1 00:00:01,750 --> 00:00:04,333 (helicopter whirring) 2 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:07,000 Downloaded from YTS.MX 3 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:13,000 Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX 4 00:00:25,250 --> 00:00:28,041 - [Elizabeth] They wanted people to see what happens 5 00:00:28,125 --> 00:00:28,958 when you rebel. 6 00:00:30,250 --> 00:00:32,541 You know, that they were prepared to kill you, 7 00:00:32,625 --> 00:00:34,875 and not only kill you, but kill anybody. 8 00:00:34,958 --> 00:00:37,375 That's the basic contradiction, you see. 9 00:00:37,458 --> 00:00:40,500 The inmates couldn't believe 10 00:00:41,458 --> 00:00:44,416 that the state would kill its own. 11 00:00:44,500 --> 00:00:46,750 And the state couldn't believe 12 00:00:46,833 --> 00:00:48,708 that the inmates wouldn't kill everybody. 13 00:00:49,750 --> 00:00:51,500 And they were both wrong. 14 00:00:53,125 --> 00:00:55,458 - [Man Over Speaker] Those of you who have not done so, 15 00:00:55,541 --> 00:00:56,625 surrender peacefully. 16 00:00:56,708 --> 00:00:59,416 You will not be harmed. 17 00:01:00,791 --> 00:01:03,208 Place your clasped hands on your head. 18 00:01:05,375 --> 00:01:06,250 - [Narrator] All right, here we go. 19 00:01:06,333 --> 00:01:10,250 So, I mean, I guess tell me who you are 20 00:01:10,333 --> 00:01:12,583 and what your title was. 21 00:01:12,666 --> 00:01:14,250 - Who am I and what my title was. 22 00:01:14,333 --> 00:01:16,333 I never had a, oh, well, that's not true. 23 00:01:17,666 --> 00:01:20,208 I was, I still am, I sort of consider, 24 00:01:20,291 --> 00:01:23,541 a staff attorney at Attica Brothers Legal Defense. 25 00:01:23,625 --> 00:01:25,583 - [Narrator] On September 13th, 1971, 26 00:01:25,666 --> 00:01:26,958 the state of New York shot and killed 27 00:01:27,041 --> 00:01:30,208 39 of its own citizens, injured hundreds more, 28 00:01:30,291 --> 00:01:31,791 and tortured the survivors. 29 00:01:32,875 --> 00:01:34,791 During the 30-year legal battle that followed, 30 00:01:34,875 --> 00:01:37,041 the prisoners who fought to expose the truth of that day 31 00:01:37,125 --> 00:01:39,833 became known as the Attica Brothers. 32 00:01:39,916 --> 00:01:41,666 Fink joined their legal team two weeks 33 00:01:41,750 --> 00:01:44,333 after being admitted to practice law in New York. 34 00:01:44,416 --> 00:01:45,375 - People need human rights. 35 00:01:45,458 --> 00:01:47,333 - [Narrator] She had a high profile career 36 00:01:47,416 --> 00:01:49,958 defending vulnerable communities from the most powerful foe 37 00:01:50,041 --> 00:01:51,083 in her time, the US government. 38 00:01:51,166 --> 00:01:54,750 - If you don't put your government to the task, 39 00:01:54,833 --> 00:01:58,625 then you get our Constitution being used as toilet paper. 40 00:01:58,708 --> 00:02:00,875 - I'm gonna release the defendant on his own recognizance. 41 00:02:00,958 --> 00:02:02,250 (crowd cheering) 42 00:02:02,333 --> 00:02:05,375 - [Narrator] Black Panthers like Dhoruba Bin-Wahad; 43 00:02:05,458 --> 00:02:08,333 Puerto Rican nationalists, hacker Jeremy Hammond. 44 00:02:08,416 --> 00:02:10,375 - Freedom, freedom now. 45 00:02:10,458 --> 00:02:12,583 - [Narrator] Her focus was attacking abuse of power 46 00:02:12,666 --> 00:02:13,750 by defending its victims. 47 00:02:13,833 --> 00:02:16,833 But no case required as much dedication or attention 48 00:02:16,916 --> 00:02:17,958 as Attica. 49 00:02:18,041 --> 00:02:20,125 - There is no justice in America. 50 00:02:20,208 --> 00:02:25,208 What empowers you is the fight for justice. 51 00:02:25,291 --> 00:02:26,708 (audience applauding) 52 00:02:26,791 --> 00:02:29,166 - [Narrator] When she died in 2015, she left a legacy 53 00:02:29,250 --> 00:02:31,125 as a fierce defender of human rights, 54 00:02:31,208 --> 00:02:33,166 a lawyer who changed the face of jury selection forever, 55 00:02:33,250 --> 00:02:36,333 and a mentor to a new generation of radical thinkers. 56 00:02:36,416 --> 00:02:40,583 She also left me a box that she had guarded for decades. 57 00:02:40,666 --> 00:02:41,875 It was an archive with hundreds of photographs 58 00:02:41,958 --> 00:02:44,625 and over 60 hours of videotape 59 00:02:44,708 --> 00:02:46,083 containing the most damning evidence 60 00:02:46,166 --> 00:02:48,458 remaining from the Attica trials. 61 00:02:48,541 --> 00:02:51,125 The state of New York had declared this material lost 62 00:02:51,208 --> 00:02:54,541 decades ago, but as lead counsel in the 26-year civil phase, 63 00:02:54,625 --> 00:02:56,250 Fink figured out where it was hidden. 64 00:02:56,333 --> 00:02:59,708 This archive proved allegations of wanton murder 65 00:02:59,791 --> 00:03:00,958 and abuse by state police, 66 00:03:01,041 --> 00:03:03,500 and was a cornerstone of the $8 million settlement 67 00:03:03,583 --> 00:03:06,041 in the civil trial, the largest ever granted to prisoners. 68 00:03:06,125 --> 00:03:08,666 - [Elizabeth] We needed the evidence, 69 00:03:08,750 --> 00:03:11,291 and it became clear to me 70 00:03:11,375 --> 00:03:14,041 that they were going to destroy it. 71 00:03:14,125 --> 00:03:16,041 - [Narrator] So, how do you have it now? 72 00:03:16,125 --> 00:03:17,000 - [Elizabeth] I stole it. 73 00:03:17,083 --> 00:03:18,041 - [Narrator] From? 74 00:03:18,125 --> 00:03:19,208 - [Elizabeth] New York state. 75 00:03:19,291 --> 00:03:20,750 I didn't steal it. 76 00:03:20,833 --> 00:03:21,458 I shouldn't say that. 77 00:03:21,541 --> 00:03:24,375 I expropriated it from them, 78 00:03:24,458 --> 00:03:26,625 as the chief counsel for the prisoners, 79 00:03:26,708 --> 00:03:28,500 who were the plaintiffs. 80 00:03:28,583 --> 00:03:30,375 We're at this point right now, 81 00:03:30,458 --> 00:03:34,250 where they are refusing to admit they have all these files, 82 00:03:34,333 --> 00:03:37,083 and they are lying about what they have. 83 00:03:37,166 --> 00:03:41,291 And it's all gonna be blown up because I took it all. 84 00:03:41,375 --> 00:03:43,000 - [Narrator] The archival photos and videos 85 00:03:43,083 --> 00:03:45,291 used in this film are from the Fink collection. 86 00:03:45,375 --> 00:03:47,083 They have never been available to the public. 87 00:03:47,166 --> 00:03:50,041 - [Elizabeth] I mean we did this huge trial 88 00:03:50,125 --> 00:03:53,583 and everybody wants to ignore it because it proves up 89 00:03:53,666 --> 00:03:55,208 what we know to be true, 90 00:03:55,291 --> 00:03:58,875 which is that it was a massacre, and they did it on purpose. 91 00:03:58,958 --> 00:04:01,500 (intense music) 92 00:04:09,916 --> 00:04:11,208 I should probably go back. 93 00:04:16,125 --> 00:04:18,625 In seventh grade, I was called Khrushchev's daughter. 94 00:04:18,708 --> 00:04:19,500 Okay? 95 00:04:21,041 --> 00:04:25,500 In ninth grade, I was thrown out of school for a day because 96 00:04:26,791 --> 00:04:30,583 I surmised that Francis Gary Powers was a spy. 97 00:04:32,166 --> 00:04:35,666 And my teacher went nuts on me and suspended me from school. 98 00:04:35,750 --> 00:04:40,250 Now, the next day, when it was announced that he was a spy, 99 00:04:40,333 --> 00:04:41,583 he had to apologize, 100 00:04:41,666 --> 00:04:44,291 but trust me, he never forgave me for that. 101 00:04:44,375 --> 00:04:49,333 I was famous for being leftist in high school. 102 00:04:50,625 --> 00:04:53,291 You know, I sounded like my mother, 103 00:04:53,375 --> 00:04:54,833 I talked like my mother, 104 00:04:54,916 --> 00:04:59,708 and I went in there and I made a scene. 105 00:04:59,791 --> 00:05:02,958 She was the head of the Eastern Parkway chapter 106 00:05:03,041 --> 00:05:04,291 of the American Jewish Congress. 107 00:05:04,375 --> 00:05:07,166 When I say Jewish, I mean Jewish communists. 108 00:05:07,250 --> 00:05:09,000 You always gotta understand communist, 109 00:05:09,083 --> 00:05:11,833 'cause my parents didn't do Judaism at all. 110 00:05:11,916 --> 00:05:13,958 My father left the party 111 00:05:14,041 --> 00:05:16,083 immediately after marrying my mother. 112 00:05:17,250 --> 00:05:20,625 My mother didn't leave the party until 1952. 113 00:05:20,708 --> 00:05:24,333 My mother was into the race issue, always. 114 00:05:24,416 --> 00:05:26,833 We used to go down to Florida every year. 115 00:05:26,916 --> 00:05:29,208 We used to drive down in the car. 116 00:05:29,291 --> 00:05:32,708 And we used to go into a restaurant 117 00:05:32,791 --> 00:05:36,708 in South Orangeburg, South Carolina, and we'd order. 118 00:05:36,791 --> 00:05:39,041 And about 10 minutes before the food would come, 119 00:05:39,125 --> 00:05:43,708 my mother would beckon over the waitress. 120 00:05:43,791 --> 00:05:46,208 Say, "Oh, do you serve Negroes here?" 121 00:05:46,291 --> 00:05:49,375 "Oh, no ma'am, don't you worry about a thing. 122 00:05:49,458 --> 00:05:51,375 We don't let no niggers in here." 123 00:05:51,458 --> 00:05:55,166 And we would then have to get up and leave. Okay. 124 00:05:55,250 --> 00:05:58,208 So that was, we didn't eat much on the way down to Florida. 125 00:05:58,291 --> 00:05:59,416 (Elizabeth laughs) 126 00:05:59,500 --> 00:06:02,750 On one level, you're always embarrassed. 127 00:06:02,833 --> 00:06:05,250 But I always, on another level, 128 00:06:05,333 --> 00:06:08,541 I always admired her ability to do that. 129 00:06:09,583 --> 00:06:13,708 She taught me how to fight, politically. 130 00:06:13,791 --> 00:06:17,666 She was the most enlightened person of her age I ever met. 131 00:06:17,750 --> 00:06:21,916 The whole struggle for Black liberation was so profound. 132 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:22,875 Those pictures, I mean, you see them, 133 00:06:22,958 --> 00:06:26,041 those lynching pictures, 134 00:06:26,125 --> 00:06:27,708 with all those white people looking at those bodies. 135 00:06:27,791 --> 00:06:29,875 I mean, ugh. 136 00:06:31,500 --> 00:06:34,291 (slow somber music) 137 00:06:37,875 --> 00:06:40,250 The thing about Emmett Till was people for the first time 138 00:06:40,333 --> 00:06:45,208 had to look at it, and it was unbelievable. 139 00:06:45,291 --> 00:06:46,583 After all, he was 14. 140 00:06:50,416 --> 00:06:53,125 And then everything else, you know, Little Rock. 141 00:06:54,625 --> 00:06:56,958 And then, when you put it together with Nazism, 142 00:06:58,041 --> 00:06:59,250 and say, "Well, if you let this happen, 143 00:06:59,333 --> 00:07:01,458 if you're not fighting against this, 144 00:07:01,541 --> 00:07:03,708 you ain't no different than them." 145 00:07:03,791 --> 00:07:06,583 (slow somber music) 146 00:07:09,541 --> 00:07:12,208 I was taught that the struggle for Black people 147 00:07:12,291 --> 00:07:16,291 for freedom and justice in this country 148 00:07:16,375 --> 00:07:18,458 was the most important thing I could be a part of. 149 00:07:18,541 --> 00:07:24,083 That it was my responsibility as a white person, 150 00:07:25,083 --> 00:07:27,416 to support and do everything I could. 151 00:07:27,500 --> 00:07:30,833 And that people had to get together 152 00:07:30,916 --> 00:07:34,833 and organize together to change their lot. 153 00:07:37,166 --> 00:07:40,458 I was taught that it's everybody's obligation 154 00:07:41,958 --> 00:07:43,125 to join the movement. 155 00:07:44,666 --> 00:07:48,500 - I think it's better to be aggressive at this point. 156 00:07:48,583 --> 00:07:51,500 It seems to me that it is both historically 157 00:07:51,583 --> 00:07:56,541 and sociologically true that privileged classes 158 00:07:58,541 --> 00:08:01,833 do not give up their privileges voluntarily. 159 00:08:01,916 --> 00:08:04,750 - When I went to Reed College, I joined SDS, 160 00:08:04,833 --> 00:08:06,000 but that wasn't my thing. 161 00:08:06,083 --> 00:08:08,708 I became involved in student government. 162 00:08:08,791 --> 00:08:11,916 And I became a member of the Community Senate. 163 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:14,000 And then I became Student Body President 164 00:08:14,083 --> 00:08:16,083 and head of the Judicial Board. 165 00:08:16,166 --> 00:08:19,291 And then I came out of Reed and my father died, 166 00:08:19,375 --> 00:08:20,041 which was a terrible thing for me. 167 00:08:20,125 --> 00:08:22,583 And I had to run his business. 168 00:08:22,666 --> 00:08:27,041 And my mother certainly didn't want me to run his business. 169 00:08:27,125 --> 00:08:29,750 My mother wanted me to be a leftist lawyer. 170 00:08:29,833 --> 00:08:32,291 And so she was gonna facilitate that. 171 00:08:32,375 --> 00:08:36,458 But, in August of 1968, (laughs) 172 00:08:41,000 --> 00:08:45,416 me and a friend named Ken Linden drove to Chicago 173 00:08:45,500 --> 00:08:47,458 for the Democratic convention. 174 00:08:47,541 --> 00:08:49,375 We were not there to demonstrate. 175 00:08:51,958 --> 00:08:53,375 We were there to watch. 176 00:08:53,458 --> 00:08:57,333 - [Crowd] Peace now, peace now, peace now, peace now. 177 00:08:57,416 --> 00:09:00,375 - We walked out of the hotel and walked into Lake Shore Park 178 00:09:00,458 --> 00:09:04,500 or whatever, and all of a sudden we're overtaken 179 00:09:04,583 --> 00:09:08,208 by National Guardsmen with bayonets and rifles. 180 00:09:08,291 --> 00:09:11,000 So, to make a long story short, 181 00:09:11,083 --> 00:09:16,041 we're caught up in this thing and it's 8:06 at night 182 00:09:17,625 --> 00:09:20,250 on the corner of State and Grant, and I'm right there. 183 00:09:20,333 --> 00:09:24,666 And I look at the cops and they go, "You ready?" 184 00:09:25,875 --> 00:09:27,083 And they charged. 185 00:09:27,166 --> 00:09:31,083 (tear gas explodes) 186 00:09:31,166 --> 00:09:34,916 (slow haunting music) 187 00:09:35,000 --> 00:09:37,958 First of what happened is that they had one charge, 188 00:09:38,041 --> 00:09:41,750 and then the second charge, Sidney Peck walked over to them, 189 00:09:41,833 --> 00:09:43,708 who was the leader of the demonstration, 190 00:09:43,791 --> 00:09:46,125 and was gesticulating, "Why did you just do that?" 191 00:09:46,208 --> 00:09:48,583 They were beating everybody. 192 00:09:48,666 --> 00:09:51,583 And they beat him to a pulp down there and dragged him away. 193 00:09:51,666 --> 00:09:54,041 And then everybody started, there was this police riot. 194 00:09:54,125 --> 00:09:58,375 (tense haunting music) 195 00:10:01,041 --> 00:10:04,208 Okay, so, 196 00:10:05,750 --> 00:10:08,333 at 8:06 p.m. on August 28th, 1968, 197 00:10:08,416 --> 00:10:11,125 I became a different person, 198 00:10:11,208 --> 00:10:15,541 because then my whole thing kicked in about, you know, 199 00:10:15,625 --> 00:10:20,291 being the child of Jews right after Nazism. 200 00:10:20,375 --> 00:10:23,291 And when you have this kind of thing you've gotta fight. 201 00:10:23,375 --> 00:10:26,250 And as a result of that, 202 00:10:26,333 --> 00:10:31,291 I became an active, principled and full-time leftist. 203 00:10:32,666 --> 00:10:35,916 (tribal drumming music) 204 00:10:37,041 --> 00:10:39,500 (rapid ticking) 205 00:10:39,583 --> 00:10:43,833 - In America, Black people are treated very much 206 00:10:43,916 --> 00:10:46,666 as are the Vietnamese people, or any other colonized people 207 00:10:46,750 --> 00:10:48,708 because we're used, we're brutalized, 208 00:10:48,791 --> 00:10:52,083 because they have their orders to do so. 209 00:10:52,166 --> 00:10:54,166 And, just as the soldiers in Vietnam 210 00:10:54,250 --> 00:10:57,083 have their orders to destroy the Vietnamese people. 211 00:10:57,166 --> 00:10:58,500 - [Elizabeth] There was the Black Panther Party, 212 00:10:58,583 --> 00:11:00,125 it was all there. 