1 00:00:01,840 --> 00:00:05,040 Speaker 1: Rip Current is a production of iHeart Podcasts. The views 2 00:00:05,040 --> 00:00:08,600 Speaker 1: and opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect thirds of the host, 3 00:00:08,640 --> 00:00:12,360 Speaker 1: producers or parent company. Listener discretion is it fines. 4 00:00:15,320 --> 00:00:17,400 Speaker 2: This is a rip Current bonus episode. 5 00:00:17,520 --> 00:00:20,040 Speaker 3: You don't need to listen to follow the rip Current storyline, 6 00:00:20,160 --> 00:00:24,040 Speaker 3: but it provides more information, context, and analysis to enhance 7 00:00:24,079 --> 00:00:24,919 Speaker 3: the main podcast. 8 00:00:25,600 --> 00:00:26,000 Speaker 2: Enjoy. 9 00:00:30,160 --> 00:00:32,680 Speaker 4: I want to start with a note about sources for 10 00:00:32,720 --> 00:00:36,760 Speaker 4: this bonus episode. Tribal Thumb was one of a number 11 00:00:36,920 --> 00:00:40,920 Speaker 4: of very small revolutionary groups in northern California in the 12 00:00:41,040 --> 00:00:45,120 Speaker 4: nineteen seventies. For the most part, they flew under the radar. 13 00:00:45,880 --> 00:00:48,800 Speaker 4: Because of this, there are not a lot of newspaper 14 00:00:49,159 --> 00:00:52,479 Speaker 4: or other media stories about Tribal Thumb or its leader, 15 00:00:52,720 --> 00:00:57,520 Speaker 4: Earl Satcher. There are some, though, chief among these is 16 00:00:57,560 --> 00:00:59,360 Speaker 4: a four part series. 17 00:00:59,000 --> 00:00:59,640 Speaker 2: Written by A. 18 00:00:59,680 --> 00:01:02,520 Speaker 4: Mili Cabral and Bill Wallace. 19 00:01:02,160 --> 00:01:03,200 Speaker 2: For the Berkeley Barb. 20 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:06,479 Speaker 4: I was unable to track down either of the authors. 21 00:01:07,280 --> 00:01:11,000 Speaker 4: In that series, they raised the suspicion that Earl Satcher, 22 00:01:11,120 --> 00:01:15,360 Speaker 4: either knowingly or unknowingly, was aiding in co intel prose 23 00:01:15,480 --> 00:01:19,720 Speaker 4: campaign to disrupt revolutionary groups across the US and the 24 00:01:19,840 --> 00:01:23,440 Speaker 4: radical movement in general. I'll talk about those suspicions when 25 00:01:23,480 --> 00:01:23,839 Speaker 4: they come. 26 00:01:23,800 --> 00:01:24,560 Speaker 2: Up in the story. 27 00:01:25,160 --> 00:01:28,160 Speaker 4: One more note, I think, because some of these articles 28 00:01:28,200 --> 00:01:31,200 Speaker 4: were written well after the events they cover, there are 29 00:01:31,240 --> 00:01:35,280 Speaker 4: some contradictions and dates and even years in which things happened. 30 00:01:35,840 --> 00:01:38,560 Speaker 4: I've tried to work out the timeline from the totality 31 00:01:38,600 --> 00:01:42,720 Speaker 4: of the information available. Tribal Thumb was all but unknown 32 00:01:42,800 --> 00:01:46,800 Speaker 4: outside of revolutionary circles until they became the focus of 33 00:01:46,840 --> 00:01:51,640 Speaker 4: the investigation into the murder of Popeye Jackson. This incident 34 00:01:51,720 --> 00:01:54,760 Speaker 4: is covered in episodes nine to ten of Rip Current. 35 00:01:55,680 --> 00:01:58,480 Speaker 4: This murder began a period of activity that would end 36 00:01:58,560 --> 00:02:02,400 Speaker 4: roughly eighteen months later with Earl Satcher's death during a 37 00:02:02,440 --> 00:02:06,600 Speaker 4: shootout on a San Francisco street. Earl Satcher was born 38 00:02:06,680 --> 00:02:11,440 Speaker 4: in nineteen forty two. He apparently lived mostly in Long Beach, California, 39 00:02:11,880 --> 00:02:14,880 Speaker 4: where he began to accumulate a criminal record for auto 40 00:02:14,960 --> 00:02:18,960 Speaker 4: theft and armed robbery beginning when he was eighteen. By 41 00:02:18,960 --> 00:02:22,240 Speaker 4: the mid nineteen sixties, he'd become active in the Long 42 00:02:22,280 --> 00:02:25,880 Speaker 4: Beach Black Panthers and eventually rose to the rank of captain. 43 00:02:26,760 --> 00:02:30,320 Speaker 4: In nineteen sixty eight, Satcher was arrested for assaulting his 44 00:02:30,440 --> 00:02:34,920 Speaker 4: sister's boyfriend with a pistol. He was found guilty of 45 00:02:34,960 --> 00:02:38,400 Speaker 4: illegally possessing a firearm and spent three months in the 46 00:02:38,440 --> 00:02:42,360 Speaker 4: county jail before being released in January of sixty nine. 47 00:02:43,520 --> 00:02:46,920 Speaker 4: By October, according to an FBI letter, he was being 48 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:52,000 Speaker 4: watched by law enforcement. Also in sixty nine, Sacher met 49 00:02:52,040 --> 00:02:57,240 Speaker 4: and joined forces with a white man named Benny Sargus. Sargus, 50 00:02:57,440 --> 00:03:00,680 Speaker 4: who was in his forties, was the physical opposite of 51 00:03:00,720 --> 00:03:06,160 Speaker 4: the powerful, imposing Satcher. Sargus was short and stocky, had 52 00:03:06,200 --> 00:03:10,079 Speaker 4: greasy hair and a scraggly beard and mustache. He claimed 53 00:03:10,120 --> 00:03:12,720 Speaker 4: to have been born into the mafia. The men hit 54 00:03:12,840 --> 00:03:17,000 Speaker 4: it off. They both liked guns, neither had qualms with 55 00:03:17,120 --> 00:03:21,560 Speaker 4: using violence. Satcher was back in prison in nineteen seventy 56 00:03:21,639 --> 00:03:26,160 Speaker 4: for parole violations. During this stint, he asserted himself as 57 00:03:26,160 --> 00:03:29,160 Speaker 4: a black militant leader within a prison group called the 58 00:03:29,240 --> 00:03:33,600 Speaker 4: Alternative Group. He also corresponded with staff members of a 59 00:03:33,680 --> 00:03:39,640 Speaker 4: radical magazine called Vocations for Social Change. On March fifth, 60 00:03:39,880 --> 00:03:43,680 Speaker 4: nineteen seventy one, the Los Angeles Free Press published a 61 00:03:43,760 --> 00:03:47,400 Speaker 4: number of letters from inmates at San Quentin, including two 62 00:03:47,600 --> 00:03:52,000 Speaker 4: from Earl Satcher. Before and after a confrontation with a 63 00:03:52,040 --> 00:03:55,560 Speaker 4: white supremacist inmate that had been set up by guards 64 00:03:55,600 --> 00:04:00,640 Speaker 4: with the apparent intention of killing Sacher. Today, the fourteenth 65 00:04:00,720 --> 00:04:04,840 Speaker 4: of September, and tomorrow the fifteenth, I will be released 66 00:04:04,920 --> 00:04:08,320 Speaker 4: into the exercise tier with an inmate who just three 67 00:04:08,400 --> 00:04:11,640 Speaker 4: days ago was hurling human feces and urine at me 68 00:04:12,240 --> 00:04:15,560 Speaker 4: and other brothers here on max Row. I am to 69 00:04:15,600 --> 00:04:19,120 Speaker 4: proceed to the tier with this said prisoner, even though 70 00:04:19,160 --> 00:04:22,120 Speaker 4: I'm with the knowledge that officials have armed the said 71 00:04:22,200 --> 00:04:26,120 Speaker 4: inmate in an effort to perpetrate my death. I have 72 00:04:26,200 --> 00:04:29,640 Speaker 4: faith in my ability to defend myself, and I shall 73 00:04:29,680 --> 00:04:34,279 Speaker 4: do so fully. Four days later, he wrote another letter, 74 00:04:34,839 --> 00:04:39,200 Speaker 4: a summation of what happened on the exercise tier. At 75 00:04:39,240 --> 00:04:44,360 Speaker 4: approximately eight fifteen, Officer Horton, the