2007 Boston bomb scare
Encyclopedia
The 2007 Boston bomb scare occurred on January 31, 2007 when the Boston Police Department
mistakenly identified battery-powered LED
placards resembling the Mooninite characters in the show Aqua Teen Hunger Force
found throughout Boston, Massachusetts and the surrounding cities of Cambridge
and Somerville
as improvised explosive devices. The placards were part of a guerrilla marketing
campaign for Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters, a film based on the animated television series, Aqua Teen Hunger Force on Cartoon Network's
late-night programming block, Adult Swim
.
The scare was met with criticism from a number of sources such as The Boston Globe
, Los Angeles Times
, Fox News, and The Boston Herald. A group of police found them to be sharing "some characteristics with improvised explosive devices." These characteristics included an identifiable power source, circuit board with exposed wiring, and electrical tape. Investigators were trying to determine "if it was a hoax or something else entirely". City and State officials came to an agreement with Turner Broadcasting to pay for costs incurred during the incident, while several police departments found many of the devices afterwards.
and asked Berdovsky if he would be interested in working on a promotional project. Berdovsky agreed and then enlisted the help of Sean Stevens to the project. Interference shipped Berdovsky 40 electronic signs. Adrienne Yee of Interference e-mailed him a list of suggested locations and a list of things not to do. According to the police, the suggested locations for the devices included "Train stations, overpasses, hip/trendy areas and high traffic/high visibility areas." The signs were to be put up discreetly overnight. They were to be paid $300 each for their assistance.
Berdovsky, Stevens and Dana Seaver put up 20 magnetic lights in the middle of January. They dubbed the activity "Boston Mission 1." While Stevens and Berdovsky put up the lights, Seaver recorded the activity on video and sent a copy afterward to Interference. On the night of January 29, 2007, 18 more magnetic lights were put in place in what was called "Boston Mission 2." This included the one under Interstate 93 at Sullivan Square in Charlestown.
The devices closely resemble the Night Writer promoted by the Graffiti Research Lab
in early 2006. The devices were promotional electronic placards for the forthcoming Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters. Each device, measuring about 1 by 1.5 feet, consisted of a printed circuit board
(PCB) which had been painted black with light-emitting diode
s and other electronic components soldered to it, including numerous resistor
s, a few capacitor
s, and at least one integrated circuit
package. At the bottom was a pack of four Publix
brand D-cell batteries (as seen in photo), and magnets were attached to the back so the devices could be easily mounted on any ferromagnetic surface. The batteries were originally covered in black tape to blend with the black PCB.
The LEDs were arranged to show a cartoon character displaying the middle finger
. Two variants were manufactured with the LEDs arranged in pixelated likenesses of Ignignokt and Err, Mooninite characters from Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Massachusetts Attorney General
Martha Coakley
said the device "had a very sinister appearance. It had a battery behind it, and wires." Others compared the displays to the Lite-Brite
electric toy in appearance.
that supports an elevated section of Interstate 93
(I-93), above Sullivan Station
and told a policeman with the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
. At 9 a.m., the Boston Police Department bomb squad received a phone call from the MBTA requesting assistance in identifying the device. Authorities responded with what the Boston Globe described as "[an] army of emergency vehicles" at the scene, including police cruisers, fire trucks, ambulances, and the Boston Police Department bomb squad. Also present were live TV crews with helicopters circling overhead and a large crowd of onlookers. Peter Berdovsky, who had placed the device, went to the scene and video recorded the situation. Berdovsky recognized the device the police were dealing with but made no attempt to inform the police at the scene of what he knew about it. Berdovsky returned to his apartment and contacted the company, Interference, who had hired him to place the lights. He was told by Interference that they would handle informing the police and that he should personally say nothing about the situation.
During the preliminary investigation at the site, the police found that the device shared "some characteristics with improvised explosive devices." These characteristics included an identifiable power source, circuit board with exposed wiring, and electrical tape. After the initial assessment, the Boston police shut down the northbound side of I-93 and parts of the public transportation system. Just after 10 a.m. the bomb squad used a small explosive filled with water to destroy it as a precaution. MBTA Transit police Lieutenant Salvatore Venturelli told the media at the scene, "This is a perfect example of our passengers taking part in Homeland Security." He refused to describe the object in detail because of the ongoing investigation responding that "It's not consistent with equipment that would be there normally," Investigators were trying to determine "if it was a hoax or something else entirely" according to Venturelli. Northbound I-93 reopened to traffic at about 10:05 a.m. By 10:21 a.m. it was determined to be "some sort of hoax device" according to a police timeline of the events.
At 12:54 p.m., Boston police received a call identifying a similar device located at the intersection of Stuart and Charles Street. At 1:11 p.m. the Massachusetts State Police
requested assistance from the bomb squad with devices found under the Longfellow
and Boston University
bridges. Both bridges were closed as a precaution and the Coast Guard
closed the river itself to boat traffic.
Friends of Peter Berdovsky received an e-mail from him at 1:26 p.m. which alleged that five hours into the scare, an Interference Inc. (the marketing firm that created the campaign) executive requested Berdovsky "keep everything on the dl." Travis Vautour, friend of Berdovsky, stated: "We received an e-mail in the early afternoon from Peter that asked the community that he's a part of to keep any information we had on the down low and that was instructed to him by whoever his boss was." Two hours later, Interference notified their client, Cartoon Network. Between 2 and 3 p.m., a police analyst identified the image on the devices as an Aqua Teen Hunger Force cartoon character, and the police concluded the incident was a publicity stunt. Turner Broadcasting System
issued a statement concerning the event at around 4:30 p.m. Portions of the Turner statement read:
Some devices had been up in the cities listed for two weeks before the Boston incident occurred, although no permits were ever secured for the devices' installation. The marketing company responsible for the campaign, Interference, Inc., made no comment on the situation and their website was also down (restored as of 2007-02-03). Berdovsky and Stevens, the individuals hired by Interference to install the signs, were arrested by Boston police during the evening of January 31, and charged with violating Chapter 266: Section 102A½ of The General Laws of Massachusetts, which makes it a crime to place a "hoax device" with the intent to panic the public. Both were held at the State Police South Boston barracks overnight and were released on $2,500 bail from the Charlestown District Court the following morning.
