Angela Atwood

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Angela Atwood bigraphy, stories - Criminals

Angela Atwood : biography

6 February 1949 – 17 May 1974

Angela DeAngelis "General Gelina" Atwood (6 February 1949 – 17 May 1974) was a founding member of the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), a domestic terrorist group of the 1970s.

Prominent role in Hearst kidnapping

In her trial for armed robbery Patricia Campbell Hearst testified that she was kidnapped from her Berkeley, California apartment by Atwood, Donald DeFreeze, and William Harris, on the night of 4 February 1974.The Voices of Guns, Vin McClellan and Paul Avery, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1977, p. 197.

Hearst’s insistence that she was forced by the SLA to make a series of self-incriminating statements was supported by Dr. Margaret Thaler-Singer, a UC-Berkeley clinical psychologist. As an expert on speech patterns who studied the tapes released by the SLA, Thaler-Singer stated that the speech patterns did not fit the style of Hearst. Rather they resembled the styles of Atwood and Emily Harris.Hearst Defense Rests After Losing Bid For Dismissal, Los Angeles Times, March 2, 1976, pg. B1.

Atwood’s voice is heard on a taped message of 9 March 1974, used in negotiations with Randolph Hearst for the return of Patty Hearst. Atwood assumed the voice of a black woman and said, "The dream – and indeed it is a dream – of [many on the Left] is that the enemy corporate state will willingly give the stolen riches of the earth back to the people and that this will be accomplished through compromising talk and empty words . . . To this, our bullets scream loudly. The enemy’s bloodthirsty greed will be destroyed by the growing spirit of the people and their thirst for freedom. We call upon the people to judge for themselves whether our tactics of waging struggle are correct or incorrect in fighting the enemy by any means necessary."

Patty Hearst testified that Atwood, William Harris, and Nancy Ling Perry were given to bemoaning their white skin and wishing they were black. SLA members also envied persons, like DeFreeze, who had served time in prison.The Many Trials of Patty Hearst, Los Angeles Times, 27 February 1976, pg. OC_C1.

Prosecution witness Dr. Joel Fort, a San Francisco, California physician and criminologist identified Atwood, Perry, and Willie Wolfe as the SLA members Hearst developed the most affectionate bonds for. Fort believed Hearst became a voluntary member of the SLA by March 1, 1974.Miss Hearst Called ‘Queen of SLA’, Voluntary Member, Los Angeles Times, 9 March 1976, pg. B1.

Death in Los Angeles safehouse shootout

Atwood, along with five other founding members of the SLA, including Donald DeFreeze, was killed in Los Angeles, on May 17, 1974, in a shootout with police. It was Atwood’s death that prompted Soliah to hold a memorial service for her and other members of the SLA, which ultimately drew Soliah and a few others into the group, giving the SLA life for two more years.

Background

Angela DeAngelis grew up in the small New Jersey suburb of North Haledon near Paterson, New Jersey. The daughter of a local Teamsters official, DeAngelis was active in many student leadership groups and was captain of the cheerleading squad. She starred in many school musicals and quietly tutored and befriended classmates others ignored. She was voted Most School Spirit by her peers while attending Manchester Regional High School. At Indiana University she met leftwing activist and future husband Gary Atwood. While at school she befriended William Harris and Emily Harris, sang in the Pickers, a musical group in the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, with former NBC anchor Jane Pauley, was involved in theater and majored in education. She graduated in 1970 and began student teaching in Indianapolis.

Eulogy

Atwood was eulogized by the Reverend Joseph Citro, a 25-year-old priest, in a funeral mass in Prospect Park NJ on 26 May 1974. Citro grew up several blocks from Atwood between Prospect Park, New Jersey and Haledon. In an interview the day after the mass Citro stated that "we must enable these young people to make basic changes in society or more girls like Angela will have to suffer".Andelman, David A. New York Times. May 27, 1974, p. 37.