LOS ANGELES – Irv Rubin, the fiery leader of the militant Jewish Defense League, died of injuries suffered in an alleged jailhouse suicide attempt earlier this month, a hospital spokeswoman said Thursday.
Rubin, 57, died at 11:49 p.m. PST Wednesday at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, where he had been since Nov. 4 when he apparently attempted to kill himself at a federal detention center while awaiting trial on charges he conspired to bomb a mosque and a congressman's office.
The JDL head reportedly cut his throat with a jail-issue razor hours before a court appearance and then jumped or fell 18 feet from a balcony. He was in a medically induced coma since being rushed to the hospital and never regained consciousness.
No other details of Rubin's death were immediately released. There was no information as to the disposition of his body, which was turned over earlier to the Los Angeles County Coroner.
Rubin and another JDL member, Earl Krugel, were arrested last December for allegedly plotting to plant bombs at a mosque in Culver City and at the Beverly Hills office of Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., the grandson of Lebanese immigrants.
The alleged plot was never carried off. Both men were facing up to 40 years in prison if convicted.
Rubin's family and some of his supporters said publicly they did not believe the U.S. Marshals Service's contention that Rubin had tried to kill himself. They claimed that he was likely the victim of an assault. Rubin succeeded JDL founder Rabbi Meier Kahane as head of the organization in 1985 and remained an aggressive critic of groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and the Nazis as well as the Middle East peace talks and the treatment of Jews in the Soviet Union.
Source: http://www.newsmax.com/archives/art...14/172541.shtml
Bookmarks