By Michael Ventura
DNAinfo Senior Editor
MANHATTAN — A man indicted 41 years ago for hijacking a Puerto Rico-bound Pan Am flight and diverting it to Cuba pleaded guilty to participating in the incident, the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan announced on Thursday.
Luis Armando Pena Soltren, 67, pleaded guilty in Manhattan Federal Court to conspiracy to commit air piracy, interfering with a flight crew and kidnapping charges.
On Nov. 24, 1968, he and two other men boarded the flight at JFK Airport and, after it took off, brandished pistols and knives and forced the plane to land in Havana.
The two accomplices, Miguel Castro and Jose Rafael Rios Cruz, were apprehended in the 1970s, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a statement. Castro was sentenced to 12 years in prison and Cruz got 15 years.
Pena Soltren turned himself in to authorities in October 2009.
"Luis Armando Pena Soltren admitted in a federal court in Manhattan to participating in the violent hijacking of Pan American flight 381 more than 41 years ago," U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement. "This guilty plea affirms that the pursuit of justice is tempered neither by distance nor the passage of time."
Pena Soltren is scheduled to be sentenced on June 29.