day Officer on max Row, 76 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:49,000 Speaker 4: approached my cell, unlocked it and ordered me to prepare 77 00:04:49,120 --> 00:04:51,400 Speaker 4: to come onto the tier to work as a porter 78 00:04:51,880 --> 00:04:56,360 Speaker 4: with inmate A, a racist Neo American Nazi. In an 79 00:04:56,400 --> 00:05:01,400 Speaker 4: attempt to integrate max Row, Officer Horton opened both cell doors, 80 00:05:01,880 --> 00:05:06,160 Speaker 4: and after a brief wait, Inmate A left his cell. 81 00:05:06,360 --> 00:05:09,920 Speaker 4: Inmate A then proceeded up the tier towards me at 82 00:05:09,960 --> 00:05:13,159 Speaker 4: a distance of about three feet, he stopped and pulled 83 00:05:13,160 --> 00:05:16,839 Speaker 4: from his pocket a makeshift knife. At this display, I 84 00:05:16,880 --> 00:05:20,479 Speaker 4: settled into a Kung fu defensive stance and waited for 85 00:05:20,520 --> 00:05:24,479 Speaker 4: the said inmate to launch his attack. Inmate A was 86 00:05:24,480 --> 00:05:27,840 Speaker 4: apparently thrown off by this posture and tried to bait 87 00:05:27,920 --> 00:05:32,320 Speaker 4: Sacher with a shower of dehumanizing names common to the 88 00:05:32,440 --> 00:05:37,000 Speaker 4: racist mentality. Sacher stayed where he was, as in his 89 00:05:37,160 --> 00:05:40,919 Speaker 4: telling eight to ten officials watch from behind a locked gate. 90 00:05:41,680 --> 00:05:45,320 Speaker 4: According to Sacher's letter, this standoff lasted for about ten 91 00:05:45,400 --> 00:05:48,760 Speaker 4: minutes before officials realized that inmate A had lost his 92 00:05:48,920 --> 00:05:51,479 Speaker 4: enthusiasm for the fight and moved in. 93 00:05:52,920 --> 00:05:54,160 Speaker 2: Sacher was parolled. 94 00:05:54,240 --> 00:05:59,360 Speaker 4: In May of nineteen seventy two. The first public announcement 95 00:05:59,560 --> 00:06:02,640 Speaker 4: using the Tribal Thumb was in a notice for a 96 00:06:02,680 --> 00:06:06,080 Speaker 4: workshop to be held on August eighth, nineteen seventy three, 97 00:06:06,320 --> 00:06:07,159 Speaker 4: in Long Beach. 98 00:06:07,960 --> 00:06:08,560 Speaker 2: The event was. 99 00:06:08,560 --> 00:06:11,920 Speaker 4: Sponsored by the Tribal Thumb Community and the Peace and 100 00:06:12,040 --> 00:06:16,679 Speaker 4: Freedom Party, which was a communist political party. The announcement read, 101 00:06:16,880 --> 00:06:21,279 Speaker 4: in part, we are the Tribal Thumb community and about 102 00:06:21,320 --> 00:06:26,240 Speaker 4: creating progressive change in this society. Work, struggle and knowledge 103 00:06:26,520 --> 00:06:29,640 Speaker 4: together with living in unity is what we know to 104 00:06:29,640 --> 00:06:34,960 Speaker 4: be the foundation leading to a socio political victory over oppression. Clearly, 105 00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:39,200 Speaker 4: because governments and societies are made up of people, people 106 00:06:39,200 --> 00:06:43,480 Speaker 4: are made up of biological and social character structures, change 107 00:06:43,520 --> 00:06:46,839 Speaker 4: the character structure of people, and people will in turn 108 00:06:47,279 --> 00:06:52,400 Speaker 4: change the structure of societies and governments. A nineteen seventy 109 00:06:52,440 --> 00:06:56,279 Speaker 4: two parole report on Satcher mentions finding a full garden 110 00:06:56,480 --> 00:07:00,320 Speaker 4: of nine millimeters rounds and another garden with eight missing 111 00:07:00,440 --> 00:07:04,120 Speaker 4: shells in Sacher's car. It states that the holster and 112 00:07:04,160 --> 00:07:08,919 Speaker 4: revolutionary literature were found in his apartment. According to the 113 00:07:08,920 --> 00:07:14,320 Speaker 4: Berkeley barb despite the parole violations involving firearms, the FBI 114 00:07:14,520 --> 00:07:17,960 Speaker 4: asked the San Bernardino Sheriff's office not to use the 115 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:22,400 Speaker 4: evidence to revoke Sacher's parole. They said they were investigating 116 00:07:22,440 --> 00:07:25,600 Speaker 4: Satcher and planned to charge him, but he was not 117 00:07:25,800 --> 00:07:30,000 Speaker 4: arrested or charged. The bar points to this as an 118 00:07:30,080 --> 00:07:32,480 Speaker 4: initial sign that he may have been working with the 119 00:07:32,560 --> 00:07:36,280 Speaker 4: FBI in some capacity. Either that or he could be 120 00:07:36,360 --> 00:07:39,000 Speaker 4: manipulated to the point where he might as well be 121 00:07:39,080 --> 00:07:43,880 Speaker 4: working for the FBI. In late nineteen seventy three, Satcher 122 00:07:44,040 --> 00:07:47,480 Speaker 4: and Sargeist moved Tribal thumbed north to the Bay Area. 123 00:07:48,480 --> 00:07:52,840 Speaker 4: There were rumors about Satcher's activities during nineteen seventy three, 124 00:07:53,000 --> 00:07:55,760 Speaker 4: that he was involved in running guns from Canada to 125 00:07:55,800 --> 00:08:00,520 Speaker 4: the US, that he formed links to Vince Ramos group 126 00:08:00,600 --> 00:08:04,080 Speaker 4: based in Palo Alto. In these early days up north, 127 00:08:04,520 --> 00:08:09,080 Speaker 4: Tribal Thumb acquired guns and focused on revolutionary rhetoric and 128 00:08:09,160 --> 00:08:14,600 Speaker 4: training for guerrilla warfare. One of the only contemporaneous insider 129 00:08:14,640 --> 00:08:18,040 Speaker 4: accounts of life in Tribal Thumb comes from a woman 130 00:08:18,240 --> 00:08:22,800 Speaker 4: named Hetty Sarney, the daughter of Romanian survivors of the Holocaust. 131 00:08:23,560 --> 00:08:26,280 Speaker 4: Her story came to light after she was arrested for 132 00:08:26,360 --> 00:08:31,120 Speaker 4: her part in a disastrous nineteen seventy three bank robbery. 133 00:08:31,320 --> 00:08:35,720 Speaker 4: She lived alone on Channing Street in Berkeley. The street was, 134 00:08:35,920 --> 00:08:40,440 Speaker 4: in her words, like a self contained community, like a 135 00:08:40,520 --> 00:08:45,040 Speaker 4: commune in many ways. She attended Grove Street College, a 136 00:08:45,120 --> 00:08:50,439 Speaker 4: radical school attended by, among others, future SLA members Joe 137 00:08:50,559 --> 00:08:56,400 Speaker 4: Ramiro and Patricia Missmoon Sultizic. Sarny came to know Saltiesk 138 00:08:56,559 --> 00:09:00,000 Speaker 4: along with Camilla Hall, another soon to be SLA member, 139 00:09:00,920 --> 00:09:03,320 Speaker 4: so she was already a member of one part of 140 00:09:03,360 --> 00:09:07,200 Speaker 4: the radical community. She met Earl Satcher at a bar 141 00:09:07,480 --> 00:09:12,200 Speaker 4: on October nineteenth, nineteen seventy three. Satcher invited her to 142 00:09:12,280 --> 00:09:15,720 Speaker 4: visit the Tribal Thumb home, which was a camper parked 143 00:09:15,760 --> 00:09:19,480 Speaker 4: in the driveway of a house they hoped to eventually buy. 144 00:09:19,800 --> 00:09:22,840 Speaker 4: Sarny was painting her apartment at the time, and Sacher 145 00:09:22,920 --> 00:09:26,520 Speaker 4: offered to help. While they worked, Sacher talked about the 146 00:09:26,559 --> 00:09:31,760 Speaker 4: eccentric doctor and psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich more on him later. 