April-May 2020 – M-19 & The Cops

M-19 & the Cops John Young (Patrolman) April-May 2020

October 29, 1984:   A six-man Bronx ESU team found a half-naked, 270 pound woman brandishing a 10-inch kitchen knife. Cops told investigators the woman lunged at them and one of the cops fired two shots with his 12-gauge pump-action shotgun. The woman died 20 minutes later at the entrance of Lincoln Hospital. A trustee asked the cop, “Why the second shot?” The cop stated that he thought he missed with the first one.

The PBA (Caruso) called it self-defense, while civil rights activist Sharpton called it murder.  Bronx District Attorney Mario Merola didn’t help matters by telling the press, “The cops should have locked the door and went for coffee.”

January 1985: P.O. Steve Sullivan (ESS) was indicted for manslaughter, 2nd degree in the shooting of Eleanor Bumpers. A sergeant on the scene testified that the time between both shots was “about a minute or more.” Sullivan testified at trial that the actual time  was the time it took to chamber a round. Question: How long does it take?

To quote William Rosenau in his book The Night We Bombed the U.S. Capitol, the story of M-19, America’s First Female Terrorist Group vowed to retaliate against “killer cops and white supremacist pigs.” They targeted PBA headquarters at 250 Broadway and put an IED in the women’s bathroom on the 21st floor. The bomb went off at 1:03 AM causing heavy damage to the bathroom. Headquarters was moved to 40 Fulton Street.

February 23, 1985: Saturday afternoon, the group M-19 called the Associated Press claiming responsibly for the early morning (1:03 AM) bombing, which was its last according to the FBI. The six-woman group known as the May-19 Communist Organization carried out prison breaks, armed robberies and several bombings in Washington D.C. & New York City. They helped liberate William Morales from Bellevue Hospital (5/21/79) & Joanne Chesimard from Clinton State Prison (11/2/79). Morales, the FALN bomber,  was making a pipe bomb in Queens (1978) when it exploded causing him to lose an eye and nine fingers. Doctors wanted to sew them back on, but the FBI refused to turn them over, as they were required as evidence. Chesimard was convicted of 1st degree murder (1977) of State Trooper Weiner Foster during the New Jersey Turnpike shootout on May 31, 1974. Both are currently residing in Cuba, where Joanne is driving a 1962 Chevy Impala.

Some of the bombings included the Officer’s Club at the Washington Navy Yard on April 20. 1980, the FBI Office on Bay Street on Staten Island (January 1983), the Capitol Building in Washington DC  (November 7, 1983), and the PBA office. That cost the most as we lost our parking at City Hall. However, the department gave us parking placards.

The group adopted the name May-19 because that’s the birthdate of both Malcolm X and Ho Chi Minh. The main members included Judith Clark, Marilyn Buck, Linda Evans, Susan Rosenberg, Laura Whitehorn, while associates were Donald Weems, Edward Josephs, Cecilio Ferguson, Nathaniel Burns and Jeral Wayne Williams. Kathy Boudin & David Gilbert (both Weathermen Underground members) ran with the group and their  associates. The “Love Couple” became involved with the May-19 group and were arrested following the  1981 Brinks Robbery and the murders of Sgt. Edward O’Grady and P.O. Waverly Brown (Nyack Police  Department). Brinks guard Peter Page was killed at the scene and his partner Joseph Trombino was  wounded twice during the shoot-out. Joseph would later die on September 11, 2001 making a delivery  to the Twin- Towers.

According to the book, Shaker (Weems) and the guys rode off in a red van with six bags totaling 1.6 million in cash. They headed east on Route 59 to a vacant “Korvette’s parking lot where their get-away vehicles (including a U-Haul truck) were waiting. Boudin and Gilbert drove the U-Haul east-bound on Route 59, where it was stopped at Mountainview Avenue by P.O. Brown & Sgt. O’Grady. Gilbert and Boudin got out with their hands-up.

P.O. Brown approached the rear where he was met with a hale of fire from an M16 rifle. A masked man finished Brown off with a 9mm pistol. Sgt. O’Grady emptied his 357 revolver (6 shots) and while reloading he was shot by the masked man with the M16 rifle. O’Grady would later die on the operating table at Nyack Hospital. Witnesses later would identify Samuel Brown, as one of the killers of the Nyack cops.

Ms. Boudin pleaded guilty to Murder-2 & Robbery-1. She was sentenced to 20 years to life, but was paroled by the N.Y.S. Parole Board in 2003. Today, Kathy Boudin teaches at Columbia University and is the founder and current director of the University’s Center for Justice.   Gilbert stood trial and was convicted.   He is serving time at the Wende

Correctional Facility in western New York, and will be eligible for parole in 2056, that is unless Prince Andrew Cuomo grants clemency like he did for Judith Clark.

In  August  1980,  Boudin  gave  birth  to  a  son,  Chesa  Boudin.    I  guess  there  was  a relationship between Boudin & Chesimard. When this cop killing couple were arrested in October 1981, he (Chesa) was raised in Chicago, by Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn. An attorney, Boudin was recently elected San Francisco District Attorney in January and promises to reform their criminal justice system. Good luck, Dirty Harry!

Judith Clark drove a tan Honda with Gilbert (?) and Nate Brown, but crashed the car on Christian Herald Road in Valley Cottage.  Clark was grabbing for something under the seat but was stopped by a cop.  A loaded 9mm automatic pistol was later recovered by police.  Ms Clark represented herself and eventually watched her trial on closed-circuit TV.  We all know Cuomo gave her clemency before he renamed the Tappan Zee Bridge and she was granted parole in April 2019.

Ms. Buck, the revolutionary from Texas, tried to get involved in the shoot-out but shot herself in the leg and fled to the Bronx in an Oldsmobile. Arrested several days later, she was convicted and sentenced to 50 years. Ferguson and Joseph were acquitted of murder, but guilty of harboring Williams. They served their terms, & now one of them is teaching at Columbia. A great institution, founded as King’s College (1754), has become a nest of cop killers & social justice do-gooders.  It’s seen on “Law & Order” as Hudson College.

March 17, 1985: Rosenberg (the Barnard dropout) & Timothy Blunk were convicted of 8-counts of providing explosives, weapons and fake ID cards. I guess they weren’t involved with the PBA bombing, as Boudin, Buck, & Clark were sitting in state prisons.

As to rest of the M-19 ladies, Whitehorn, Evans, Buck and Duke were indicted for the Washington & New York bombings, along with Alan Berkman & Tim Blunk. Three (Buck, Evans & Whitehorn) coped a plea in exchange for dropping the charges against Rosenberg, Berkman & Blunk. Ms. Duke is still wanted by the FBI.

Rosenau’s book is interesting but I hope Cuomo and his parole board don’t read it, as more cop killers and their associates might gain employment at Columbia!  Next month,we will continue with Caruso & the Koch years, and some good trivia.