You know, what kind of piques my interest are various statements that have been made over the years related to what appears to be AIM’s teflon coating when it comes to prosecuting them for the assorted murders they committed.
One such example would be the murder of Perry Ray Robinson Jr at what has become known as Wounded Knee 2.
There are multiple AIM versions related to this that depend on whose fronting for AIM at the moment and which lie they elect to advance, the more egregious versions coming from Carter Camp who seemed to have a new adaptation every time he addressed the subject.
The DOJ not long ago actually admitted that indeed Robinson was killed by AIM at WK2. Kind of a bold admission you might think but not necessarily so as they also announced they aren’t interested in pursuing cases forty years or more old.
This of course served to strengthen the conviction and contention of many who believe the feds have some form of complicity not in the actual murder itself but related to an informant they had within the ranks that might have been involved in the shooting of Ray.
An hypothesis at best as there isn’t much to verify it as it remains unproven save for an abundance of circumstantial evidence – nonetheless it is a scenario, perhaps the only one that makes any sense, that explains the hands off approach and winnows the field of suspects.
Dave Hill who was not only present in his capacity as gofer and security team member for Dennis Banks has been said to be the shooter by more than one person, and if the past is prologue seems to wear the informant label as comfortably as an old pair of jeans from the Custer Court House incident to the bombing of Mt. Rushmore and the interrogation of Annie Mae Pictou Aquash at the WKLDC office on Pine Ridge following her abduction from California prior to her murder.
Among Hill’s various capacities within AIM was that of resident bomb maker, reasonable to assume that would include incendiary devices and acts of arson – part of AIMs methodology.
Hill along with the other half of dumb and dumber, Leonard Peltier, coerced Annie into participating in the making of bombs once she had been labelled a snitch by AIM’s resident witch doctor and wannabe youtube televangelist clone Leonard Crow Dog – the same person whose performances included being wrapped and bound in a blacked out room to then be freed by spirits he called upon – kind of a B grade imitation of Houdini.
Those spirit helpers might have been a little hard of hearing as sometimes it took hours to achieve the desired results and wow the handpicked audience……but hey, Crow Dog is the self proclaimed “chief of chiefs”, “professor of the University of the Universe” whatever that is, and a believer of the “prosperity doctrine”… a personalized version related to the selling of ceremonies.
A convert being Dennis Banks who will sell anything related to the nations that isn’t tied down.
But back to Hill, the man whose one time woman Thelma Rios said was a cop and always had been. Thelma Rios who after Annie’s arrival at PR said it was Hill who escorted her to the interrogation beating at the WKLDC office where Means relatives and bud attorney Bruce Ellison were awaiting her.
Hill, who let it be known that if AIM didn’t spring him from jail following his arrest for bombing Rushmore he’d start talking – the man who was released sans charges for that very bombing, then immediately arrested on a state weapons charge which were then dropped in the “interest of the public”.
Seems reasonable to assume Hill carried through with his threat, began talking, and a deal was cut.
Doesn’t help much that when asked federal agent Zigrossi replied that Hill had offered his services but didn’t really have anything to offer and was declined, then threw the denial into question by saying the feds don’t give up an informant while they’re alive – ergo. they wouldn’t tell you if he was.
Hill didn’t have much to offer being an AIM insider residing in the Banks camp as part of Banks personal entourage? Right, and Bugs Bunny never says “what’s up doc?”
All of which brings us back to the matter of complicity, how that is interpreted and to what degree an individual or agency is complicit.
If Hill was indeed an informant then the feds are complicit in two ways – one being the lack of prosecution and the other being what amounts to a coverup and by strict interpretation the obstruction of justice.
They would have found themselves in the same position as the AIM leadership did when Peltier murdered at least one of the agents at Jumping Bull – neither the feds nor the AIM leadership were direct participants, but being as Peltier and Hill were their respective boys shit as they say runs downhill and posed at the very least a public relations threat for both.
One of their boys had crossed the line and kicking him to the curb would involve some serious risk, what ensued has an air of predictability about it.
AIM bites the bullet and makes their flunky Peltier (commonly referred to as Dumb as Dirt) the poster boy for every affront the nations have ever endured while the feds conduct an “ongoing investigation” for decades that culminates in yup, AIM killed ’em but it’s an old case and were not going to pursue it.
