NCJ Number
42028
Date Published
1977
Length
544 pages
Annotation
THIS BOOK IS A DETAILED AND THOROUGH ACCOUNT OF THE 22 MONTH HISTORY OF THE SYMBIONESE LIBERATION ARMY, FROM ITS INCEPTION AT CALIFORNIA'S VACAVILLE PRISON TO THE TRIALS OF BILL AND EMILY HARRIS AND PATTY HEARST.
Abstract
ASSEMBLED FROM INTERVIEWS WITH HUNDREDS OF POLICEMEN, FBI PERSONNEL, FRIENDS AND RELATIVES OF SLA MEMBERS, PRISON OFFICIALS, AND PROSECUTORS, THE NARRATIVE TRACES THE SLA FROM ITS FIRST VIOLENT POLITICAL STATEMENT, THE ASSASSINATION OF DR. MARCUS FOSTER, TO ITS EVEN MORE SENSATIONAL NEXT MOVE: THE KIDNAPPING OF PATRICIA HEARST. HEARST'S CONVERSION FROM UNWILLING VICTIM TO AVID, SELF-PROCLAIMED URBAN GUERRILLA IS DESCRIBED EXTENSIVELY. PREVIOUSLY UNPUBLISHED DETAILS OF SLA PLOTS IN THE CALIFORNIA PRISONS, PRISON ESCAPE PLANS, THEIR RECRUITMENT AND TRAINING, AND PLANS FOR THE INEVITABLE REVOLUTION THEY ENVISIONED ARE REVEALED. THE AUTHORS CHRONICLE THE SLA'S HIBERNIA BANK ROBBERY, THE WATTS CONFLAGRATION, THE SECOND BANK ROBBERY IN CARMICHAEL, THE 'SAFE HOUSES' IN PENNSYLVANIA, AND THEIR JOURNEYS ACROSS AMERICA WHILE BEING PURSUED AS THE COUNTRY'S NUMBER ONE FUGITIVES. GENERAL FIELD MARSHALL CINQUE (DONALD DEFREEZE) AND HIS 'SOLDIERS' ARE PROFILED IN THE CONTEXT OF BERKELEY AND SAN FRANCISCO POLITICS AND THE SLA ATMOSPHERE OF RADICAL, COMPULSIVE, YET OFTEN CONFUSED IDEOLOGIES. THE BEHIND-THE-SCENES PERSONALITY AND SEXUAL CLASHES ARE ALSO SCRUTINIZED....MSP