The Boston Globe
stated that the "marketing gambit exposes a wide generation gap," quoting one 29-year-old blogger as writing "Repeat after me, authorities. L-E-D
. Not I-E-D
. Get it?" The Globe's Brainiac blog was quick to credit bloggers such as Todd Vanderlin and Brian Stuart for being among the first to report on the ad's origin. The Brainiac blog earned praise from other media outlets for their own timely coverage of events, even as the paper continued to report on simply "suspicious objects".
Los Angeles Times
editorials derided the reaction of Boston's officials, remarking "Emergency personnel and anti-terrorism squads shut down more than a dozen highways, transit stations and other locations across the city Wednesday after receiving reports about multiple suspicious devices. The slender, placemat-sized items had dozens of colored lights, exposed wires and circuitry, and were powered by a row of D batteries wrapped in black tape. In other words, they looked like an upscale version of Hasbro
's Lite-Brite
, a toy for artistic grade-schoolers." Bruce Schneier
, a computer security expert and writer on contemporary security issues summed up the incident as a "Non-Terrorist Embarrassment in Boston".
The Boston Herald stated that part of the overreaction in the response could be blamed on two packages that did not blink. According to Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis, phony pipe bombs were also discovered that day, one inside Tufts-New England Medical Center at 1 p.m. Its security guard described "an agitated white male" fleeing saying, "God is warning you that today is going to be a sad day." The Herald goes on to characterize the placement of the devices as a "coordinated hoax." Davis also mentioned other incidents of the day that may have influenced the reaction, including a Washington DC metro stop being shut down due to a suspected package and fumes emanating from a package at a post office in New York City, resulting in four people being treated there. "It was almost like we had a kind of perfect storm
of circumstances falling into place," Davis said.
The advertising magazine Brandweek
said that the incident, which it labeled a fiasco, would cause marketers to "steer clear of guerrilla
tactics until the controversy around the Aqua Teen Hunger Force stunt-turned-bomb-scare in Boston dies down." It further said the incident "will no doubt be followed by a reassessment of the potential price of what used to be known as a low-cost method to generate buzz."
According to Fox News, fans of Aqua Teen Hunger Force mocked Boston officials during the press conference of Berdovsky and Stevens, calling the arrests an overreaction while holding signs supporting the actions of the two. These signs had slogans such as "Free Peter" and "1-31-07 Never Forget," satirizing Mayor Tom Menino
's mentions of 9/11. Other local Boston residents were quoted by local papers. "We all thought it was pretty funny," said one student. "The majority of us recognize the difference between a bomb and a Lite-Brite," said another. One resident said that the police response was "silly and insane," and that "We’re the laughingstock." Something Positive
, which is written and drawn by Waltham
resident R. K. Milholland
, also weighed in on the issue. Bloggers on the Boston section of LiveJournal
commented on channel 4 footage of the first device being exploded and clearly identified it as a "mooninite" reacting in disbelief. One blogger pointed out the similarity to what he called "Super Mario Question Block Hysteria all over again" in which five high school girls in Ravenna, Ohio
placed brightly colored boxes with question marks resembling the Super Mario game around town, and drew the bomb squad and possible prosecution. Similar boxes had been placed around various universities in the country including U Mass. The effort was part of an artistic and political commentary on the use of public space which spread in 2006.
Karl Carter of Atlanta, Georgia-based Guerrilla Tactics Media said fans of the show "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" would recognize the character and think it was funny, but other people who saw the signs wouldn't get the joke. "This is probably better set up for nightclubs and other sorts of scenarios where the people that are receiving the message, one, would know what it's about, but also two, wouldn't be frightened," he said. "You know, if you put these in certain environments, like public spaces in this post-9/11 sensitivity, then of course you're going to wind up in trouble." Make Magazine editor Phillip Torrone said the advertisers should have used better judgement, but called the Mooninite board a "neat electronic project." As reported by BoingBoing, the media and the State of Massachusetts itself maintained the use of the word "hoax" when describing the event, despite Turner Broadcasting Systems' contentions that they had no intention of arousing suspicion or panic in approving the advertising campaign.
On February 27, 2007, just a month after the incident, Boston police authorities detonated another object that they believed to be a bomb, but it ended up being a traffic counter. The next day, Bax and O'Brien on the Western Massachusetts radio station WAQY
weighed in, with John O'Brien saying, "and they (the devices) were also placed in Boston over two weeks ago. I don't think the terrorism officials in Boston are very observant..... Good thing September 11th didn't happen here; we wouldn't have found it until September 20th." In the months following the scare, stickers reading, "Don't Panic! This is NOT A BOMB. Do not be afraid. Do not call the police. Stop letting the terrorists win," began to appear on Boston parking meters, ATMs and other objects in public, as a sarcastic rebuke of the police overreaction. Despite all this, on March 18, 2007 at the annual St. Patrick's Day Breakfast in South Boston, jokes were made about the incident by Massachusetts politicians. Tom Menino himself said it was a way to obtain a local aid package for the city. Congressman Stephen Lynch
claimed that the Mooninites were part of a sleeper cell that also included SpongeBob SquarePants
. State Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill
held up a picture of a Mooninite with Mitt Romney
's face on it, saying "We had to blur out his real feelings about Massachusetts."
City and State officials came to an agreement with Turner Broadcasting to pay for costs incurred during the incident. As part of a settlement that resolves all criminal and civil claims, Turner Broadcasting Systems and Interference Inc. agreed to pay $2 million, $1 million of this to go towards the Boston police department, and $1 million towards the United States Department of Homeland Security
. In addition, Turner released a statement to take responsibility and apologize for the incident. Less than a week following Turner's apology, Jim Samples stepped down from his 13 year position as head of Cartoon Network, stating that he was "compelled to step down . . . in recognition of the gravity of the situation that occurred under [his] watch." Shortly afterwards Stuart Snyder became the new president of Cartoon Network.