147 00:09:32,679 --> 00:09:36,440 Speaker 4: By October twenty third, just four days after Sacher met 148 00:09:36,480 --> 00:09:40,400 Speaker 4: Hetty Sarney, Tribal Thumb members had moved into her apartment 149 00:09:40,760 --> 00:09:45,000 Speaker 4: and she was essentially a prisoner. They worked on indoctrinating 150 00:09:45,040 --> 00:09:49,240 Speaker 4: her into their revolutionary ideology. Sarny had grown up in 151 00:09:49,280 --> 00:09:53,199 Speaker 4: communists Romania, though, and was not inclined towards the political 152 00:09:53,280 --> 00:09:57,600 Speaker 4: side of revolutionary groups. Her ambition was to go to 153 00:09:57,679 --> 00:10:02,320 Speaker 4: medical school and open medical clinic in Mexico and Guatemala. 154 00:10:02,840 --> 00:10:07,560 Speaker 4: She became increasingly concerned the next day. According to her 155 00:10:07,679 --> 00:10:11,160 Speaker 4: deposition given for an appeal to her bank robbery conviction, 156 00:10:11,640 --> 00:10:14,600 Speaker 4: she stated then he said that they were going to 157 00:10:14,679 --> 00:10:17,000 Speaker 4: rob a bank in order to buy a house for 158 00:10:17,040 --> 00:10:17,720 Speaker 4: their commune. 159 00:10:17,720 --> 00:10:18,280 Speaker 2: In Berkeley. 160 00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:22,440 Speaker 4: I was stunned and didn't know what to say. The 161 00:10:22,440 --> 00:10:24,800 Speaker 4: next day was Tuesday, and I got up to go 162 00:10:24,880 --> 00:10:28,839 Speaker 4: to school. Earl stopped me. He said that school was 163 00:10:28,880 --> 00:10:31,200 Speaker 4: a waste of time and that I would learn what 164 00:10:31,240 --> 00:10:34,200 Speaker 4: I needed to know from them. I spent the whole 165 00:10:34,240 --> 00:10:37,080 Speaker 4: day walking around in a daze. They never left me 166 00:10:37,120 --> 00:10:38,199 Speaker 4: alone for a minute. 167 00:10:38,400 --> 00:10:39,720 Speaker 2: I felt like I was in prison. 168 00:10:40,760 --> 00:10:45,160 Speaker 4: Satcher was upset with Sarny's resistance to joining their revolutionary cause. 169 00:10:45,840 --> 00:10:49,120 Speaker 4: He called her a reactionary and began to beat her. 170 00:10:50,160 --> 00:10:53,800 Speaker 4: He called a tribal Thumb member named Joe Monico and 171 00:10:53,840 --> 00:10:56,800 Speaker 4: told him to come over and bring a gun. The 172 00:10:56,840 --> 00:10:59,800 Speaker 4: two men talked about killing Sarny, who knew too much. 173 00:11:00,720 --> 00:11:03,480 Speaker 4: They considered stabbing her to death and dumping her on 174 00:11:03,559 --> 00:11:07,120 Speaker 4: the street. There was a spade of murders committed by 175 00:11:07,160 --> 00:11:10,040 Speaker 4: someone known as the machete Man at the time, and 176 00:11:10,080 --> 00:11:12,600 Speaker 4: they figured her death would be added to his tally. 177 00:11:13,480 --> 00:11:16,440 Speaker 4: Then they thought she should write a suicide note, which 178 00:11:16,480 --> 00:11:17,360 Speaker 4: she refused to do. 179 00:11:18,280 --> 00:11:19,160 Speaker 2: They put a knife to. 180 00:11:19,120 --> 00:11:22,600 Speaker 4: Her throat, but she still refused. Then they wrapped her 181 00:11:22,600 --> 00:11:26,520 Speaker 4: in a blanket and set the blanket on fire. Again 182 00:11:26,679 --> 00:11:30,720 Speaker 4: from her deposition I was too frightened to move or 183 00:11:30,760 --> 00:11:33,120 Speaker 4: say a word. But they must have thought I was 184 00:11:33,240 --> 00:11:37,480 Speaker 4: very brave, because they put the fire out. A Tribal 185 00:11:37,520 --> 00:11:41,720 Speaker 4: Thumb member named Janet Hashemi embraced her and called her 186 00:11:41,800 --> 00:11:45,800 Speaker 4: a comrade. Sacher said he would stay with her, but 187 00:11:45,880 --> 00:11:48,160 Speaker 4: that at the end of the month, if she wanted 188 00:11:48,200 --> 00:11:54,600 Speaker 4: to leave, she could. Sarny from her deposition. On Friday, 189 00:11:54,760 --> 00:12:00,400 Speaker 4: November ninth, we robbed the Bank of America. The Tribal 190 00:12:00,440 --> 00:12:04,560 Speaker 4: Thumb considered themselves a well drilled guerrilla unit. The bank 191 00:12:04,640 --> 00:12:07,160 Speaker 4: robbery should have put an end to that. It was 192 00:12:07,160 --> 00:12:11,000 Speaker 4: a fiasco. The robbery took place at the Bank of 193 00:12:11,040 --> 00:12:16,320 Speaker 4: America in Berkeley, near the University of California campus. Several 194 00:12:16,360 --> 00:12:20,320 Speaker 4: members of Tribal Thumb entered the bank armed. Sarny was 195 00:12:20,360 --> 00:12:23,760 Speaker 4: with them unarmed. Her job was to get behind the 196 00:12:23,840 --> 00:12:28,199 Speaker 4: bank counter and fill bags with cash. Satra was driving 197 00:12:28,280 --> 00:12:31,680 Speaker 4: a getaway van. The robbers emerged from the bank with 198 00:12:31,800 --> 00:12:35,760 Speaker 4: sixteen thousand dollars worth of bills stuffed into bags, only 199 00:12:35,800 --> 00:12:39,280 Speaker 4: to find that the van was not there. They dispersed, 200 00:12:39,600 --> 00:12:42,959 Speaker 4: fleeing the scene and eventually finding the van blocks away 201 00:12:43,000 --> 00:12:43,679 Speaker 4: from the bank. 202 00:12:44,440 --> 00:12:45,760 Speaker 2: From Sarney's deposition. 203 00:12:46,880 --> 00:12:49,240 Speaker 4: After leaving the bank, I went back to the van 204 00:12:49,720 --> 00:12:53,400 Speaker 4: undressed and got under the covers. A few minutes later, 205 00:12:53,600 --> 00:12:58,160 Speaker 4: the police entered the van and arrested us. In all, 206 00:12:58,440 --> 00:13:03,240 Speaker 4: six Tribal Thumb members were rested, including Sacher. This was 207 00:13:03,280 --> 00:13:06,160 Speaker 4: the same day that the SLA sent its communica about 208 00:13:06,200 --> 00:13:11,560 Speaker 4: the murder of Oakland Schools Superintendent Marcus Foster. That moment, 209 00:13:11,800 --> 00:13:15,280 Speaker 4: when Earl Satcher, Hetty Sarney, and four others were in 210 00:13:15,400 --> 00:13:18,760 Speaker 4: jail in the wake of their failed bank robbery, became 211 00:13:18,960 --> 00:13:24,280 Speaker 4: very important in Tribal Thumb's trajectory because Benny Sargus contacted 212 00:13:24,320 --> 00:13:28,880 Speaker 4: the United Prisoners Union or UPU, the organization run by 213 00:13:28,880 --> 00:13:33,400 Speaker 4: Popeye Jackson, to see about getting help to fund Sacher's defense. 