The Miami News, January 25, 1968, "Exiles Can't Carry Wars to Our City, Gerstein Says" by Ian Glass.

State Attorney Richard Gerstein said today of the bombing of the three Cuban businesses: "These militant anti-Castro organizations are going to have to learn that if they are going live here, they cannot conduct their inter-fraternity wars in our streets. Stringent steps are going to have to be taken to apprehend and prosecute."

Gerstein said that, if the violence continues, law enforcement agencies will have to infiltrate the exile groups. "That is the only way to weed out the guilty," he said.

Ironically, Gerstein this morning had appeared on a panel in the courthouse which had discussed the upsurge of violence and ways to combat crime. The panel was sponsored by the Florida State Committee on Law Enforcement.

Also on the panel was Miami Police Chief Walter Headly, who confessed that, at that time, he had no knowledge of the bombings, and said he was surprised at the Cuban violence.

"So far, the refugees' crime record has been lower generally than other segments of the population. Most complaints we have about them are mostly irritation: they move several families into a house and the neighbors get mad. They play their radios loud and congregate in the street, things like that."

Headley, who recently stepped up the war on crime here with additional dog patrols, would not comment on what plans he had for curbing Cuban violence until he knew all the facts of the bombings.

Miami Mayor Stephen P. Clark termed the incidents "most unfortunate. This is no way to conduct any type of movement in our community. Violence like this in future will be met in an appropriate manner by our police agencies."

The bombings were loudly denounced by the city's Negro leaders, who pointed out ironically that most violence in the streets is attributed to Negroes.

Typical reaction was that of City Commissioner M. Athalie Range, who said: "It's the Cubans you're going to have to watch in future for violence. Negroes talk a lot but they don't march around with protest signs - and they don't resort to bombings."

The Rev. Theodore Gibson said "I can understand the anguish of Cubans and their feelings towards Castro, but they do not have the right to take the law into their own hands.

"I hope these people recognize that incidents like these do not help their cause."

Copyright (c) 1968 The Miami News