Ten cities in all were involved in the marketing campaign that began two to three weeks before the incident in Boston. The New York City Police Department
contacted Interference Inc., a New York-based marketing firm, to request a list of 41 locations where the devices were installed. Officers were able to locate and remove only two devices, both planted on an overpass at 33rd Street and West Side Highway. The NYPD did not receive any complaints about the devices according to police spokesman Paul Brown. At 9:30 p.m. on the evening of January 31, the Chicago Police Department
received a list of installation locations from Interference Inc. Police recovered and disposed of 20 of the 35 devices, leaving 15 unaccounted for. Police Superintendent Philip Cline admonished those responsible for the campaign, stating, "one of the devices could have easily been mistaken for a bomb and set off enough panic to alarm the entire city." Cline went on to say that, on February 1, he asked Turner Broadcasting to reimburse the city for funds spent on locating and disposing the devices. Two men were briefly held in connection to the incident. Fewer than 20 devices were found in Seattle and neither the Seattle Police Department
nor the King County Sheriff's Office received 9-1-1
calls regarding them. King County Sheriff's spokesman John Urquhart went on to state, "To us, they're so obviously not suspicious ... We don't consider them dangerous." "In this day and age, whenever anything remotely suspicious shows up, people get concerned —and that's good. However, people don't need to be concerned about this. These are cartoon characters giving the finger."
Interference Inc. hired two people to distribute 20 devices throughout Philadelphia on January 11. One of these was Ryan, a 24-year-old from Fishtown, who claimed that he was promised $300 for installing the devices, only 18 of which were actually functional. Following the scare in Boston, the Philadelphia Police Department
recovered only 3 of the 18 devices. Joe Grace, spokesman for Philadelphia Mayor John F. Street
, was quoted as saying "We think it was a stupid, regrettable, irresponsible stunt by Turner. We do not take kindly to it." A cease-and-desist letter was sent to Turner, threatening fines for violating zoning codes.
No devices were retrieved in Los Angeles and Lieutenant Paul Vernon of the LAPD
stated that "no one perceived them as a threat." The many Los Angeles signs were up over 2 weeks before the Boston Scare with no incident. Police Sergeant Brian Schmautz stated that officers in Portland had not been dispatched to remove the devices, and did not plan to unless they were found on municipal property. He added, "At this point we wouldn't even begin an investigation, because there's no reason to believe a crime has occurred." This device was placed in inside of 11th Ave Liquor on Hawthorne Boulevard in Portland, where it remains. San Francisco police Sgt. Neville Gittens said that Interference Inc. was removing them, except for one found by art gallery owner Jamie Alexander who reportedly "thought it was cool" and had it taken down after it ceased to function.
Berdovsky and Stevens were arrested on the day of the incident and charged with placing a hoax device to incite panic, a felony charge that carries a five-year maximum sentence, and one count of disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor. Both pleaded not guilty to the two charges and were later released on a $2,500 cash bond. At their arraignment Assistant Attorney General John Grossman claimed that the two were trying to "get attention by causing fear and unrest that there was a bomb in that location." Michael Rich, the lawyer representing both men, disputed Grossman's claim, asserting that even a VCR
could be found to fit the description of a bomb-like device. Judge Leary said that it will be necessary for the prosecution to demonstrate an intent on the part of the suspects to cause a panic. The judge continues "It appears the suspects had no such intent, ...but the question should be discussed in a later hearing." After making bail, Berdovsky and Stevens appeared for a live press conference. As Rich had advised them not to discuss the case, they spent the entire conference discussing and inviting press questions about hair styles of the 1970s, and ignoring any questions relating to the bomb scare.
On March 1, 2007, Senator Edward Kennedy
, D-MA, introduced S.735, "The Terrorist Hoax Improvements Act of 2007". It "Amends the federal criminal code to: (1) extend the prohibition against conveying false information and hoaxes to any federal crime of terrorism; (2) increase maximum prison terms for hoaxes involving a member of the Armed Forces during war; (3) allow a civil remedy for damages resulting from hoaxes perpetrated by an individual who later fails to provide accurate information to investigating authorities about the actual nature of the incident; and (4) extend the prohibition against mailing threatening communications to include corporations or governmental entities (as well as individuals)." The bill never came to a vote.
On May 11, 2007, the prosecutors decided not to pursue criminal charges in exchange for community service and a public apology. Attorney General Martha Coakley
cited the difficulty in proving intent to incite panic on the part of the two men and called the deal "an appropriate and fair resolution." Berdovsky and Stevens completed 80 and 60 hours of community service at the Spaulding Rehabilitation Center in Boston. The incident prompted opportunists to acquire the promotional devices from other cities and auction them on eBay
, with prices ranging from $500 to over $5,000 USD. Other eBay users created merchandise commemorating the event, including such items as T-shirt
s, sticker
s, and custom LED
signs.
An Aqua Teen Hunger Force episode from season five
entitled "Boston" was produced as the series creators' response to the bomb scare, but Adult Swim pulled it to avoid further controversy. As of 2011 "Boston" has never aired, and has never been released to the public in any format.
