PASSIN' IT ON

Dhoruba Bin Wahad (formerly Richard Moore)

born in the South Bronx in 1944, joined the Black Panthers in 1968. He was arrested in 1969 as part of the New York Panther 21 conspiracy case (charged with conspiring to blow up department stores, subway stations, police stations). While freed on $100,000 bail, and after recieving numerous death threats, Moore fled to Algeria and returned to the U.S on May 14, 1971 following the full acquittal of all Panther 21 defendants. On May 19, two police officers guarding District Attorney Frank Hogan's home were shot on Riverside Drive following a car chase. On May 21, two officers were shot and killed in a Harlem housing project. In June, Moore, while in custody for an un-related armed robbery, was accused and later indicted for the shootings. The first trial ended in a hung jury. Following a second mistrial (due to the illness of a juror), a jury voted to convict on April 28, 1973, and Moore was sentenced to 25 years to life. While in prison, he changed his name to Dhoruba Bin Wahad. In 1988, Bin Wahad appealed his conviction, drawing on uncovered FBI COINTELPRO documents as well as other documents revealing prosecutorial misconduct (in particular, evidence withheld by the prosecution from the defense). After a series of appeals, his conviction was overturned in March, 1990. In October 1991, the state appealed. Between 1991 and the present, a series of appeals have occurred and the courts continue to consider his case, while Dhoruba Bin Wahad remains out of prison.

Robert Boyle

is a New York City civil rights attorney who first met Dhoruba Bin Wahad in the fall of 1975 while a college junior majoring in sociology during an educational program with inmates at the Greenhaven Maximum Security Prison. Mr. Boyle attended Brooklyn Law School and was admitted to the Bar in 1981. He is a cooperating attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights and has a legal office in Brooklyn.

Janet Cyril

worked with the New York chapter of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee in 1967. In 1968, she helped form the Brooklyn chapter of the Black Panther Party and eventually became the city-wide coordinator for the Party's Free Breakfast for Children Program. Ms. Cyril teaches at LaGuardia State College where she has worked since 1975.

Robert Daley

born and raised in New York City, was a foreign corespondent for the New York Times during the 1960s until acceptiing the position of Deputy Police Commisioner for the City of New York from 1971 to 1972. His article, "Target Blue," and a later book by the same name, describe the Curry-Binetti shootings. He is the author of several best-selling novels including To Kill a Cop, Prince of the City, Year of the Dragon, and most recently, A Faint Cold Fear.

Elizabeth Fink

has been a civil rights attorney for 19 years. She has been the lead councsel in many well-known legal battles including the Attica civil rights law suit, the Ohio 7 and the Lexington High Security Case. Ms. Fink has also served as counsel for imprisoned activists Silvia Baraldini and Katherine Wilkerson. Ms. Fink first met Dhoruba Bin Wahad as a result of the Attica suit in 1975, and has represented him since 1980. She currently practices in Brooklyn.

Joan Gibbs

was involved in efforts to end the Vietnam War and worked on various support committees for the Black Panther Party in New York City since an early age. Today, Ms. Gibbs is a staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York City.

Ali Bey Hassan's

early experience of the Newark riots caused him to become involved as an activist in the African American community. After meeting Bobby Seale in 1967, Hassan joined the Panther Party and moved to Harlem. As one of the Panther 21 defendants, he spent nearly two years in prison while the trial progressed. He and his co-defendants were found innocent on all 156 counts in less than an hour of jury deliberation. Today, Hassan has his own business in Connecticut and is still active as a community organizer.

Tanaquil Jones

has been a community organizer her entire adult life. Born and raised in New York City, she became a supporter (but never a member) of the Black Panther Party in the early 1970's and later became a prominent student organizer at Columbia University. In 1989, she married the then-imprisoned Dhoruba Bin Wahad. Today, she works in the South Bronx at an alternative-to-incarceration program offering legal services, and a drug-free substance abuse treatment program, AIDS education and case management for people who are HIV positive.

Jamal Joseph

joined the Black Panther Party at the age of 15. He was a defendent in the Panther 21 case but was too young to stand trial. He and Dhoruba Bin Wahad were arrested and convicted of armed robbery for their role in the Triple O'Social Club hold-up. Joseph was later charged and convicted of the murder of a West Coast-based BlackPanther and served 9 years in prison. Today, Joseph teaches at Harlem's Toro College, and is the director of City Kids, a musical and theatrical group of inner city youth.

Edwin Kennebeck

worked for many years as an editor for Viking Press and was one of the Jurors during the Panther 21 trial. He is the author of the book Juror Number Four: The Trial of 13 Members of the Black Panther Party as Seen from the Jury Box. He is now a playwright and lives in New York City.

Edward Kiernan

was a New York City police officer for many years and served as president of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association from 1970-1973. Today, he is President Emeritus of the International Union of Police Associations.

Curtis Mullins

worked for the Rockefeller Foundation for several years before opening several dry cleaning stores in Brooklyn during the 1960s and 70s. He knew Dhoruba Bin Wahad as a customer, was unaware of Bin Wahad's Black Panther involvement, and has testified that he was with Bin Wahad on the night that the police officers were shot. Mullins now lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he drives a taxi and in involved in local politics.

Shaba Om (born Lee Roper)

joined the Black Panther Party in 1968 at the age of 18. A leader in the Harlem chapter, he was indicted in 1969 and stood trial as one of the Panther 21.

Frank Treu

was raised in the Bronx and at the age of 25 served as a juror for Dhoruba Bin Wahad's first trial. During that time, Treu was a case worker for the City of New York and continued working for the city until 1976. Treu moved to Vermont where he worked for 12 years as a social worker and today is an elementary school guidance counselor.

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