Biography
Alex Markley was a field organizer for the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) and a member of UE Local 259 in Holyoke. The case against him grew out of a 1975 strike by UE Local 259 members at the Worthington Compressor plant (Worthington Corporation, Holyoke Works) in Holyoke, Massachusetts, during which strikebreaker ("scab") trucks crossed the picket lines, several strikers were assaulted — one hospitalized — and Markley, a strike leader, was reportedly threatened with death.
According to the federal appellate record, an undercover agent of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), Thomas O'Reilly, testified that Markley gave him a homemade "destructive device" — a cardboard tube packed with black powder and fitted with a fuse — in November 1975 and spoke of blowing up trucks of Martin Brothers Trucking Company. Markley was arrested on July 8, 1976 and, according to the UE, held incommunicado for twelve hours before being indicted by a federal grand jury. He and Suares maintained their innocence; the UE and labor supporters characterized the prosecution as an ATF entrapment plot — contending that O'Reilly had appeared during the strike, agitated for violence against the strikebreakers, and that the two men refused, the aim being to pressure them into becoming informers. Local 259 and the International Union mounted a defense campaign, calling the defeat of the charges "a responsibility not only to Mr. Markley, but to the entire labor movement."
He was convicted in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts of one count of possessing and four counts of transferring unregistered destructive devices under the National Firearms Act (26 U.S.C. §§ 5861(d) and 5861(e)) — a related conspiracy count was dismissed after trial — and sentenced to 18 months in prison. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed the convictions on December 16, 1977 (United States v. Markley, 567 F.2d 523, No. 77-1209); the appeal itself was limited to whether the items met the statutory definition of a "destructive device."
The Militant, March 25, 1977, page 7: The report dates the Springfield federal trial and rearraignment March 14, 1977 and identifies codefendant Tony Suares as an IBEW member. It says their actual arrests occurred about eight months after the alleged November–December 1975 delivery of devices to ATF agent Thomas O’Reilly; no exact arrest date is derived from that relative interval. Markley alleged that agents offered relief in exchange for becoming labor informers. The account’s frame-up characterization is attributed to the paper and defense. Source: https://www.themilitant.com/1977/4111/MIL4111.pdf#page=7
The Militant of April 8, 1977 reports that Alex Markley and Tony (Antonio) Suares were convicted in Springfield federal court on March 26, 1977. It identifies Allan Rosenberg as Markley’s defense attorney and names the prosecutor only as O’Neill. Both men were free on bail when the report appeared. The report announced an April 14 sentencing hearing; it did not establish a prison admission on that day. The newspaper’s criticism of the devices evidence and alleged entrapment is attributed to the report and defense, rather than presented as a judicial finding.
The Springfield defense rally report says Markley and TonySuares were arrested the preceding July on destructive-device and conspiracy allegations. It describes twelve hours at the ATF office during which agents allegedly offered money and threatened jail to induce Markley to spy on western Massachusetts unions. The defense’s entrapment and frame-up characterization is attributed. The twelve hours are a particular interrogation phase, not the completed later prison term. The March14 trial was still future.
