Within 24 hours police had arrested Michael Stevens, a 53-year-old ex-con and boyfriend of Brenda Lazore, another of Eleanor Fowler’s daughters, along with a friend, 56-year-old Earl Figley. The motive, according to police, may have been nothing more than resentment. Authorities say Stevens was angry that the family didn’t approve of his relationship with Lazore; the triggering event may have been a family Christmas party he was asked to leave. Still, there is evidence that Stevens spent months planning revenge. According to a federal affidavit, Figley bought 55 pounds of dynamite and 50 blasting caps on Stevens’s behalf in Kentucky last June and helped him assemble the deadly packages. Both were charged with interstate transport of explosives in connection with maiming or killing.
More than a violent family feud, the New York bombings are a reminder that handguns aren’t the only cheap and plentiful lethal weaponry. The federal government monitors dynamite dealers but doesn’t run the kind of background checks on buyers that the Brady bill will require of gun purchasers next year. The carnage may prompt lawmakers to look for new ways of putting deadly explosives farther out of reach.