214 00:13:34,559 --> 00:13:37,920 Speaker 4: The funding didn't come through, but this was the critical 215 00:13:37,960 --> 00:13:43,400 Speaker 4: beginning of Tribal Thumb's relationship with the UPU. Sacher's defense 216 00:13:43,480 --> 00:13:47,040 Speaker 4: didn't require funding because of what may have been ludicrous 217 00:13:47,080 --> 00:13:51,160 Speaker 4: in competence by the FBI or further indication of Sacher 218 00:13:51,600 --> 00:13:56,120 Speaker 4: being an FBI asset. To put it succinctly, the FBI 219 00:13:56,240 --> 00:13:59,840 Speaker 4: lost most of the evidence before trial, including the bank, 220 00:14:01,400 --> 00:14:05,000 Speaker 4: while the other five were sentenced to some jail time. Satcher, 221 00:14:05,320 --> 00:14:10,160 Speaker 4: the leader, walked free soon after. In nineteen seventy four, 222 00:14:10,600 --> 00:14:15,280 Speaker 4: Tribal Thumb members began to attend UPU meetings, events and 223 00:14:15,360 --> 00:14:20,600 Speaker 4: Saturday study sessions. Among those attending were Benny Sargus and 224 00:14:20,680 --> 00:14:24,640 Speaker 4: a small time burglar and drug offender named Richard London 225 00:14:25,120 --> 00:14:30,280 Speaker 4: who went by Ricardo London. Tribal Thumb enjoyed good relations 226 00:14:30,280 --> 00:14:32,440 Speaker 4: with UPU during the People in Need. 227 00:14:32,320 --> 00:14:33,360 Speaker 2: Effort or PIN. 228 00:14:34,440 --> 00:14:37,960 Speaker 4: Remember, this was Randolph Hurst's attempt to respond to the 229 00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:42,280 Speaker 4: Symbionese Liberation Army's demands to feed the poor of California 230 00:14:42,680 --> 00:14:47,120 Speaker 4: as a requirement for Patty Hurst's release. It was around 231 00:14:47,120 --> 00:14:50,240 Speaker 4: this time that Sarah Jane Moore also became involved in 232 00:14:50,320 --> 00:14:56,320 Speaker 4: PIN and UPU. After People in Need ended, tension developed 233 00:14:56,320 --> 00:15:01,280 Speaker 4: between UPU and Tribal Thumb members. D Sargists had collected 234 00:15:01,320 --> 00:15:05,000 Speaker 4: money at some UPU benefits and was suspected of keeping 235 00:15:05,000 --> 00:15:09,560 Speaker 4: some of the proceeds. Popeye Jackson confronted Sargist about this 236 00:15:10,000 --> 00:15:14,600 Speaker 4: and things became heated. After that, Tribal Thumb no longer 237 00:15:14,640 --> 00:15:19,320 Speaker 4: associated with UPO. Sarah Jane Moore left it around the 238 00:15:19,360 --> 00:15:22,960 Speaker 4: same time and began associating to an unknown degree with 239 00:15:23,120 --> 00:15:28,920 Speaker 4: Tribal Thumb. Even in the context of radical and revolutionary groups, 240 00:15:29,400 --> 00:15:33,920 Speaker 4: Tribal Thumb had some strange beliefs and tenets. First among 241 00:15:33,960 --> 00:15:37,880 Speaker 4: them was their adherence to the teachings of Austrian doctor 242 00:15:38,000 --> 00:15:43,960 Speaker 4: and psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich. SATR focused primarily on Reich's ideas 243 00:15:44,000 --> 00:15:48,800 Speaker 4: around orgone energy. Orgone was a word coined by Reich 244 00:15:49,320 --> 00:15:54,640 Speaker 4: that was a combination of organism and orgasm. He theorized 245 00:15:54,640 --> 00:15:59,120 Speaker 4: that orgone was an omnipresent and essential substance, and that 246 00:15:59,200 --> 00:16:02,280 Speaker 4: a lack of organ in the body could cause problems 247 00:16:02,400 --> 00:16:07,160 Speaker 4: ranging from neuroses to cancer. Sex was apparently the remedy 248 00:16:07,200 --> 00:16:11,280 Speaker 4: for this, and was encouraged and at times forced among 249 00:16:11,360 --> 00:16:17,480 Speaker 4: Tribal Thumb members. Monogamy was bourgeois. Tribal Thumb owned a 250 00:16:17,520 --> 00:16:21,160 Speaker 4: property called the Honeydew Ranch north of San Francisco in 251 00:16:21,280 --> 00:16:27,240 Speaker 4: Mendocino County, where they raised Arabian horses. Here, the activities 252 00:16:27,320 --> 00:16:32,160 Speaker 4: veered between the colt like and revolutionary. Like many radical groups, 253 00:16:32,400 --> 00:16:35,800 Speaker 4: Tribal Thumb performed a type of brutal group therapy that 254 00:16:35,840 --> 00:16:43,320 Speaker 4: could include browbeating, interrogation, isolation, sleep, deprivation, violence, and other 255 00:16:43,400 --> 00:16:49,040 Speaker 4: techniques often used by colts to instill competence in revolutionary action. 256 00:16:49,760 --> 00:16:53,880 Speaker 4: A Tribal Thumb member named Walter Hunsacker trained the group 257 00:16:53,960 --> 00:16:57,120 Speaker 4: in the use of firearms and allegedly arranged for the 258 00:16:57,120 --> 00:17:01,040 Speaker 4: purchase of guns as well. He taught techniques to make 259 00:17:01,080 --> 00:17:06,560 Speaker 4: guns untraceable. Huntsacker pushed the group towards action. He talked 260 00:17:06,560 --> 00:17:10,960 Speaker 4: about revolutionary subjects, and in January of nineteen seventy five, 261 00:17:11,560 --> 00:17:15,680 Speaker 4: was present when Benny Sargis told Ricardo London that Popeye 262 00:17:15,760 --> 00:17:19,200 Speaker 4: Jackson was a snitch and that they had to lean 263 00:17:19,280 --> 00:17:24,119 Speaker 4: on him. But Huntsacker was not a true believer. He 264 00:17:24,240 --> 00:17:29,080 Speaker 4: was an infiltrator working for the FBI, a provocateur, and 265 00:17:29,119 --> 00:17:32,240 Speaker 4: there are questions about whether he was the driving force 266 00:17:32,359 --> 00:17:35,840 Speaker 4: behind violent actions that would have fallen under the aims 267 00:17:35,920 --> 00:17:40,640 Speaker 4: of the FBI's co intel pro initiative, actions such as 268 00:17:40,680 --> 00:17:46,359 Speaker 4: the murder of Popeye Jackson. Sacher's strange political and philosophical 269 00:17:46,440 --> 00:17:51,040 Speaker 4: teachings alienated some followers, and Tribal Thumb evolved into a 270 00:17:51,119 --> 00:17:56,679 Speaker 4: small group dedicated to Sacher. The consequences for leaving the 271 00:17:56,720 --> 00:18:00,800 Speaker 4: group or not adhering to Sacher's beliefs were in Benny 272 00:18:00,880 --> 00:18:06,320 Speaker 4: Sargus's weird mafia speak to take their air. Here's an 273 00:18:06,359 --> 00:18:11,560 Speaker 4: example of Satri's bizarre activities. He brought several Tribal Thumb 274 00:18:11,600 --> 00:18:15,480 Speaker 4: members to an isolated house in Pacific Grove, a town 275 00:18:15,560 --> 00:18:19,760 Speaker 4: on the Monterey Peninsula south of San Francisco. The house 276 00:18:19,840 --> 00:18:22,560 Speaker 4: was owned by a single woman, and SATR thought it 277 00:18:22,600 --> 00:18:26,600 Speaker 4: could serve as a headquarters. Sacher apparently wanted to show 278 00:18:26,640 --> 00:18:30,400 Speaker 4: her how completely he controlled his followers. To do this, 279 00:18:30,920 --> 00:18:33,480 Speaker 4: he had a child dive off a table toward a 280 00:18:33,560 --> 00:18:36,879 Speaker 4: stone floor, making no attempt to break his own fall. 281 00:18:38,000 --> 00:18:42,280 Speaker 4: Sacher grabbed him just before he landed. There's no account 282 00:18:42,359 --> 00:18:45,720 Speaker 4: of the woman's reaction, but the group left when Sacher 283 00:18:45,840 --> 00:18:50,240 Speaker 4: saw just how many people regularly visited the house. It 284 00:18:50,280 --> 00:18:54,600 Speaker 4: didn't have the privacy that he'd anticipated. We cover the 285 00:18:54,640 --> 00:18:58,720 Speaker 4: Popeye Jackson assassination in the main podcast, so I won't 286 00:18:58,720 --> 00:19:01,480 Speaker 4: go into it again here other than to mention that 287 00:19:01,520 --> 00:19:04,320 Speaker 4: the Berkeley barb found plenty of reason to believe that 288 00:19:04,400 --> 00:19:09,320 Speaker 4: the FBI was at best indifferent to Popeye's murder. They 289 00:19:09,359 --> 00:19:11,560 Speaker 4: pointed to the fact that the only witness to the 290 00:19:11,640 --> 00:19:15,280 Speaker 4: crime described two people involved in the murder, but the 291 00:19:15,320 --> 00:19:18,840 Speaker 4: investigation essentially stopped with the arrest of a single person, 292 00:19:19,640 --> 00:19:24,719 Speaker 4: Ricardo London. Allegedly, thirty eight caliber bullets were found at 293 00:19:24,720 --> 