213 00:11:00,208 --> 00:11:04,000 - [Group] The pigs are gonna catch hell. Off the pigs. 214 00:11:04,083 --> 00:11:05,666 No more-- 215 00:11:05,750 --> 00:11:08,041 - It was Huey and all that, and then there was Bobby Hutton, 216 00:11:08,125 --> 00:11:11,708 and then, it just escalated from there. 217 00:11:11,791 --> 00:11:13,500 Attica was just the end of it. 218 00:11:13,583 --> 00:11:16,208 You had all the people, you had Martin killed. 219 00:11:16,291 --> 00:11:18,458 You had Malcolm, you had all of that. 220 00:11:18,541 --> 00:11:21,583 Then in 1969, you had Fred Hampton. 221 00:11:21,666 --> 00:11:22,583 - I'm the Deputy Chairman of the state of Illinois 222 00:11:22,666 --> 00:11:25,875 Black Panther Party, Fred Hampton. 223 00:11:25,958 --> 00:11:29,291 - This is where our Chairman had his brains blown out 224 00:11:29,375 --> 00:11:31,625 As he was laying in his bed sleeping at 4:30 in the morning. 225 00:11:31,708 --> 00:11:36,166 - Started with the gun, still on single fire, 226 00:11:36,250 --> 00:11:37,916 brought it all the way across the wall again. 227 00:11:38,000 --> 00:11:42,666 - Fred Hampton, 21 years old, and a member of a militant, 228 00:11:42,750 --> 00:11:45,291 well-known militant group, was murdered in his bed, 229 00:11:45,375 --> 00:11:47,208 probably as he lay asleep. 230 00:11:47,291 --> 00:11:50,458 - I mean, they were at war. 231 00:11:50,541 --> 00:11:52,541 There was all this stuff, there was stuff in LA, 232 00:11:52,625 --> 00:11:54,083 you know what I mean? 233 00:11:54,166 --> 00:11:56,750 So you were looking at that kinda shootout all the time. 234 00:11:56,833 --> 00:11:58,166 And... 235 00:11:58,250 --> 00:12:00,916 - Good morning, Vietnam and welcome back to part two 236 00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:02,708 of the "Dawn Buster." 237 00:12:02,791 --> 00:12:06,916 - Your country was at war, and all these people 238 00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:09,916 from your country are out there killing all these people. 239 00:12:10,000 --> 00:12:12,208 - There's a woman running, so they shoot her down, 240 00:12:12,291 --> 00:12:14,166 and I couldn't imagine why she's running. 241 00:12:14,250 --> 00:12:17,291 After all, we only raped three women in the last village. 242 00:12:17,375 --> 00:12:18,583 And we killed an old man over there too. 243 00:12:18,666 --> 00:12:22,541 - And doing this unbelievable stuff to them. 244 00:12:22,625 --> 00:12:24,500 - I shot her about five or six times. 245 00:12:24,583 --> 00:12:25,750 And I went there and turned her over 246 00:12:25,833 --> 00:12:26,833 and there was a little three-month-old baby. 247 00:12:26,916 --> 00:12:31,666 - Which you got to watch on television everyday. 248 00:12:31,750 --> 00:12:34,291 - So I think I killed about 18 to 20 people. 249 00:12:34,375 --> 00:12:35,000 - [Interviewer] How did the guys look 250 00:12:35,083 --> 00:12:36,291 when they were doing this? 251 00:12:36,375 --> 00:12:39,333 - It was like they were having a lot of good time. 252 00:12:39,416 --> 00:12:40,416 - As far as resistance is concerned, 253 00:12:40,500 --> 00:12:42,791 we didn't encounter any resistance whatsoever. 254 00:12:42,875 --> 00:12:45,416 - The fire bombing of villages. 255 00:12:45,500 --> 00:12:47,000 - After we swept through the village, we turned around, 256 00:12:47,083 --> 00:12:49,916 went back through it and burned all the buildings. 257 00:12:50,000 --> 00:12:52,041 - [Interviewer] Now, to destroy everything in the village 258 00:12:52,125 --> 00:12:53,458 means to destroy the people. 259 00:12:54,375 --> 00:12:55,000 - Right. 260 00:12:55,083 --> 00:12:57,416 - The slaughter of children. 261 00:12:57,500 --> 00:12:58,791 - We figure that the babies, when they grow up, 262 00:12:58,875 --> 00:13:00,375 they will be VC anyway. 263 00:13:00,458 --> 00:13:02,000 So why give 'em the opportunity to grow up? 264 00:13:02,083 --> 00:13:03,791 - All of this, constant. 265 00:13:03,875 --> 00:13:06,458 - We didn't believe that this would be such a 266 00:13:06,541 --> 00:13:07,875 publicity stunt. 267 00:13:07,958 --> 00:13:09,791 We felt that this had been happening many times before, 268 00:13:09,875 --> 00:13:10,750 and it'd probably been happening many times since. 269 00:13:10,833 --> 00:13:13,833 - And the people that they're fighting, 270 00:13:13,916 --> 00:13:15,833 you support with every fiber of your being. 271 00:13:17,916 --> 00:13:19,791 I mean really, every fiber of your being. 272 00:13:21,916 --> 00:13:23,000 And that is heavy. 273 00:13:23,083 --> 00:13:25,875 - [Announcer] President Johnson, meanwhile, let it be known 274 00:13:25,958 --> 00:13:28,958 that the FBI is closely watching all anti-war activity. 275 00:13:29,041 --> 00:13:32,791 - You know, at a certain point in the 60s and everything, 276 00:13:32,875 --> 00:13:36,166 everybody was in the streets, it was really revolution, 277 00:13:36,250 --> 00:13:37,875 and they hated it. 278 00:13:37,958 --> 00:13:40,166 And so they had to do something about it. 279 00:13:40,250 --> 00:13:41,708 And what they did was mass incarceration. 280 00:13:43,916 --> 00:13:46,625 They took the entire underclass and they imprisoned it. 281 00:13:47,875 --> 00:13:52,041 - America's public enemy number one in the United States 282 00:13:52,125 --> 00:13:53,541 is drug abuse. 283 00:13:54,583 --> 00:13:55,958 In order to fight and defeat this enemy, 284 00:13:56,041 --> 00:14:01,333 it is necessary to wage a new all-out offensive. 285 00:14:05,083 --> 00:14:06,791 I went to law school because I wanted to be a lawyer, 286 00:14:06,875 --> 00:14:09,416 but I certainly didn't wanna go to law school. 287 00:14:09,500 --> 00:14:11,083 It was boring as hell. 288 00:14:11,166 --> 00:14:12,625 The reason why I went to Brooklyn Law School 289 00:14:12,708 --> 00:14:15,500 is 'cause it cost $1,500 a year. 290 00:14:15,583 --> 00:14:16,541 - [Narrator] Were there are a lot of women in law school? 291 00:14:16,625 --> 00:14:17,666 When was it, I mean-- 292 00:14:17,750 --> 00:14:18,750 - Oh, no. 293 00:14:18,833 --> 00:14:22,791 There were 150 people in my class. 294 00:14:22,875 --> 00:14:23,916 And 15 of them were women. 295 00:14:24,000 --> 00:14:28,375 In a year, 50% of the women had been flunked out. 296 00:14:28,458 --> 00:14:31,125 Everybody would snicker when the women came. 297 00:14:31,208 --> 00:14:35,125 You would be called on to give your cases or whatever. 298 00:14:35,208 --> 00:14:39,541 The women only were called on for statutory rape, 299 00:14:39,625 --> 00:14:43,458 all sexual and everybody would be (muttering). 300 00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:48,583 I had gone to law school, but I had chosen the revolution 301 00:14:48,666 --> 00:14:50,208 many years before. 302 00:14:50,291 --> 00:14:54,416 So I went to law school to represent people 303 00:14:54,500 --> 00:14:56,500 who took radical action. 304 00:14:57,666 --> 00:14:57,833 And I got to do that. 305 00:15:00,125 --> 00:15:02,250 - [Narrator] Among the first radical actors Fink represented 306 00:15:02,333 --> 00:15:05,291 were the Attica Brothers, a group of almost 1300 men 307 00:15:05,375 --> 00:15:08,083 who were connected by the Attica prison rebellion. 308 00:15:08,166 --> 00:15:09,875 She started by learning the details of the case 309 00:15:09,958 --> 00:15:12,166 and comparing their stories to the narrative 310 00:15:12,250 --> 00:15:13,416 being developed by the state. 311 00:15:13,500 --> 00:15:19,000 - Truly, Attica is every prison, and every prison is Attica. 312 00:15:20,541 --> 00:15:21,625 - [Narrator] In October, 1971, the state of New York 313 00:15:21,708 --> 00:15:23,250 convened an investigative committee 314 00:15:23,333 --> 00:15:24,833 to study the causes and outcomes 315 00:15:24,916 --> 00:15:26,541 of the Attica prison rebellion. 316 00:15:27,791 --> 00:15:29,625 The McKay Commission produced a three-volume 317 00:15:29,708 --> 00:15:30,833 written report, as well as a documentary film 318 00:15:30,916 --> 00:15:34,625 that aired on public broadcasting stations. 319 00:15:34,708 --> 00:15:36,791 The McKay Commission film was among the material 320 00:15:36,875 --> 00:15:38,708 declared by the state of New York to be quote 321 00:15:38,791 --> 00:15:40,208 "lost or missing," unquote. 322 00:15:40,291 --> 00:15:44,291 But Fink had a copy on VHS that they were unaware of. 323 00:15:44,375 --> 00:15:45,833 It has not been available to the public 324 00:15:45,916 --> 00:15:47,958 for more than 40 years. 325 00:15:48,041 --> 00:15:51,458 - I think Attica brings to mind several things. 326 00:15:51,541 --> 00:15:54,916 The first is the basic inhumanity of man-to-man. 327 00:15:56,541 --> 00:16:01,541 To people, be they Black, yellow, orange, spotted, whatever. 328 00:16:02,791 --> 00:16:06,583 Whatever uniform they wore, that day tore from them 329 00:16:07,583 --> 00:16:08,000 the shreds of their humanity. 330 00:16:10,083 --> 00:16:11,333 - I'm Robert McKay, 331 00:16:11,416 --> 00:16:13,166 Dean of New York University School of Law, 332 00:16:13,250 --> 00:16:14,833 and Chairman of the Special Commission on Attica. 333 00:16:14,916 --> 00:16:19,916 43 people died at Attica in September, 1971. 334 00:16:20,000 --> 00:16:23,000 39 of them in the attack that retook the prison, 335 00:16:23,083 --> 00:16:25,666 four others during the insurrection. 336 00:16:25,750 --> 00:16:28,000 The commission believes that to understand the uprising, 337 00:16:28,083 --> 00:16:30,833 one must understand the nature of Attica. 338 00:16:30,916 --> 00:16:33,666 Therefore, an essential part of our report 339 00:16:33,750 --> 00:16:37,666 is a study of the structure and operation of Attica prison. 340 00:16:37,750 --> 00:16:38,833 - [Narrator] Attica sits on 53 acres 341 00:16:38,916 --> 00:16:42,041 of rural Western New York, near Buffalo. 342 00:16:42,125 --> 00:16:45,041 It's four cell blocks form a 600-foot square 343 00:16:45,125 --> 00:16:46,958 around recreation yards. 344 00:16:47,041 --> 00:16:48,541 A 30-foot wall, 345 00:16:48,625 --> 00:16:51,083 two feet thick and sunk 12 feet into the ground, 346 00:16:51,166 --> 00:16:54,833 with 14 gun towers, surrounds the entire prison, 347 00:16:54,916 --> 00:16:57,750 creating an enclosed world with its own standards, 348 00:16:57,833 --> 00:16:59,333 economy, and government. 349 00:16:59,416 --> 00:17:02,416 - [Elizabeth] New York produces a lot of criminality. 350 00:17:02,500 --> 00:17:05,833 Murder Incorporated, Dutch Schultz, all that, 351 00:17:05,916 --> 00:17:08,166 they weren't in the Feds, they were in the State. 352 00:17:08,250 --> 00:17:09,041 Up the river, that's Sing Sing. 353 00:17:11,125 --> 00:17:13,750 They only began to mass incarcerate Black people 354 00:17:13,833 --> 00:17:15,541 after the war. 355 00:17:15,625 --> 00:17:19,208 And really, when the civil rights struggle became. 356 00:17:20,750 --> 00:17:23,291 Before that, they had a system which held them in place. 357 00:17:23,375 --> 00:17:25,291 - [Narrator] Prisons in New York state are called 358 00:17:25,375 --> 00:17:29,333 correctional facilities, but what they provide is custody. 359 00:17:30,791 --> 00:17:33,083 Guards are called correction officers, 360 00:17:33,166 --> 00:17:35,750 but their work is the routine of confinement. 361 00:17:35,833 --> 00:17:38,375 They operate Attica's security machine, 362 00:17:38,458 --> 00:17:41,208 and that doesn't leave much time for correctional work. 363 00:17:41,291 --> 00:17:44,125 In any case, few of the officers have had much training 364 00:17:44,208 --> 00:17:45,500 in these skills. 365 00:17:45,583 --> 00:17:47,583 - [Elizabeth] Correctional officer doesn't have any skill. 366 00:17:47,666 --> 00:17:50,791 All he does is sit and watch people and beat 'em up. 367 00:17:50,875 --> 00:17:54,250 Watch 'em when they walk, watch 'em here, watch 'em there. 368 00:17:56,125 --> 00:17:57,833 It's like a being a teacher without teaching. 369 00:17:57,916 --> 00:17:59,041 - [Narrator] correctional officers, the commission found, 370 00:17:59,125 --> 00:18:03,000 have in the main chosen this work for job security, 371 00:18:03,083 --> 00:18:05,791 not because they want to rehabilitate criminals. 372 00:18:05,875 --> 00:18:08,625 - [Elizabeth] Attica was this terrible place. 373 00:18:08,708 --> 00:18:13,333 It was run by this hideous warden, Vincent Mancusi. 374 00:18:13,416 --> 00:18:17,958 It was upstate New York. All white rednecks. 375 00:18:18,041 --> 00:18:19,291 It was totally segregated. 376 00:18:19,375 --> 00:18:22,291 - [Narrator] Most officers first come to know Blacks 377 00:18:22,375 --> 00:18:24,125 as convicted criminals, not social equals, 378 00:18:24,208 --> 00:18:27,791 and racism affects some officers' judgment. 379 00:18:27,875 --> 00:18:29,375 - They tell you when to get up in the morning, 380 00:18:29,458 --> 00:18:30,916 when to go to chow, when to go to sleep at night, 381 00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:33,791 when to go to movies, when the go to the yard, 382 00:18:33,875 --> 00:18:35,166 when to come back from the yard. 383 00:18:35,250 --> 00:18:36,375 Do you know the frustration I'm going through 384 00:18:36,458 --> 00:18:37,250 and I'm a good inmate? 385 00:18:37,333 --> 00:18:39,583 Just being incarcerated. 386 00:18:39,666 --> 00:18:41,750 Incarceration is hell, I don't care what anybody says. 387 00:18:41,833 --> 00:18:42,916 Can you imagine you not being able 388 00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:45,291 to just express an opinion? 389 00:18:45,375 --> 00:18:46,291 You know the first thing they'll say is, 390 00:18:46,375 --> 00:18:47,583 "I don't wanna hear it. 391 00:18:47,666 --> 00:18:49,416 When you got an opinion, I don't wanna hear it." 392 00:18:49,500 --> 00:18:50,541 Huh? I'm a man. 393 00:18:50,625 --> 00:18:51,958 I committed a crime, but I'm a man. 394 00:18:52,041 --> 00:18:53,833 And I'll be a man when I leave Attica. 395 00:18:53,916 --> 00:18:56,166 - People were paid 56 cents a day. 396 00:18:56,250 --> 00:18:59,125 You get a roll of toilet paper a month. 397 00:19:00,500 --> 00:19:02,416 And you know, you had to work in the metal shop 398 00:19:02,500 --> 00:19:03,875 at 108 degrees, 399 00:19:03,958 --> 00:19:06,250 and they'd only let you have a shower every two weeks. 400 00:19:07,958 --> 00:19:10,166 I mean, the food was terrible. 401 00:19:10,250 --> 00:19:12,000 - [McKay] Commission found prison food to be unappetizing 402 00:19:12,083 --> 00:19:14,958 and not up to nutritional standards, 403 00:19:15,041 --> 00:19:17,791 even though the basic ingredients were of good quality. 404 00:19:17,875 --> 00:19:19,416 - The healthcare, the doctors, 405 00:19:19,500 --> 00:19:24,416 Williams and Sternberg, were Nazis, Nazis. 406 00:19:25,250 --> 00:19:26,375 I mean, I could go on. 407 00:19:26,458 --> 00:19:29,875 - [Narrator] In October, 1970, inmates at Auburn prison 408 00:19:29,958 --> 00:19:33,333 were told they couldn't hold a Black Solidarity Day meeting. 409 00:19:33,416 --> 00:19:34,750 They held it anyway. 410 00:19:34,833 --> 00:19:36,875 Believing reprisals were to be taken against them, 411 00:19:36,958 --> 00:19:39,000 they made guards hostages. 412 00:19:39,083 --> 00:19:41,208 They released the hostages after they got a promise 413 00:19:41,291 --> 00:19:42,583 of no reprisals. 414 00:19:42,666 --> 00:19:44,875 Despite the promise, several of the alleged leaders 415 00:19:44,958 --> 00:19:47,541 of the protest were shipped to solitary at Attica. 416 00:19:47,625 --> 00:19:50,000 - [Elizabeth] And had the shit kicked out of them. 417 00:19:50,083 --> 00:19:51,125 That was the point. 