2 Ex-Members of JDL Subpoenaed in ’80 Bomb Death

Searching for a motive for the 1980 bombing death of a Manhattan Beach woman, a federal grand jury in Los Angeles has subpoenaed two former members of the Jewish Defense League to testify in its investigation into the unsolved murder, JDL officials said Friday.

In addition, four others--including the heads of the JDL’s chapters in Los Angeles and Orange counties--were subpoenaed to supply photographs, fingerprints and palm prints to the federal panel looking into the death of Patricia Wilkerson on July 17, 1980.

Several of those subpoenaed called the grand jury’s action harassment.

“I wasn’t even a JDL member at the time of this incident,” said Louise Solomon, 31, who said she joined the JDL for a year, beginning in November, 1980. “The only reason why they did this is because I am Jewish and I once belonged to the JDL.”

One federal official, who asked not to be identified, said, “There’s no harassment here. We’re just trying to get to the bottom of this case.”

Summoned to testify before the panel was one-time JDL official Barry Krugel, 45, and Steve Smason, also a former JDL official.

Others Identified

Besides Solomon, three others ordered to be photographed and fingerprinted were Barry Krugel’s wife, Leah; Barry Krugel’s twin brother, Earl Krugel, chairman of JDL’s Los Angeles County chapter, and Bruce Derflinger, head of the JDL’s Orange County chapter.

The subpoenas, issued in recent weeks, come at a time when federal authorities have been close-mouthed about the motive for mailing a bomb to the Prowest Computer Corp., where Wilkerson, a secretary, was killed when she plugged the device into an outlet.

A woman with dual U.S.-Israeli citizenship, Rochelle Ida Manning, 48, was arrested upon her arrival at Los Angeles International Airport last month in connection with the bombing. Along with her 36-year-old husband, Robert Steven Manning, she was indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury on charges of mailing an explosive with intent to kill and aiding and abetting.

Robert Manning, who also holds dual U.S.-Israeli citizenship, is a fugitive in Israel, authorities said.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Nancy Wieben Stock, who will prosecute the Manhattan Beach bombing, has said that Rochelle Manning’s fingerprints were found on a letter accompanying the bomb. Her husband’s fingerprints were found on the package in which the device arrived, she said.

The Mannings have had links to the JDL in this country and are ardent followers of Jewish militant Meir Kahane, who is head of Israel’s anti-Arab Kach party, according to federal authorities.

FBI officials said the Mannings are suspects, along with three other Kahane followers in Israel, in the 1985 bombing death in Santa Ana of Alex M. Odeh, a top official of the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee in Southern California.

Several of those subpoenaed by the grand jury said federal authorities were on a “fishing expedition” to smoke out evidence on the Odeh murder.

Solomon, who is fighting the subpoena, said the postal inspector who served her did not initially tell her the purpose of the grand jury order. “He then handed me an article from The Times about the Mannings and the Odeh case,” she said. “I almost laughed.”

The JDL’s Derflinger, 38, also said the agents were evasive about what they were investigating. “I feel they are looking into Odeh. They’re trying to pressure Bob (Manning) to come back (from Israel). But he’d be crazy to come back.”

Although Robert Manning was indicted in the 1980 case, U.S. authorities have not asked for his extradition from Israel. His wife remains in custody at the Sybil Brand Institute.

Manning in Seclusion

Manning has gone into seclusion at his home in Kiryat Arba, known as perhaps the most militant of the 118 Jewish settlements in the Occupied West Bank. He refuses to talk to reporters.

Spokesmen for the Israeli army and police said they have had no reports of trouble involving Manning since he first moved to Israel in 1973, the same year he renounced his JDL affiliation after being convicted in the bombing of the Hollywood home of an Arab activist.