00:19:27,639 Speaker 4: the assassination scene, in addition to the bullets from the 294 00:19:27,760 --> 00:19:33,040 Speaker 4: nine millimeter handgun used by Ricardo London. This was never explained, 295 00:19:34,160 --> 00:19:38,119 Speaker 4: and despite his dominant control over Tribal Thumb, Sacher was 296 00:19:38,160 --> 00:19:43,080 Speaker 4: only questioned once in association with Popeye's murder. The FBI 297 00:19:43,119 --> 00:19:46,399 Speaker 4: had not only placed Walter Huntsacker in Tribal Thumb, but 298 00:19:46,520 --> 00:19:50,880 Speaker 4: had another informant, Gary Johnson, in the group. Both were 299 00:19:50,880 --> 00:19:53,959 Speaker 4: in position to know about the plans to assassinate Popeye, 300 00:19:54,800 --> 00:19:58,160 Speaker 4: but they didn't try to stop it. Ricardo London gave 301 00:19:58,240 --> 00:20:02,000 Speaker 4: Huntsacker the nine millimeter pistol he used, minus the barrel 302 00:20:02,400 --> 00:20:06,359 Speaker 4: on July second, nineteen seventy five, less than a month 303 00:20:06,520 --> 00:20:11,440 Speaker 4: after the June seventh assassination. San Francisco police detective Frank 304 00:20:11,480 --> 00:20:15,680 Speaker 4: Falzan had found the gun's barrel on June eighth. Clearly, 305 00:20:15,840 --> 00:20:19,800 Speaker 4: the evidence that Huntsacker possessed the barrelless gun and his 306 00:20:19,920 --> 00:20:22,800 Speaker 4: knowledge from inside Tribal Thumb, could have led to an 307 00:20:22,840 --> 00:20:27,000 Speaker 4: early resolution of the investigation, but Falzon did not even 308 00:20:27,040 --> 00:20:29,960 Speaker 4: get that part of the gun until March of seventy six, 309 00:20:30,720 --> 00:20:36,000 Speaker 4: nine months later. Finally, Popeye's murder was in keeping with 310 00:20:36,080 --> 00:20:39,120 Speaker 4: the methods of co intel Pro, which had been officially 311 00:20:39,200 --> 00:20:42,919 Speaker 4: ended in nineteen seventy one, but whose tactics continued on 312 00:20:43,200 --> 00:20:47,719 Speaker 4: informally provoking. The murder of one revolutionary figure by a 313 00:20:47,760 --> 00:20:51,960 Speaker 4: separate revolutionary group was exactly the type of operation that 314 00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:53,200 Speaker 4: would have fallen under. 315 00:20:53,160 --> 00:20:53,960 Speaker 2: Co intel Pro. 316 00:20:55,480 --> 00:20:58,720 Speaker 4: This was, not, however, the only Tribal Thumb action that 317 00:20:58,840 --> 00:21:01,439 Speaker 4: appeared to the Berkeley Bar to be consistent with co 318 00:21:01,600 --> 00:21:11,520 Speaker 4: intel Pro methods. After the break, the next chapter in 319 00:21:11,560 --> 00:21:15,240 Speaker 4: the Tribal Thumb story involved moving into the food business. 320 00:21:15,840 --> 00:21:18,680 Speaker 4: This played out in two ways, one of which ended 321 00:21:18,720 --> 00:21:22,520 Speaker 4: up in disaster. The move that was not disastrous was 322 00:21:22,600 --> 00:21:26,000 Speaker 4: the takeover in August of nineteen seventy six of a 323 00:21:26,080 --> 00:21:31,679 Speaker 4: vegetarian restaurant called The Communion. The Communion was a unique place. 324 00:21:32,320 --> 00:21:37,160 Speaker 4: Conversation was forbidden, no music was played, the walls were bare. 325 00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:40,840 Speaker 4: The idea was that the food was the sole focus 326 00:21:40,840 --> 00:21:45,320 Speaker 4: of diners. Then Tribal Thumb arrived. According to the owner 327 00:21:45,320 --> 00:21:48,680 Speaker 4: at the time, he was promised lots of sex from 328 00:21:48,720 --> 00:21:51,359 Speaker 4: the women members of Tribal Thumb if he let the 329 00:21:51,400 --> 00:21:55,240 Speaker 4: group move in. He would later assert in Small Claims 330 00:21:55,280 --> 00:21:59,679 Speaker 4: Court that this abundant sex was not provided, but Tribal 331 00:21:59,720 --> 00:22:02,600 Speaker 4: Thumb had already moved in, changing the name of the 332 00:22:02,640 --> 00:22:06,600 Speaker 4: restaurant and eventually their group to the Well Springs Communion, 333 00:22:07,320 --> 00:22:12,159 Speaker 4: they made the building their headquarters. Among other changes, the 334 00:22:12,240 --> 00:22:17,040 Speaker 4: restaurant began to hold jazz concerts, including saxophone duets with Satcher, 335 00:22:17,480 --> 00:22:21,720 Speaker 4: who is considered a very accomplished saxophonist, and Sunny Stitt, 336 00:22:22,160 --> 00:22:25,560 Speaker 4: considered one of the great jazz saxophonists of his generation. 337 00:22:26,920 --> 00:22:29,880 Speaker 4: A restaurant review in nineteen seventy nine stead of Well 338 00:22:29,880 --> 00:22:33,679 Speaker 4: Springs Communion. It regards the restaurant as a service to 339 00:22:33,720 --> 00:22:38,119 Speaker 4: the community wholesome fare at bedrock cost, but it is 340 00:22:38,160 --> 00:22:41,080 Speaker 4: also a source of income for the group, whose primary 341 00:22:41,160 --> 00:22:44,960 Speaker 4: effort is to provide alternative patterns of work and life 342 00:22:45,040 --> 00:22:49,639 Speaker 4: for its members. The review is not great, emphasizing that 343 00:22:49,680 --> 00:22:55,600 Speaker 4: the food, usually curried, was generally cold. It concludes, given 344 00:22:55,640 --> 00:23:00,359 Speaker 4: hot food, I'm sure more would attend. It's not entirely 345 00:23:00,400 --> 00:23:04,120 Speaker 4: clear when Tribal Thumb began calling themselves the Well Springs Communion, 346 00:23:04,680 --> 00:23:07,160 Speaker 4: but I'll continue to refer to the group as Tribal 347 00:23:07,200 --> 00:23:11,640 Speaker 4: Thumb to keep things from getting confusing. The second move 348 00:23:11,680 --> 00:23:15,160 Speaker 4: they made was to infiltrate what was called the People's 349 00:23:15,200 --> 00:23:19,240 Speaker 4: Food System. This was a loose network of Bay Area 350 00:23:19,359 --> 00:23:23,879 Speaker 4: food co ops, households, and communes that banded together to 351 00:23:23,920 --> 00:23:28,199 Speaker 4: provide an alternative to the large grocery store chains. They 352 00:23:28,200 --> 00:23:31,480 Speaker 4: would pool money to purchase large amounts of organic foods 353 00:23:31,880 --> 00:23:33,440 Speaker 4: and then meet to divvy. 354 00:23:33,240 --> 00:23:34,040 Speaker 2: Up the supplies. 355 00:23:34,960 --> 00:23:39,520 Speaker 4: These meetings themselves became social and political events. The system 356 00:23:39,560 --> 00:23:44,159 Speaker 4: comprised a mix of ideologies. Among the system's members was 357 00:23:44,160 --> 00:23:48,520 Speaker 4: a Berkeley food co op called Ma Revolutions, which employed 358 00:23:48,520 --> 00:23:52,040 Speaker 4: a number of black activists, including a man named Willie Tait, 359 00:23:52,560 --> 00:23:55,480 Speaker 4: who was a close friend of George Jackson's and one 360 00:23:55,520 --> 00:23:59,719 Speaker 4: of the san Quentins six. Another system member was an 361 00:23:59,800 --> 00:24:04,840 Speaker 4: organic food distributor called the Veritable Vegetable. Two Tribal Thumb 362 00:24:04,920 --> 00:24:09,520 Speaker 4: members worked at the Veritable Vegetable. Benny Sargis, second only 363 00:24:09,560 --> 00:24:13,119 Speaker 4: to Sacher in the Tribal Thumb hierarchy, and a former 364 00:24:13,200 --> 00:24:16,640 Speaker 4: San quentin inmate known as Red, who may or may 365 00:24:16,640 --> 00:24:19,919 Speaker 4: not have been a member of the Aryan Brotherhood. It 366 00:24:19,960 --> 00:24:23,600 Speaker 4: was Tribal Thumb's association with the Veritable Vegetable that would 367 00:24:23,640 --> 00:24:24,760 Speaker 4: eventually lead. 368 00:24:24,680 --> 00:24:25,960 Speaker 2: To Earl Sacher's death. 