418 00:19:51,208 --> 00:19:53,416 They were promised no physical reprisals 419 00:19:53,500 --> 00:19:55,375 and then they beat the hell out of 'em. 420 00:19:55,458 --> 00:19:57,541 - [Narrator] When released by a court order, 421 00:19:57,625 --> 00:20:00,125 they told Attica inmates a story of betrayal. 422 00:20:00,208 --> 00:20:05,125 - In the spring of '71, they sent a manifesto, 423 00:20:07,166 --> 00:20:09,000 saying we really need changes here. 424 00:20:09,083 --> 00:20:12,125 And they took it from George Jackson and Folsom. 425 00:20:12,208 --> 00:20:15,208 These were all people out of the city, 426 00:20:15,291 --> 00:20:17,916 and they were revolutionary, they were radicals, 427 00:20:18,000 --> 00:20:21,083 many of them, and they knew everybody was angry 428 00:20:21,166 --> 00:20:25,000 because not two weeks before they had put on 429 00:20:25,083 --> 00:20:28,916 a prison-wide protest, when George Jackson was murdered. 430 00:20:29,000 --> 00:20:31,125 And they came into the mess hall, 431 00:20:31,208 --> 00:20:33,916 and no one took any food and no one ate. 432 00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:39,000 And mass action by convicts, ooh, makes people very nervous, 433 00:20:40,166 --> 00:20:42,625 very upset, so they were gettin' scared. 434 00:20:42,708 --> 00:20:45,041 - [Narrator] Inmate Lanny Boone was there. 435 00:20:45,125 --> 00:20:48,250 - By noon, everybody knew what was going on. 436 00:20:48,333 --> 00:20:49,166 - What was the reaction of the correction officers 437 00:20:49,250 --> 00:20:53,333 to this kind of an organized demonstration? 438 00:20:53,416 --> 00:20:55,125 - Then were uptight, to say the least. 439 00:20:55,208 --> 00:20:59,208 - It got away from them because of Russell Oswald. 440 00:20:59,291 --> 00:20:59,958 - [Narrator] Russell Oswald told the commission 441 00:21:00,041 --> 00:21:02,291 he took over the prison system 442 00:21:02,375 --> 00:21:03,458 at a time of mounting tension. 443 00:21:03,541 --> 00:21:05,791 - Who was head of the department of correctional services, 444 00:21:05,875 --> 00:21:07,791 and he was a liberal. 445 00:21:08,916 --> 00:21:11,125 And he was a real white boy liberal. 446 00:21:11,208 --> 00:21:16,125 And he was trying to be diplomatic. 447 00:21:17,375 --> 00:21:19,208 He had known that there was trouble at Attica, 448 00:21:19,291 --> 00:21:22,916 and he was supposed to come and visit it. 449 00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:27,958 And he came, and he got waylaid by his wife being sick. 450 00:21:28,583 --> 00:21:29,666 And he left a tape. 451 00:21:29,750 --> 00:21:32,875 - [Russell] Many of you have voiced confidence in me, 452 00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:34,750 and in the directions I have talked about, 453 00:21:34,833 --> 00:21:36,375 and I appreciate this. 454 00:21:38,083 --> 00:21:39,166 I'm certain you realize 455 00:21:39,250 --> 00:21:42,666 that change can't be accomplished overnight. 456 00:21:42,750 --> 00:21:45,208 - And this was on the seventh. 457 00:21:45,291 --> 00:21:48,833 And, everybody had to listen to Osward telling them 458 00:21:48,916 --> 00:21:51,083 that he was a good guy and that he was gonna do this. 459 00:21:51,166 --> 00:21:54,333 "I'm gonna do this, and I'm gonna," 460 00:21:54,416 --> 00:21:57,000 and it made everybody even more angry. 461 00:21:57,083 --> 00:22:01,041 On September 8th, everybody was gearing up for football. 462 00:22:01,125 --> 00:22:03,791 These two guys were on the A block team, 463 00:22:03,875 --> 00:22:07,708 Ray Lamorie and Leroy Dewer, they were white and Black. 464 00:22:07,791 --> 00:22:10,291 And they began to practice, sparring, 465 00:22:10,375 --> 00:22:12,333 and the guards went nuts. 466 00:22:12,416 --> 00:22:14,666 And they broke it up and they thought it was a whole thing, 467 00:22:14,750 --> 00:22:16,750 and everybody got uptight. 468 00:22:16,833 --> 00:22:19,375 You know, the guards had to pull back. 469 00:22:19,458 --> 00:22:20,875 And that was a big thing. 470 00:22:20,958 --> 00:22:24,250 That night they came and took Ray and Leroy up to the box. 471 00:22:26,291 --> 00:22:27,291 And everybody on the company went nuts. 472 00:22:29,375 --> 00:22:34,291 This guy, William Ortiz, threw a soup can 473 00:22:35,625 --> 00:22:36,916 and hit Curtiss, who was the lieutenant, 474 00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:40,500 right on the forehead. 475 00:22:40,583 --> 00:22:42,708 - No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. 476 00:22:42,791 --> 00:22:44,125 - [Elizabeth] Very bad. 477 00:22:44,208 --> 00:22:45,500 - [Narrator] The day's events left officers uneasy 478 00:22:45,583 --> 00:22:47,541 about what might happen the next day. 479 00:22:47,625 --> 00:22:52,041 - For some time, we've all been concerned about this trouble 480 00:22:52,125 --> 00:22:53,083 that was brewing in the prison. 481 00:22:53,166 --> 00:22:54,375 You could feel it in the air. 482 00:22:54,458 --> 00:22:57,916 - So the next morning they keep locked him, 483 00:22:58,000 --> 00:22:59,750 which is they closed his cell door 484 00:22:59,833 --> 00:23:00,791 and they weren't gonna let him out. 485 00:23:00,875 --> 00:23:04,041 But as they were going out to breakfast, 486 00:23:04,125 --> 00:23:07,958 somebody flipped the switch, and Toriano went out too. 487 00:23:08,041 --> 00:23:09,541 So already, we're into revolution here. 488 00:23:09,625 --> 00:23:14,416 There was a confrontation right at the A yard entrance, 489 00:23:14,500 --> 00:23:18,125 which is halfway in that long corridor 490 00:23:18,208 --> 00:23:20,833 between them and Curtiss. 491 00:23:20,916 --> 00:23:25,625 And they took over, and they grabbed Curtiss. 492 00:23:25,708 --> 00:23:29,125 And, they all converge on Times Square. 493 00:23:29,208 --> 00:23:31,916 There was the central area, which is square, 494 00:23:32,000 --> 00:23:35,583 called Times Square, and that controlled all the prisons. 495 00:23:35,666 --> 00:23:37,208 And if you got in and out of that, 496 00:23:37,291 --> 00:23:39,666 you had control over everything. 497 00:23:39,750 --> 00:23:41,791 And, one of the gates broke. 498 00:23:41,875 --> 00:23:44,291 - [Narrator] Shortly thereafter, about 25 inmates 499 00:23:44,375 --> 00:23:46,375 from this group rushed the Times Square gate 500 00:23:46,458 --> 00:23:47,458 they had just come through. 501 00:23:47,541 --> 00:23:48,500 They shook it and shoved at it. 502 00:23:48,583 --> 00:23:50,958 Officers behind the gate had no reason to expect 503 00:23:51,041 --> 00:23:53,458 that it wouldn't hold. 504 00:23:53,541 --> 00:23:55,791 - [Elizabeth] Unbeknownst to everybody, the gate, 505 00:23:55,875 --> 00:23:58,375 the A gate is defective. 506 00:23:58,458 --> 00:24:02,375 It's very old and there's 45 people pushing 507 00:24:02,458 --> 00:24:05,166 and screaming, with sticks and rage. 508 00:24:05,250 --> 00:24:07,500 - [Narrator] A faulty bolt snapped, 509 00:24:07,583 --> 00:24:09,458 and inmates poured through, attacking the officers. 510 00:24:09,541 --> 00:24:12,750 - [Elizabeth] And they beat the three cops. 511 00:24:12,833 --> 00:24:16,750 They give Quinn a big-time concussion, which kills him. 512 00:24:16,833 --> 00:24:21,125 They fracture his skull, was actually what they do. 513 00:24:21,208 --> 00:24:22,875 And, a lotta people hit him. 514 00:24:24,083 --> 00:24:25,625 Lotta different people. 515 00:24:28,416 --> 00:24:30,375 - [Officer] A guard named Melvin or Melville 516 00:24:30,458 --> 00:24:32,333 was on this post 517 00:24:33,458 --> 00:24:35,541 when the incident first started. 518 00:24:39,125 --> 00:24:41,916 Arm is pointing to a hand print on the wall, 519 00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:43,500 imprinted in blood. 520 00:24:44,041 --> 00:24:46,166 We can see 521 00:24:48,250 --> 00:24:51,666 patches of blood on the floor. 522 00:24:51,750 --> 00:24:56,250 - No one, inmate, correction officer, or prison official, 523 00:24:56,333 --> 00:24:58,083 could've known that one of the Times Square gates 524 00:24:58,166 --> 00:24:59,625 was held by a weakened bolt. 525 00:25:01,083 --> 00:25:03,791 Many years earlier, two pieces of steel 526 00:25:03,875 --> 00:25:07,125 were badly welded together, and the weld covered with paint. 527 00:25:08,458 --> 00:25:10,708 Had the gate held, it is possible that the uprising 528 00:25:10,791 --> 00:25:12,125 would have been contained. 529 00:25:12,208 --> 00:25:14,041 - Did you have any understanding as to whether 530 00:25:14,125 --> 00:25:18,708 there was a policy as to what to do in those circumstances? 531 00:25:19,791 --> 00:25:23,541 - There had been a riot plan of sorts, 532 00:25:26,166 --> 00:25:27,833 which all supervisory officers 533 00:25:27,916 --> 00:25:29,416 were to familiarize themselves with. 534 00:25:29,500 --> 00:25:34,416 But it pertained largely to a single area, 535 00:25:34,500 --> 00:25:37,583 an isolated area where a disturbance might occur. 536 00:25:37,666 --> 00:25:42,666 It didn't provide for a institution-wide problem. 537 00:25:44,000 --> 00:25:44,625 - [Questioner] Was that plan ever communicated 538 00:25:44,708 --> 00:25:45,750 to the officers? 539 00:25:45,833 --> 00:25:48,083 - I don't know. Not to my knowledge. 540 00:25:48,166 --> 00:25:49,958 - [Narrator] When the inmates broke into the metal shop, 541 00:25:50,041 --> 00:25:52,916 they took the guards and civilians working there hostage, 542 00:25:53,000 --> 00:25:54,333 and ordered them to strip. 543 00:25:54,416 --> 00:25:56,333 - [Elizabeth] There were civilians throughout the prison, 544 00:25:56,416 --> 00:25:58,500 who are not correction officers. 545 00:25:58,583 --> 00:26:00,500 - [Narrator] This is the area from which 546 00:26:00,583 --> 00:26:02,625 a large group of hostages was taken. 547 00:26:05,291 --> 00:26:07,041 - [Elizabeth] They were account, 548 00:26:07,125 --> 00:26:10,125 the supervisors and the fore people in the metal shop, 549 00:26:10,208 --> 00:26:12,083 the people who knew how to do metal work, 550 00:26:12,166 --> 00:26:14,083 welders and stuff. 551 00:26:14,166 --> 00:26:15,583 - [Narrator] Word was passed for the inmates 552 00:26:15,666 --> 00:26:18,083 to take their captives to D yard. 553 00:26:18,166 --> 00:26:20,250 - Then, once everybody got in the yard, 554 00:26:20,333 --> 00:26:21,416 then the politics took over. 555 00:26:21,500 --> 00:26:24,541 Attica was a riot, it began as a riot 556 00:26:24,625 --> 00:26:26,708 and it immediately turned into a rebellion. 557 00:26:27,833 --> 00:26:29,958 It was a political time. 558 00:26:30,041 --> 00:26:31,750 People were political, everywhere. 559 00:26:31,833 --> 00:26:35,250 There were political movements within the prison. 560 00:26:35,333 --> 00:26:37,416 People couldn't stand the conditions. 561 00:26:37,500 --> 00:26:38,791 - Although the Commission recognizes 562 00:26:38,875 --> 00:26:41,208 that many inmate grievances were justified, 563 00:26:41,291 --> 00:26:42,375 the Commission condemns the taking of hostages 564 00:26:42,458 --> 00:26:45,000 as a means of obtaining redress. 565 00:26:46,541 --> 00:26:48,541 But unless the dehumanizing quality of inmate life 566 00:26:48,625 --> 00:26:51,625 is eliminated by meaningful reform, 567 00:26:51,708 --> 00:26:54,291 inmate frustrations are bound to find their outlet 568 00:26:54,375 --> 00:26:56,125 in future prison riots. 569 00:26:56,208 --> 00:26:58,083 - Shortly before 9:00 a.m. this morning, 570 00:26:58,166 --> 00:27:00,291 the time set aside for visitors to the prison, 571 00:27:00,375 --> 00:27:01,958 a violent disturbance broke out 572 00:27:02,041 --> 00:27:04,250 in four of the five cell blocks. 573 00:27:04,333 --> 00:27:07,500 Prisoners took over, over a thousand prisoners took over, 574 00:27:07,583 --> 00:27:08,791 we'll do it again. 575 00:27:08,875 --> 00:27:10,041 Well damage to prison buildings 576 00:27:10,125 --> 00:27:12,208 will no doubt be repaired in time. 577 00:27:12,291 --> 00:27:14,666 As far as restoring order to this facility, 578 00:27:14,750 --> 00:27:16,166 that's another story. 579 00:27:16,250 --> 00:27:17,625 - [Elizabeth] Now in the laundry, 580 00:27:17,708 --> 00:27:19,625 we have Frank "Large Brown" Smith. 581 00:27:27,750 --> 00:27:29,583 - And Big Black is not a political person. 582 00:27:29,666 --> 00:27:29,708 He's a hustler. 583 00:27:30,791 --> 00:27:34,958 He's charismatic, he's terrific in many ways, 584 00:27:35,041 --> 00:27:37,583 but he is, you know, he's a hustler. 585 00:27:37,666 --> 00:27:40,625 He was huge, a big guy. 586 00:27:40,708 --> 00:27:44,458 And by the time he was eight, he was in trouble. 587 00:27:44,541 --> 00:27:46,666 He never really went to school. 588 00:27:46,750 --> 00:27:49,666 He never really learned grammar 589 00:27:49,750 --> 00:27:51,416 or how to write or any of that. 590 00:27:51,500 --> 00:27:53,583 He just didn't have any, you know, 591 00:27:53,666 --> 00:27:56,166 'cause he was out on the street hustling. 592 00:27:57,583 --> 00:28:00,291 When he was 12 years old he got busted, 593 00:28:00,375 --> 00:28:02,125 and he gets outta that one. 594 00:28:02,208 --> 00:28:05,958 They bust them again and they give them a choice about 595 00:28:06,041 --> 00:28:10,875 whether he wants to go to prison or go into the Army. 596 00:28:10,958 --> 00:28:15,958 So, he enlists into the Army and he becomes an MP. 597 00:28:17,708 --> 00:28:19,375 Then they ship him to Korea. 598 00:28:20,583 --> 00:28:23,541 And he doesn't see any reason why he's here at all. 599 00:28:23,625 --> 00:28:26,041 And all these people are shooting at him. 600 00:28:26,125 --> 00:28:28,041 Right. You know? 601 00:28:28,125 --> 00:28:29,875 And he didn't like it at all. 602 00:28:29,958 --> 00:28:34,083 So, he came back, he sold reefer, mostly. 603 00:28:34,166 --> 00:28:36,375 He was a junkie from the Army, of course. 604 00:28:36,458 --> 00:28:40,583 And then he was hustling, 605 00:28:40,666 --> 00:28:44,458 and he got involved in this crap game with some others, 606 00:28:44,541 --> 00:28:48,041 and some shit went down and 607 00:28:48,125 --> 00:28:51,375 they called the cops. 608 00:28:51,458 --> 00:28:56,416 They got busted, and he refused to rat on his co-defendant, 609 00:28:57,041 --> 00:28:58,958 and he got 15 years. 610 00:28:59,041 --> 00:29:03,375 And, he's one of the leading hustlers in the jail. 611 00:29:04,500 --> 00:29:06,583 He's got an institutional pass. 612 00:29:06,666 --> 00:29:09,625 He does the laundry for the warden. 613 00:29:09,708 --> 00:29:13,958 And he had this one guard, Tony Sangiacomo, 614 00:29:14,041 --> 00:29:16,291 who was his outside bringing-er in. 615 00:29:16,375 --> 00:29:18,125 Right. You know? 616 00:29:18,208 --> 00:29:23,083 And the riot started, the laundry fell, 617 00:29:24,375 --> 00:29:26,625 and he's about to walk to C block 618 00:29:26,708 --> 00:29:30,166 and not get involved in this rebellion. 619 00:29:30,250 --> 00:29:32,458 'Cause he don't want this shit. 620 00:29:32,541 --> 00:29:34,833 And just as he was doing, someone ran over to him, 621 00:29:34,916 --> 00:29:39,833 and said "Man Tony's busted, they got Tony," 622 00:29:41,541 --> 00:29:42,875 his main guy, Sangiacomo. 623 00:29:42,958 --> 00:29:45,750 So he turns around and goes into the yard. 624 00:29:47,416 --> 00:29:50,458 And Tony's got his arm broken, and he's a mess. 625 00:29:50,541 --> 00:29:52,625 And Black goes over to Tony and says, "Man, don't worry, 626 00:29:52,708 --> 00:29:53,875 I'll take care of it." 627 00:29:54,000 --> 00:29:56,083 And he becomes the head of security, 628 00:29:56,166 --> 00:30:00,000 to determine who's gonna get out, who's not gonna get out, 629 00:30:00,083 --> 00:30:01,291 and everything else like that. 630 00:30:01,375 --> 00:30:04,500 The next morning he gets Tony out. Okay? 631 00:30:04,583 --> 00:30:06,000 'Cause he's got a broken arm. 632 00:30:06,083 --> 00:30:07,541 And then he starts to listen to the whole thing, 633 00:30:07,625 --> 00:30:09,916 and he gets turned on by it. 634 00:30:11,916 --> 00:30:14,125 - [Narrator] As head of security, Big Black formed a circle 635 00:30:14,208 --> 00:30:17,083 of disciplined Muslim inmates to protect the hostages 636 00:30:17,166 --> 00:30:18,958 from the constant threat of inmate reprisal. 