24. Clark, The Brothers of Attica, 73.
25. Ibid.
26. Ibid., 76.
27. Ibid., 75.
28. Carlos Roche, Testimony, Akil Al-Jundi et al. v. The Estate of Nelson A. Rockefeller et al., October 31, 1991, 1919.
29. Clark, The Brothers of Attica, 76.
14. A NEW DAY DAWNS
1. Injunction, Inmates of Attica Correctional Facility v. Nelson Rockefeller, Governor; Commissioner of Correction, Oswald; Vincent Mancusi, Warden, United States District Court, Western District, New York, September 10, 1971, in the papers of Elizabeth M. Fink, Brooklyn, New York.
2. Ibid.
3. Herman Schwartz, Personal Diary, September 12, 19, and 24, 1971. In author’s possession.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
6. Official Call Log, Headquarters, New York State Police, Albany. Date: September 10, 1971. Time: 10:30 a.m.
7. Transmitter Log, September 9–13, New York State Police, Investigation and interview files, 1971–1972, New York (State), Special Commission on Attica, 15855-90, Box 9, New York State Archives, Albany, New York.
8. Russell Oswald, Attica—My Story (New York: Doubleday, 1972), 102.
9. Reverend Marvin Chandler, Interview by Laura Hill, May 13, 2009, Rochester Black Freedom Struggle: Online Project, Rare Books and Special Collections, University of Rochester, New York.
10. Xerox of the handwritten note in: Oswald, Attica—My Story, 104.
11. McKay Report, 267.
12. Schwartz, Personal Diary, September 12, 19, 24, 1971.
13. Ibid.
14. Russell Oswald, Testimony, Akil Al-Jundi et al. v. The Estate of Nelson A. Rockefeller et al., read posthumously into the record on January 2, 1992, 10818.
15. Charles “Flip” Crowley, In the Matter of the Additional, Special and Trial Term of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Designated Pursuant to the Order of the Appellate Division, Fourth Department. County of Wyoming, May 24, 1972, 8–9.
16. McKay Report, 269.
17. Schwartz, Personal Diary, September 12, 19, 24, 1971.
18. According to a later investigation there were originally a total of fifty hostages and eleven were released in the initial hours of the rebellion. McKay Report, 184.
19. It is unclear who said this. There are conflicting reports. Arthur Eve maintained that Mariano “Dalou” Gonzalez was that person. See: Arthur Eve, Testimony, Akil Al-Jundi et al. v. The Estate of Nelson A. Rockefeller et al., November 6, 1991, 2738. For other descriptions of the event, see: Oswald, Testimony, Akil Al-Jundi et al. v. The Estate of Nelson A. Rockefeller et al. Also see: Schwartz, Personal Diary, September 12, 19, 24, 1971.
20. Schwartz, Personal Diary, September 12, 19, 24, 1971.
21. Crowley, In the Matter of the Additional, Special and Trial Term of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Designated Pursuant to the Order of the Appellate Division, Fourth Department, 14.
22. Bernard George Kirk, Testimony, In the Matter of the Additional, Special and Trial Term of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Designated Pursuant to the Order of the Appellate Division, Fourth Department. County of Wyoming, February 17, 1972, Erie County courthouse, 61.
23. Chandler, Interview by Hill, May 13, 2009.
24. Ibid.
25. Ibid.
26. Oswald, Testimony, Akil Al-Jundi et al. v. The Estate of Nelson A. Rockefeller et al.
27. As quoted in “Five Deadly Days,” reprinted from the Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, New York), Tom Wicker Papers.