369 00:24:27,359 --> 00:24:31,160 Speaker 4: There was a sense among some people, particularly those involved 370 00:24:31,200 --> 00:24:34,680 Speaker 4: with Ma revolutions, that Tribal Thumb was trying to take 371 00:24:34,720 --> 00:24:38,399 Speaker 4: over the people's food system. It does make some sense 372 00:24:38,560 --> 00:24:42,760 Speaker 4: from Tribal Thumb's perspective. It would provide a legitimate power 373 00:24:42,760 --> 00:24:46,480 Speaker 4: base for the group, having control over the distribution of 374 00:24:46,520 --> 00:24:49,920 Speaker 4: the communally purchased food. It would also be a place 375 00:24:49,960 --> 00:24:53,800 Speaker 4: where they could employ associates, especially ex cons who might 376 00:24:53,840 --> 00:24:57,560 Speaker 4: have trouble securing employment elsewhere, and it would supply a 377 00:24:57,680 --> 00:25:00,800 Speaker 4: stream of money for a group that was poor and 378 00:25:00,880 --> 00:25:05,439 Speaker 4: were incompetent bank robbers. In the spring of nineteen seventy seven, 379 00:25:05,920 --> 00:25:10,360 Speaker 4: suspicions arose that Sargus and Red were diverting goods from 380 00:25:10,359 --> 00:25:12,280 Speaker 4: the Veritable Vegetable to the Well. 381 00:25:12,119 --> 00:25:15,320 Speaker 2: Springs Communion restaurant. This crisis led. 382 00:25:15,119 --> 00:25:17,760 Speaker 4: To a meeting on April seventeenth with the aim of 383 00:25:17,800 --> 00:25:23,400 Speaker 4: discussing principles of unity for the network. The Veritable Vegetable 384 00:25:23,520 --> 00:25:30,840 Speaker 4: sent several observers, including Sacher. Sacher brought chaos he demanded 385 00:25:30,840 --> 00:25:33,800 Speaker 4: to be allowed to participate in the meeting. The chair 386 00:25:33,840 --> 00:25:36,720 Speaker 4: refused him twice, but Sacher forced his. 387 00:25:36,720 --> 00:25:38,200 Speaker 2: Way into the proceedings. 388 00:25:38,640 --> 00:25:41,520 Speaker 4: When it was brought to a vote, the overwhelming majority 389 00:25:41,520 --> 00:25:45,480 Speaker 4: of workers present voted to expel the Veritable Vegetable Contingent 390 00:25:45,680 --> 00:25:49,560 Speaker 4: from the system meeting. An argument broke out between Sacher 391 00:25:49,640 --> 00:25:53,000 Speaker 4: and his group and the opposition, who had voted them out. 392 00:25:53,359 --> 00:25:56,960 Speaker 4: One worker, believing that Sacher and company were actually police 393 00:25:57,040 --> 00:26:01,760 Speaker 4: plants whose purpose was to disrupt the system's functioning, took photos. 394 00:26:02,640 --> 00:26:06,040 Speaker 4: Sacher confronted him, telling the photographer that he'd pay. 395 00:26:05,920 --> 00:26:07,000 Speaker 2: Him for the film. 396 00:26:07,440 --> 00:26:11,639 Speaker 4: The man refused and was surrounded by Sacher's contingent. He 397 00:26:11,680 --> 00:26:13,760 Speaker 4: made a move toward the door, and a fight broke 398 00:26:13,800 --> 00:26:17,159 Speaker 4: out between Tribal Thumb and the system workers at the meeting. 399 00:26:17,560 --> 00:26:18,879 Speaker 2: As Sacher tried. 400 00:26:18,640 --> 00:26:22,480 Speaker 4: To get the camera, The photographer passed the camera to 401 00:26:22,560 --> 00:26:25,480 Speaker 4: a female worker who tried to run away but was 402 00:26:25,560 --> 00:26:28,959 Speaker 4: tackled by Red. Red pulled the film from the camera 403 00:26:29,040 --> 00:26:32,280 Speaker 4: and yelled to Earl that he had it. Upon hearing this, 404 00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:36,679 Speaker 4: both sides stopped fighting, and the Veritable Vegetable Contingent left. 405 00:26:38,119 --> 00:26:41,560 Speaker 4: Four days later, on April twenty first, a vote of 406 00:26:41,600 --> 00:26:46,680 Speaker 4: the People's Food System suspended Benny Sargus. The Veritable Vegetable 407 00:26:46,800 --> 00:26:50,600 Speaker 4: initially supported the decision, but then refused to cooperate with 408 00:26:50,680 --> 00:26:55,560 Speaker 4: the investigation. Five days later, on April twenty sixth, a 409 00:26:55,640 --> 00:26:59,520 Speaker 4: special representative body met at the People's Food System warehouse 410 00:27:00,080 --> 00:27:04,320 Speaker 4: one fifty five Barnevelt Street in San Francisco. The meeting 411 00:27:04,440 --> 00:27:07,320 Speaker 4: was to determine whether, in the wake of their refusal 412 00:27:07,400 --> 00:27:11,680 Speaker 4: to cooperate with the Benny Sargents investigation, the Veritable Vegetable 413 00:27:11,760 --> 00:27:15,840 Speaker 4: would be expelled from the People's Food System. Earl Sacher 414 00:27:16,000 --> 00:27:21,320 Speaker 4: arrived uninvited with two leashed Dobermans. He wasn't allowed into 415 00:27:21,320 --> 00:27:26,879 Speaker 4: the meeting, but waited downstairs instead. Upstairs, the Veritable Vegetable 416 00:27:26,920 --> 00:27:31,240 Speaker 4: contingent tried to disrupt the proceedings, refusing to recognize the 417 00:27:31,320 --> 00:27:36,879 Speaker 4: chair and generally making a formal meeting impossible. Eventually, a 418 00:27:36,920 --> 00:27:39,800 Speaker 4: break was called to give the Veritable Vegetable group a 419 00:27:39,920 --> 00:27:42,800 Speaker 4: chance to caucus and figure out their next steps. 420 00:27:43,680 --> 00:27:45,159 Speaker 2: The Veritable Vegetable. 421 00:27:44,800 --> 00:27:49,520 Speaker 4: Group went downstairs to consult with Satcher. At this point, 422 00:27:49,680 --> 00:27:53,880 Speaker 4: a Volkswagen Rabbit pulled up near the warehouse door. Willie 423 00:27:53,920 --> 00:27:57,480 Speaker 4: Tait and two other MA Revolutions workers, along with a 424 00:27:57,560 --> 00:28:01,600 Speaker 4: fourth person, approached the door. According to an account in 425 00:28:01,680 --> 00:28:06,960 Speaker 4: the Berkeley barb Satcher, seeing Tate, said what's happening, pulled 426 00:28:06,960 --> 00:28:11,280 Speaker 4: a gun and started shooting at Tate. Tate, unarmed, fell 427 00:28:11,320 --> 00:28:16,120 Speaker 4: to the ground critically wounded. Satcher and an unidentified partner 428 00:28:16,200 --> 00:28:20,400 Speaker 4: continued to fire. Shots came back at them from unknown shooters, 429 00:28:20,520 --> 00:28:24,800 Speaker 4: and there was briefly chaos. A witness named Frank Vlahovich 430 00:28:25,080 --> 00:28:28,320 Speaker 4: said that there were a couple of initial shots and 431 00:28:28,359 --> 00:28:31,760 Speaker 4: then they took a break, then another barrage. They were 432 00:28:31,840 --> 00:28:35,800 Speaker 4: just out to waste each other when the shooting stopped. 