637 00:30:19,041 --> 00:30:22,500 He immediately arranged for the release of injured hostages 638 00:30:22,583 --> 00:30:24,166 so they could receive medical care. 639 00:30:24,250 --> 00:30:26,000 - [Narrator] One of the first actions of the inmates 640 00:30:26,083 --> 00:30:28,583 in D yard was to release seriously injured hostages. 641 00:30:28,666 --> 00:30:31,500 At the same time the inmates asked for 642 00:30:31,583 --> 00:30:33,625 and got medical supplies and the doctor 643 00:30:33,708 --> 00:30:35,500 for their own casualties. 644 00:30:35,583 --> 00:30:37,750 - [Elizabeth] You know, it's a violent place, prison. 645 00:30:37,833 --> 00:30:40,208 They did a very good job, as best they could, 646 00:30:40,291 --> 00:30:41,416 to keep it contained. 647 00:30:41,500 --> 00:30:43,500 The Muslims did that incredible thing 648 00:30:43,583 --> 00:30:45,333 of guarding the hostages. 649 00:30:45,416 --> 00:30:47,208 - [Narrator] By this time they were under protection 650 00:30:47,291 --> 00:30:49,041 of a Muslim security guard, 651 00:30:49,125 --> 00:30:51,833 protection that would remain firm for four days. 652 00:30:51,916 --> 00:30:53,416 - [Reporter] Have you been treated all right? 653 00:30:53,500 --> 00:30:55,208 - Yes, I have so far, I've been treated very good. 654 00:30:55,291 --> 00:30:59,458 - There was no brutality, no beating on us 655 00:30:59,541 --> 00:31:01,250 or anything like this. 656 00:31:01,333 --> 00:31:05,750 There were threats yelled at us from outside the perimeter. 657 00:31:05,833 --> 00:31:08,416 But the security people that were 658 00:31:08,500 --> 00:31:13,500 in charge of keeping us safe, did a real good job 659 00:31:14,166 --> 00:31:14,208 as far as protecting us. 660 00:31:17,375 --> 00:31:19,875 - [Officer] In the center of our picture, 661 00:31:19,958 --> 00:31:23,250 is men distributing baseball bats to the other prisoners. 662 00:31:23,333 --> 00:31:25,125 Time is 2:18 p.m. 663 00:31:26,125 --> 00:31:28,416 - Everybody was thinking politically 664 00:31:28,500 --> 00:31:29,916 because the head of the Muslims 665 00:31:31,375 --> 00:31:34,166 was the murderer of Malcolm X. 666 00:31:34,250 --> 00:31:36,708 He was the chief Iman at Attica prison. 667 00:31:36,791 --> 00:31:40,041 His name is Thomas Hagan, Thomas X. Hagan. 668 00:31:40,125 --> 00:31:40,916 And he's the murderer of Malcolm X. 669 00:31:41,000 --> 00:31:43,208 That's what he did, he murdered him. 670 00:31:43,291 --> 00:31:48,250 And Thomas, they understood that they couldn't use Thomas. 671 00:31:49,625 --> 00:31:50,875 So, you know, that even though he was 672 00:31:50,958 --> 00:31:53,458 the head of the Muslims, and dealing with everything, 673 00:31:53,541 --> 00:31:55,791 they couldn't put him forward. 674 00:31:55,875 --> 00:31:59,291 So they selected a young brother named Richard X. Clark, 675 00:31:59,375 --> 00:32:00,583 and he became that person. 676 00:32:01,708 --> 00:32:05,208 And the leaders stood up, the older people. 677 00:32:05,291 --> 00:32:07,125 Black was older than everybody. 678 00:32:07,208 --> 00:32:09,250 Roger Champen was older than everybody. 679 00:32:09,333 --> 00:32:12,625 Herbert Blyden was, and everybody was political, 680 00:32:12,708 --> 00:32:15,333 and they wanted to make a point. 681 00:32:15,416 --> 00:32:17,041 - [Reporter] As far as the prisoners are concerned, 682 00:32:17,125 --> 00:32:18,416 do they have weapons and such 683 00:32:18,500 --> 00:32:20,125 that they're holding hostages with? 684 00:32:20,208 --> 00:32:23,125 - Our information is that none of the prisoners are armed. 685 00:32:23,208 --> 00:32:24,125 However, they are holding hostages, 686 00:32:24,208 --> 00:32:27,291 I think just by weight of their sheer strength. 687 00:32:27,375 --> 00:32:29,875 But as far as we're concerned at this point, 688 00:32:29,958 --> 00:32:31,250 they are not armed. 689 00:32:31,333 --> 00:32:33,125 - [Narrator] Troopers took firing and observation positions 690 00:32:33,208 --> 00:32:34,583 on cellblock roofs. 691 00:32:34,666 --> 00:32:37,375 One of them was assigned a small television camera, 692 00:32:37,458 --> 00:32:39,708 and he recorded what he saw on videotape. 693 00:32:39,791 --> 00:32:42,583 - [Officer] Time is 1:55 p.m. 694 00:32:42,666 --> 00:32:45,041 We're on the roof of C block, 695 00:32:45,125 --> 00:32:48,708 looking at a detail of .270 marksman, 696 00:32:48,791 --> 00:32:52,708 with instructions to clear the catwalks upon command. 697 00:32:53,708 --> 00:32:55,166 - [Narrator] By Friday morning, 698 00:32:55,250 --> 00:32:58,166 the police thought they had enough men to take the prison. 699 00:32:58,250 --> 00:32:59,833 They chafed at the delay caused by 700 00:32:59,916 --> 00:33:02,083 Oswald's determination to negotiate, 701 00:33:02,166 --> 00:33:05,458 and they watched inmates build defenses and weapons. 702 00:33:05,541 --> 00:33:06,875 - [Officer] More activity in the central area. 703 00:33:09,708 --> 00:33:12,416 Apparently for further barricades and such. 704 00:33:12,500 --> 00:33:15,750 - Sergeant Cunningham, now, would you give us a message 705 00:33:15,833 --> 00:33:18,541 for Governor Nelson Rockefeller. 706 00:33:19,916 --> 00:33:21,291 - I certainly would. 707 00:33:21,375 --> 00:33:24,833 One of the recommendations is, and if he says no, I'm dead. 708 00:33:24,916 --> 00:33:25,708 - The thing about Rockefeller 709 00:33:25,791 --> 00:33:28,958 is that he knew how to delegate. 710 00:33:29,041 --> 00:33:32,166 And he had delegated Oswald. 711 00:33:32,250 --> 00:33:34,625 And Oswald was trying to be a liberal, 712 00:33:34,708 --> 00:33:37,291 and hear what people had to say. 713 00:33:37,375 --> 00:33:38,791 Mancusi, who was the warden, 714 00:33:38,875 --> 00:33:40,708 would have sent in and killed everybody. 715 00:33:40,791 --> 00:33:44,541 If it had been at Coxsackie or somewhere, but Attica's far. 716 00:33:44,625 --> 00:33:46,291 So, by the time they got there, 717 00:33:48,291 --> 00:33:51,000 Oswald had made the decision to negotiate, 718 00:33:51,083 --> 00:33:53,458 and hadn't called the troopers in. 719 00:33:53,541 --> 00:33:56,875 And once negotiations, then the brothers took over 720 00:33:56,958 --> 00:33:59,041 because they already had their negotiating, 721 00:33:59,125 --> 00:34:02,750 they had this, they at that, and they had 39 hostages. 722 00:34:04,208 --> 00:34:06,750 But meanwhile, he would go and say one thing to them 723 00:34:06,833 --> 00:34:08,708 and then say another thing to the press, and they had TVs. 724 00:34:08,791 --> 00:34:11,416 So they saw and they knew. 725 00:34:11,500 --> 00:34:13,583 - [Narrator] Corrections Commissioner Russell Oswald 726 00:34:13,666 --> 00:34:15,166 was escorted to a negotiating table in D yard 727 00:34:15,250 --> 00:34:18,250 where he agreed to an extensive list of demands 728 00:34:18,333 --> 00:34:20,833 for both immediate and systemic relief. 729 00:34:20,916 --> 00:34:24,125 - I earlier promised you there would be no reprisals. 730 00:34:25,416 --> 00:34:26,583 - [Narrator] The main sticking point 731 00:34:26,666 --> 00:34:28,250 was a demand for amnesty by the men in the yard, 732 00:34:28,333 --> 00:34:29,958 who were afraid all 1,200 of them would be charged 733 00:34:30,041 --> 00:34:33,833 for the beating death of officer William Quinn. 734 00:34:33,916 --> 00:34:35,916 Commissioner Oswald did not believe he had the authority 735 00:34:36,000 --> 00:34:36,666 to grant the amnesty. 736 00:34:36,750 --> 00:34:38,916 Plus, he had demands of his own. 737 00:34:39,000 --> 00:34:41,333 - When will you release the hostages? 738 00:34:41,416 --> 00:34:46,041 - He expected them to be grateful to him, and they weren't. 739 00:34:46,125 --> 00:34:47,416 Hmm-mm. 740 00:34:47,500 --> 00:34:51,083 So he did this thing, and he let negotiators in. 741 00:34:51,166 --> 00:34:53,166 - We urgently demand immediate negotiations 742 00:34:53,250 --> 00:34:57,250 through William M. Kunstler, attorney at law, 743 00:34:57,333 --> 00:35:00,083 588 ninth avenue, New York, New York. 744 00:35:02,208 --> 00:35:05,458 - [Officer] Presently entering is Bobby Seale. 745 00:35:05,541 --> 00:35:09,708 On the extreme right, as they walk towards us, our right, 746 00:35:09,791 --> 00:35:12,750 is Professor Schwartz, Arnold Kunstler, 747 00:35:12,833 --> 00:35:15,625 Bobby Seale in the black coat, and two of Seale's entourage 748 00:35:15,708 --> 00:35:18,583 on the extreme right. 749 00:35:18,666 --> 00:35:21,833 - [Narrator] By late Friday, 33 observers had arrived. 750 00:35:21,916 --> 00:35:24,208 One was Tom Wicker of the New York Times. 751 00:35:24,291 --> 00:35:26,333 - We had continuing discussions from the beginning 752 00:35:26,416 --> 00:35:29,958 as to precisely what we should do, 753 00:35:30,041 --> 00:35:33,166 what role we should be playing, were we to view ourselves 754 00:35:33,250 --> 00:35:35,500 as representatives of the prisoners? 755 00:35:35,583 --> 00:35:38,541 Were we view ourselves as representatives of the state? 756 00:35:38,625 --> 00:35:42,583 Were we purely neutral go-betweens? 757 00:35:42,666 --> 00:35:47,500 Were we in fact negotiators? 758 00:35:49,083 --> 00:35:51,041 Events soon settled that. We had to be, more or less. 759 00:35:51,125 --> 00:35:53,958 - And then when the negotiators came, 760 00:35:54,041 --> 00:35:56,750 you had all those flamboyancy. 761 00:35:56,833 --> 00:36:00,500 And you had flamboyancy number 101, right? 762 00:36:00,583 --> 00:36:01,958 And he was Mr. Press. 763 00:36:02,041 --> 00:36:03,833 He understood how to deal with the press 764 00:36:03,916 --> 00:36:06,833 better than anybody I ever saw. 765 00:36:06,916 --> 00:36:11,208 - You gotta negotiate for an amnesty. 766 00:36:11,291 --> 00:36:14,333 But that means you have to sit down and have to work out 767 00:36:14,416 --> 00:36:15,916 a real amnesty. 768 00:36:16,000 --> 00:36:17,416 - He was a German Jew. 769 00:36:19,000 --> 00:36:21,208 His father was a doctor, his grandfather was a doctor. 770 00:36:21,291 --> 00:36:22,458 Everybody were doctors. 771 00:36:22,541 --> 00:36:27,166 He went to Yale, came in second. He was second in his class. 772 00:36:27,250 --> 00:36:31,541 Then he went into the Army and he was a major. 773 00:36:31,625 --> 00:36:35,375 And he was in the Army of occupation in Japan. 774 00:36:35,458 --> 00:36:37,541 He went back to Columbia Law School 775 00:36:37,625 --> 00:36:39,000 and he was in the same class 776 00:36:39,083 --> 00:36:41,833 of all these famous people together. 777 00:36:41,916 --> 00:36:45,666 And became an estates lawyer. 778 00:36:45,750 --> 00:36:49,625 And he was a liberal. He was a member of the NAACP. 779 00:36:51,000 --> 00:36:53,583 And it was like '58, 780 00:36:53,666 --> 00:36:56,083 and he was going to Jackson, Mississippi. 781 00:36:56,166 --> 00:36:58,750 And he became a civil rights lawyer. 782 00:36:58,833 --> 00:37:01,500 And mostly became Martin Luther King's lawyer. 783 00:37:01,583 --> 00:37:05,416 So, you had Bill Kunstler and Herman Badillo 784 00:37:05,500 --> 00:37:08,791 and all these people, and it became a scene. 785 00:37:08,875 --> 00:37:12,083 - [Reporter] Why did the inmates ask for you people? 786 00:37:12,166 --> 00:37:16,750 Why are they asking for the Huey Newtons, Herman Badillos, 787 00:37:16,833 --> 00:37:18,000 Reverend Wyatt Tee Walker. 788 00:37:18,083 --> 00:37:19,291 Why are they doing that? 789 00:37:19,375 --> 00:37:23,416 - They want to be just, they want to be assured 790 00:37:23,500 --> 00:37:25,708 that if there is an agreement 791 00:37:25,791 --> 00:37:27,458 that the agreement will be kept. 792 00:37:27,541 --> 00:37:30,916 They want to be assured that there is some mechanism 793 00:37:31,000 --> 00:37:34,791 for enforcing whatever changes exist in the regulations. 794 00:37:34,875 --> 00:37:37,708 And I think it's a wise idea. 795 00:37:37,791 --> 00:37:39,375 - Power, unity! 796 00:37:39,458 --> 00:37:41,958 - [Narrator] There were close to 1,300 men in D yard. 797 00:37:42,041 --> 00:37:44,250 More than half of those interviewed told the Commission 798 00:37:44,333 --> 00:37:46,166 they had not wanted to be there, but couldn't leave. 799 00:37:46,250 --> 00:37:49,208 Inmates made rules against using drugs, 800 00:37:49,291 --> 00:37:51,625 fighting, and homosexual relations. 801 00:37:51,708 --> 00:37:54,416 Some of them built defenses or looked for food and fuel, 802 00:37:54,500 --> 00:37:55,916 but a large number, probably the majority, 803 00:37:56,000 --> 00:37:58,291 hung back and did nothing. 804 00:37:58,375 --> 00:38:00,083 Most of them lined up twice a day for mess call. 805 00:38:00,166 --> 00:38:01,791 - [Reporter] How do the inmates feel 806 00:38:01,875 --> 00:38:03,208 about the current situation? 807 00:38:04,791 --> 00:38:07,291 - A group of us were in with the inmates, 808 00:38:07,375 --> 00:38:11,333 we met with them, we had 2 1/2 hours. 809 00:38:11,416 --> 00:38:12,958 Some of the people are here. 810 00:38:13,041 --> 00:38:14,666 But we really have nothing to say about it, 811 00:38:14,750 --> 00:38:18,416 except they are firm in their demands, and that's it. 812 00:38:18,500 --> 00:38:21,000 - It was Bill's finest hour, Kunstler, in some ways, 813 00:38:21,083 --> 00:38:23,833 and one of his stupidest. 814 00:38:23,916 --> 00:38:26,666 No one told the Attica Brothers 815 00:38:26,750 --> 00:38:28,875 that they were gonna be murdered. 816 00:38:28,958 --> 00:38:31,000 They didn't tell them that there were all these 817 00:38:31,083 --> 00:38:34,750 crazy white people outside, filled with race hate, 818 00:38:34,833 --> 00:38:37,333 and all of them are gonna be armed to the teeth. 819 00:38:37,416 --> 00:38:39,041 And there's no question that they're gonna 820 00:38:39,125 --> 00:38:40,416 blow you people away. 821 00:38:42,958 --> 00:38:45,375 - [Officer] Time is 8:10, September 10th. 822 00:38:46,583 --> 00:38:48,041 - [Narrator] As negotiations stalled, 823 00:38:48,125 --> 00:38:50,500 Governor Rockefeller decided to rely on the exhausted 824 00:38:50,583 --> 00:38:52,833 and increasingly agitated state troopers, 825 00:38:52,916 --> 00:38:55,458 who'd been taking shifts waiting outside the prison walls 826 00:38:55,541 --> 00:38:56,958 for three days. 827 00:38:57,041 --> 00:38:59,166 - [Elizabeth] It was cold up there. 828 00:38:59,250 --> 00:39:00,833 They could've worked something out. 829 00:39:00,916 --> 00:39:02,125 They didn't have to murder people that way, 830 00:39:02,208 --> 00:39:03,666 but they wanted to. 831 00:39:05,250 --> 00:39:07,958 They wanted people to see what happens when you rebel. 832 00:39:09,041 --> 00:39:11,250 You know, that they were prepared to kill you, 833 00:39:11,333 --> 00:39:13,708 and not only kill you, but kill anybody. 834 00:39:13,791 --> 00:39:15,791 All those white people, they were fodder. 835 00:39:18,250 --> 00:39:19,458 - [Narrator] You said earlier that you think 836 00:39:19,541 --> 00:39:20,875 the warden would have done that (snaps) day one. 837 00:39:20,958 --> 00:39:22,083 - Yeah, they did too. 838 00:39:22,166 --> 00:39:23,666 - [Narrator] Do you think Rockefeller 839 00:39:23,750 --> 00:39:26,958 would have done that day one if he would've had the choice? 