Victims' families cheer Gadhafi downfall

For relatives of Pan Am Flight 103 bombing victims, the apparent ouster of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi and the fall of his regime mark a long-sought measure of justice.

Many of them spent Monday celebrating, riveted to the news coming out of Tripoli. But after years of seeing those responsible for the mass killing over Lockerbie, Scotland, evade accountability there was also a sense that a full reckoning is still needed, even as Gadhafi's whereabouts remained unknown.

"They got to hang him, simple as that," said Luisa Della Ripa, 69, of Floral Park, whose husband, Gabriel Della Ripa, 46 at the time, died in the bombing. "He's such a beast."

Days before Christmas in 1988, Libyan intelligence agents blew up the Boeing 747 as it flew from London to New York, killing 270 people, 11 of them Long Island residents.

In 2001, Libyan intelligence officer Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi was convicted in connection with the bombing and sentenced to life in prison. Two years later, the Libyan government admitted responsibility for the attack and agreed to compensate victims' families.

After doctors said al-Megrahi had terminal cancer, British authorities granted him compassionate release in 2009. He returned to Libya amid charges that his diagnosis was bogus.

Monday, New York Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand called for the transitional government in Libya to extradite al-Megrahi.

"A new Libya can send a strong statement to the world by declaring it will no longer be a haven for this convicted terrorist," Schumer said in a statement.

Brian Kelly of Manhattan lost his older brother in the bombing and is vice president of the Victims of Pan Am Flight 103 organization. Kelly said he was glad to hear calls for al-Megrahi to be handed over.

As for Gadhafi, who in February was identified by his former justice minister as having personally ordered the bombing, Kelly, 42, said he wished the dictator had been toppled sooner. Still, he's gratified.

"It's . . . very sweet to see that my brother's murderer is being taken down and that he's being taken down by his own people, with a little help from us and our allies," Kelly said.