Now this isn’t a novel opinion I’ve recently arrived it, rather one I’ve held for a long time as have others including indigenous journalists and investigative reporters who had greater access than I.
Complicity if it exists doesn’t change my focus though as the priority is our backyard, what goes on in it and who among our own are responsible, who actually pulls the trigger, lights the fire, or steals “donations” for their own personal use is and always been the priority metric in any culture that has ever existed, and I can see no reason to change that now to accommodate a gang of thugs.
The problem with layering criminals with teflon is once that occurs the adage of in for a penny in for a pound becomes the way it, both sides become entangled in the same web – if they continue committing crimes the identical threat that existed originally remains, only amplified, and that apparently becomes the determining factor.
It’s kind of like a form a reciprocal blackmail or extortion, a game of if you tell on me I’ll tell on you – jail for one and exposure and possible civil litigation for the other.
Nothing novel about another often mentioned belief of mine that the AIM leadership in addition to being a nest of vipers may well have been home to and the cover story for multiple “snitches” as it personally served their best interests – that’s the leadership, not just flunkies and gofers.
That belief has been validated in part by South Dakota Attorney General Jackley when he stated Russell Means “assisted” various law enforcement agencies.
Attention should be paid to the word various, as in more than one – but then Means always loved an audience and willing to go wherever one could be found. Once having begun speaking Means could drone on for hours such was his infatuation with his own voice and has led me to think of him as the Rush Limbaugh of the nations.
Now that’s an FOIA document I’d really to see, the file on Charles Russell Means, and a little surprised that the survivors of the “great statesman” haven’t taken public issue with such a revelation by Jackley, or at least attempted to spin it if it has no basis in fact…if Russell wasn’t a “snitch” by the same standard AIM has labelled others with.
Obviously one of those hot potatoes that if acknowledged in any manner might impact the myth created to cover the flim flam man and the ongoing effort to cash in on it.
I’m curious about just how long Means carried that honorary badge, did the reserve cop slash Doug Durham thing?
Did it begin in ’99 when Robert Branscombe a relative of Annie’s appeared on the scene digging and poking around, sort of of a loose cannon presenting the threat of exposure and Means felt compelled to co opt the press conference to point fingers away from himself and family members, or was he already working both sides of the fence prior to that?
Did he segue into that undercover position during his tenure at the Abourezk law firm guided by their legal advice, or was it instinctual as a matter of self preservation?
I suppose Means felt obliged to since multiple members of his family were involved in the abduction, beating, and murder of Annie Mae.
If we are to speak of complicity Means cannot be left out of the equation as no one can really be dumb enough to believe the man who said nothing AIM related could happen on PR without his knowledge and approval wasn’t in the loop one way or another….Pine Ridge, where Annie was taken and murdered, where Perry Ray Robinson Jr. and those in wk2 unmarked graves were likewise murdered.
I also wonder if during his tenure as informant if the subject of the murder of Perry Ray Robinson Jr. ever came up, if so what did Means divulge about that, who did he point the finger at?
There are those who link Durham to the death of Jancita Eagle Deer, not murdering her but having beaten and abandoning her on a darkened road where she was struck and killed by a car – a linkage in the form of a contributing factor.
Yet these same people would rather cut their tongue out than even hint of complicity on the part of Means related to the murder of Annie Mae or Ray – that’s standard operating procedure for Shaimsters though.
I imagine that members of the leadership are kept apprised of what is said in this blog and other venues, though not a leader I imagine Hill is as well – in view of that I invite any or all of them to submit a rebuttal and we can take it from there….that would be the grand personages themselves, those “chiefs, liberators, and warriors”.
Not an underling or flunky…. though if any who fall into that category care to comment have at it if they are capable of answering a direct question.
In doing so the prerequisite will be responding to the question was Russell Means a snitch by the very standard AIM as employed to label others?
As to being kept informed I know Peltier is due to the efforts of his faithful companion SB, sort of a Pinky and The Brain thing – though it might be more accurate to say Pinky and The Brainless.
Read this very thorough review several times and have in the past commented on some of the why-nots of a lack of prosecution in some areas and of some people. But, why not, start the digging; FOI all those who have passed, or at least start with Russell and Thelma. Between the redactions, which inevitably there will be, there may be some hints as to who was what to whom.
Know some people who will be mounting an effort in that direction
and expect to encounter a multitude of obstacles – but nothing
ventured nothing gained.