Boston Police Department
The Boston Police Department , created in 1838, holds the primary responsibility for law enforcement and investigation within the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is one of the oldest police departments in the United States...
mistakenly identified battery-powered LED
LEd
LEd is a TeX/LaTeX editing software working under Microsoft Windows. It is a freeware product....
placards resembling the Mooninite characters in the show Aqua Teen Hunger Force
Aqua Teen Hunger Force
Aqua Teen Hunger Force , retitled Aqua Unit Patrol Squad 1 in 2011, is an American animated television series on Cartoon Network late night programing block, Adult Swim, as well as Teletoon's Teletoon at Night block and later G4 Canada's ADd block in Canada...
found throughout Boston, Massachusetts and the surrounding cities of Cambridge
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
and Somerville
Somerville, Massachusetts
Somerville is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, located just north of Boston. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 75,754 and was the most densely populated municipality in New England. It is also the 17th most densely populated incorporated place in...
as improvised explosive devices. The placards were part of a guerrilla marketing
Guerrilla marketing
Guerrilla warfare is about waging small intermittent attacks on different territories of the opponent with the aim of harassing and demoralising the opponent and eventually securing permanent footholds....
campaign for Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters, a film based on the animated television series, Aqua Teen Hunger Force on Cartoon Network's
Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network is a name of television channels worldwide created by Turner Broadcasting which used to primarily show animated programming. The channel began broadcasting on October 1, 1992 in the United States....
late-night programming block, Adult Swim
Adult Swim
Adult Swim is an adult-oriented Cable network that shares channel space with Cartoon Network from 9:00 pm until 6:00 am ET/PT in the United States, and broadcasts in countries such as Australia and New Zealand...
.
The scare was met with criticism from a number of sources such as The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...
, Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
, Fox News, and The Boston Herald. A group of police found them to be sharing "some characteristics with improvised explosive devices." These characteristics included an identifiable power source, circuit board with exposed wiring, and electrical tape. Investigators were trying to determine "if it was a hoax or something else entirely". City and State officials came to an agreement with Turner Broadcasting to pay for costs incurred during the incident, while several police departments found many of the devices afterwards.
Planning
In November 2006, Peter Berdovsky, a Boston area artist, met a man named "John aka VJ Aiwaz" in New York. John worked for marketing company Interference, Inc.Interference, Inc.
Interference, Inc. is a guerrilla marketing company based in New York City. Founded in 2001 by Sam Travis Ewen, Interference has gained notoriety through their unconventional tactics. Clients have included General Electric, Citigroup, HBO and others...
and asked Berdovsky if he would be interested in working on a promotional project. Berdovsky agreed and then enlisted the help of Sean Stevens to the project. Interference shipped Berdovsky 40 electronic signs. Adrienne Yee of Interference e-mailed him a list of suggested locations and a list of things not to do. According to the police, the suggested locations for the devices included "Train stations, overpasses, hip/trendy areas and high traffic/high visibility areas." The signs were to be put up discreetly overnight. They were to be paid $300 each for their assistance.
Berdovsky, Stevens and Dana Seaver put up 20 magnetic lights in the middle of January. They dubbed the activity "Boston Mission 1." While Stevens and Berdovsky put up the lights, Seaver recorded the activity on video and sent a copy afterward to Interference. On the night of January 29, 2007, 18 more magnetic lights were put in place in what was called "Boston Mission 2." This included the one under Interstate 93 at Sullivan Square in Charlestown.
Devices
Graffiti Research Lab
Graffiti Research Lab, founded by Evan Roth and James Powderly during their fellowships at the Eyebeam OpenLab, is an art group dedicated to outfitting graffiti writers, artists and protesters with open source technologies for urban communication. The members of the group experiment in a lab and in...
in early 2006. The devices were promotional electronic placards for the forthcoming Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters. Each device, measuring about 1 by 1.5 feet, consisted of a printed circuit board
Printed circuit board
A printed circuit board, or PCB, is used to mechanically support and electrically connect electronic components using conductive pathways, tracks or signal traces etched from copper sheets laminated onto a non-conductive substrate. It is also referred to as printed wiring board or etched wiring...
(PCB) which had been painted black with light-emitting diode
Light-emitting diode
A light-emitting diode is a semiconductor light source. LEDs are used as indicator lamps in many devices and are increasingly used for other lighting...
s and other electronic components soldered to it, including numerous resistor
Resistor
A linear resistor is a linear, passive two-terminal electrical component that implements electrical resistance as a circuit element.The current through a resistor is in direct proportion to the voltage across the resistor's terminals. Thus, the ratio of the voltage applied across a resistor's...
s, a few capacitor
Capacitor
A capacitor is a passive two-terminal electrical component used to store energy in an electric field. The forms of practical capacitors vary widely, but all contain at least two electrical conductors separated by a dielectric ; for example, one common construction consists of metal foils separated...
s, and at least one integrated circuit
Integrated circuit
An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit is an electronic circuit manufactured by the patterned diffusion of trace elements into the surface of a thin substrate of semiconductor material...
package. At the bottom was a pack of four Publix
Publix
Publix Super Markets, Inc. is an American supermarket chain based in Lakeland, Florida.Founded in 1930 by George W. Jenkins, it is an employee-owned, privately held corporation. Publix is currently ranked No. 86 on Fortune magazine's list of 100 Best Companies to Work For 2010 and was ranked No...
brand D-cell batteries (as seen in photo), and magnets were attached to the back so the devices could be easily mounted on any ferromagnetic surface. The batteries were originally covered in black tape to blend with the black PCB.
The LEDs were arranged to show a cartoon character displaying the middle finger
Finger (gesture)
In Western culture, the finger , also known as the middle finger, is an obscene hand gesture, often meaning the phrases "fuck off" , "fuck you" or "up yours"...
. Two variants were manufactured with the LEDs arranged in pixelated likenesses of Ignignokt and Err, Mooninite characters from Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Massachusetts Attorney General
Massachusetts Attorney General
The Massachusetts Attorney General is an elected executive officer of the Massachusetts Government. The office of Attorney-General was abolished in 1843 and re-established in 1849. The current Attorney General is Martha Coakley....
Martha Coakley
Martha Coakley
Martha Mary Coakley is the Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Prior to serving as Attorney General, she was District Attorney of Middlesex County, Massachusetts from 1999 to 2007....
said the device "had a very sinister appearance. It had a battery behind it, and wires." Others compared the displays to the Lite-Brite
Lite-Brite
Lite-Brite is a toy, created by Hasbro in 1967, which allows the user to create glowing designs. It is a light box with small colored plastic pegs that fit into a matrix of holes and illuminate to create a lit piece of art. Using the colored pegs the user can create designs from imagination or by...
electric toy in appearance.
