Donald Branch, key figure in a plot to kill a number of leading Miami Jewish personalities, was given a 20-year prison term today to add to two previous terms totaling 12 years in trials arising from the plot.
Branch pleaded guilty last Friday to the bombing of the home of Don Shoemaker, editor of the Miami Herald. The bombing place a month and a half before an abortive attempt by Branch to bomb the Anshe Emes congregation.
At the same time, an American Nazi party member, Roger C. Foss, completed a 180 day Jail term for disorderly conduct charges arising from picketing the Florida office of the Anti-Defamation League with anti-Semitic placards. One of the reasons for the trip of Foss to Miami was to try to help Branch, a 26-year-old former Miami municipal employee.
Branch was arrested last April 28 as a result of undercover work by Miami police and the Dade County State Attorney office. When Branch was detained, police found his home filled with American Nazi party literature. However, leader George Rockwell, who came to Miami for a visit last June, disavowed any connection with Branch or the Minute Men group to which he belonged.
Branch was first sentenced to six years last June 21, after undercover operator Stefan Plumacher foiled Branch’s plan to bomb the synagogue by substituting duds for the dynamite which Branch planted at the synagogue. On October 12, Branch received a second six-year term for possession and transportation of explosives. Two Minute Men cohorts were exonerated. During the trial, it was brought out that Branch intended to assassinate several Miami Jewish community leaders, including State Attorney Richard Gerstein.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
