In November 2001 the JDL's leader Irv Rubin and its West Coast co-ordinator Earl Krugel were arrested as part of a sting operation after an FBI informant named Danny Gillis delivered explosives to Krugel's home in Los Angeles.[1][2] Bomb components including pipes, end caps, detonators and gunpowder were confiscated along with multiple rifles and handguns.[3][4] In December 2001 Krugel and Rubin were arraigned on conspiracy charges to send explosives to the Sherman Oaks, California office of U.S. congressman Darrell Issa, a Lebanese-American, and to bomb the King Fahd Mosque in Culver City, California.[4] According to the affidavit in support of the charges, Krugel had stated to an FBI informant that "Arabs needed a wake-up call and the JDL needed to do something to one of their 'filthy mosques'.[4] According to the San Francisco Chronicle the affidavit also "painted a picture of a tiny gang that sat around talking about what to blow up but generally shied away from blowing up people.[4]
In 2003 the bombing charges were dropped and Krugel was allowed to plead guilty to reduced charges of conspiracy to violate civil rights, and to a weapons charge.[3][5] U.S. District Court Judge Ronald S.W. Lew accepted the plea.[citation needed]. Part of the plea agreement demanded that Krugel reveal the names of all JDL activists involved in the 1985 bombing of Alex Odeh's office.[citation needed] The plea agreement was later retracted with details sealed to the public.[5] He was sentenced to 20 years in prison in September 2005,[3][5] and three days later he was murdered by another inmate, who struck him in the head with a concrete block.[6]