The scare
On January 31, 2007, at 8:05 a.m. a passenger spotted the device on a stanchionStanchion
A stanchion is an upright bar or post, often providing support for some other object.* An architectural term applied to the upright iron bars in windows that pass through the eyes of the saddle bars or horizontal irons to steady the leadlight. A stanchion is an upright bar or post, often...
that supports an elevated section of Interstate 93
Interstate 93
Interstate 93 is an Interstate Highway in the New England section of the United States. Its southern terminus is in Canton, Massachusetts, in the Boston metropolitan area, at Interstate 95; its northern terminus is near St. Johnsbury, Vermont, at Interstate 91...
(I-93), above Sullivan Station
Sullivan Square (MBTA station)
Sullivan Square is a station on the MBTA rapid transit Orange Line, and a major bus transfer point. It was also a major transfer point on the old Charlestown Elevated, with two streetcar loops for free transfers, later converted for trackless trolleys and buses.The first Sullivan Square station...
and told a policeman with the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, often referred to as the MBTA or simply The T, is the public operator of most bus, subway, commuter rail and ferry systems in the greater Boston, Massachusetts, area. Officially a "body politic and corporate, and a political subdivision" of the...
. At 9 a.m., the Boston Police Department bomb squad received a phone call from the MBTA requesting assistance in identifying the device. Authorities responded with what the Boston Globe described as "[an] army of emergency vehicles" at the scene, including police cruisers, fire trucks, ambulances, and the Boston Police Department bomb squad. Also present were live TV crews with helicopters circling overhead and a large crowd of onlookers. Peter Berdovsky, who had placed the device, went to the scene and video recorded the situation. Berdovsky recognized the device the police were dealing with but made no attempt to inform the police at the scene of what he knew about it. Berdovsky returned to his apartment and contacted the company, Interference, who had hired him to place the lights. He was told by Interference that they would handle informing the police and that he should personally say nothing about the situation.
During the preliminary investigation at the site, the police found that the device shared "some characteristics with improvised explosive devices." These characteristics included an identifiable power source, circuit board with exposed wiring, and electrical tape. After the initial assessment, the Boston police shut down the northbound side of I-93 and parts of the public transportation system. Just after 10 a.m. the bomb squad used a small explosive filled with water to destroy it as a precaution. MBTA Transit police Lieutenant Salvatore Venturelli told the media at the scene, "This is a perfect example of our passengers taking part in Homeland Security." He refused to describe the object in detail because of the ongoing investigation responding that "It's not consistent with equipment that would be there normally," Investigators were trying to determine "if it was a hoax or something else entirely" according to Venturelli. Northbound I-93 reopened to traffic at about 10:05 a.m. By 10:21 a.m. it was determined to be "some sort of hoax device" according to a police timeline of the events.
Massachusetts State Police
The Massachusetts State Police is an agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' Executive Office of Public Safety and Security responsible for criminal law enforcement and traffic vehicle regulation across the state...
requested assistance from the bomb squad with devices found under the Longfellow
Longfellow Bridge
The Longfellow Bridge, also known to locals as the "Salt-and-Pepper Bridge" or the "Salt-and-Pepper-Shaker Bridge" due to the shape of its central towers, carries Route 3 and the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's Red Line across the Charles River to connect Boston's Beacon Hill...
and Boston University
Boston University Bridge
The Boston University Bridge , and commonly referred to as the BU Bridge, is a steel truss bridge with a suspended deck carrying Route 2 over the Charles River, connecting Boston to Cambridge, Massachusetts. According to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials route...
bridges. Both bridges were closed as a precaution and the Coast Guard
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...
closed the river itself to boat traffic.
Friends of Peter Berdovsky received an e-mail from him at 1:26 p.m. which alleged that five hours into the scare, an Interference Inc. (the marketing firm that created the campaign) executive requested Berdovsky "keep everything on the dl." Travis Vautour, friend of Berdovsky, stated: "We received an e-mail in the early afternoon from Peter that asked the community that he's a part of to keep any information we had on the down low and that was instructed to him by whoever his boss was." Two hours later, Interference notified their client, Cartoon Network. Between 2 and 3 p.m., a police analyst identified the image on the devices as an Aqua Teen Hunger Force cartoon character, and the police concluded the incident was a publicity stunt. Turner Broadcasting System
Turner Broadcasting System
Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. is the Time Warner subsidiary managing the collection of cable networks and properties started and acquired by Robert Edward "Ted" Turner starting in the mid-1970s. The company has its headquarters in the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia. TBS, Inc...
issued a statement concerning the event at around 4:30 p.m. Portions of the Turner statement read:
"We regret that they were mistakenly thought to pose any danger. The packages in question are magnetic lights that pose no danger. They are part of an outdoor marketing campaign in 10 cities in support of Adult Swim's animated television show Aqua Teen Hunger Force. They have been in place for two to three weeks in BostonBostonBoston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, New York CityNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, Los AngelesLos ÁngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, ChicagoChicagoChicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Atlanta, Seattle, PortlandPortland, OregonPortland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
, AustinAustin, TexasAustin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
, San Francisco, and Philadelphia. Parent company Turner Broadcasting is in contact with local and federal law enforcement on the exact locations of the billboards. We regret that they were mistakenly thought to pose any danger."
Some devices had been up in the cities listed for two weeks before the Boston incident occurred, although no permits were ever secured for the devices' installation. The marketing company responsible for the campaign, Interference, Inc., made no comment on the situation and their website was also down (restored as of 2007-02-03). Berdovsky and Stevens, the individuals hired by Interference to install the signs, were arrested by Boston police during the evening of January 31, and charged with violating Chapter 266: Section 102A½ of The General Laws of Massachusetts, which makes it a crime to place a "hoax device" with the intent to panic the public. Both were held at the State Police South Boston barracks overnight and were released on $2,500 bail from the Charlestown District Court the following morning.
