Blood in the Water

by Thompson, Heather Ann

  89. Ibid., 7.

  90. As quoted in: McKay Report, 498–99.

  91. Details of the shot that killed Sam Melville come from Malcolm Bell’s discussion with Dr. George Abbott regarding the original autopsy Abbott conducted on Melville. Autopsy also in author’s possession. See: FBI, Memorandum regarding interview with Donald Goff of the Correctional Association, October 21, 1971, FOIA request #110818 of the New York State Attorney General’s Office; Decision and Order, Appendix 2, Category V Death Claims, Akil Al-Jundi et al. v. Vincent Mancusi et al., No. CIV-75-132, 113 F.Supp.2d 441 (2000), August 28, 2000.

  92. Decision and Order, Appendix 2, Category V Death Claims, Akil Al-Jundi et al. v. Vincent Mancusi et al., No. CIV-75-132, 113 F.Supp.2d 441 (2000), August 28, 2000, 3. Michael Baden, Autopsy of Thomas Hicks, September 16, 1971, Ernest Goodman Papers, Accession number 1152, Box 6, Walter Reuther Library of Labor and Urban Affairs. For information about who shot Hicks, see: Memorandum regarding Trooper Milford J. Clayson, FOIA request #110818 of the New York State Attorney General’s Office, FOIA p. 001547. Remarks: “Possible hit P#12, (Lorenzo McNeil), P#26 (Thomas Hicks).”

  93. John F. Edland, Autopsy of Thomas Hicks, September 14, 1971, in author’s possession.

  94. The National Guardsman was Franklin Davenport. A report later released by the McKay Commission said that Hicks was dead during the retaking. See: McKay Report, 396–97.

  95. John O’Brien, “The Scars of Attica,” The Post-Standard (Syracuse, New York), September 3, 1991.

  96. Investigator Michael McCarron, State of New York Attica Investigation Memorandum to Anthony Simonetti, Subject: “Interview of Larry Barnes, ACF #26589,” January 30, 1975, FOIA request #110818 of New York State Attorney General’s Office.

  97. Melvin Marshall, Interview by Christine Christopher, transcript, September 10, 2011, Criminal Injustice: Death and Politics at Attica, Blue Sky Project (2012), 34.

  98. James J. Peppard Jr., “Attica Inmate Alleged to Have Met Death After Peace,” Daily Messenger, October 1, 1971. Also see reports on this in: “Attica Leaders Killed After Assault,” Georgia Straight 5, no. 21 (December 16, 1971); “Attica Leaders Assassinated,” Fifth Estate 6, no. 15 (October 14, 1971). Eve was intensely relieved when he saw that one of the most outspoken of the prisoner leaders from his own district, L. D. Barkley, was still alive. He said to Robert Garcia, who was standing closest to him, “that’s L.D…at least he’s alive.” Frank Lott also saw him. “L.D. was alive….He was right off the A Block area with his nose down in the grass.” See: Eve, Notes on the day-by-day events of the riot, Tom Wicker Papers, 5; “Five Deadly Days,” reprinted from the Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, New York), Tom Wicker Papers, 25.

  99. Decision and Order, Appendix 2, Category V Death Claims, Akil Al-Jundi et al. v. Vincent Mancusi et al., No. CIV-75-132, 113 F.Supp.2d 441 (2000), August 28, 2000, 2.

  100. Marshall, Interview by Christopher, transcript, September 10, 2011, Criminal Injustice, 36.

  101. Rockefeller Administration, Confidential Memo, “Events at Attica: September 8–13, 1971,” 53.

  102. John Dunne, Testimony, Herbert X. Blyden et al. v. Vincent Mancusi et al., United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, 186 F. 3d 252, Docket No. 97-2912, Vol. II, December 3, 1991, A-886.

  103. State of New York notes on John Dunne, FOIA request #110818 of the New York State Attorney General’s Office, FOIA pp. 0011631 and 212076; Tom Wicker, “Nominee Was Burnished by Attica’s Fire,” San Jose Mercury News, January 30, 1990.

