William Potts Jr.
Biography
William Potts was a Black Panther Party member who in 1984 boarded a Miami bound plane and handed the flight attendant a note falsely claiming he had a bomb on board and would detain it unless the plane landed in Cuba. Potts had hoped to travel to the island nation to serve as an Ambassador to the nation for the Black Panthers and had no other way to enter the country due to the U.S blockade. Rather than be welcomed as a hero, Potts was arrested and sentenced to 15-years hard labor as part of a 1971 agreement Cuba made with the United States to prosecute hijackers. After serving his sentence he returned to the United States in 2013 to reunite with his family. Potts was immediately taken in custody and charged with committing the decades old hijacking. Potts was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Missing sentence and official endpoint review October 13, 2026: DOJ confirms sentencing July 17, 2014. BOP's official locator matches existing register 01970-104, William Potts, age 69, and records noncustody as of March 4, 2022. The prior one-day-earlier endpoint is corrected. Subsequent review confirms actual U.S. custody began November 6, 2013; earlier Cuban imprisonment remains separate. The arrest-derived exact total and unrelated Norfolk jail assignment are cleared.
Chronology added at user request: departure to Cuba March 27, 1984; return November 6, 2013. The exile period includes Cuban imprisonment and subsequent residence. FBI return and arrest announcement; UPI departure chronology.
