NEW ORLEANS (AP) – A federal grand jury indicted two businessmen Thursday on charges of financing a mercenary group’s aborted attempt to overthrow the island government of Dominica.

L.E. Matthews of Florence, Miss., and James C. White of Longview, Texas, were charged with conspiracy and violation of the federal Neutrality Act.

THE INDICTMENTS were issued just hours after a Ku Klux Klan leader and two others with Klan connections – all granted immunity from prosecution – testified before the grand jury.

Black and Hawkins face three-year prison terms after a jury convicted them for participating in a 10-man mercenary band arrested April 27 at a marina near New Orleans.

THE SEVEN other would-be soldiers of fortune, including ringleader Michael Perdue of Houston, pleaded guilty in a plea bargain arrangement.  Most of them also received three-year prison sentences.
 
Source unknown.  Scan of clipping found online without details.
 

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