  104. Tom Wicker, “In the Nation: A Man of Character,” New York Times, January 29, 1990.

  105. Handwritten notes about Monday morning, Tom Wicker Papers.

  106. Ibid.

  107. Ibid.

  108. “A Nation of Law? (1968–1971),” transcript, Eyes on the Prize, 1987.

  109. Rev. Marvin Chandler, Interview by Hill, May 13, 2009.

  110. Tom Fitzpatrick, “Bill Kunstler’s Worst Day—Hearing the Guns of Attica,” Chicago Sun-Times, October 6, 1971, as reprinted in Penal Digest International 1, no. 5 (October 1971).

  111. Ibid.

  112. Wicker, Notes from interview with Roger Champen, undated. Tom Wicker Papers.

  22. SPINNING DISASTER

  1. John Dunne, Transcription of notes taken in observers meetings, FOIA request #110818, FOIA p. 001669.

  2. “Five Deadly Days,” reprinted from the Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, New York), Tom Wicker Papers, 25.

  3. Appendix 6: “Supplemental Materials on Nelson Rockefeller by Attica Brothers Legal Defense,” as contained in: Attica Brothers Legal Defense, Statement, Nelson A. Rockefeller Vice Presidential Confirmation Hearings, House of Representatives, 93rd Cong., 2nd sess., Congressional Record 120 (November 26, 1974), Ron Nessen Papers, Box 25, Folder “Rockefeller, Nelson—Confirmation Hearings,” Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1177.

  4. “War at Attica: Was There No Other Way?,” Time, September 27, 1971, 24.

  5. Michael Whiteman, Testimony, Meyer Commission, June 12, 1975, 1817, FOIA request #110818 of the New York State Attorney General’s Office, FOIA p. 000801.

  6. Russell Oswald, Statement, September 13, 1971, Nelson A. Rockefeller gubernatorial records, Press Office, Series 25, New York (State), Governor (1959–1973: Rockefeller), Record Group 15, Box 49, Folder 1066, Rockefeller Archive Center, Sleepy Hollow, New York.

  7. Ibid.

  8. Harry W. Albright Jr. and Eliot N. Vestner Jr., Memorandum to the Governor, Subject: “The Throat Slitting Story and Atrocity Stories,” Appendix 2 in Rockefeller Administration, Confidential Memo, “Events at Attica: September 8–13, 1971.”

  9. Ibid.

  10. Ibid.

  11. Ibid.

  12. Arthur Eve, Notes on the day-by-day events of the riot, Tom Wicker Papers, 5.

  13. Ibid. Not only did Dunbar report that the man on the table was responsible for the castration to these elected officials, but he also later testified to this before the Pepper Commission. See: Elizabeth M. Hardie, Individually and as administratrix of the estate of Elmer S. Hardie v. State of New York et al. (Claim No. 54684), State of New York Court of Claims. Also: Russell Oswald, Testimony, Lynda Jones v. State of New York et al. (Claim No. 54555), State of New York Court of Claims, June 5, 1979, 122. All documents in possession of author.

  14. Eve, Notes on the day-by-day events of the riot, Tom Wicker Papers, 5. See also: Elizabeth M. Hardie, Individually and as administratrix of the estate of Elmer S. Hardie v. State of New York et al. (Claim No. 54684), State of New York Court of Claims. Also: Russell Oswald, Testimony, Lynda Jones v. State of New York et al. (Claim No. 54555), State of New York Court of Claims, June 5, 1979, 122.

  15. Albright and Vestner, Memorandum to the Governor, Subject: “The Throat Slitting Story and Atrocity Stories.”

  16. Edmond Pinto, “The Attica Report: An AP News Special,” Dorothy Schiff Papers, Box 4, New York Public Library.

  17. Albright and Vestner, Memorandum to the Governor, Subject: “The Throat Slitting Story and Atrocity Stories.”

  18. Associated Press wire bulletin, Senator Jacob A. Javits Collection, Special Collections and University Archives, Frank Melville Jr. Memorial Library, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York.