28. Dr. Warren Hanson, interviewed by Joe Heath and John Straithorp, Interview Report Sheet, December 3, 1974.
29. Hanson, Testimony, McKay Transcript, April 18, 1972, 308.
30. Dr. Warren Hanson, interviewed by Joe Heath and John Straithorp, Interview Report Sheet, December 3, 1974.
31. Wicker, Notes from interview with Roger Champen, undated, Tom Wicker Papers
32. Twenty-six-year-old Barry Schwartz had originally been sentenced to serve time in prison on November 11, 1968. He had been charged with manslaughter in the first degree after a jury determined that he had killed a man and wounded a woman in March of 1967 when he broke into their apartment in Queens, New York. His father, Lester, and mother, Ruth, were divorced and he had a half sister. Since he had been in Attica he had made a number of friends, including D Yard leader Flip Crowley because the two of them “went to counseling sessions together.” Kenny Hess had only been in prison since May and would be eligible for parole in six months. This twenty-two-year-old who stood five-eleven and had brown hair and hazel eyes had gone to jail on a charge of grand larceny after getting an honorable discharge from the military and working for a family business, Ed Hess and Sons, in Maine, New York. Hess’s greatest weakness was alcohol and speed and this had gotten him into trouble, greatly saddening his two brothers, one sister, and his parents, Edgar and Mary Jane. In Attica Hess made friends with Schwartz. Together they set up a bookie operation in which they sold “pool tickets” to other prisoners. See: Barry Jay Schwartz, Inmate Record Card, October 14, 1994, Ernest Goodman Papers, Accession number 1152, Box 7, Walter Reuther Library; Barry Jay Schwartz, DOB: 4-14-45, Death Certificate, October 14, 1994, Ernest Goodman Papers, Accession number 1152, Box 7, Walter Reuther Library; Kenneth Edgar Hess, Inmate Record Card, October 14, 1994, Ernest Goodman Papers, Accession number 1152, Box 7, Walter Reuther Library; Kenneth Edgar Hess, Death Certificate, October 14, 1994, Ernest Goodman Papers, Accession number 1152, Box 7, Walter Reuther Library.
33. New York State Police Memorandum, Subject: “Stewart Dan, Interview by Sid Hayman, Tony Simonetti, Ed Stillwell, and H. F. Williams, WGR-TV,” September 22, 1971, Erie County courthouse.
34. Ibid.
35. Bernard Gaddy, Testimony, In the Matter of the Additional, Special and Trial Term of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Designated Pursuant to the Order of the Appellate Division, Fourth Department. County of Wyoming, May 4, 1972, Erie County courthouse, 42–46.
36. New York State Police Memorandum, Subject: “Stewart Dan, Interview by Sid Hayman et al., WGR-TV,” September 22, 1971.
37. Crowley, Testimony, In the Matter of the Additional, Special and Trial Term of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Designated Pursuant to the Order of the Appellate Division, Fourth Department, 39.
38. New York State Police Memorandum, Subject: “Stewart Dan, Interview by Sid Hayman et al., WGR-TV,” September 22, 1971.
39. Ibid.
40. Ibid.
41. Gaddy, Testimony, In the Matter of the Additional, Special and Trial Term of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Designated Pursuant to the Order of the Appellate Division, Fourth Department, 49.
PART III · THE SOUND BEFORE THE FURY
1. Tom Wicker, “Transcribed Personal Notes of Events at Attica Prison and Among the Committee of Observers, September 10–13, ’71,” Tom Wicker Papers, 5012, Series 1.1, Box 2, Folder 15. Also see: Tom Wicker, A Time to Die: The Attica Prison Revolt (New York: Quadrangle/New York Times Books, 1975), 2–4.
2. Attica Reporter’s Notebook (4x8), Tom Wicker Papers, 5012, Series 1.1, Box 2, Folder 14.
3. As described in a publication authored by James A. Hudson, Slaughter at Attica: The Complete Inside Story. Also quoted in “Five Deadly Days,” reprinted from the Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, New York), Tom Wicker Papers.
4. Wicker, “Transcribed Personal Notes of Events at Attica Prison and Among the Committee of Observers, September 10–13, ’71,” Tom Wicker Papers. Also see: Wicker, A Time to Die, 35.
5. Wicker, “Transcribed Personal Notes of Events at Attica Prison and Among the Committee of Observers, September 10–13, ’71,” Tom Wicker Papers. Also see: Wicker, A Time to Die, 35.
15. GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS
1. According to Minister Farrakhan, he again asked Elijah Muhammad if he could go when it became clear that the situation was deteriorating. Muhammad granted permission, Farrakhan said,
and then, when Nelson Rockefeller sent a plane to fetch him and Farrakhan was about to board, Muhammad called and told him not to go so he did not. See: Minister Louis Farrakhan, “Death Stands at the Door,” speech, Chicago, Illinois, July 27, 2003, as reproduced in The Final Call, May 10, 2010.
2. Johanna Fernandez, When the World Was Their Stage: A History of the Young Lords Party, 1968–1974 (tentative title) (Princeton: Princeton University Press, forthcoming).
3. According to an FBI memo, a “reliable source advised that BPP Minister of Self Defense Huey P. Newton, contact the secretary of New York State Assemblyman Arthur Eve informing her that he contemplated traveling to Buffalo as requested”; however “no flight arrangements have as yet been made by Newton.” See: San Francisco, FBI Memorandum of Communication to Directors Albany, Buffalo, New York City, 5:34 p.m., September 10, 1971. An FBI memo earlier that day assured the Buffalo office that “SF [San Francisco office] will continue to follow this matter with BPP sources and will advise of any definite travel plans obtained.” See: San Francisco, FBI Memorandum of Communication to Directors Albany, Buffalo, New York City, 12:02 p.m., September 10, 1971. All documents obtained through FOIA request #1014547-000 of the FBI.
