45 Years Ago: Pro Wrestlers Among 110 Aboard Hijacked Plane to Cuba

Abdullah the Butcher From Rich Tate: When one thinks of Abdullah the Butcher, images of forks, blood, and a scarred forehead ins...

Abdullah the Butcher

From Rich Tate:

When one thinks of Abdullah the Butcher, images of forks, blood, and a scarred forehead instantly spring to mind. He did some major damage to many opponents inside the squared circle throughout his career as a monster heel. “Abby”, as he is affectionately called by his colleagues, was really Canadian-born Lawrence Shreve, but in wrestling arenas around the world, he was referred to as the “Madman from Sudan.”

Duncan McTavish, born Matt Gilmour in Scotland and later moved to Canada as a child, wrestled under his real name in his earliest years, the 1960s. Before he became a professional wrestler, McTavish served in the Korean War, so he was no stranger to the violence men can do. He left the military and began training at Jack Wentworth’s gym, alongside the men who would later become Jerry Valiant and Killer Karl Krupp.

Both men went on to have different career paths, one who became a superstar in rings all over the globe, and the other who prospered more in the Canadian territories than anywhere else. Still, the paths of Abdullah and McTavish joined for a stint in Puerto Rico, after which they sat together on the same plane which could have altered history for both of them.

Duncan McTavish

Despite the ongoing threat of terrorism around the world, it can be argued that air travel has never been safer. That wasn’t the case prior to the safeguards in place today, especially before metal detectors became the norm in the early 1970s. On February 10, 1969, Peter Alvarez managed to smuggle a pistol onto Eastern Airlines Flight 950, originating from San Juan, Puerto Rico, destined for Miami, Florida, and carrying 110 passengers.

Relations between the United States and Cuba were at their worst, and there were eighty-one hijacking incidents from February of 1968 through November of 1972. The string of air terror ended when both countries reached an agreement that hijackers would be returned as prosecuted, and metal detectors being introduced into airports in 1973 aided in reducing the chances someone could even board a plane armed with weapons.

According to statements from a flight attendant he held hostage on board the plane, Alvarez, a resident of San Juan, had a wife and children living in Miami. The stewardess, Susanne O’Connor, reported that Alvarez told her that he also had an ailing father in Havana, Cuba, and he simply knew no other way of getting into the country to visit him.

In those days, it was policy within the industry to comply to the demands of hijackers for the safety of the passengers and flight crew. Alvarez took control of the plane about an hour into the flight, and the pilots re-routed the aircraft toward Havana.

At some point during the flight, Abdullah and McTavish became upset at the situation, and Abdullah rose to his feet to confront Alvarez. However, before his anger could turn a bad situation into anything worse, another quick-thinking attendant, Vincent Doccolo, got between them and managed to restore a level of calm, making the remainder of the flight uneventful.

Doccolo later gave the following statement to reporters: “They were cursing and said they wanted to get at the hijacker. But I stepped in front of them, told them the man was armed and there were too many people aboard to risk their lives.”

He said that both men, who had identified themselves, returned to their seats, where they seem to have remained until the airport in Havana. In what would later be seen as a change in policy by Cuban President Fidel Castro, this was the first of the long string of hijacked flights which was allowed to resume without deplaning and boarding onto another plane.

It is unclear what became of Alvarez following the flight, but we know that McTavish would have a career that stretched into the 1980s. He passed away on June 5, 2011, the result of a stroke suffered just a few days earlier.

Abdullah rose to become one of the most extreme wrestlers before extreme wrestling was a genre. He still makes appearances and owns Abdullah’s House of Ribs and Chinese Food in Atlanta.

There would be another hijacking to Cuba in 1970, with “Professor” Toru Tanaka aboard the plane. We’ll cover that one soon.