  19. As quoted in: McKay Report, 457.

  20. “Death Penalty Possible in Slaying of Hostages,” New York Times, September 14, 1971, Dorothy Schiff Papers, Box 4, New York Public Library.

  21. As referenced in: McKay Report, 456.

  22. “37 Die as Police Guards Storm Attica Prison,” Fort Scott, Kansas, News and Courier, September 14, 1971.

  23. Stephen Isaacs, “Attica Prison Retaken, 37 Slain,” Washington Post, September 14, 1971.

  24. In Morgantown, West Virginia, readers of The Dominion News were informed that “nine hostages were killed by inmates” at Attica the day before. Likewise, residents of Harlingen, Texas, who read the Valley Morning Star learned that “nine hostages were found de
ad—slain by inmates,” and Michiganders who lived in the small town of Holland also read that “rebel convicts killed nine civilian employees at the Attica State Prison” in their paper, The Holland Evening Sentinel. From Augusta, Maine, to rural Pennsylvania, Americans were told in no uncertain terms by their trusted media sources that “rebellious convicts” had “murdered” nine guard hostages in cold blood. See: “Hostages Are Murdered,” Kennebec Journal, September 14, 1971; “Nine Prison Hostages Found Dead,” Bucks County Courier Times, September 13, 1971. More locally, in Buffalo the Buffalo Evening News opined that it was fortunate that although “New York State has virtually abandoned the death penalty, persons convicted of killing Attica hostages could be sentenced to the electric chair” because, in the wake of the Auburn rebellion, the state legislature had amended the law eliminating capital punishment to make an exception for “the slaying of a civilian employee of a prison.” In: “The Attica Revolt from Start to Finish: A Daily Chronology,” Special to the Buffalo Evening News, September 14, 1971.

  25. H. Vozka, Nashville, Tennessee, Telegram, September 15, 1971, and W. T. Combs, Fresno, California, Telegram, September 14, 1971, both in Attica uprising–related documents kept at the Attica Correctional Facility, Attica, New York.

  26. Dr. and Mrs. Derkasch, Valley Stream, New York, Telegram, September 13, 1971, and Mr. and Mrs. Marshall, Louisville, Kentucky, Telegram, September 14, 1971. Both in Attica uprising–related documents kept at the Attica Correctional Facility, Attica, New York.

  27. E. C. Johnson, Chicago, Letter to the Editor, Time, Monday, October 4, 1971; Elizabeth M. Keating, Jacksonville, Letter to the Editor, Time, Monday, October 4, 1971; Jim Griffith, Cincinnati, Letter to the Editor, Time, Monday, October 18, 1971.

  28. Clarence Jones, conversation with author, April 21, 2005. Also see: John Dunne, Leo Seferetti, and Clarence Jones, Episode 4.6, The David Frost Show, September 27, 1971.

  29. John J. O’Conner, “Attica in the News,” New York Times, September 15, 1971. Also see: Lewis Steel, conversation with author, April 20, 2004.

  30. C. J. Callahan. Rochester, New York, Letter to the Editor, Time, Monday, October 18, 1971.

  31. Tom Murton, “The Atrocity at Attica,” Penal Digest 1, no. 4 (September 1971); N. Mastrian, “Reply to Rhetoric of Right,” Penal Digest 1, no. 5 (October 1971).

  32. “The Awesome Attica Tragedy,” Crisis, November 1971, 299–30; Winston E. Moore, “My Cure for Prison Riots,” Ebony, December 1971, both in the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library.

  33. Henry Bellmon, Statement, Senate, 92nd Cong., 1st sess., Congressional Record 117s (September 14, 1971), Ron Nessen Papers, Box 25, Folder “Rockefeller, Nelson—Confirmation Hearings,” Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 31719–20.

  34. Ibid.

  35. Herman Badillo, Statement, House of Representatives, 92nd Cong., 1st sess., Congressional Record 117s (September 15, 1971), 31990.

  36. “War at Attica: Was There No Other Way?,” The Nation, September 27, 1971.