4. Rockefeller Administration, Confidential Memo, “Events at Attica: September 8–13, 1971,” 20.
5. Russell Oswald, Attica—My Story (New York: Doubleday, 1972), 112.
6. Thomas Wicker, Testimony, McKay Transcript, April 18, 1972, 421–22.
7. Ibid., 420.
8. Ibid.
9. Herman Badillo and Milton Haynes, A Bill of No Rights: Attica and the America Prison System (New York: Outerbridge & Lazard, 1972), 57.
10. Clarence Jones, conversation with author, New York City, New York, April 21, 2005.
11. Tom Wicker, A Time to Die: The Attica Prison Revolt (New York: Quadrangle/New York Times Books, 1975), 43.
12. Ibid.
13. Ibid., 44.
14. Ibid.
15. Clarence Jones, Testimony, McKay Transcript, April 19, 1972, 758–59.
16. Ibid., 752.
17. Richard X Clark, Testimony, Akil Al-Jundi et al. v. The Estate of Nelson A. Rockefeller et al., October 25, 1991, 200.
18. Rockefeller Administration, Confidential Memo, “Events at Attica: September 8–13, 1971,” 23.
19. John Dunne, conversation with author, Albany, New York, April 3, 2007.
20. Wicker, A Time to Die, 47.
21. Wicker, Testimony, McKay Transcript, April 18, 1972, 426.
22. Wicker, A Time to Die, 50.
23. Ibid., 52.
24. Kirk, Testimony, In the Matter of the Additional, Special and Trial Term of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Designated Pursuant to the Order of the Appellate Division, Fourth Department. County of Wyoming, February 17, 1972, 46.
25. Wicker, “Transcribed Personal Notes of Events at Attica Prison and Among the Committee of Observers, September 10–13, ’71,” Tom Wicker Papers.
26. Wicker, A Time to Die, 63.
27. Ibid.
28. Original note, Tom Wicker Papers, 5012, Series 1.1, Box 2, Folder 15.
29. Copy of paper, Senator Jacob A. Javits Collection, Special Collections and University Archives, Frank Melville Jr. Memorial Library, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York.
30. Wicker, Testimony, McKay Transcript, April 18, 1972, 436.
31. Schwartz, Personal Diary, September 12, 19, 24, 1971.
32. Wicker, “Transcribed Personal Notes of Events at Attica Prison and Among the Committee of Observers, September 10–13, ’71,” Tom Wicker Papers.
33. Ibid.
34. Ibid.
35. Ibid.
36. Ibid.
37. Oswald, Attica—My Story, 112.
38. Wicker, “Transcribed Personal Notes of Events at Attica Prison and Among the Committee of Observers, September 10–13, ’71,” Tom Wicker Papers.
39. Wicker, A Time to Die, 99.
40. Ibid., 106.
41. As quoted in: McKay Report, 286.
42. Arthur Eve, Testimony, Akil Al-Jundi et al. v. The Estate of Nelson A. Rockefeller et al., November 6, 1991, 2734
43. Mariano “Dalou” Gonzalez, Interview by Michael D. Ryan, 30.
44. Badillo and Haynes, A Bill of No Rights, 59.
45. Ibid.
46. John Dunne, handwritten notes of what prisoners wanted, taken down in D Yard during meeting on the night of Friday, September 10, into morning of Saturday, September 11, 1971, Investigation and interview files, 1971–1972, New York (State), Special Commission on Attica, 15855-90, Box 85, New York State Archives, Albany, New York.
47. Albert S. Kurek, “The Troopers Are Coming II: New York State Troopers, 1943–1985,” Dee Quinn Miller Personal Papers, 166.
48. Ibid.
49. Official Call Log, Headquarters, New York State Police, Albany, 13.
50. Rockefeller Administration, Confidential Memo, “Events at Attica: September 8–13, 1971,” 25.
16. DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES
1. George Kirk, Testimony, In the Matter of the Additional, Special and Trial Term of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Designated Pursuant to the Order of the Appellate Division, Fourth Department. County of Wyoming, February 17, 1972, 48.
2. Ibid., 49.
3. Ron Kozlowski, Testimony, Attica Task Force Hearing, May 9–10, 2002, Rochester, New York, 171.
4. As quoted in: “Five Deadly Days,” reprinted from the Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, New York), Tom Wicker Papers.
5. Wicker, “Transcribed Personal Notes of Events at Attica Prison and Among the Committee of Observers, September 10–13, ’71,” Tom Wicker Papers. Also see: Wicker, A Time to Die: The Attica Prison Revolt (New York: Quadrangle/New York Times Books, 1975), 7.
