Bombing Suspect Boasted to FBI Informant

B I R M I N G H A M, Ala., April 18, 2001 -- A man on trial for the 1963 bombing of a Birmingham church once jokingly called the city "Boomingham" and boasted, "They ain't gonna catch me when I bomb my next church," according to FBI transcripts obtained by ABCNEWS.

Thomas Blanton and three other members of the Ku Klux Klan were identified by the FBI as suspects soon after the bombing, but FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover blocked prosecution of the case, claiming chances of winning a conviction were remote.

Blanton, now 62, was indicted last May along with another of the original suspects, Bobby Frank Cherry. Of the other suspects, one was convicted in the 1970s and died in prison. The fourth suspect, who was never charged, is also dead.

Cherry's case has been delayed while the court determines whether the 71-year-old is competent to stand trial, but jury selection in Blanton's case began this week.

Among the new evidence prosecutors plan to introduce at Blanton's trial are 30 tapes of conversations he had with a paid FBI informant. The informant, Mitch Burns, talked with ABCNEWS in an exclusive television interview.

"Murder is murder and I think you should pay for it — if you're guilty," said Burns, who will testify for the prosecution.

‘Like He Was Possessed’

Burns, now 73, used a tape recorder in the back of his car to record conversations with Blanton over a three- or four-year period after the bombing.

A former member of the KKK himself, Burns was initially reluctant to cooperate when the FBI approached him weeks after the bombing. He said he agreed to help when agents showed him gruesome autopsy pictures of the dead girls' burned bodies. Three of the girls were 14 years old; one was only 11.

Burns said he and Blanton regularly returned to the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, as if Blanton were drawn to the scene of the crime. "It was like he was possessed," Burns said.

‘A Good Job’

ABCNEWS has obtained transcripts of the conversations recorded by the FBI.

In one conversation, on Feb. 17, 1965, when Blanton and Burns were parked in front of the church, Blanton says: "The boys done a good job on this one. There are a few Negroes now who won't grow up to bother us."

When Burns asks Blanton if dynamite was used, Blanton replies, laughing, "Yep."

Burns then asks if the dynamite had been thrown or planted.

Blanton says, "Throwed it," then laughs.

However, Blanton never actually admits on the tapes that he carried out the bombing.

Blanton, who has consistently maintained his innocence, has pleaded not guilty. He declined to be interviewed by ABCNEWS after saying he hoped the trial would establish his innocence during an informal videotaping with ABCNEWS.

"It would mean I could be accepted as a human, I guess," Blanton said before cutting off the rest of the videotaping. He also canceled a planned formal interview at the last minute.

‘Boomingham’

In another conversation, recorded Feb. 25, 1965, Blanton says: "Boomingham. Boomingham bombing. They ain't gonna catch me when I bomb my next church."

Burns asks, "How did you do that?"

Blanton replies, "Oh, it wasn't easy, boy, I'll tell you."