433 00:28:36,200 --> 00:28:41,200 Speaker 4: Tate was badly but not fatally injured. Sacher was dead. 434 00:28:42,320 --> 00:28:45,760 Speaker 4: His body was found between two cars. His twenty two 435 00:28:45,840 --> 00:28:50,880 Speaker 4: lay nearby, along with six spent shells. The unidentified partner 436 00:28:50,920 --> 00:28:54,960 Speaker 4: had fled with the shootout over A new kind of 437 00:28:55,040 --> 00:29:00,560 Speaker 4: chaos ensued. Benny Sargis attacked a system employee. Other Tribal 438 00:29:00,560 --> 00:29:03,280 Speaker 4: Thumb member ran upstairs to the meeting room waving a 439 00:29:03,320 --> 00:29:07,360 Speaker 4: gun in each hand. The outnumbered, Veritable Vegetable and Tribal 440 00:29:07,400 --> 00:29:10,600 Speaker 4: Thumb contingent were forced out of the building, and that 441 00:29:11,080 --> 00:29:14,600 Speaker 4: essentially was the end of the night and the beginning 442 00:29:14,920 --> 00:29:18,760 Speaker 4: of the end for the people's food system. In the 443 00:29:18,760 --> 00:29:21,880 Speaker 4: wake of the shootout, workers at Mob Revolutions issued a 444 00:29:21,920 --> 00:29:25,160 Speaker 4: statement that said, in part that Sacher and his people 445 00:29:25,720 --> 00:29:28,200 Speaker 4: had been known in the past to use violence and 446 00:29:28,280 --> 00:29:33,560 Speaker 4: intimidation against innocent people for personal and political gain. The 447 00:29:33,640 --> 00:29:36,720 Speaker 4: Black Guerrilla Family, who had earlier been asked to weigh 448 00:29:36,760 --> 00:29:40,000 Speaker 4: in on the murder of Popeye Jackson, also issued a 449 00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:44,760 Speaker 4: statement co signed by the Black Liberation Army, another underground 450 00:29:44,760 --> 00:29:49,240 Speaker 4: prison group. It began its analysis by stating that no 451 00:29:49,480 --> 00:29:53,280 Speaker 4: organization could use the threat of violence to force other 452 00:29:53,440 --> 00:29:59,920 Speaker 4: organizations to reject group decisions. It went on Earl Satcher did, 453 00:30:00,200 --> 00:30:03,680 Speaker 4: in fact violate these principles by threatening Willie Tait and 454 00:30:03,800 --> 00:30:07,880 Speaker 4: others a week before the fatal incident. Tribal Thumb did 455 00:30:07,960 --> 00:30:10,680 Speaker 4: in fact arrive at the meeting armed and with the 456 00:30:10,720 --> 00:30:15,560 Speaker 4: intention of a physical assault. It noted that Tribal Thumb 457 00:30:15,600 --> 00:30:18,240 Speaker 4: had threatened the lives of the people had identified as 458 00:30:18,280 --> 00:30:22,920 Speaker 4: being responsible for Sature's death. It then said, if you 459 00:30:23,040 --> 00:30:26,600 Speaker 4: think the co intel pro era has ended, look around you. 460 00:30:27,720 --> 00:30:32,040 Speaker 4: It concluded any attempted acts of revenge on the part 461 00:30:32,080 --> 00:30:35,960 Speaker 4: of Tribal Thumb for Sacher's death will be an unprincipled, 462 00:30:36,120 --> 00:30:41,120 Speaker 4: unpolitical act which will not be tolerated by the movement period. 463 00:30:42,320 --> 00:30:46,240 Speaker 4: And then the movement, in his attempt to unite around 464 00:30:46,280 --> 00:30:51,520 Speaker 4: a common strategy, is watching Tribal Thumb and his organizational affiliates. 465 00:30:52,040 --> 00:30:55,160 Speaker 4: Do you bury your vengeance and adhere to and respect 466 00:30:55,160 --> 00:30:58,800 Speaker 4: the principles of democratic centralism, or do you aid the 467 00:30:58,880 --> 00:31:05,680 Speaker 4: counterinsurgency machinery by unleashing forces which you cannot control. Willie 468 00:31:05,760 --> 00:31:11,240 Speaker 4: Tait recovered, but the People's Food System didn't. After the shootout, 469 00:31:11,360 --> 00:31:15,080 Speaker 4: law enforcement cracked down on the system. They hassled workers 470 00:31:15,200 --> 00:31:19,320 Speaker 4: and cited system members for health code violations. In just 471 00:31:19,360 --> 00:31:24,440 Speaker 4: a few months, Mob Revolutions was shuddered, the system diminished significantly. 472 00:31:25,680 --> 00:31:27,040 Speaker 4: Tribal Thumb two. 473 00:31:27,240 --> 00:31:28,560 Speaker 2: Struggled in the aftermath. 474 00:31:29,480 --> 00:31:33,920 Speaker 4: Benny Sargus went back to jail for parole violations. Without 475 00:31:33,960 --> 00:31:37,360 Speaker 4: Satcher to galvanize the group, some members drifted away. 476 00:31:38,440 --> 00:31:39,320 Speaker 2: From this point. 477 00:31:39,640 --> 00:31:44,400 Speaker 4: Tribal Thumb or Well Springs Communion only occasionally rises to 478 00:31:44,480 --> 00:31:48,920 Speaker 4: the notice of the media. One occasion was the story 479 00:31:48,920 --> 00:31:52,040 Speaker 4: of a man named Ardie Ray Baker, who had murdered 480 00:31:52,040 --> 00:31:54,840 Speaker 4: an elderly couple in their home when he was eighteen 481 00:31:55,840 --> 00:31:59,360 Speaker 4: sentenced to life in prison. He briefly escaped once and 482 00:31:59,400 --> 00:32:01,720 Speaker 4: then escaped the second time, remaining at. 483 00:32:01,760 --> 00:32:03,360 Speaker 2: Large for almost two years. 484 00:32:04,440 --> 00:32:07,840 Speaker 4: During this time, he and his wife were reportedly active 485 00:32:07,880 --> 00:32:11,640 Speaker 4: in Tribal Thumb. He was recaptured after killing a US 486 00:32:11,720 --> 00:32:14,680 Speaker 4: Customs officer when he was stopped at a border station 487 00:32:14,960 --> 00:32:19,840 Speaker 4: in northern Washington State. At Baker's trial, the prosecutor claimed 488 00:32:19,840 --> 00:32:24,880 Speaker 4: that Tribal Thumb supported themselves financially through burglaries and car thefts. 489 00:32:25,720 --> 00:32:28,680 Speaker 4: He claimed that Baker was recruited to provide weapons training 490 00:32:28,680 --> 00:32:31,600 Speaker 4: to members and had become a hitman for the group. 491 00:32:32,360 --> 00:32:35,800 Speaker 4: In October nineteen seventy nine, while Baker was being held 492 00:32:35,800 --> 00:32:38,680 Speaker 4: in the King County Jail in Seattle in connection with 493 00:32:38,720 --> 00:32:42,680 Speaker 4: the custom agent killing, Tribal Thumb provided support for yet 494 00:32:42,720 --> 00:32:47,640 Speaker 4: another escape. This was a bloody affair involving seven escapees 495 00:32:47,960 --> 00:32:52,480 Speaker 4: and no fewer than four separate shootouts. One escapee was 496 00:32:52,560 --> 00:32:54,640 Speaker 4: killed and three escapees and. 497 00:32:54,560 --> 00:32:55,720 Speaker 2: One officer wounded. 498 00:32:56,600 --> 00:33:00,880 Speaker 4: One of the escapees, a murderer named William desat Done, 499 00:33:01,040 --> 00:33:04,480 Speaker 4: gave his name as William Crest, and while the authorities 500 00:33:04,560 --> 00:33:07,360 Speaker 4: knew this wasn't his real name. They were unable to 501 00:33:07,440 --> 00:33:11,360 Speaker 4: identify him using fingerprints for several days because his hands 502 00:33:11,400 --> 00:33:15,200 Speaker 4: had been badly mangled by a police dog during his arrest. 503 00:33:17,080 --> 00:33:19,520 Speaker 4: The last major incident to be covered by the media 504 00:33:19,600 --> 00:33:23,760 Speaker 4: concerning Tribal Thumb, now known as Well Springs Communion, was 505 00:33:23,800 --> 00:33:28,200 Speaker 4: the murder of a former member named Roseanne Goston. Goston 506 00:33:28,360 --> 00:33:31,840 Speaker 4: and another woman had recently left the Honeydew Ranch commune, 507 00:33:32,000 --> 00:33:35,440 Speaker 4: and on June second, nineteen eighty had returned to collect 508 00:33:35,440 --> 00:33:39,240 Speaker 4: property that they considered theirs. Two women were sent to 509 00:33:39,240 --> 00:33:42,920 Speaker 4: the ranch to stop them. These events took place decades ago, 510 00:33:43,160 --> 00:33:46,280 Speaker 4: and the two women involved have established lives separate from 511 00:33:46,320 --> 00:33:50,080 Speaker 4: these actions. Because of this, I won't use their real names. 