6. Wicker, Testimony, McKay Transcript, April 18, 1972, 450.
7. Ibid., 451.
8. Wicker, “Transcribed Personal Notes of Events at Attica Prison and Among the Committee of Observers, September 10–13, ’71,” Wicker Papers. Also see: Wicker, A Time to Die, 7.
9. Herman Schwartz, Personal Diary, September 12, 19, 24, 1971. In author’s possession.
10. Louis James, Original statement (on official letterhead and complete with edits), Tom Wicker Papers, 5012, Series 1.1, Box 2, Folder 15.
11. Wicker, “Transcribed Personal Notes of Events at Attica Prison and Among the Committee of Observers, September 10–13, ’71,” Tom Wicker Papers. Also see: Wicker, A Time to Die, 8.
12. Wicker, Testimony, McKay Transcript, April 18, 1972, 454.
13. Schwartz, Personal Diary, September 12, 19, 24, 1971.
14. Clarence Jones, Testimony, McKay Transcript, April 19, 1972, 703.
15. Russell Oswald, Testimony, Akil Al-Jundi et al. v. The Estate of Nelson A. Rockefeller et al., read posthumously into the record on January 2, 1992, 10824.
16. Ibid., 10826.
17. Lewis Steel, conversation with author, New York City, April 20, 2004.
18. Clarence Jones, Testimony, McKay Transcript, April 19, 1972, 705.
19. “Proposals acceptable to Oswald at this time,” original typed copy, Investigation and interview files, 1971–1972, New York (State), Special Commission on Attica, 15855-90, Box 84, New York State Archives, Albany, New York.
20. These would allow for prisoners to have legal counsel during parole hearings. See: Menechino v. Oswald, 430 F.2d 403 (2nd Cir. 1970).
21. Robert Douglass, interview, “Attica Prison Riot,” American Experience: The Rockefellers, Public Broadcasting Service, 2007.
22. San Francisco, Federal Bureau of Investigation Communications Section Memorandum to Directors, Albany, Buffalo, Chicago, New York Subject: “Extremist Matters,” 11:15 a.m., September 11, 1971, FOIA request #1014547-000 of the FBI.
23. New York, Federal Bureau of Investigation Communications Section Memo to Directors, Albany, Buffalo, San Francisco, 5:06 p.m., September 11, 1971, FOIA request #1014547-000 of the FBI.
24. Rocke
feller Administration, Confidential Memo, “Events at Attica: September 8–13, 1971,” 31.
25. Dr. Warren Hanson, Testimony, McKay Transcript, April 18, 1972, 334.
26. Ibid., 321–22.
27. Ibid., 322.
28. Ibid.
29. Official Call Log, Headquarters, New York State Police, Albany, 13. Also see: “WBAI Transcript of Speeches Made in D Yard,” March 6, 1972, 17.
30. Warren H. Hanson, “Attica: The Hostages’ Story,” New York Times, October 31, 1971.
31. Hanson, Testimony, McKay Transcript, April 18, 1972, 316.
32. Rockefeller Administration, Confidential Memo, “Events at Attica: September 8–13, 1971,” 31.
33. Wicker, A Time to Die, 155.
34. William E. Quinn, September 11, 1971, Certificate of Death, Department of Health, New York State, filed September 21, 1971, Erie County courthouse. Also see: John F. Edland, Autopsy of William Quinn, September 12, 1971, Autopsy #A-339-71, in author’s possession; Dr. H. J. Pinsky, Quinn Autopsy X-Ray Findings, Erie County courthouse; Elmer Gordon, William Quinn Laboratory Report, Monroe County Department of Health, Office of the Medical Examiner, September 12, 1971, Erie County courthouse.
35. Rockefeller Administration, Confidential Memo, “Events at Attica: September 8–13, 1971,” 30.
36. Wicker, A Time to Die, 161.
37. “The Attica Revolt from Start to Finish: A Daily Chronology,” Special to the Buffalo Evening News, September 14, 1971, Senator Jacob A. Javits Collection, Box 50, Special Collections and University Archives, Frank Melville Jr. Memorial Library, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York. Fred Ferretti, “Amnesty Demand Is Called Snag in Attica Prison Talks,” New York Times, September 12, 1971.
38. “Summary of Chronology,” Investigation and interview files, 1971–1972, New York (State), Special Commission on Attica, 15855-90, Box 88, New York State Archives, Albany, New York.
39. Herman Badillo and Milton Haynes, A Bill of No Rights: Attica and the America Prison System (New York: Outerbridge & Lazard, 1972), 59.
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