Crime History: Man commits first airline hijacking in U.S.

On this day, May 1, in 1961, a passenger commits the first airline hijacking within the United States. Antulio Ramirez Ortiz, 34, held a steak knife to the pilot’s throat and a gun on the co-pilot, and forced the Key West bound National Airline plane departing from Miami to land in Havana.

Ortiz, a Fidel Castro sympathizer, said he wanted to warn the Cuban premier of an assassination attempt.