840 00:39:27,041 --> 00:39:28,583 - The Rockefeller thing, he was just horrified 841 00:39:28,666 --> 00:39:33,416 that these people thought they had any right to oppose him. 842 00:39:33,500 --> 00:39:37,041 And that's one of the main reasons why he killed them all, 843 00:39:37,125 --> 00:39:39,791 just like his father did, in Ludlow. 844 00:39:41,583 --> 00:39:44,833 (somber haunting music) 845 00:39:57,666 --> 00:39:58,708 I mean, who were you? 846 00:39:58,791 --> 00:40:00,208 You're scum. I'll show you. 847 00:40:00,291 --> 00:40:01,458 I have all the power. 848 00:40:02,666 --> 00:40:03,458 The cities had blown up. 849 00:40:05,500 --> 00:40:08,083 And they wanted to show everybody what happened. 850 00:40:08,166 --> 00:40:10,041 "You think we're not gonna blow you away?" 851 00:40:10,125 --> 00:40:12,333 I mean, Black didn't think they were gonna shoot. 852 00:40:12,416 --> 00:40:14,583 He thought that they were gonna come down 853 00:40:14,666 --> 00:40:17,833 and bust some heads and fuck everybody up, 854 00:40:17,916 --> 00:40:18,916 and that would be it. 855 00:40:19,000 --> 00:40:22,958 And that is what the National Guard wanted to do. 856 00:40:23,041 --> 00:40:24,208 That's exactly what they wanted to do. 857 00:40:24,291 --> 00:40:27,291 They wanted to come out of a helicopter, 858 00:40:27,375 --> 00:40:31,291 come into the middle of the yard, have them gas everybody, 859 00:40:31,375 --> 00:40:32,916 and take over the yard. 860 00:40:33,000 --> 00:40:34,458 They thought that they could do whatever, 861 00:40:34,541 --> 00:40:35,958 and they weren't allowed to. 862 00:40:37,500 --> 00:40:39,458 - [Officer] These are some reinforcements coming in now. 863 00:40:39,541 --> 00:40:43,000 - [Elizabeth] Here you have a captain in the state police 864 00:40:43,083 --> 00:40:47,416 who runs a barracks in Batavia, New York. 865 00:40:47,500 --> 00:40:48,541 The only thing they do up there is run up and down 866 00:40:48,625 --> 00:40:52,083 the highway and arrest people for driving. 867 00:40:52,166 --> 00:40:53,000 - [Narrator] A principle task of the state police 868 00:40:53,083 --> 00:40:54,416 is highway patrol. 869 00:40:54,500 --> 00:40:58,791 They are not ordinarily assigned to military operations. 870 00:40:58,875 --> 00:40:59,666 - All right, go right around to the supply truck 871 00:40:59,750 --> 00:41:02,083 and pick up the shotguns and rifles. 872 00:41:02,166 --> 00:41:03,666 - [Man] On the double, let's go. 873 00:41:03,750 --> 00:41:05,708 - [Elizabeth] I mean, they understood what the climate was. 874 00:41:05,791 --> 00:41:10,291 - It's a situation in which lives are at stake. 875 00:41:10,375 --> 00:41:13,791 And my own personal opinion is that if lives are at stake 876 00:41:13,875 --> 00:41:16,500 and have any meaning to anybody, that there oughta be 877 00:41:16,583 --> 00:41:19,000 a serious reconsideration by the state. 878 00:41:19,083 --> 00:41:20,166 If the state takes the position 879 00:41:20,250 --> 00:41:22,250 that the guards' lives are expendable, 880 00:41:22,333 --> 00:41:25,250 then the state is going to cause the murder of many people. 881 00:41:26,583 --> 00:41:29,458 - [Elizabeth] Anybody would know what was gonna happen. 882 00:41:29,541 --> 00:41:32,000 Those people were crazed. 883 00:41:32,083 --> 00:41:33,875 All they did was sit around the prison. 884 00:41:33,958 --> 00:41:35,333 They had nothing to do. 885 00:41:35,416 --> 00:41:37,666 There was no discipline, and they were all lied to. 886 00:41:37,750 --> 00:41:39,375 - There has been some of the prison personnel 887 00:41:39,458 --> 00:41:41,666 severely injured here this morning. 888 00:41:41,750 --> 00:41:45,541 And we certainly don't wanna see any of our people hurt. 889 00:41:45,625 --> 00:41:48,416 - [Elizabeth] So there it is, right there. 890 00:41:48,500 --> 00:41:50,083 Everything he said was a lie. 891 00:41:51,458 --> 00:41:53,666 They knew full well that there was no one injured, 892 00:41:54,875 --> 00:41:56,333 and that they were lying. 893 00:41:56,416 --> 00:41:57,583 The meet force, they knew no one had a gun. 894 00:42:00,125 --> 00:42:01,541 - Your instructions are 895 00:42:01,625 --> 00:42:04,041 that your weapon is not to be taken 896 00:42:04,125 --> 00:42:06,208 nor are you to be taken. 897 00:42:07,291 --> 00:42:08,625 - [Elizabeth] They chose the state police, 898 00:42:08,708 --> 00:42:10,833 even though the National Guard knew what they were doing, 899 00:42:10,916 --> 00:42:11,583 and the state police had no clue. 900 00:42:13,958 --> 00:42:15,041 - [Officer] The hostages are on catwalks 901 00:42:15,125 --> 00:42:18,166 with knives at their throat. 902 00:42:24,625 --> 00:42:26,750 - [Officer] Time is 9:45 a.m. 903 00:42:39,000 --> 00:42:41,750 (gunshots popping) 904 00:43:05,708 --> 00:43:09,458 - [Elizabeth] This was a wholesale murder. 905 00:43:09,541 --> 00:43:10,583 Attica took it to a different level. 906 00:43:12,708 --> 00:43:15,708 (helicopters buzzing) 907 00:43:28,000 --> 00:43:32,083 The head of the state police was on vacation 908 00:43:32,166 --> 00:43:33,833 in Bolton's Landing, New York. 909 00:43:33,916 --> 00:43:37,041 So there was absolutely no reason for him to be there 910 00:43:37,125 --> 00:43:39,958 other than to keep himself away from this shit. 911 00:43:40,041 --> 00:43:42,958 He wasn't in Europe, he was in Bolton's Landing. 912 00:43:43,041 --> 00:43:44,583 (helicopter whirring) 913 00:43:48,916 --> 00:43:53,000 They all had gas masks, and there was no way to communicate 914 00:43:53,083 --> 00:43:54,750 through the gas masks. 915 00:43:54,833 --> 00:43:57,083 There's this incredible testimony from the second in command 916 00:43:57,166 --> 00:43:59,666 of the state police. 917 00:43:59,750 --> 00:44:03,625 This guy was a moron, and he comes out onto the catwalks 918 00:44:05,250 --> 00:44:06,458 and they're shooting, 919 00:44:06,541 --> 00:44:08,291 and there's no reason for anybody to shoot anybody. 920 00:44:08,375 --> 00:44:09,708 And he's running up and down trying to get people 921 00:44:09,791 --> 00:44:13,333 to stop shooting, but there's no way to communicate 922 00:44:13,416 --> 00:44:14,875 because no one could talk to each other 923 00:44:14,958 --> 00:44:16,458 'cause they have gas masks on. 924 00:44:19,041 --> 00:44:21,500 - [Officer] The hostages can't be seen now. 925 00:44:21,583 --> 00:44:24,666 - [Elizabeth] I mean, they did everything wrong. 926 00:44:24,750 --> 00:44:29,666 (gunshots popping) (deep somber music) 927 00:44:43,916 --> 00:44:47,500 They were all in a hostage circle in the middle, 928 00:44:47,583 --> 00:44:51,083 and someone began to run during the assault, 929 00:44:51,166 --> 00:44:55,666 and they all turned and fired at him with their shotguns, 930 00:44:55,750 --> 00:44:56,791 filled with double-aught buckshot, 931 00:44:56,875 --> 00:44:59,541 with an indiscriminate spread of 50 yards. 932 00:45:01,583 --> 00:45:02,666 And that's why they killed all the hostages. 933 00:45:07,416 --> 00:45:09,166 They didn't register any firearms. 934 00:45:09,250 --> 00:45:12,291 They told everybody to put tape over their name tags 935 00:45:12,375 --> 00:45:13,375 so you couldn't tell who was shooting. 936 00:45:13,458 --> 00:45:16,291 They told people to fight back. 937 00:45:16,375 --> 00:45:20,125 And they told blah, blah, blah. 938 00:45:20,208 --> 00:45:22,500 What they wanted was what they got. 939 00:45:22,583 --> 00:45:24,916 I mean, the best thing you could call it 940 00:45:25,000 --> 00:45:27,375 is depraved indifference for human life, 941 00:45:27,458 --> 00:45:28,666 but it was more than that. 942 00:45:30,333 --> 00:45:32,541 4,500 rounds of ammunition. 943 00:45:33,666 --> 00:45:36,041 Can you imagine? Nobody had a gun. 944 00:45:37,500 --> 00:45:39,375 (gunshots blasting) 945 00:45:39,458 --> 00:45:41,750 None of them had guns. 946 00:45:42,541 --> 00:45:45,833 That's lot of people, 39 people. 947 00:45:52,041 --> 00:45:54,041 - [Elizabeth] No one ever saw anybody resist. 948 00:45:54,125 --> 00:45:56,541 Nobody resisted. One person, Tommy Hicks. 949 00:45:56,625 --> 00:45:58,916 They beat him to a pulp and killed him, right there. 950 00:45:59,000 --> 00:46:01,791 Gregory Wildridge fired 10 rounds of his shotgun. 951 00:46:01,875 --> 00:46:05,625 And when he was asked why he fired those shots, 952 00:46:05,708 --> 00:46:08,291 he gives some absolute lying justification 953 00:46:08,375 --> 00:46:10,208 for the first four. 954 00:46:10,291 --> 00:46:11,500 And the remaining six, 955 00:46:11,583 --> 00:46:15,291 his reason for firing them was quote, verbatim, quote 956 00:46:15,375 --> 00:46:16,625 "To keep up the noise." 957 00:46:20,916 --> 00:46:25,250 (helicopter fluttering) (slow somber music) 958 00:46:25,333 --> 00:46:27,708 - [Elizabeth] Aldo Barbolini was a state trooper, 959 00:46:27,791 --> 00:46:31,458 and he killed Kenny Malloy in cold blood with a pistol, 960 00:46:31,541 --> 00:46:31,708 with a handgun. 961 00:46:34,333 --> 00:46:36,375 You look at the pictures, they speak for themselves. 962 00:46:36,458 --> 00:46:38,333 He blew his face apart. 963 00:46:38,416 --> 00:46:42,083 And what he did was witnessed by Gerard L. Smith, 964 00:46:42,166 --> 00:46:43,625 who testified about it. 965 00:46:43,708 --> 00:46:47,666 So Barbolini killed Kenny Malloy and he killed Robinson. 966 00:46:47,750 --> 00:46:51,416 And he had a weapon that he had brought himself, a shotgun. 967 00:46:52,583 --> 00:46:56,833 And he went back to his commander 968 00:46:56,916 --> 00:46:57,750 and he handed him the shotgun. 969 00:46:57,833 --> 00:47:00,458 He says, "I took this off an inmate." 970 00:47:00,541 --> 00:47:02,791 They knew that he was a goddamn liar, 971 00:47:05,666 --> 00:47:08,291 and that the weapon, it did not come from an inmate. 972 00:47:08,375 --> 00:47:09,750 He had brought it himself, 973 00:47:09,833 --> 00:47:12,166 and that he had murdered these two people in cold blood. 974 00:47:13,541 --> 00:47:15,666 And did they arrest him for murder? No. 975 00:47:15,750 --> 00:47:18,625 What did they do? They let him retire. 976 00:47:20,083 --> 00:47:23,125 So, that's Aldo Barbolini. 977 00:47:23,208 --> 00:47:26,833 Clore and Virgamini, they were sent in by the warden 978 00:47:26,916 --> 00:47:27,666 of Auburn Correctional Facility, 979 00:47:27,750 --> 00:47:31,666 Robert J. Henderson, a swell guy. 980 00:47:31,750 --> 00:47:33,708 They killed D'Archangelo. 981 00:47:33,791 --> 00:47:35,208 They killed Monteleone, 982 00:47:35,291 --> 00:47:38,000 who were the two guys who were killed on the catwalks. 983 00:47:38,083 --> 00:47:39,750 - [Man Over Speaker] Surrender peacefully. 984 00:47:39,833 --> 00:47:41,916 You will not be harmed. 985 00:47:42,000 --> 00:47:45,250 (helicopter fluttering) 986 00:47:53,791 --> 00:47:56,041 - [Elizabeth] Santiago Santos clearly, 987 00:47:56,125 --> 00:47:58,041 was following the instructions 988 00:47:58,125 --> 00:47:59,666 that were given from the helicopter. 989 00:47:59,750 --> 00:48:02,583 He had his hands over his head like this, 990 00:48:02,666 --> 00:48:04,583 and he was walking to the nearest trooper. 991 00:48:04,666 --> 00:48:05,791 And what happened? 992 00:48:05,875 --> 00:48:08,791 He got murdered. He got shot and killed. 993 00:48:08,875 --> 00:48:11,833 And so when he fell, he fell with his hands over his head. 994 00:48:11,916 --> 00:48:13,916 Now, that didn't look good to them. 995 00:48:14,000 --> 00:48:15,958 Before rigor sets in clearly, 996 00:48:16,041 --> 00:48:20,583 so that's like two, three hours before rigor comes in, 997 00:48:20,666 --> 00:48:22,666 they move his hand and they put a scissor. 998 00:48:22,750 --> 00:48:24,916 So you think like, he's reaching for a scissor. Great. 999 00:48:25,000 --> 00:48:27,583 - [Man Over Speaker] Surrender peacefully. 1000 00:48:27,666 --> 00:48:30,041 You will not be harmed. 1001 00:48:30,125 --> 00:48:33,041 - [Elizabeth] And then, there's Kenny Robinson, 1002 00:48:33,125 --> 00:48:36,250 who's shot without a weapon. 1003 00:48:36,333 --> 00:48:37,583 There's nothing near him. 1004 00:48:37,666 --> 00:48:39,583 He was clearly sitting on this big old seat, 1005 00:48:39,666 --> 00:48:40,833 and they shot him and it fell, 1006 00:48:40,916 --> 00:48:42,666 he fell, it fell over him. 1007 00:48:42,750 --> 00:48:44,958 And the next thing you know, he's got a big sword. 1008 00:48:45,041 --> 00:48:48,125 - [Man Over Speaker] You will not be harmed. 1009 00:48:48,208 --> 00:48:50,916 Clasp your hands on top of your head 1010 00:48:51,000 --> 00:48:54,916 and move to the outside of the D block corridor. 1011 00:48:56,375 --> 00:48:57,791 - The action now under way, 1012 00:48:59,083 --> 00:49:01,291 was initiated with extreme reluctance, 1013 00:49:02,541 --> 00:49:06,333 only after all attempts to achieve 1014 00:49:06,416 --> 00:49:08,291 a peaceful solution failed. 1015 00:49:10,333 --> 00:49:11,791 To delay the action any longer 1016 00:49:13,208 --> 00:49:15,375 would not only jeopardize innocent lives, 1017 00:49:16,583 --> 00:49:18,375 but would threatened the security 1018 00:49:18,458 --> 00:49:21,416 of the entire correctional system of this state. 1019 00:49:23,166 --> 00:49:25,958 (slow somber music) 1020 00:49:38,500 --> 00:49:40,958 - [Narrator] The assault on Attica lasted six minutes 1021 00:49:41,041 --> 00:49:44,625 and took the lives of 39 inmates and hostages. 1022 00:49:44,708 --> 00:49:49,666 - [Elizabeth] This is all only for the hostages. 1023 00:49:49,750 --> 00:49:52,791 They had an ambulance for every hostage, 1024 00:49:52,875 --> 00:49:56,750 and they had nothing, nothing for the prisoners. 1025 00:49:58,583 --> 00:50:03,166 Dr. Michael M. Baden, chief pathologist 1026 00:50:03,250 --> 00:50:07,708 of the New York State Police, who conducted the autopsies, 1027 00:50:07,791 --> 00:50:10,750 come in and testified that if there had been 1028 00:50:10,833 --> 00:50:13,875 proper medical care at least eight people could have lived. 1029 00:50:13,958 --> 00:50:18,250 I think it's 10, including, but not limited to Sam Melville. 1030 00:50:18,333 --> 00:50:20,833 He was shot by Vincent Tobia, who was a member 1031 00:50:20,916 --> 00:50:22,708 of the bureau of criminal investigation 1032 00:50:22,791 --> 00:50:23,958 in the New York State Police, 1033 00:50:24,041 --> 00:50:28,750 in the same place that L.D. Barkley was shot. 1034 00:50:28,833 --> 00:50:30,958 Collapsed his lung and he bled to death. 1035 00:50:31,041 --> 00:50:32,416 - We are men. 1036 00:50:32,500 --> 00:50:35,041 We are not beasts, and we do not intend to be driven 1037 00:50:35,125 --> 00:50:37,250 or beaten as such. 1038 00:50:37,333 --> 00:50:39,666 - [Elizabeth] He was 19, and he was in Attica 1039 00:50:39,750 --> 00:50:42,166 for a probation violation for joyriding. 1040 00:50:43,291 --> 00:50:45,916 - If they had only waited till today, 1041 00:50:46,000 --> 00:50:50,750 there would be now 40 or 41 people still alive 1042 00:50:50,833 --> 00:50:52,291 in this universe of ours. 1043 00:50:52,375 --> 00:50:56,166 They would not wait because these men were expendable. 1044 00:50:56,250 --> 00:51:00,208 Guards, prisoners had no meaning in the scheme of things 1045 00:51:00,291 --> 00:51:01,166 of our white totalitarian world. 1046 00:51:01,250 --> 00:51:03,250 - [Reporter] How did they kill the hostages-- 1047 00:51:03,333 --> 00:51:04,458 - [Man] Let him finish. 1048 00:51:07,750 --> 00:51:10,333 - Well, several had their throat slashed. 1049 00:51:11,875 --> 00:51:13,083 I don't have all the details on it. 1050 00:51:13,166 --> 00:51:15,500 I understand one had a chest wound that he died from. 1051 00:51:15,583 --> 00:51:17,791 And, I don't have all of those details. 