Reactions
The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...
stated that the "marketing gambit exposes a wide generation gap," quoting one 29-year-old blogger as writing "Repeat after me, authorities. L-E-D
Light-emitting diode
A light-emitting diode is a semiconductor light source. LEDs are used as indicator lamps in many devices and are increasingly used for other lighting...
. Not I-E-D
Improvised explosive device
An improvised explosive device , also known as a roadside bomb, is a homemade bomb constructed and deployed in ways other than in conventional military action...
. Get it?" The Globe's Brainiac blog was quick to credit bloggers such as Todd Vanderlin and Brian Stuart for being among the first to report on the ad's origin. The Brainiac blog earned praise from other media outlets for their own timely coverage of events, even as the paper continued to report on simply "suspicious objects".
Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
editorials derided the reaction of Boston's officials, remarking "Emergency personnel and anti-terrorism squads shut down more than a dozen highways, transit stations and other locations across the city Wednesday after receiving reports about multiple suspicious devices. The slender, placemat-sized items had dozens of colored lights, exposed wires and circuitry, and were powered by a row of D batteries wrapped in black tape. In other words, they looked like an upscale version of Hasbro
Hasbro
Hasbro is a multinational toy and boardgame company from the United States of America. It is one of the largest toy makers in the world. The corporate headquarters is located in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, United States...
's Lite-Brite
Lite-Brite
Lite-Brite is a toy, created by Hasbro in 1967, which allows the user to create glowing designs. It is a light box with small colored plastic pegs that fit into a matrix of holes and illuminate to create a lit piece of art. Using the colored pegs the user can create designs from imagination or by...
, a toy for artistic grade-schoolers." Bruce Schneier
Bruce Schneier
Bruce Schneier is an American cryptographer, computer security specialist, and writer. He is the author of several books on general security topics, computer security and cryptography, and is the founder and chief technology officer of BT Managed Security Solutions, formerly Counterpane Internet...
, a computer security expert and writer on contemporary security issues summed up the incident as a "Non-Terrorist Embarrassment in Boston".
The Boston Herald stated that part of the overreaction in the response could be blamed on two packages that did not blink. According to Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis, phony pipe bombs were also discovered that day, one inside Tufts-New England Medical Center at 1 p.m. Its security guard described "an agitated white male" fleeing saying, "God is warning you that today is going to be a sad day." The Herald goes on to characterize the placement of the devices as a "coordinated hoax." Davis also mentioned other incidents of the day that may have influenced the reaction, including a Washington DC metro stop being shut down due to a suspected package and fumes emanating from a package at a post office in New York City, resulting in four people being treated there. "It was almost like we had a kind of perfect storm
Perfect storm
A "perfect storm" is an expression that describes an event where a rare combination of circumstances will aggravate a situation drastically. The term is also used to describe an actual phemonenon that happens to occur in such a confluence, resulting in an event of unusual magnitude.-Origin:First ...
of circumstances falling into place," Davis said.
The advertising magazine Brandweek
Brandweek
Brandweek was a weekly American marketing trade publication.First published in 1986 as Adweeks Marketing Week, the publication changed its name in 1992 after facing a legal threat from the UK's Marketing Week magazine. Brandweek coverd the world of marketing from big-budget ad campaigns to...
said that the incident, which it labeled a fiasco, would cause marketers to "steer clear of guerrilla
Guerrilla marketing
Guerrilla warfare is about waging small intermittent attacks on different territories of the opponent with the aim of harassing and demoralising the opponent and eventually securing permanent footholds....
tactics until the controversy around the Aqua Teen Hunger Force stunt-turned-bomb-scare in Boston dies down." It further said the incident "will no doubt be followed by a reassessment of the potential price of what used to be known as a low-cost method to generate buzz."
According to Fox News, fans of Aqua Teen Hunger Force mocked Boston officials during the press conference of Berdovsky and Stevens, calling the arrests an overreaction while holding signs supporting the actions of the two. These signs had slogans such as "Free Peter" and "1-31-07 Never Forget," satirizing Mayor Tom Menino
Thomas Menino
Thomas Michael "Tom" Menino is the mayor of Boston, Massachusetts, United States and the city's first Italian-American mayor...
's mentions of 9/11. Other local Boston residents were quoted by local papers. "We all thought it was pretty funny," said one student. "The majority of us recognize the difference between a bomb and a Lite-Brite," said another. One resident said that the police response was "silly and insane," and that "We’re the laughingstock." Something Positive
Something Positive
Something Positive or S*P is a webcomic by R. K. Milholland, which debuted on December 19, 2001. The comic is characterized by a cynical tone and off-beat humor, including its portrayals of geeks, gamers, and goths....
, which is written and drawn by Waltham
Waltham, Massachusetts
Waltham is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, was an early center for the labor movement, and major contributor to the American Industrial Revolution. The original home of the Boston Manufacturing Company, the city was a prototype for 19th century industrial city planning,...
resident R. K. Milholland
R. K. Milholland
Randal Keith Milholland, better known as R. K. Milholland, is the author of several webcomics: Something Positive, New Gold Dreams, Midnight Macabre, Classically Positive and Super Stupor.-History:...
, also weighed in on the issue. Bloggers on the Boston section of LiveJournal
LiveJournal
LiveJournal is a virtual community where Internet users can keep a blog, journal or diary. LiveJournal is also the name of the free and open source server software that was designed to run the LiveJournal virtual community....
commented on channel 4 footage of the first device being exploded and clearly identified it as a "mooninite" reacting in disbelief. One blogger pointed out the similarity to what he called "Super Mario Question Block Hysteria all over again" in which five high school girls in Ravenna, Ohio
Ravenna, Ohio
* Chris Bangle; automobile designer* Bill Bower, last surviving pilot of the Doolittle Raid* David D. Busch; best-selling author* William Rufus Day; U.S. Supreme Court justice* Calvin Hampton; Classical organist* Robert B...
placed brightly colored boxes with question marks resembling the Super Mario game around town, and drew the bomb squad and possible prosecution. Similar boxes had been placed around various universities in the country including U Mass. The effort was part of an artistic and political commentary on the use of public space which spread in 2006.