  37. Draft of speech to be given at the New York State Bar Center dedication, Albany, New York, September 24, 1971. Nelson A. Rockefeller. Record Group 15, Series 33: Speeches. Box 85, Folder 3471, Rockefeller Archive Center, Sleepy Hollow, New York.

  38. Nelson A. Rockefeller, Press Release, September 13, 1971, Nelson A. Rockefeller gubernatorial records, Press Office, Series 25, Record Group 15, Box 49, Folder 1066, Rockefeller Archive Center, Sleepy Hollow, New York.

  39. Appendix 6: “Supplemental Materials on Nelson Rockefeller by Attica Brothers Legal Defense,” as contained in Attica Brothers Legal Defense, Statement, Nelson A. Rockefeller Vice Presidential Confirmation Hearings, House of Representatives, 93rd Cong., 2nd sess., Congressional Record 120 (November 26, 1974), 1177.

  40. Richard Nixon, Daily Diary, September 13, 1971, The White House, Washington, D.C. Information courtesy of Peter Balonen-Rosen.

  41. Ibid.

  42. Conversation #571-6 (rmn_e571b), September 13, 1971, 3:47 p.m.–4:16 p.m., Oval Office, Present: Richard Nixon and Clifford Hardin, Nixon Tapes, 10:27–10:35. Also: Conversation #571-1C (rmn_e571a), September 13, 1971, Oval Office, Nixon Tapes, 1:01:37; Conversation 571-10 (rmn_e571b), September 13, 1971, Oval Office, Nixon Tapes, 1:09:50.

  43. Conversation #571-6 (rmn_571b), September 13, 1971, 4:36 p.m.–4:16 p.m., Oval Office, Present: Richard Nixon and Clifford Hardin, Nixon Tapes, 10:38–4:16.

  44. Conversation #571-10 (rmn_e571b), September 13, 1971, 4:36 p.m.–6:00 p.m., Oval Office, Present: Richard Nixon, H. R. Haldeman, and Charles Colson, Nixon Tapes, 1:10:07–1:10:16.

  45. Ibid., 1:10:40–1:10:54.

  46. Nixon, Daily Diary, September 13, 1971. Information courtesy of Peter Balonen-Rosen.

  47. Conversation #008-113 (rmn_e008c), September 13, 1971, 1:31 p.m.–1:38 p.m., Oval Office Telephone, Present: Richard Nixon, Nelson Rockefeller, Nixon Tapes, 1:17:46–1:18:24.

  48. Ibid., 1:19:25–1:19:28 and 1:22:01–1:22:03. For another contemporaneous story regarding hostages killed before the retaking, see the following headline: Leonard Katz, “Attica: Two Hostages Slain Before Showdown,” New York Post, September 14, 1971, Dorothy Schiff Papers, Box 4, New York Public Library.

  49. Conversation #008-113 (rmn_e008c), September 13, 1971, 1:31 p.m.–1:38 p.m., Oval Office Telephone, Present: Richard Nixon, Nelson Rockefeller, Nixon Tapes, 1:19:31–1:19:33.

  50. Ibid., 1:19:40–1:19:44.

  51. Ibid., 1:20:08–1:20:27.

  52. Ibid., 1:23:35–1:23:50.

  53. Ibid., 1:23:50–1:23:53.

  54. Ibid., 1:24:09–1:24:11.

  55. June Fargo, Testimony, Attica Task Force Hearing, May 9–10, 2002, Rochester, New York, 22.

  56. Parole Officer Lumen V. Brown, Memorandum to Commissioner Dunbar, Commissioner James Morrow, Superintendent Vincent Mancusi, Deputy Superintendent Leon Vincent, and Deputy Superintendent Wilson Walters, Subject: “Monitoring Attica Correctional Facility,” November 5, 1971, Attica uprising–related documents kept at the Attica Correctional Facility, Attica, New York.