1052 00:51:17,875 --> 00:51:20,416 - When you read the front page of the New York Times, 1053 00:51:20,500 --> 00:51:22,291 it's a scream, it is. 1054 00:51:22,375 --> 00:51:26,458 I mean, they have 'em fighting hand by hand in the blocks, 1055 00:51:26,541 --> 00:51:27,458 for four hours. 1056 00:51:29,375 --> 00:51:30,750 (Elizabeth sighs) 1057 00:51:30,833 --> 00:51:32,458 - [Narrator] The press accepted Houlihan's report 1058 00:51:32,541 --> 00:51:33,708 of slashed throats, but the next day 1059 00:51:33,791 --> 00:51:37,375 County Medical Examiner John Edland announced the truth. 1060 00:51:38,833 --> 00:51:42,041 - The first eight autopsies were on the cases 1061 00:51:42,125 --> 00:51:44,458 identified to us as hostages. 1062 00:51:46,041 --> 00:51:51,083 All eight cases died of gunshot wounds. 1063 00:51:51,166 --> 00:51:54,375 - He was this conservative Republican, and he was a doctor. 1064 00:51:54,458 --> 00:51:57,500 So, they brought all these bodies to him, 1065 00:51:57,583 --> 00:51:59,833 and he says, "Oh these were all shot," 1066 00:51:59,916 --> 00:52:02,666 right, nobody's, what're you talking about?" 1067 00:52:02,750 --> 00:52:05,916 - There was no evidence of slashed throats. 1068 00:52:07,250 --> 00:52:10,791 There was one single cut in the back of one of the necks. 1069 00:52:10,875 --> 00:52:12,708 - And, they totally attacked him 1070 00:52:12,791 --> 00:52:14,666 and destroyed him, actually. 1071 00:52:14,750 --> 00:52:16,333 They totally tortured him. 1072 00:52:16,416 --> 00:52:17,833 Wouldn't let him drive the car. 1073 00:52:17,916 --> 00:52:21,000 They were pulling him over, the whole nine yards. 1074 00:52:21,083 --> 00:52:22,958 - When the autopsy record was complete, 1075 00:52:23,041 --> 00:52:24,666 it became known that all the dead hostages 1076 00:52:24,750 --> 00:52:27,041 were killed or fatally wounded by shots fired 1077 00:52:27,125 --> 00:52:29,250 by the assault forces. 1078 00:52:29,333 --> 00:52:31,875 No hostage was castrated or sexually molested. 1079 00:52:33,208 --> 00:52:34,958 There were no safeguards to minimize the risk of injury 1080 00:52:35,041 --> 00:52:38,500 to hostages and to un-involved and unresisting inmates. 1081 00:52:40,000 --> 00:52:40,958 While the warnings against indiscriminate fire were issued, 1082 00:52:41,041 --> 00:52:44,000 the plan allowed individual troopers 1083 00:52:44,083 --> 00:52:46,708 to use their own discretion about firing their weapons. 1084 00:52:48,000 --> 00:52:50,041 Many troopers carried shotguns with ammunition 1085 00:52:50,125 --> 00:52:52,125 that scattered lethal pellets 1086 00:52:52,208 --> 00:52:53,375 in such a way that unintended targets 1087 00:52:53,458 --> 00:52:56,541 would almost certainly be hit when troopers fired 1088 00:52:56,625 --> 00:53:00,375 into the crowded, confined space of D yard. 1089 00:53:00,458 --> 00:53:03,333 (slow haunting music) 1090 00:53:06,958 --> 00:53:09,416 - [Woman] I have Governor Rockefeller for you, sir. 1091 00:53:09,500 --> 00:53:10,708 - Hello? - There you are. 1092 00:53:10,791 --> 00:53:11,458 - [Rockefeller] Mr. President. 1093 00:53:17,333 --> 00:53:18,708 for the courage you showed and the judgment 1094 00:53:18,791 --> 00:53:21,125 in not granting amnesty. 1095 00:53:21,208 --> 00:53:23,500 It was right, and I don't care what the hell the papers 1096 00:53:23,583 --> 00:53:25,083 or anybody else says. 1097 00:53:26,541 --> 00:53:27,708 I don't care what they say, 1098 00:53:27,791 --> 00:53:29,791 I think that you had to do it that way, 1099 00:53:29,875 --> 00:53:33,041 because if you would've granted amnesty in this case, 1100 00:53:33,125 --> 00:53:34,250 it would have meant that you would've had prisons 1101 00:53:34,333 --> 00:53:36,750 in an uproar all over this country. 1102 00:53:36,833 --> 00:53:37,666 - [Rockefeller] That's right. 1103 00:53:37,750 --> 00:53:38,916 - [Nixon] And you did the right thing. 1104 00:53:39,000 --> 00:53:41,125 It's a tragedy that these poor fellas were shot, 1105 00:53:41,208 --> 00:53:43,333 but I just want you to know that's my view. 1106 00:53:43,416 --> 00:53:44,916 And I've told the troops around here 1107 00:53:45,000 --> 00:53:46,083 they're to back that right to the hilt. 1108 00:53:46,166 --> 00:53:48,000 - [Rockefeller] Well, aren't you great, Mr. President. 1109 00:53:48,083 --> 00:53:50,791 I only called you because I wanted to alert you 1110 00:53:50,875 --> 00:53:51,666 that we were going in. 1111 00:53:51,750 --> 00:53:53,916 - Right. - And when we went in, 1112 00:53:54,000 --> 00:53:57,666 we couldn't tell whether all 39 hostages would be killed 1113 00:53:57,750 --> 00:53:59,250 and maybe two or 300 prisoners. 1114 00:53:59,333 --> 00:54:02,541 And that's a pretty big, you know. 1115 00:54:02,625 --> 00:54:03,458 - [Nixon] Yeah, mm-hmm. 1116 00:54:06,333 --> 00:54:07,958 - [Nixon] How many, I only got the report this morning. 1117 00:54:08,041 --> 00:54:11,083 What is the latest report? 1118 00:54:11,166 --> 00:54:12,291 How many people-- 1119 00:54:12,375 --> 00:54:13,541 - [Rockefeller] Seven hostages were killed. 1120 00:54:13,625 --> 00:54:14,916 - [Nixon] Seven hostages were killed? 1121 00:54:15,000 --> 00:54:15,791 - [Rockefeller] Yes, these were the guards. 1122 00:54:15,875 --> 00:54:17,416 - [Nixon] Those were guards, seven. 1123 00:54:17,500 --> 00:54:18,958 - [Rockefeller] It appears now, Mr. President, 1124 00:54:19,041 --> 00:54:21,166 as though quite a few of those were killed prior to this. 1125 00:54:21,250 --> 00:54:25,125 In other words, that they'd been dead. 1126 00:54:26,791 --> 00:54:27,958 - [Rockefeller] The hospital. 1127 00:54:28,041 --> 00:54:28,791 - [Nixon] The hospital can prove that. 1128 00:54:28,875 --> 00:54:30,083 - [Rockefeller] Oh yes. 1129 00:54:30,166 --> 00:54:31,875 - [Nixon] They can find out how long a guy's dead. 1130 00:54:31,958 --> 00:54:34,041 - [Rockefeller] That's right and it's a Catholic hospital, 1131 00:54:34,125 --> 00:54:35,125 so it's outside of our jurisdiction. 1132 00:54:35,208 --> 00:54:38,458 - [Nixon] Right, tell me this, is this a, 1133 00:54:38,541 --> 00:54:41,125 are these primarily Blacks that you're dealing with? 1134 00:54:41,208 --> 00:54:42,625 - [Rockefeller] Oh yes, the whole thing 1135 00:54:42,708 --> 00:54:44,083 was led by the Blacks. 1136 00:54:44,166 --> 00:54:45,291 - [Nixon] I'll be darned. 1137 00:54:45,375 --> 00:54:46,916 Are all the prisoners that were killed Blacks? 1138 00:54:47,000 --> 00:54:48,791 Are there any whites? 1139 00:54:48,875 --> 00:54:50,125 - [Rockefeller] I haven't got that report, 1140 00:54:50,208 --> 00:54:53,541 but I have to, I would say just offhand, yes. 1141 00:54:53,625 --> 00:54:54,208 - [Nixon] Yeah. 1142 00:54:55,083 --> 00:54:57,291 - [Rockefeller] We did it though 1143 00:54:57,375 --> 00:55:00,166 only when they were in the process of murdering the guards, 1144 00:55:00,250 --> 00:55:03,541 or when they were attacking our people 1145 00:55:03,625 --> 00:55:05,541 as they came in to get the guards. 1146 00:55:05,625 --> 00:55:06,708 - [Nixon] You had to do it. 1147 00:55:06,791 --> 00:55:07,958 - [Rockefeller] And otherwise we recaptured 1148 00:55:08,041 --> 00:55:12,166 all the cell blocks and so forth without shooting a shot, 1149 00:55:12,250 --> 00:55:15,791 and no troopers were wounded. 1150 00:55:15,875 --> 00:55:17,833 One of them, well, one of them was in the leg. 1151 00:55:17,916 --> 00:55:19,041 - [Nixon] Uh-huh, uh-huh. 1152 00:55:19,125 --> 00:55:20,625 Only one trooper was wounded, good. 1153 00:55:20,708 --> 00:55:22,125 Good, good, good. - That's right. 1154 00:55:22,208 --> 00:55:23,416 It really was a beautiful operation. 1155 00:55:23,500 --> 00:55:25,208 - [Nixon] Well they must've really been, 1156 00:55:25,291 --> 00:55:29,083 I would, I, you, you, you can certainly 1157 00:55:29,166 --> 00:55:32,833 tell your people there, whoever they are, 1158 00:55:32,916 --> 00:55:35,125 your other troopers, that I have great admiration for that. 1159 00:55:35,208 --> 00:55:37,375 That's an efficient operation. 1160 00:55:37,458 --> 00:55:38,375 - [Rockefeller] Well that's wonderful of you to say. 1161 00:55:38,458 --> 00:55:39,666 - [Nixon] Well, we back 'em up. 1162 00:55:39,750 --> 00:55:41,916 Now, by golly, we're not gonna have any of that. 1163 00:55:42,000 --> 00:55:46,708 We just can not tolerate this kind of anarchy. 1164 00:55:56,375 --> 00:55:57,833 - [Narrator] As soon as the shooting stopped, 1165 00:55:57,916 --> 00:55:59,375 every surviving inmate was forced to crawl across 1166 00:55:59,458 --> 00:56:02,541 the muddy ground into the middle of the yard. 1167 00:56:02,625 --> 00:56:04,541 They were stripped naked and funneled one by one 1168 00:56:04,625 --> 00:56:06,375 into the cell blocks, where they were beaten 1169 00:56:06,458 --> 00:56:09,541 by a gauntlet of state police troopers and prison guards. 1170 00:56:11,875 --> 00:56:14,375 Big Black was described as a leader of the rebellion, 1171 00:56:14,458 --> 00:56:17,208 despite his role protecting the hostages. 1172 00:56:17,291 --> 00:56:19,416 He was singled out and tortured for hours, 1173 00:56:19,500 --> 00:56:20,916 receiving injuries that would haunt him 1174 00:56:21,000 --> 00:56:22,333 for the rest of his life. 1175 00:56:24,250 --> 00:56:26,375 - [Narrator] For the surviving hostages, 1176 00:56:26,458 --> 00:56:27,833 the ordeal was over. 1177 00:56:27,916 --> 00:56:29,625 For the inmates, another ordeal was beginning. 1178 00:56:29,708 --> 00:56:32,500 The assault reduced the D yard world to wreckage, 1179 00:56:32,583 --> 00:56:35,416 and inmates had lost any ground they gained 1180 00:56:35,500 --> 00:56:37,375 at the negotiation table. 1181 00:56:37,458 --> 00:56:39,708 Whether they took part in the insurrection or not, 1182 00:56:39,791 --> 00:56:42,833 the inmates faced correction officers and state troopers, 1183 00:56:42,916 --> 00:56:44,125 many of them anxious for revenge. 1184 00:56:44,208 --> 00:56:47,208 Medics were among the first outsiders 1185 00:56:47,291 --> 00:56:49,083 to reach the wrecked yard. 1186 00:56:49,166 --> 00:56:51,208 Major John Cudmore and his men watched what happened 1187 00:56:51,291 --> 00:56:53,416 to inmates after the shooting stopped. 1188 00:56:55,708 --> 00:56:58,083 - They were in a position of having surrendered, 1189 00:56:58,166 --> 00:57:01,333 hands-on-head, were coming down and were very forcefully 1190 00:57:01,416 --> 00:57:04,833 being forced down the steps. 1191 00:57:06,083 --> 00:57:10,208 Were forced to lie down and low crawl across there. 1192 00:57:10,291 --> 00:57:13,666 Apparently the method employed to get them to lie down 1193 00:57:13,750 --> 00:57:16,958 was to hit them with a club across the knees, 1194 00:57:17,041 --> 00:57:20,166 or in several instances, not too disguised attempts 1195 00:57:20,250 --> 00:57:22,125 to hit them in the genitalia was made. 1196 00:57:22,208 --> 00:57:23,666 - You had those personnel there 1197 00:57:23,750 --> 00:57:26,916 from the heartlands of America with a very difficult job, 1198 00:57:27,000 --> 00:57:27,958 with inadequate training, 1199 00:57:28,041 --> 00:57:30,208 and in the light of what happened in there, 1200 00:57:30,291 --> 00:57:33,583 their knowing that their brother employees were in there, 1201 00:57:33,666 --> 00:57:37,791 and their lives have been threatened continuously, 1202 00:57:37,875 --> 00:57:39,250 they knew some of 'em were injured. 1203 00:57:39,333 --> 00:57:42,375 Of course, it's human and understandable 1204 00:57:42,458 --> 00:57:44,666 that they were under grave stress and anxious, 1205 00:57:44,750 --> 00:57:46,125 and had strong feelings about it, sir. 1206 00:57:46,208 --> 00:57:47,166 This is only reality. 1207 00:57:47,250 --> 00:57:51,083 - As an administrator in this field, 1208 00:57:52,416 --> 00:57:56,625 had there been a history after these prison disturbances 1209 00:57:56,708 --> 00:57:59,625 of officers losing self-control 1210 00:57:59,708 --> 00:58:00,750 and taking it out on inmates? 1211 00:58:00,833 --> 00:58:03,541 - This is a concern, a common concern and problem. 1212 00:58:03,625 --> 00:58:06,750 - Although officials were aware that high emotions 1213 00:58:06,833 --> 00:58:08,291 among troopers and correction officers 1214 00:58:08,375 --> 00:58:10,666 might result in unnecessary violence to the inmates 1215 00:58:10,750 --> 00:58:12,625 during and after the assault, 1216 00:58:14,166 --> 00:58:16,708 no one took responsibility to prevent reprisals. 1217 00:58:18,250 --> 00:58:21,375 Almost half of the inmates from D yard suffered bruises, 1218 00:58:21,458 --> 00:58:25,500 lacerations, or broken bones, as a result of such reprisals. 1219 00:58:27,500 --> 00:58:28,458 - I would say that 1220 00:58:30,625 --> 00:58:35,291 we felt that Mr. Mancusi and Mr. Vincent would handle this. 1221 00:58:35,375 --> 00:58:39,208 We had given orders, we presumed it would be carried out. 1222 00:58:39,291 --> 00:58:41,291 - And he lied. He lied to these people. 1223 00:58:41,375 --> 00:58:43,583 They asked him the question, 1224 00:58:43,666 --> 00:58:45,500 did he know about the gauntlet 1225 00:58:45,583 --> 00:58:46,875 and the beatings and whatever? 1226 00:58:46,958 --> 00:58:49,250 And he says, no, he didn't go into the yard. 1227 00:58:49,333 --> 00:58:50,708 That's a lie. 1228 00:58:50,791 --> 00:58:53,875 He went into the yard about 10, 10:30. He saw it all. 1229 00:58:53,958 --> 00:58:58,750 And he was forced to tell the truth in the trial 1230 00:58:58,833 --> 00:59:02,375 around the killing of Hubert Jones, one of the cops. 1231 00:59:02,458 --> 00:59:04,041 And he had lied to McKay. 1232 00:59:04,125 --> 00:59:06,208 He had lied to, on his deposition, 1233 00:59:06,291 --> 00:59:09,000 he had lied in the grand jury. 1234 00:59:09,083 --> 00:59:11,416 I mean, in our case, we brought that up. 1235 00:59:11,500 --> 00:59:14,791 He got held to trial and he died the day after. 1236 00:59:14,875 --> 00:59:19,791 (helicopter fluttering drowns out man speaking) 1237 00:59:22,208 --> 00:59:25,750 When I graduated from law school, 1238 00:59:29,333 --> 00:59:32,125 And, what else could you do? 1239 00:59:32,208 --> 00:59:33,416 But ABLD was it. 1240 00:59:33,500 --> 00:59:35,750 The Attica Brothers Legal Defense, 1241 00:59:35,833 --> 00:59:40,250 which was the mass defense office convened 1242 00:59:40,333 --> 00:59:45,041 to defend the 63 people who were accused of crime 1243 00:59:45,125 --> 00:59:48,083 as a result of the Attica prison rebellion. 1244 00:59:48,166 --> 00:59:52,250 I had told them that I would give two weeks of my time. 1245 00:59:52,333 --> 00:59:56,583 Now, I was full of shit, and I knew I was full of shit, 1246 00:59:56,666 --> 00:59:58,416 because I borrowed my mother's car 1247 00:59:58,500 --> 00:59:59,958 and put the dog in the car. 1248 01:00:01,250 --> 01:00:04,250 So, you know, but I had to give myself an out. 1249 01:00:04,333 --> 01:00:08,875 I got up there on July 4th, and on July 5th 1250 01:00:08,958 --> 01:00:12,625 I walked into the office at about nine o'clock 1251 01:00:12,708 --> 01:00:14,916 in the morning, and I was commandeered 1252 01:00:15,000 --> 01:00:19,500 by Frank "Big Black" Smith, who interviewed me for an hour, 1253 01:00:19,583 --> 01:00:21,833 and then by Dennis Cunningham, 1254 01:00:21,916 --> 01:00:24,083 and I fell in love with both of them. 1255 01:00:24,166 --> 01:00:27,625 I mean, they were amazing, both of them. 1256 01:00:30,375 --> 01:00:32,458 They were really into the fight. 