Fugitive in $7-M US heist caught after 25 years

SAN JUAN—A fugitive from one of the biggest robberies in US history was arrested in Puerto Rico on Tuesday 25 years after a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Norberto Gonzalez Claudio, 65, was accused of taking part in the armed robbery of a Wells Fargo truck in Hartford, Connecticut in 1983, a heist that netted about $7 million.

The FBI special agent in San Juan, Luis Rivera Santana, said that Claudio had been arrested by the FBI and Puerto Rican police in the city of Cayey, and that he had offered no resistance.

“Presumably, he was hiding in Puerto Rico while he was a fugitive,” Santana said.

Claudio’s brother, Avelino, had previously been arrested and found guilty of transporting money from the robbery to Mexico.

Claudio is allegedly a member of the “Ejercito Popular Boricua-Los Macheteros” or the Machete Wielders,” a clandestine group fighting for Puerto Rican independence from the United States, and which is believed responsible for several bombings, armed robberies and murders, according to the FBI.

Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States with its own government, but Puerto Ricans may not vote in US presidential elections and they have a non-voting member of Congress.