  57. Paula Krotz, Testimony, Attica Task Force Hearing, May 9–10, 2002, Rochester, New York, 120.

  58. Ibid., 120.

  59. Krotz, Attica Task Force Hearing, May 9–10, 2002, 121.

  60. Sharon Smith, Testimony, Attica Task Force Hearing, July 30, 2002, Albany, New York, 212–13.

  61. Ibid.

  62. Jennifer Gonnerman, “Remembering Attica,” Village Voice, September 5–11, 2001.

  63. Ibid.

  64. Ibid.

  65. Ann Driscoll, Testimony, Attica Task Force Hearing, May 9–10, 2002, Rochester, New York.

  66. Ann Valone, conversation with author, Batavia, New York, October 17, 2004.

  67. Mary Ann Valone, Testimony, Attica Task Force Hearing, July 31, 2002, Albany, New York, 131.

  68. Ann Valone, conversation with author, October 17, 2004.

  69. Ibid.

  70. Ibid.

  71. Mary Ann Valone, Testimony, Attica Task Force Hearing, July 31, 2002, 131.

  72. David Shipler, “Lack of Data on Inmates’ Fates Scored by Prisoners’ Families,” New York Times, September 15, 1971.

  73. Frances X. Clines, “Attica Residents Inclined to Doubt Autopsy Findings,” New York Times, September 17, 1971.

  74. “List of Prisoner Dead,” New York Times, September 16, 1971.

  75. Ibid.

  76. Ibid.

  23. AND THE BEAT GOES ON

  1. “Five Deadly Days,” reprinted from the Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, New York), Tom Wicker Papers, 26.

  2. Ibid.

  3. Major Frank Hall, Interview by Christine Christopher, transcript, September 17, 2011, Criminal Injustice: Death and Politics at Attica, Blue Sky Project, 2012.

  4. John O’Brien, “After 20 Years, Attica’s Scars Run Deep,” Seattle Times, September 8, 1991.

  5. “Five Deadly Days,” reprinted from the Democrat and
Chronicle (Rochester, New York), Tom Wicker Papers, 26.

  6. Ibid.

  7. Dr. Michael Brandriss, Interview Transcript, August 18, 2012.

  8. Ibid.

  9. “Injuries State Police Personnel,” Teletype, Investigation and interview files, 1971–1972, New York (State), Special Commission on Attica, 15855-90, Box 84, New York State Archives, Albany, New York.

  10. Jeremy Levenson, “Shreds of Humanity: The Attica Prison Uprising, the State of New York and ‘Politically Unaware’ Medicine,” Unpublished Undergraduate Honors Thesis, Department of Urban Studies, University of Pennsylvania, December 21, 2011, in author’s possession, 44.

  11. John Stainthorp, Attica Brothers Legal Defense, “National Guard and Medical Workers: Report on Interviews,” January 8, 1975, in the papers of Elizabeth M. Fink, 5–6.

  12. John Dunne, Transcription of notes taken in observers meetings, FOIA request #110818, FOIA p. 001671.

  13. “Injuries State Police Personnel,” Teletype, Investigation and interview files, 1971–1972, New York (State), Special Commission on Attica, 15855-90, Box 84, New York State Archives, Albany, New York.

  14. David Breen, Testimony, Akil Al-Jundi, et al. v. The Estate of Nelson A. Rockefeller, Russell Oswald, John Monahan, Vincent Mancusi and Karl Pfeil, United States District Court Western District of New York, Buffalo, New York, No. CIV-75-132, November 14, 1991, 4033–36. For the 1973 meeting of the Southern Surgical Association, doctors from Meyer Memorial wrote a detailed account, called “Mass Casualties in a Maximum Security Facility,” of the good care that was given. PDF in author’s possession.

  15. Stainthorp, Attica Brothers Legal Defense, “National Guard and Medical Workers,” January 8, 1975, 8.

  16. Ibid.

  17. U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation Memorandum, March 24, 1972, Buffalo, New York, FOIA request #1014547 of the FBI.

  18. Stainthorp, Attica Brothers Legal Defense, “National Guard and Medical Workers,” January 8, 1975, 4.