1257 01:00:32,541 --> 01:00:34,500 And so that was it. 1258 01:00:34,583 --> 01:00:34,666 I never left. 1259 01:00:37,000 --> 01:00:41,666 The same people who killed everybody, the state police, 1260 01:00:42,916 --> 01:00:44,583 they were the primary investigators 1261 01:00:44,666 --> 01:00:48,583 from the time of the rebellion and when it was over on 1262 01:00:50,666 --> 01:00:55,750 September 13th, until February of 1972, 1263 01:00:55,833 --> 01:00:57,375 they controlled all the evidence, they controlled everybody, 1264 01:00:57,458 --> 01:01:00,625 and they destroyed everything. 1265 01:01:00,708 --> 01:01:04,958 They returned 38 indictments 1266 01:01:06,291 --> 01:01:08,541 against 1267 01:01:08,625 --> 01:01:11,333 61 prisoners, 1268 01:01:11,416 --> 01:01:14,291 charging them with 1269 01:01:14,375 --> 01:01:18,916 1,485 felony counts. 1270 01:01:19,000 --> 01:01:22,750 The state troopers and the guards who killed 39 people, 1271 01:01:22,833 --> 01:01:24,208 they were never prosecuted. 1272 01:01:25,708 --> 01:01:28,541 In March of 1974, 1273 01:01:30,541 --> 01:01:34,416 they convened a second grand jury 1274 01:01:34,500 --> 01:01:37,666 because they decided, four years later, 1275 01:01:37,750 --> 01:01:39,750 that everybody on the first grand jury 1276 01:01:42,041 --> 01:01:45,750 had ties to Attica prison, and therefore couldn't be fair 1277 01:01:47,333 --> 01:01:48,916 in evaluating anything. 1278 01:01:50,958 --> 01:01:53,583 Of course, we had raised this as an issue, 1279 01:01:54,833 --> 01:01:57,500 on November 1st, 1971. 1280 01:01:57,583 --> 01:01:59,291 And we were thrown out of court. 1281 01:01:59,375 --> 01:02:03,333 My colleagues, my comrades, Michael Deutsch, 1282 01:02:03,416 --> 01:02:05,208 and Dennis Cunningham. 1283 01:02:05,291 --> 01:02:08,291 The major employer of Wyoming County is Attica prison. 1284 01:02:09,791 --> 01:02:12,666 There are only white people in Wyoming County, 1285 01:02:12,750 --> 01:02:16,375 even though they're listed as one of the largest 1286 01:02:16,458 --> 01:02:18,750 third world populations in upstate New York. 1287 01:02:20,791 --> 01:02:23,875 Because there are 1800 Black people there. 1288 01:02:23,958 --> 01:02:25,458 That they're all incarcerated 1289 01:02:25,541 --> 01:02:29,791 and have no right of franchise, we won't speak on. 1290 01:02:30,916 --> 01:02:32,750 - [Court Reporter] Raise your right hand, please. 1291 01:02:32,833 --> 01:02:34,416 Do you solemnly swear that the testimony 1292 01:02:34,500 --> 01:02:36,000 you're about to give will be the truth, the whole truth, 1293 01:02:36,083 --> 01:02:38,208 nothing but the truth, so help you God? 1294 01:02:38,291 --> 01:02:39,333 - I do. 1295 01:02:39,416 --> 01:02:42,291 - [Narrator] In 1974, Attica Brothers Legal Defense 1296 01:02:42,375 --> 01:02:43,708 filed a $2.8 billion civil suit 1297 01:02:43,791 --> 01:02:46,583 against the state of New York for damages, 1298 01:02:46,666 --> 01:02:50,041 on behalf of 1,281 inmates. 1299 01:02:50,125 --> 01:02:52,250 After years of delay by the appointed judge, 1300 01:02:52,333 --> 01:02:56,125 pretrial discovery depositions got underway in 1991. 1301 01:02:56,208 --> 01:02:58,416 These tapes are from that deposition. 1302 01:02:58,500 --> 01:03:00,083 They've never been available to the public. 1303 01:03:00,166 --> 01:03:02,541 - George Alexander Shorts, Jr. 1304 01:03:10,416 --> 01:03:11,166 - Yes. 1305 01:03:11,250 --> 01:03:13,958 - In Attica's prison. 1306 01:03:14,041 --> 01:03:15,458 - I was hit. 1307 01:03:15,541 --> 01:03:16,416 - I was kicked in the side, the back, and the buttocks. 1308 01:03:16,500 --> 01:03:19,000 - My head was into the dirt. 1309 01:03:19,083 --> 01:03:20,291 - I was kicked in the side, I was kicked in the hip, 1310 01:03:20,375 --> 01:03:22,708 kicked in the back. 1311 01:03:22,791 --> 01:03:25,250 - [Interviewer] Any inmates being kicked in A yard? 1312 01:03:26,291 --> 01:03:26,958 - I don't recall that. 1313 01:03:27,041 --> 01:03:29,833 - I was hit in the testicles. 1314 01:03:31,208 --> 01:03:32,208 - A shotgun. 1315 01:03:35,583 --> 01:03:36,666 - I couldn't really say. 1316 01:03:36,750 --> 01:03:38,166 I knew I was hit. 1317 01:03:38,250 --> 01:03:39,541 I was hit, what, you know, when you're hit like that 1318 01:03:39,625 --> 01:03:40,750 you're not trying to count. 1319 01:03:40,833 --> 01:03:41,916 You're scared to death. 1320 01:03:43,250 --> 01:03:44,541 I wetted on myself. 1321 01:03:44,625 --> 01:03:49,083 I was hit in the head, the back, my arms, trying to block. 1322 01:03:49,791 --> 01:03:50,000 And the lip. 1323 01:03:50,500 --> 01:03:51,833 - Face, yes. 1324 01:03:53,541 --> 01:03:55,166 - Yes, I did. 1325 01:03:55,250 --> 01:03:56,833 - No. They had taken them and stomped on 'em. 1326 01:03:56,916 --> 01:04:00,583 - Then my glasses was taken off me, stomped. 1327 01:04:00,666 --> 01:04:02,666 You were forced under gunpoint 1328 01:04:02,750 --> 01:04:06,708 to crawl the length of the yard on your knees and elbows. 1329 01:04:06,791 --> 01:04:07,916 I was told to take off all of my clothes. 1330 01:04:08,000 --> 01:04:09,791 And I was hit, and told to "Run, nigger." 1331 01:04:09,875 --> 01:04:12,583 - And he put the gun to my head, cocked the gun, 1332 01:04:12,666 --> 01:04:13,750 and said, "Nigger, I'm gonna kill you." 1333 01:04:16,041 --> 01:04:18,166 And that's when I started pleading for my life. 1334 01:04:18,250 --> 01:04:21,083 - There was a correction, two correction officers was there, 1335 01:04:21,166 --> 01:04:23,916 telling me the same thing, "Run, nigger, run." 1336 01:04:24,000 --> 01:04:26,041 And that's exactly what I did. 1337 01:04:26,125 --> 01:04:29,208 - And I was told, "When I hit this door with this stick, 1338 01:04:30,458 --> 01:04:31,958 nigger, you better start moving." 1339 01:04:33,583 --> 01:04:36,041 And when he hit the door, I started moving. 1340 01:04:36,125 --> 01:04:37,875 - [Interviewer] Did you hear what kind of language 1341 01:04:37,958 --> 01:04:39,541 was being uttered in that yard? 1342 01:04:41,000 --> 01:04:44,666 - Emphatic language, "Get over there, get down, move along," 1343 01:04:44,750 --> 01:04:46,083 that sort of thing. 1344 01:04:46,166 --> 01:04:49,833 - [Interviewer] Did it have after it words such as "nigger?" 1345 01:04:49,916 --> 01:04:50,916 When he said, "Get down there." 1346 01:04:51,000 --> 01:04:52,708 - No, I didn't hear that. - Move along. 1347 01:04:52,791 --> 01:04:54,625 - If I did I'd report it to you. 1348 01:04:54,708 --> 01:04:57,333 - [Elizabeth] And then the gauntlet, 50 correction officers 1349 01:04:57,416 --> 01:05:00,625 and sheriff's deputies, they lined the corridors 1350 01:05:00,708 --> 01:05:03,666 with their sticks and clubs and two-by-fours 1351 01:05:03,750 --> 01:05:07,416 and rifle butts, and plenty of broken glass. 1352 01:05:07,500 --> 01:05:09,541 And they had all these naked people, and one-by-one, 1353 01:05:09,625 --> 01:05:12,166 they made them run through it 1354 01:05:12,250 --> 01:05:13,625 while they got beaten with clubs 1355 01:05:13,708 --> 01:05:15,625 all the way up the stairs into the cell. 1356 01:05:15,708 --> 01:05:18,708 (slow eerie music) 1357 01:05:29,291 --> 01:05:31,041 - [Former Inmate] They were kicking, and saying, 1358 01:05:31,125 --> 01:05:34,333 "Keep moving, keep moving, keep moving," kicking, 1359 01:05:34,416 --> 01:05:35,583 "keep moving." 1360 01:05:35,666 --> 01:05:38,250 - Bobby Seales is not here now. 1361 01:05:38,333 --> 01:05:39,500 Where's your Black power? 1362 01:05:39,583 --> 01:05:41,625 - Well, as I was being put in the cell, 1363 01:05:41,708 --> 01:05:43,583 I was hit in the back of the head with a billy club 1364 01:05:43,666 --> 01:05:45,541 and thrown in the cell on the floor. 1365 01:05:45,625 --> 01:05:48,791 - Whoever beat me, they came in the cell, 1366 01:05:48,875 --> 01:05:52,000 told me to put my hands against the back of the wall, 1367 01:05:52,083 --> 01:05:54,625 and with their rifles, broke my toes. 1368 01:05:56,208 --> 01:05:57,583 - Broke my toes. 1369 01:05:57,666 --> 01:05:58,833 He said, "Nigger, you don't wanna run across our glass," 1370 01:05:58,916 --> 01:06:00,625 and that's when he broke my toes. 1371 01:06:00,708 --> 01:06:02,583 "You'll run it next time." 1372 01:06:02,666 --> 01:06:03,583 - The same thing that I went through downstairs, 1373 01:06:03,666 --> 01:06:06,000 I had to go through upstairs. 1374 01:06:06,083 --> 01:06:07,333 Every time they came out and take a count, 1375 01:06:07,416 --> 01:06:08,000 I had to have my head on the bars. 1376 01:06:09,958 --> 01:06:11,041 - Yes they did, for that eight hours. 1377 01:06:14,250 --> 01:06:15,583 - He called me nigger. 1378 01:06:15,666 --> 01:06:17,125 "Nigger, put your head on these bars and you keep your head 1379 01:06:17,208 --> 01:06:19,083 on these bars, nigger, when I come through." 1380 01:06:19,166 --> 01:06:20,250 And I was hit on the head. 1381 01:06:22,083 --> 01:06:23,291 - No, he didn't. 1382 01:06:23,375 --> 01:06:24,500 - I was working in the hospital that afternoon 1383 01:06:24,583 --> 01:06:29,833 and I was assigned to get four men to form a litter team 1384 01:06:31,416 --> 01:06:32,083 and to walk through the hallway from the hospital 1385 01:06:32,166 --> 01:06:36,166 to the BHZ or reception center. 1386 01:06:36,250 --> 01:06:37,916 And as I walked in, I got the door a quarter of a way 1387 01:06:38,000 --> 01:06:42,750 or halfway open, and I saw correction officers, 1388 01:06:42,833 --> 01:06:46,916 five, six, or seven, I wasn't exact, 1389 01:06:47,000 --> 01:06:49,583 bending over, beating on somebody that was on the floor. 1390 01:06:49,666 --> 01:06:50,875 And they told me to shut the door 1391 01:06:50,958 --> 01:06:52,916 that I wasn't allowed into that room. 1392 01:06:53,000 --> 01:06:55,041 - And again, while I was in the cell, 1393 01:06:55,125 --> 01:06:57,166 they were having standing counts. 1394 01:06:57,250 --> 01:06:58,541 They would come around every 10 or 15 minutes 1395 01:06:58,625 --> 01:07:01,375 and say, "Count." 1396 01:07:02,958 --> 01:07:04,333 And it got to be the point 1397 01:07:04,416 --> 01:07:06,333 where I couldn't stand up anymore, I was just too tired. 1398 01:07:06,416 --> 01:07:09,250 So I told 'em, I said, "Look, I'm alive, 1399 01:07:09,333 --> 01:07:10,541 but I can't stand up." 1400 01:07:12,000 --> 01:07:13,625 The guy told me, "Well nigger, if you don't stand up, 1401 01:07:13,708 --> 01:07:15,750 get on your knees and pray." 1402 01:07:16,833 --> 01:07:18,541 I said, "I'm not gonna do that either." 1403 01:07:19,875 --> 01:07:21,958 So, I think it was two correctional officers, 1404 01:07:22,041 --> 01:07:23,125 they came back with a, 1405 01:07:23,208 --> 01:07:28,125 I think he was a state trooper with a very large gun. 1406 01:07:30,416 --> 01:07:32,625 It looked like a .357 Magnum, stuck in my cell, 1407 01:07:32,708 --> 01:07:34,375 and told me to get on my knees, nigger, and pray. 1408 01:07:34,458 --> 01:07:35,666 "You gonna die, right now." 1409 01:07:35,750 --> 01:07:38,958 So he pulled the trigger, but there was nothing in the gun. 1410 01:07:40,166 --> 01:07:42,416 Just a loud noise. 1411 01:07:42,500 --> 01:07:47,500 And, I regurgitated for about 15 or 20 minutes, 1412 01:07:47,583 --> 01:07:48,000 and they thought it was quite funny. 1413 01:07:50,625 --> 01:07:54,625 Then after I did that, then I start crying quite badly. 1414 01:07:56,916 --> 01:07:59,916 Not because I was scared, I was just angry. 1415 01:08:00,000 --> 01:08:02,125 I said to myself, "If I just get my hands on one of 'em." 1416 01:08:04,416 --> 01:08:06,166 Like I say, it's hard for me 1417 01:08:06,250 --> 01:08:09,333 to go over some of these details. 1418 01:08:09,416 --> 01:08:11,958 - They made me take my clothes off, hit the ground. 1419 01:08:12,041 --> 01:08:13,916 And then they crawled the whole length of the yard, 1420 01:08:14,000 --> 01:08:16,458 over to A block door. 1421 01:08:16,541 --> 01:08:19,416 And just before I was going to, 1422 01:08:19,500 --> 01:08:23,000 I was in line waiting to go through A block door, 1423 01:08:23,083 --> 01:08:27,708 a correctional officer picked me out and put me on the side 1424 01:08:27,791 --> 01:08:30,041 of A block corridor, on the outside. 1425 01:08:30,125 --> 01:08:32,000 And he laid me down on the ground 1426 01:08:32,083 --> 01:08:35,291 and put a shotgun shell on my knee. 1427 01:08:35,375 --> 01:08:37,958 And he told me if that fell, I was dead. 1428 01:08:38,041 --> 01:08:40,333 And I laid there for what seemed like hours. 1429 01:08:40,416 --> 01:08:45,291 The officers that were up on the catwalk above me 1430 01:08:45,375 --> 01:08:48,375 were throwing cigarettes down on my stomach. 1431 01:08:48,458 --> 01:08:50,208 The officer that was over by me 1432 01:08:50,291 --> 01:08:52,666 would pick them up and burn me with them, 1433 01:08:52,750 --> 01:08:54,791 kick me in my ribs. 1434 01:08:54,875 --> 01:08:57,333 As soon as I got to the top of the third floor, 1435 01:08:57,416 --> 01:08:59,000 I was kicked in the testicles, 1436 01:08:59,083 --> 01:09:03,750 and I went back down the stairs head over heels, one flight, 1437 01:09:05,166 --> 01:09:07,625 and then I was made to get up 1438 01:09:07,708 --> 01:09:09,791 and they beat me up the stairs again. 1439 01:09:13,666 --> 01:09:18,666 - My back, head, neck, arms, shoulders, legs, kidney area. 1440 01:09:19,666 --> 01:09:21,000 And I was urinating blood. 1441 01:09:21,083 --> 01:09:23,708 I was beaten and laid in the cell for 11 days 1442 01:09:23,791 --> 01:09:25,708 before I got any medical attention. 1443 01:09:27,000 --> 01:09:31,583 Stuck rifles inside the cell bars, pulled the trigger, 1444 01:09:32,458 --> 01:09:33,583 and told me I was dead. 1445 01:09:39,333 --> 01:09:44,291 - From September 13th, 1971, until November, 1972. 1446 01:09:47,666 --> 01:09:50,125 - Yeah. It's not a time to forget. 1447 01:10:04,166 --> 01:10:05,166 - Well, it's hard for me to recount 1448 01:10:07,791 --> 01:10:11,541 things that happened in A block. 1449 01:10:11,625 --> 01:10:14,250 It's hard for me to recount things that happened in A. 1450 01:10:15,833 --> 01:10:17,500 It's hard for me to recount things, I get very angry. 1451 01:10:17,583 --> 01:10:20,083 And this anger has caused me a lot of problems. 1452 01:10:21,416 --> 01:10:26,583 I have problems dealing with authority figures, 1453 01:10:26,666 --> 01:10:28,416 have problems dealing with policemen. 1454 01:10:30,500 --> 01:10:32,250 And when I do encounter it, I get quite angry, 1455 01:10:32,333 --> 01:10:35,416 because I can still see people that I knew 1456 01:10:35,500 --> 01:10:37,250 with their eyes blown out and their heads blown off. 1457 01:10:41,291 --> 01:10:43,833 - [Elizabeth] Michael Smith got shot four times, 1458 01:10:43,916 --> 01:10:48,416 and by 10 o'clock, or 10:30, 1459 01:10:48,500 --> 01:10:53,416 he was already in the operating room being operated on. 1460 01:10:54,708 --> 01:10:56,458 So by 10:30, they knew he had been shot. 1461 01:10:57,791 --> 01:10:59,375 He's the person who 1462 01:11:01,041 --> 01:11:04,958 Black was supposed to have emasculated 1463 01:11:05,041 --> 01:11:08,166 and shoved his testicles in his mouth. 1464 01:11:08,250 --> 01:11:10,083 And that was the excuse they used to torture Black. 1465 01:11:10,166 --> 01:11:14,000 And they told that story at 12:30, one o'clock 1466 01:11:14,083 --> 01:11:15,000 in the afternoon. 1467 01:11:16,291 --> 01:11:18,833 And then they torture him, and do all this shit to him. 1468 01:11:20,666 --> 01:11:21,291 And, there he is. 1469 01:11:23,875 --> 01:11:24,666 Big Black. 1470 01:11:27,666 --> 01:11:31,291 - I was made to crawl after I was knocked to the ground. 1471 01:11:31,375 --> 01:11:33,125 Pushing, kicking, calling me all kind of niggers, 1472 01:11:33,208 --> 01:11:35,708 telling me to walk, telling me to run. 1473 01:11:35,791 --> 01:11:38,125 Drug, dragged. 