As to Hill a lot of people have attempted to approach the facts
from a neutral position and have inevitably wound up with a commonly
shared opinion – it wasn’t divine intervention or serendipity
that allowed Hill to walk.
I understand the reasoning behind not exposing an informant, if
that wasn’t the policy the numbers would decline dramatically
and could lead to their being murdered.
The sticking point is the web I mentioned and it has been
demonstrated countless times that informants commit addition
crimes and get additional passes.
Now an argument can be made that no complicity exists involving
prior crimes, though an argument could also be made that’s standing
on shakey ground, but I don’t believe any such argument can be made
when additional crimes are committed.
But as I said, I’m not a legal expert and rely more on what I consider
to be a commonsense approach – that if it looks, acts, and quacks like
a duck odds are it is.
Since vigilantes are frowned upon and in the vast majority
of instances for good and obvious reasons what remains is
either the courts or taking matters into a persons own hands
and suffering the consequences.
When you have an agency tasked with prosecuting crimes like
the DOJ admit a murder was committed and say they aren’t
going to pursue it there is somthing very wrong with that.
The younger Trimbach in another blog attributed that to a “lack
of gonads” on the part of prosecutors, but that doesn’t quite
work for me or others who are asking the same questions.
Nonetheless if that is any part of the equation then the question
arises who would they be afraid of(?) and logical to assume a fear
instilled by a person, persons, or agency higher up the foodchain.
Obvious where speculation and conspiracy theories could lead to
as a result.
I think communities are obliged for their own welfare to report
crimes and if necessary testify.
If that leads to being a labelled a snitch better that than drug
dealers and crack houses, murderers and rapists having free rein.
Of course criminals have a different opinion but who gives a rip
other than their cohorts and accomplices.
Theres also a notable difference in a person who steps up
community wise and a “professional” whose singular motivation is to
save their own ass…the latter being the category I would place Hill
and Means in.
Common sense does cast a long shadow. And, not but…, some of those cases are a matter of public record and digging for those could also help clear some of the fog surrounding Hill and how or whether he got a ‘pass.’ Also, it takes two to tango; the FBI, or any police agency doesn’t prosecute anyone; those cases are brought to the (U.S. Attorney, DA, etc.) to authorize a warrant, move to a Grand Jury, or decline prosecution. Sometimes its a real fight and a losing battle. Yet, like what’s going on with Hastert being charged with a 1001 violation (lying to the FBI; providing false information); statistically, nearly unheard of…wish I had a buck for every time I tried that route unsuccessfully…maybe it was added on to the indictment, as is common, to provide an incentive to plea to one of the other charges. Just one citizen’s opinion, with all that’s going on, and wrong, in the country, and the world, seems like precious resources could be better used elsewhere.
If I had the time it would be interesting to dig into Hill’s cases and see whether they smell a bit…but since he appears to be out of DaD’s sphere for now, he’s off the radar and not a priority.
As for Hill’s charges, one of the elements to consider is whether anyone was hurt or put in potential danger. Which would be a no-go in the informant arena.
If Hill was the shooter Ray Robinson was not only hurt but hurt
unto death – I would think planting explosives would be viewed
as having the potential to harm a great many people, yet remained
convinced he was an informant until proven otherwise.
I also think it’s common knowledge that past informants like
hit men and even Joe Valachi were acceptable as informants.
The difference with Valachi and others, though not all, is
they actually served time.
With all that’s going on in the country and the world prosecuting
the murder of a lone black man or ridding the communities of an
impoverished and oppressed people of a criminal element may seem
inconsequential, but murder is murder wherever it takes place and
the character not only of a nation but it’s sense of equity and
justice are defined by the approach taken with the least among them.
On that scale this country, this legal system, has failed miserably,
intentionally, and continues to do so.
I understand those who do the legwork don’t issue the warrants, don’t
prosecute the cases – I also think they should put career considerations
aside when such is the case and raise hell about it…. that is what
“democracy” and “patriotism” are or should be about when seeing a wrong.
I also understand people have families to support, bills to pay, food
to put on the table and often compromise due to those responsibilities.
Perhaps never realizing they are in a very real way altering the future
their children will grow up in – a future increasingly becoming more
dysfunctional from day to day.
speaking power to truth rez
DOJ “admitted” that AIM killed Ray Robinson. I’m having a hard time getting my head around that idea.