---
alias:
- Ignacio Novo Sampol
category: Extremism & Violent Networks
created: 2026-09-21
location: Union City, New Jersey
summary: Co-founder of the Cuban Nationalist Movement, brother of Guillermo Novo,
  who bought forged papers from an FBI informant in 1977 and was convicted in 1979
  of lying to the Letelier grand jury.
tags:
- Person
- IgnacioNovo
- CubanNationalistMovement
- CubanExiles
- OrlandoLetelier
- FBI
updated: 2026-09-21
---

Ignacio Novo Sampol founded the [Cuban Nationalist Movement](/organizations/cuban-nationalist-movement/) with his brother [Guillermo Novo](/people/guillermo-novo/) and [Felipe Rivero](/people/felipe-rivero/).[^1] The communiques in the name of "Zero" that claimed the shooting of [Bernardo Leighton](/people/bernardo-leighton/) in [Rome](/places/rome/) in 1975 used a label shared by the brothers and [Jose Dionisio Suarez](/people/jose-dionisio-suarez/).[^2]

### The Informant

In the spring of 1977, as the grand jury in [Washington](/places/washington-dc/) examined the murder of [Orlando Letelier](/people/orlando-letelier/), Novo bought forged identity papers in the name Frederick Pagan from [Ricardo Cañete](/people/ricardo-cañete/) of Brooklyn, who was reporting to Special Agent Larry Wack of the [FBI](/organizations/federal-bureau-of-investigation/). He showed Cañete a photograph of an FBI agent, "This is the cocksucker, who wants Guillermo," not knowing that the agent was Wack. He said of the bureau's pressure: "If GUILLERMO goes inside, it's war. This was already decided on tonight." He explained that counterfeit money was called "wine" on the telephone because the [NSA](/organizations/nsa/) listened to calls to [Chile](/places/chile/), and reported that four men had left for [Miami](/places/miami/) with copies of the Pagan papers. He was carrying a cut-down Uzi with a silencer.[^3] By May 1977 he was among fifteen exiles summoned before the grand jury.[^1]

### Trial

The indictment of August 1, 1978, charged him with two counts of false declarations to the grand jury and one of misprision of felony. His lawyer, Jerry Feldman, moved for a separate trial: the charges against his co-defendants were "substantially more serious," and "since one of the defendants named in the more serious charges in this indictment is Ignacio Novo Sampol's brother, the jury in a joint trial would be inclined to consider the evidence against the brother as incriminatory." Judge Barrington Parker denied it. The jury convicted him on February 14, 1979, and on March 23 he was sentenced to five years on each false declaration count, concurrent, and three years consecutive for misprision. On September 15, 1980, the court of appeals reversed "on the ground that he should have been severed from the other defendants."[^4][^5] In October 1981 federal officials released his brother by mistake, confusing the two.[^6]

[^1]: Marina, Gloria. "Citan a Felipe Rivero en el caso Letelier," *El Miami Herald,* May 3, 1977, scan at latinamericanstudies.org/belligerence/Rivero-Letelier.pdf
[^2]: Dinges, John, and Saul Landau. *Assassination on Embassy Row*. McGraw-Hill, 1980, pp. 147-152.
[^3]: Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York office, reports of interviews of Ricardo Cañete by Special Agent Larry E. Wack, May 10 to May 18, 1977, scans at https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/canete.pdf
[^4]: Motion for a Severance, defendant Ignacio Novo Sampol, *United States v. Contreras Sepulveda et al.,* Crim. No. 78-367 (D.D.C. 1978), with order granting, https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/Letelier-severance-ignacio.pdf; Petition of the United States for Rehearing and Suggestion for Rehearing En Banc, *United States v. Sampol,* Nos. 79-1541 and 79-1542 (D.C. Cir., October 29, 1980), https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/Letelier-rehearing.pdf, footnote 1; Brief for Appellee, *United States v. Sampol,* Nos. 79-1541 and 79-1542 (D.C. Cir. 1979), https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/MNC/Letelier-brief-appellee.pdf, statement of the case.
[^5]: *United States v. Sampol,* 636 F.2d 621 (D.C. Cir. 1980).
[^6]: "Wrong Man Freed in Letelier Case," *Washington Post,* October 21, 1981, as summarized.