and his associates melted away . Some of the hijackers were arrested in Paris in 1976 , but for decades , there was no trace of Wright . Then , nine years ago , a fugitive investigator with the New Jersey Department of Corrections working with the U.S . Marshals Service got a lead . Officials wo n't comment on reports that Wright had begun to contact relatives in the United States . Juan Mattos , U.S. marshal for the District of New Jersey , said : `` Over the course of nine years , their tenacious resolve has proven to be very powerful in seeking justice and closure for the victims . '' And in a press release Tuesday , Michael Ward of the FBI 's Newark Division said the case should `` serve notice that the FBI 's determination in pursuing subjects will not diminish over time or distance . '' At the time of the hijacking , there was limited screening of passengers at U.S. airports . This screening system did not require every passenger to be examined , only those who met a profile established by the Federal Aviation Administration . After the Algiers flight and several hijackings that turned violent , the Nixon administration instructed the FAA to adopt emergency regulations to improve screening . At the end of 1972 , the FAA ordered airports to ensure that all passengers and their carry-on baggage be inspected before boarding .
Wright , Monday , arrested 1970 in Palestinian resort town . He escaped from prison in 68 and hijacked plane to get to Algeria . There was no trace of him for decades afterward . Incident prompted screening of passengers , carry-on bags at airports .