1474 01:11:39,750 --> 01:11:40,666 - They took me to... 1475 01:11:42,916 --> 01:11:46,083 (slow ominous music) 1476 01:12:24,416 --> 01:12:26,791 You wanna break? Take some water? 1477 01:12:26,875 --> 01:12:30,041 (deep ominous music) 1478 01:12:37,416 --> 01:12:39,541 - Took me and they made me lay on the table in the yard 1479 01:12:39,625 --> 01:12:41,375 and they beat me in my nuts. 1480 01:12:43,208 --> 01:12:44,333 Threatened me and dropped cigarette butts on me, 1481 01:12:44,416 --> 01:12:46,958 and hot shells on me and spit on me. 1482 01:12:47,041 --> 01:12:48,291 - [Attorney] Hold on, slow down. 1483 01:12:49,750 --> 01:12:50,666 - [Court Reporter] Hot what, I'm sorry. 1484 01:12:50,750 --> 01:12:51,625 - Shells. - Okay. 1485 01:12:52,750 --> 01:12:54,708 - Tell me they was gonna cut my testicles 1486 01:12:54,791 --> 01:12:55,291 and my genitals out. 1487 01:12:57,458 --> 01:13:00,333 (tense somber music) 1488 01:13:05,833 --> 01:13:06,916 (fists slam) 1489 01:13:07,000 --> 01:13:09,916 (tense somber music) 1490 01:13:13,500 --> 01:13:15,125 That's what was happening to me. 1491 01:13:16,875 --> 01:13:18,916 - Long time. 1492 01:13:19,000 --> 01:13:21,250 Three to six hours, all day. 1493 01:13:26,458 --> 01:13:26,750 - Under my chin, yes. 1494 01:13:26,833 --> 01:13:27,791 - Yes. 1495 01:13:27,875 --> 01:13:30,041 - Yes. 1496 01:13:32,500 --> 01:13:35,083 - Off and on I'd move and try and get 'em off me, 1497 01:13:35,166 --> 01:13:36,541 and the cigarettes off me. 1498 01:13:38,041 --> 01:13:40,583 A bunch of times being beat, 1499 01:13:40,666 --> 01:13:43,208 called a bunch of names 'cause my legs was dead, 1500 01:13:43,291 --> 01:13:45,291 they was numb, I couldn't walk. 1501 01:13:48,041 --> 01:13:49,416 They finally drug me, put me the hallway, 1502 01:13:49,500 --> 01:13:51,625 and I had to go through the same thing 1503 01:13:51,708 --> 01:13:53,125 everybody else was going through, 1504 01:13:53,208 --> 01:13:55,625 because I was about the last person out of the yard. 1505 01:13:57,458 --> 01:14:00,416 They made me run through the gauntlet. 1506 01:14:00,500 --> 01:14:02,458 Made me crawl through the gauntlet. 1507 01:14:05,041 --> 01:14:07,041 - It was in A corridor. 1508 01:14:08,041 --> 01:14:10,291 Somewhere in that afternoon. 1509 01:14:13,250 --> 01:14:16,208 - I've been struck a lot. That's all I was was struck. 1510 01:14:16,291 --> 01:14:20,500 As I got to the entrance to HBZ building, I was beat again. 1511 01:14:20,583 --> 01:14:22,458 This happened, my wristes-- 1512 01:14:23,916 --> 01:14:24,708 - My wrists. 1513 01:14:26,916 --> 01:14:29,666 And my body, my legs was spread eagle on the floor, 1514 01:14:29,750 --> 01:14:34,416 and they're played with my genitals with gun butts 1515 01:14:34,500 --> 01:14:36,333 and nigger sticks that they was calling, pick handles. 1516 01:14:38,666 --> 01:14:42,291 And played Russian roulette with a shotgun at my eyes. 1517 01:14:42,375 --> 01:14:46,500 Made me open my eyes, made me look up in it. 1518 01:14:46,583 --> 01:14:49,000 A headache, my back was hurting, my legs was hurting me, 1519 01:14:49,083 --> 01:14:50,666 my arms was hurting me. 1520 01:14:50,750 --> 01:14:53,625 I was a mess. My mind was messed up. 1521 01:14:53,708 --> 01:14:54,666 I couldn't hold anything on my stomach. 1522 01:14:54,750 --> 01:14:57,916 I urinate blood for two years after Attica. 1523 01:15:00,000 --> 01:15:02,000 - Yeah, to the lawyers. 1524 01:15:03,416 --> 01:15:04,541 Nobody else would listen. 1525 01:15:11,125 --> 01:15:13,708 - [Narrator] In 2001, after 26 years of struggle, 1526 01:15:13,791 --> 01:15:15,250 the Attica Brothers were awarded $8 million 1527 01:15:15,333 --> 01:15:18,083 of the 2.8 billion they sought. 1528 01:15:19,375 --> 01:15:20,833 The money was divided among the survivors 1529 01:15:20,916 --> 01:15:22,833 according to the severity of their injuries, 1530 01:15:22,916 --> 01:15:24,875 most receiving a few thousand dollars. 1531 01:15:27,166 --> 01:15:29,791 Big Black went on to work with Liz Fink as a paralegal, 1532 01:15:29,875 --> 01:15:32,541 hounding her to pursue the civil case to expose the truth 1533 01:15:32,625 --> 01:15:34,916 of the retaking of D yard. 1534 01:15:35,000 --> 01:15:37,958 He was a substance abuse and suicide prevention counselor 1535 01:15:38,041 --> 01:15:39,458 who was known to take desperate clients 1536 01:15:39,541 --> 01:15:41,791 into the home he shared with his wife, Pearl. 1537 01:15:43,375 --> 01:15:45,541 At the end of his life, he was pushing for compensation 1538 01:15:45,625 --> 01:15:46,791 for the families of the guards 1539 01:15:46,875 --> 01:15:48,375 who were murdered on that day. 1540 01:15:49,375 --> 01:15:50,750 In recognition of his injuries, 1541 01:15:50,833 --> 01:15:53,083 Big Black received the largest individual payout, 1542 01:15:53,166 --> 01:15:55,583 for $125,000. 1543 01:15:56,833 --> 01:15:57,833 Fink was proud of their accomplishments, 1544 01:15:57,916 --> 01:16:01,208 but she did not consider the settlement justice. 1545 01:16:01,291 --> 01:16:02,750 She went on to represent hundreds of people 1546 01:16:02,833 --> 01:16:04,291 in the New York prison system 1547 01:16:04,375 --> 01:16:06,625 through the worst years of the Rockefeller drug laws. 1548 01:16:06,708 --> 01:16:09,083 - These were huge prisons, they still are. 1549 01:16:09,166 --> 01:16:12,291 They're still all, every one of them is still in existence 1550 01:16:12,375 --> 01:16:14,250 with thousands of people in them. 1551 01:16:14,333 --> 01:16:17,791 And these huge walls, right? Horrifying. 1552 01:16:17,875 --> 01:16:21,875 Green Haven, which is about 60 miles from New York City. 1553 01:16:21,958 --> 01:16:26,875 Comstock, which is on the Vermont New York border. 1554 01:16:26,958 --> 01:16:29,083 Dannemora, which we all know is up 1555 01:16:29,166 --> 01:16:31,666 right next to Canada. 1556 01:16:31,750 --> 01:16:35,916 Auburn, which is the second oldest prison in America. 1557 01:16:36,000 --> 01:16:37,083 Huge, in the middle of town. 1558 01:16:37,166 --> 01:16:39,916 This monster prison. 1559 01:16:40,000 --> 01:16:44,041 Wall, gun towers, the whole nine yards of it. 1560 01:16:44,125 --> 01:16:48,833 Same town as the Harriet Tubman house. (laughs) 1561 01:16:50,166 --> 01:16:53,875 And Sing Sing, which is right up on the Hudson. 1562 01:16:53,958 --> 01:16:57,291 And last, but certainly not least, Attica State Prison. 1563 01:16:57,375 --> 01:16:59,208 Attica was not the worst. 1564 01:17:00,375 --> 01:17:02,166 It was the next to the worst. 1565 01:17:02,250 --> 01:17:06,250 The worst is Dannemora State Prison in Clinton, New York. 1566 01:17:06,333 --> 01:17:07,583 And all you have to do is look at the stuff 1567 01:17:07,666 --> 01:17:10,583 that just happened as the perfect example 1568 01:17:10,666 --> 01:17:14,291 of how the prison system has not changed. 1569 01:17:14,375 --> 01:17:15,625 - [Reporter] Matt and Sweat escaped 1570 01:17:15,708 --> 01:17:17,583 from the Clinton Correctional Facility 1571 01:17:17,666 --> 01:17:19,291 in Dannemora, New York on June 6th. 1572 01:17:19,375 --> 01:17:20,750 - What does New York state do? 1573 01:17:20,833 --> 01:17:24,666 It blames the prisoners, beats the shit out of them, 1574 01:17:24,750 --> 01:17:29,166 waterboards people, and you have the governor 1575 01:17:29,250 --> 01:17:32,666 of the state of New York going and blaming the prisoners, 1576 01:17:32,750 --> 01:17:36,333 and saying he knows that the corrections people 1577 01:17:36,416 --> 01:17:37,500 had nothing to do with it. 1578 01:17:37,583 --> 01:17:38,625 And of course they are the ones 1579 01:17:38,708 --> 01:17:40,083 who had something to do with it. 1580 01:17:40,166 --> 01:17:42,375 And they, by definition, have to. 1581 01:17:43,416 --> 01:17:44,291 - [Reporter] The two men had inside help 1582 01:17:44,375 --> 01:17:47,208 facilitating their escape. 1583 01:17:47,291 --> 01:17:48,625 Joyce Tilly Mitchell, a supervisor 1584 01:17:48,708 --> 01:17:52,375 in the prison tailor department, arrested and charged 1585 01:17:52,458 --> 01:17:54,458 with helping them break free. 1586 01:17:54,541 --> 01:17:56,291 - The New York state prison system 1587 01:17:56,375 --> 01:17:59,125 is a race-based conspiracy. 1588 01:17:59,208 --> 01:18:01,541 Here you have all these prisoners, they can't vote. 1589 01:18:02,791 --> 01:18:05,125 And Clinton County counts them. 1590 01:18:05,208 --> 01:18:09,666 They get money from both the feds and the state 1591 01:18:09,750 --> 01:18:12,916 for having a minority population. 1592 01:18:13,000 --> 01:18:15,041 All the Black people who live in Plattsburgh, 1593 01:18:15,125 --> 01:18:15,541 they're all in that prison, 1594 01:18:17,875 --> 01:18:18,666 and they don't vote. 1595 01:18:23,625 --> 01:18:24,708 - I am strongly in favor of the death penalty. 1596 01:18:24,791 --> 01:18:26,958 I'm also in favor of bringing back police forces 1597 01:18:27,041 --> 01:18:29,708 that can do something instead of just turning their back. 1598 01:18:29,791 --> 01:18:31,708 Because every quality lawyer that represents people 1599 01:18:31,791 --> 01:18:34,458 that are in trouble, the first thing they do 1600 01:18:34,541 --> 01:18:36,791 is start shouting police brutality, et cetera. 1601 01:18:36,875 --> 01:18:39,125 The problem with our society is that the victim 1602 01:18:39,208 --> 01:18:40,500 has absolutely no rights 1603 01:18:40,583 --> 01:18:42,875 and the criminal has unbelievable rights, 1604 01:18:42,958 --> 01:18:44,333 unbelievable rights. 1605 01:18:44,416 --> 01:18:47,708 - All those people are my age, they're my generation. 1606 01:18:47,791 --> 01:18:50,416 And they decided that they had a big problem here 1607 01:18:50,500 --> 01:18:53,000 that they had to control. 1608 01:18:53,083 --> 01:18:55,250 And they were gonna make sure it wouldn't happen again. 1609 01:18:55,333 --> 01:18:57,041 And the first thing they sort of said, 1610 01:18:57,125 --> 01:18:59,625 a free press doesn't help things at all. 1611 01:19:01,166 --> 01:19:03,250 And if you let cameras in there to show everybody 1612 01:19:03,333 --> 01:19:06,000 what's happening, this is not progressive for you. 1613 01:19:06,083 --> 01:19:08,500 They lost any sense of ethics. 1614 01:19:12,916 --> 01:19:15,875 So they've created this situation 1615 01:19:15,958 --> 01:19:18,791 where you have the life that we all have here. 1616 01:19:20,041 --> 01:19:21,458 - [Instructor] The correct grip is obtained 1617 01:19:21,541 --> 01:19:23,791 by placing the leather thong over the right thumb 1618 01:19:23,875 --> 01:19:25,208 in this manner. 1619 01:19:25,291 --> 01:19:26,750 You say you'd like to see a practical demonstration? 1620 01:19:26,833 --> 01:19:28,875 - [Child] They hurt my mommy! 1621 01:19:28,958 --> 01:19:30,666 - [Instructor] Remember as police officers, 1622 01:19:30,750 --> 01:19:32,791 we may only use that amount of force necessary 1623 01:19:32,875 --> 01:19:34,208 to make an arrest. 1624 01:19:34,291 --> 01:19:35,458 And the amount of force must not be disproportionate 1625 01:19:35,541 --> 01:19:38,666 to the degree of resistance offered. 1626 01:19:38,750 --> 01:19:41,333 This technique is advocated when you are in close quarters 1627 01:19:41,416 --> 01:19:43,708 and the assailant has indicated he has the ability 1628 01:19:43,791 --> 01:19:46,583 to make a dangerous attack upon your person. 1629 01:19:47,875 --> 01:19:50,458 Your counter should be direct to the solar plexus area, 1630 01:19:50,541 --> 01:19:52,708 then quickly to the collar bone. 1631 01:19:52,791 --> 01:19:56,083 - Put your hands behind your back! 1632 01:19:56,166 --> 01:19:58,791 - And if he's still aggressive, then up under the chin. 1633 01:19:58,875 --> 01:20:03,541 That's it, solar plexus, collarbone, and up to the chin. 1634 01:20:03,625 --> 01:20:05,291 Next man. 1635 01:20:05,375 --> 01:20:08,708 (adventurous orchestral music) 1636 01:20:08,791 --> 01:20:10,000 That's the idea. 1637 01:20:12,083 --> 01:20:13,916 But to master this technique takes practice. 1638 01:20:14,000 --> 01:20:15,291 So gentlemen, let's begin. 1639 01:20:18,750 --> 01:20:21,333 - The jury in the Los Angeles police brutality trial 1640 01:20:21,416 --> 01:20:23,083 has just reached its verdicts. 1641 01:20:23,166 --> 01:20:26,541 The four police officers were found not guilty. 1642 01:20:26,625 --> 01:20:28,666 - Not guilty. - Not guilty on all counts. 1643 01:20:28,750 --> 01:20:31,083 (gunshots blasting) 1644 01:20:31,166 --> 01:20:32,708 (man screams) 1645 01:20:32,791 --> 01:20:34,625 - [Instructor] While accuracy is certainly essential, 1646 01:20:34,708 --> 01:20:37,250 delivering a shot first is paramount. 1647 01:20:38,416 --> 01:20:40,000 Tactical speed shooting teaches both. 1648 01:20:41,333 --> 01:20:42,708 An alternative method of firearms training, 1649 01:20:42,791 --> 01:20:45,708 speed shooting is gaining recognition 1650 01:20:45,791 --> 01:20:47,625 as the next logical step. 1651 01:20:47,708 --> 01:20:50,333 (gunshots popping) 1652 01:20:50,416 --> 01:20:52,291 - Shooters, ready. 1653 01:20:52,375 --> 01:20:53,375 - [Instructor] The program is also available 1654 01:20:53,458 --> 01:20:55,791 to state and local law enforcement officers, 1655 01:20:55,875 --> 01:20:56,875 with a basic training prerequisite. 1656 01:20:56,958 --> 01:20:58,291 - [Officer] That looks like a bad dude, too. 1657 01:20:58,375 --> 01:21:00,458 Could be on something. 1658 01:21:00,541 --> 01:21:02,750 (gunshots blasting) 1659 01:21:02,833 --> 01:21:07,750 (sirens blaring) (police radio chatter) 1660 01:21:08,500 --> 01:21:09,375 - Hey! 1661 01:21:09,458 --> 01:21:10,875 (gunshots popping) (Philando screaming) 1662 01:21:10,958 --> 01:21:12,291 - [Woman] Hey, you just killed my boyfriend. 1663 01:21:12,375 --> 01:21:16,166 (gunshots blasting) 1664 01:21:18,083 --> 01:21:20,291 - [Instructor] The overall program is organized 1665 01:21:20,375 --> 01:21:21,750 around the concept of domination. 1666 01:21:21,833 --> 01:21:24,541 - [Elijah] I can't breathe, can you stop? 1667 01:21:24,625 --> 01:21:25,916 - [Instructor] Dominate the opponent. 1668 01:21:26,000 --> 01:21:29,666 Dominate the situation, and dominate all visual areas. 1669 01:21:29,750 --> 01:21:32,250 These skills translate into a safer, 1670 01:21:32,333 --> 01:21:36,083 more controlled officer, who is less likely to overreact, 1671 01:21:36,166 --> 01:21:38,750 or worse, under-react to the situation. 1672 01:21:38,833 --> 01:21:39,833 - [Eric] Don't touch me. 1673 01:21:39,916 --> 01:21:43,500 (officers talking at once) 1674 01:21:49,250 --> 01:21:50,958 - All right, we've got him, he's down, he's down. 1675 01:21:51,041 --> 01:21:53,791 - [Officer] Let me see your hands, buddy. 1676 01:21:53,875 --> 01:21:55,166 - [Officer] Put your hands behind your back. 1677 01:21:55,250 --> 01:21:57,958 - [Eric] I can't breathe. 1678 01:21:58,041 --> 01:21:58,416 I can't breathe. 1679 01:21:58,500 --> 01:22:00,750 I can't breathe. 1680 01:22:00,833 --> 01:22:01,791 - [Officer] You aren't gonna breathe in my face. 1681 01:22:01,875 --> 01:22:02,750 Just get up. 1682 01:22:03,500 --> 01:22:04,125 (George groaning) 1683 01:22:04,208 --> 01:22:05,958 - [Officer] What do you want? 1684 01:22:06,041 --> 01:22:07,125 - I can't breathe. 1685 01:22:07,208 --> 01:22:09,208 - [Elizabeth] It is all about oppression. 1686 01:22:09,291 --> 01:22:11,041 - I can't breathe sir. 1687 01:22:14,041 --> 01:22:16,708 - And greed and racism. 1688 01:22:16,791 --> 01:22:18,541 (George groaning loudly) 1689 01:22:19,875 --> 01:22:23,208 (daunting strings music) 1690 01:23:44,458 --> 01:23:46,208 Okay, thank you. 1691 01:23:46,750 --> 01:23:48,291 - Thank you.