Karl Carter of Atlanta, Georgia-based Guerrilla Tactics Media said fans of the show "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" would recognize the character and think it was funny, but other people who saw the signs wouldn't get the joke. "This is probably better set up for nightclubs and other sorts of scenarios where the people that are receiving the message, one, would know what it's about, but also two, wouldn't be frightened," he said. "You know, if you put these in certain environments, like public spaces in this post-9/11 sensitivity, then of course you're going to wind up in trouble." Make Magazine editor Phillip Torrone said the advertisers should have used better judgement, but called the Mooninite board a "neat electronic project." As reported by BoingBoing, the media and the State of Massachusetts itself maintained the use of the word "hoax" when describing the event, despite Turner Broadcasting Systems' contentions that they had no intention of arousing suspicion or panic in approving the advertising campaign.
On February 27, 2007, just a month after the incident, Boston police authorities detonated another object that they believed to be a bomb, but it ended up being a traffic counter. The next day, Bax and O'Brien on the Western Massachusetts radio station WAQY
WAQY
WAQY is a Springfield, Massachusetts area classic rock radio station. Since the late 1980s, the station has been known as "Rock 102".-History:...
weighed in, with John O'Brien saying, "and they (the devices) were also placed in Boston over two weeks ago. I don't think the terrorism officials in Boston are very observant..... Good thing September 11th didn't happen here; we wouldn't have found it until September 20th." In the months following the scare, stickers reading, "Don't Panic! This is NOT A BOMB. Do not be afraid. Do not call the police. Stop letting the terrorists win," began to appear on Boston parking meters, ATMs and other objects in public, as a sarcastic rebuke of the police overreaction. Despite all this, on March 18, 2007 at the annual St. Patrick's Day Breakfast in South Boston, jokes were made about the incident by Massachusetts politicians. Tom Menino himself said it was a way to obtain a local aid package for the city. Congressman Stephen Lynch
Stephen Lynch (politician)
Stephen F. Lynch is the U.S. representative for . He is a member of the Democratic Party who has served since 2001. Lynch was previously an ironworker and lawyer, and served in both chambers of the Massachusetts General Court....
claimed that the Mooninites were part of a sleeper cell that also included SpongeBob SquarePants
SpongeBob SquarePants (character)
SpongeBob SquarePants is a main fictional character in the animated television series SpongeBob SquarePants. He is voiced by Tom Kenny and first appeared on television in the series' pilot episode "Help Wanted" on May 1, 1999. SpongeBob was created and designed by cartoonist Stephen Hillenburg...
. State Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill
Timothy P. Cahill
Timothy P. Cahill is a former Massachusetts Treasurer and Receiver-General and was an independent candidate in the 2010 Massachusetts Gubernatorial Election.-Early political career:...
held up a picture of a Mooninite with Mitt Romney
Mitt Romney
Willard Mitt Romney is an American businessman and politician. He was the 70th Governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 and is a candidate for the 2012 Republican Party presidential nomination.The son of George W...
's face on it, saying "We had to blur out his real feelings about Massachusetts."
Aftermath
United States Department of Homeland Security
The United States Department of Homeland Security is a cabinet department of the United States federal government, created in response to the September 11 attacks, and with the primary responsibilities of protecting the territory of the United States and protectorates from and responding to...
. In addition, Turner released a statement to take responsibility and apologize for the incident. Less than a week following Turner's apology, Jim Samples stepped down from his 13 year position as head of Cartoon Network, stating that he was "compelled to step down . . . in recognition of the gravity of the situation that occurred under [his] watch." Shortly afterwards Stuart Snyder became the new president of Cartoon Network.
Ten cities in all were involved in the marketing campaign that began two to three weeks before the incident in Boston. The New York City Police Department
New York City Police Department
The New York City Police Department , established in 1845, is currently the largest municipal police force in the United States, with primary responsibilities in law enforcement and investigation within the five boroughs of New York City...
contacted Interference Inc., a New York-based marketing firm, to request a list of 41 locations where the devices were installed. Officers were able to locate and remove only two devices, both planted on an overpass at 33rd Street and West Side Highway. The NYPD did not receive any complaints about the devices according to police spokesman Paul Brown. At 9:30 p.m. on the evening of January 31, the Chicago Police Department
Chicago Police Department
The Chicago Police Department, also known as the CPD, is the principal law enforcement agency of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States, under the jurisdiction of the Mayor of Chicago. It is the largest police department in the Midwest and the second largest local law enforcement agency in the...
received a list of installation locations from Interference Inc. Police recovered and disposed of 20 of the 35 devices, leaving 15 unaccounted for. Police Superintendent Philip Cline admonished those responsible for the campaign, stating, "one of the devices could have easily been mistaken for a bomb and set off enough panic to alarm the entire city." Cline went on to say that, on February 1, he asked Turner Broadcasting to reimburse the city for funds spent on locating and disposing the devices. Two men were briefly held in connection to the incident. Fewer than 20 devices were found in Seattle and neither the Seattle Police Department
Seattle Police Department
The Seattle Police Department is the principal law enforcement agency of the city of Seattle, Washington, except for the campus of the University of Washington, for which responsibility falls to the University of Washington Police Department...
nor the King County Sheriff's Office received 9-1-1
9-1-1
9-1-1 is the emergency telephone number for the North American Numbering Plan .It is one of eight N11 codes.The use of this number is for emergency circumstances only, and to use it for any other purpose can be a crime.-History:In the earliest days of telephone technology, prior to the...
calls regarding them. King County Sheriff's spokesman John Urquhart went on to state, "To us, they're so obviously not suspicious ... We don't consider them dangerous." "In this day and age, whenever anything remotely suspicious shows up, people get concerned —and that's good. However, people don't need to be concerned about this. These are cartoon characters giving the finger."
Interference Inc. hired two people to distribute 20 devices throughout Philadelphia on January 11. One of these was Ryan, a 24-year-old from Fishtown, who claimed that he was promised $300 for installing the devices, only 18 of which were actually functional. Following the scare in Boston, the Philadelphia Police Department
Philadelphia Police Department
The Philadelphia Police Department is the police agency responsible for law enforcement and investigations within the City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...
recovered only 3 of the 18 devices. Joe Grace, spokesman for Philadelphia Mayor John F. Street
John F. Street
John Franklin Street was the 97th Mayor of the City of Philadelphia. He was first elected to a term beginning on January 3, 2000, and was re-elected to a second term beginning in 2004...
, was quoted as saying "We think it was a stupid, regrettable, irresponsible stunt by Turner. We do not take kindly to it." A cease-and-desist letter was sent to Turner, threatening fines for violating zoning codes.
No devices were retrieved in Los Angeles and Lieutenant Paul Vernon of the LAPD
Los Angeles Police Department
The Los Angeles Police Department is the police department of the city of Los Angeles, California. With just under 10,000 officers and more than 3,000 civilian staff, covering an area of with a population of more than 4.1 million people, it is the third largest local law enforcement agency in...
stated that "no one perceived them as a threat." The many Los Angeles signs were up over 2 weeks before the Boston Scare with no incident. Police Sergeant Brian Schmautz stated that officers in Portland had not been dispatched to remove the devices, and did not plan to unless they were found on municipal property. He added, "At this point we wouldn't even begin an investigation, because there's no reason to believe a crime has occurred." This device was placed in inside of 11th Ave Liquor on Hawthorne Boulevard in Portland, where it remains. San Francisco police Sgt. Neville Gittens said that Interference Inc. was removing them, except for one found by art gallery owner Jamie Alexander who reportedly "thought it was cool" and had it taken down after it ceased to function.
Berdovsky and Stevens were arrested on the day of the incident and charged with placing a hoax device to incite panic, a felony charge that carries a five-year maximum sentence, and one count of disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor. Both pleaded not guilty to the two charges and were later released on a $2,500 cash bond. At their arraignment Assistant Attorney General John Grossman claimed that the two were trying to "get attention by causing fear and unrest that there was a bomb in that location." Michael Rich, the lawyer representing both men, disputed Grossman's claim, asserting that even a VCR
Videocassette recorder
The videocassette recorder , is a type of electro-mechanical device that uses removable videocassettes that contain magnetic tape for recording analog audio and analog video from broadcast television so that the images and sound can be played back at a more convenient time...
could be found to fit the description of a bomb-like device. Judge Leary said that it will be necessary for the prosecution to demonstrate an intent on the part of the suspects to cause a panic. The judge continues "It appears the suspects had no such intent, ...but the question should be discussed in a later hearing." After making bail, Berdovsky and Stevens appeared for a live press conference. As Rich had advised them not to discuss the case, they spent the entire conference discussing and inviting press questions about hair styles of the 1970s, and ignoring any questions relating to the bomb scare.
On March 1, 2007, Senator Edward Kennedy
Ted Kennedy
Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy was a United States Senator from Massachusetts and a member of the Democratic Party. Serving almost 47 years, he was the second most senior member of the Senate when he died and is the fourth-longest-serving senator in United States history...
, D-MA, introduced S.735, "The Terrorist Hoax Improvements Act of 2007". It "Amends the federal criminal code to: (1) extend the prohibition against conveying false information and hoaxes to any federal crime of terrorism; (2) increase maximum prison terms for hoaxes involving a member of the Armed Forces during war; (3) allow a civil remedy for damages resulting from hoaxes perpetrated by an individual who later fails to provide accurate information to investigating authorities about the actual nature of the incident; and (4) extend the prohibition against mailing threatening communications to include corporations or governmental entities (as well as individuals)." The bill never came to a vote.
On May 11, 2007, the prosecutors decided not to pursue criminal charges in exchange for community service and a public apology. Attorney General Martha Coakley
Martha Coakley
Martha Mary Coakley is the Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Prior to serving as Attorney General, she was District Attorney of Middlesex County, Massachusetts from 1999 to 2007....
cited the difficulty in proving intent to incite panic on the part of the two men and called the deal "an appropriate and fair resolution." Berdovsky and Stevens completed 80 and 60 hours of community service at the Spaulding Rehabilitation Center in Boston. The incident prompted opportunists to acquire the promotional devices from other cities and auction them on eBay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
, with prices ranging from $500 to over $5,000 USD. Other eBay users created merchandise commemorating the event, including such items as T-shirt
T-shirt
A T-shirt is a style of shirt. A T-shirt is buttonless and collarless, with short sleeves and frequently a round neck line....
s, sticker
Sticker
A sticker is a type of a piece of paper or plastic, adhesive, sticky on one side, and usually with a design on the other. They can be used for decoration, depending on the situation. They can come in many different shapes, sizes and colours and are put on things such as lunchboxes, in children's...
s, and custom LED
LEd
LEd is a TeX/LaTeX editing software working under Microsoft Windows. It is a freeware product....
signs.
An Aqua Teen Hunger Force episode from season five
Aqua Teen Hunger Force (season 5)
The fifth season of the animated television series, Aqua Teen Hunger Force originally aired in the United States on Cartoon Network's late night programming block, Adult Swim. Season five started on January 20, 2008 with "Robots Everywhere", and ended with "Bible Fruit" on March 23, 2008. Although...
entitled "Boston" was produced as the series creators' response to the bomb scare, but Adult Swim pulled it to avoid further controversy. As of 2011 "Boston" has never aired, and has never been released to the public in any format.