512 00:33:50,440 --> 00:33:53,760 Speaker 4: I'll call them Tracy and Brenda. 513 00:33:53,840 --> 00:33:54,680 Speaker 2: According to the. 514 00:33:54,640 --> 00:33:59,720 Speaker 4: Police filing, what followed was an ambush. Goston's companion fled 515 00:33:59,840 --> 00:34:02,880 Speaker 4: in and then returned with a male friend. A witness, 516 00:34:03,200 --> 00:34:07,560 Speaker 4: Goston's companion most likely claimed to see Tracy hold Goston 517 00:34:07,680 --> 00:34:10,399 Speaker 4: pin to the ground and Brenda shooter in the head 518 00:34:10,440 --> 00:34:15,720 Speaker 4: with a thirty two caliber automatic pistol. Later, during Brenda's trial, 519 00:34:16,160 --> 00:34:18,240 Speaker 4: the presiding judge had a different view. 520 00:34:18,040 --> 00:34:18,600 Speaker 2: Of the event. 521 00:34:19,200 --> 00:34:21,440 Speaker 4: He believed that there was a struggle during which the 522 00:34:21,480 --> 00:34:26,040 Speaker 4: gun went off, killing Goston. This killing, in his judgment, 523 00:34:26,480 --> 00:34:30,960 Speaker 4: was more or less an accident. Regardless, Tracy and Brenda 524 00:34:31,000 --> 00:34:35,800 Speaker 4: went underground. On June sixth, four days after the murder, 525 00:34:36,120 --> 00:34:39,120 Speaker 4: police conducted a raid on a two story wood framed 526 00:34:39,160 --> 00:34:42,759 Speaker 4: house at eleven to twenty five Fulsome Street in San Francisco. 527 00:34:43,520 --> 00:34:46,040 Speaker 4: They received a tip that Tracy and Brenda were there, 528 00:34:46,360 --> 00:34:49,000 Speaker 4: but that turned out not to be the case. They 529 00:34:49,120 --> 00:34:52,920 Speaker 4: arrested five people at the house and released one after questioning. 530 00:34:53,840 --> 00:34:57,040 Speaker 4: The police described the house as a fortress. The front 531 00:34:57,080 --> 00:34:59,560 Speaker 4: door had a quarter inch steel plating on the front 532 00:34:59,719 --> 00:35:02,920 Speaker 4: and eye iron bars on the back. They found weapons, 533 00:35:03,040 --> 00:35:08,040 Speaker 4: a printing press, Marxist literature, and a trapdoor in the basement. 534 00:35:07,760 --> 00:35:09,520 Speaker 2: That led to the city sewer system. 535 00:35:10,480 --> 00:35:13,680 Speaker 4: Police fired tear gas grenades into the tunnel because they 536 00:35:13,719 --> 00:35:16,960 Speaker 4: believed that someone might be hiding down there, but when 537 00:35:16,960 --> 00:35:21,200 Speaker 4: the tear gas cleared, the tunnel was empty. Tracy and 538 00:35:21,239 --> 00:35:24,680 Speaker 4: Brenda remained at large for about two years. Brenda was 539 00:35:24,760 --> 00:35:28,680 Speaker 4: arrested first in North Carolina. She'd used an alias in 540 00:35:28,719 --> 00:35:31,200 Speaker 4: a written request for a birth certificate in the name 541 00:35:31,239 --> 00:35:34,440 Speaker 4: of a girl who had died in infancy. This was 542 00:35:34,560 --> 00:35:38,520 Speaker 4: likely the first step in obtaining a fake ID. Tracy 543 00:35:38,600 --> 00:35:41,279 Speaker 4: was arrested in New Orleans while walking with her ten 544 00:35:41,280 --> 00:35:44,360 Speaker 4: month old daughter. When she was picked up, she was 545 00:35:44,400 --> 00:35:47,600 Speaker 4: carrying a fake ID and a list of four armored 546 00:35:47,640 --> 00:35:52,400 Speaker 4: car companies along with their pickup schedule. Both women were 547 00:35:52,480 --> 00:35:57,200 Speaker 4: charged with first degree murder with special circumstances. Lying in wait, 548 00:35:57,960 --> 00:36:00,399 Speaker 4: their charge would have brought the death penalty or life 549 00:36:00,440 --> 00:36:04,200 Speaker 4: in prison without the possibility of parole. They were allowed 550 00:36:04,200 --> 00:36:08,160 Speaker 4: to plead the voluntary manslaughter. When the county prosecutor, a 551 00:36:08,160 --> 00:36:12,279 Speaker 4: man named Barry Brown, determined that witnesses had lied or 552 00:36:12,320 --> 00:36:15,960 Speaker 4: were unwilling to give testimony that evidence had been destroyed, 553 00:36:16,600 --> 00:36:19,880 Speaker 4: they were each sentenced to three years in prison. In 554 00:36:19,880 --> 00:36:22,600 Speaker 4: a New York Times article about the case, the Well 555 00:36:22,640 --> 00:36:26,000 Speaker 4: Springs Communion seems a much different organization than in the 556 00:36:26,040 --> 00:36:29,719 Speaker 4: early days of tribal thumb. The Times article ends with 557 00:36:29,800 --> 00:36:34,440 Speaker 4: the following sentence describing the commune, which drew members from 558 00:36:34,520 --> 00:36:38,319 Speaker 4: a variety of groups, including the Black Gorilla Family, the 559 00:36:38,360 --> 00:36:42,600 Speaker 4: Black Panthers, and the Charles Manson family. Barry Brown says 560 00:36:43,440 --> 00:36:46,360 Speaker 4: there were a few who were very politically aware and 561 00:36:46,440 --> 00:36:50,680 Speaker 4: were true revolutionaries, but the organization was inundated with people 562 00:36:50,760 --> 00:36:56,080 Speaker 4: whose motives were not politically directed. I asked Rick Riley, 563 00:36:56,239 --> 00:36:58,919 Speaker 4: who was a former member of Tribal Thumb, to tell 564 00:36:58,920 --> 00:37:01,000 Speaker 4: me what he wanted people to know about the group 565 00:37:01,239 --> 00:37:02,200 Speaker 4: and the people in it. 566 00:37:03,040 --> 00:37:04,560 Speaker 2: This is what he said. 567 00:37:05,920 --> 00:37:09,399 Speaker 3: These people were intelligent people. There were not a bunch 568 00:37:09,440 --> 00:37:12,200 Speaker 3: of dummies. They were intelligent. Most of the women that 569 00:37:12,239 --> 00:37:15,800 Speaker 3: were involved came from good families. Even the guys pretty 570 00:37:15,880 --> 00:37:20,160 Speaker 3: much came from decent, good American families. But they wanted change. 571 00:37:20,600 --> 00:37:24,920 Speaker 3: They believe a change was necessary. And the people who 572 00:37:24,960 --> 00:37:28,719 Speaker 3: manipulated that got in at the top and manipulated their 573 00:37:28,880 --> 00:37:33,360 Speaker 3: desire for change, which is what leaders do. We manipulate. 574 00:37:34,080 --> 00:37:37,640 Speaker 3: They were intelligent, good people, they just got used. And 575 00:37:37,719 --> 00:37:40,680 Speaker 3: those who of us who believed that we could make 576 00:37:40,680 --> 00:37:44,200 Speaker 3: a change, we couldn't. In the end, we realized all 577 00:37:44,239 --> 00:37:47,280 Speaker 3: we could do is cause anarchy, and out of anarchy 578 00:37:47,719 --> 00:37:50,560 Speaker 3: gained power because we knew that it was what the 579 00:37:50,600 --> 00:37:55,200 Speaker 3: elite did. Out of chaos is power. So I liked 580 00:37:55,200 --> 00:37:58,240 Speaker 3: it role, I really did. He could be deadly, yes, 581 00:37:58,880 --> 00:38:02,799 Speaker 3: but he could be kind to you know. He was 582 00:38:02,920 --> 00:38:08,000 Speaker 3: just very charismatic man. I don't follow just anybody, you know. 583 00:38:08,080 --> 00:38:10,640 Speaker 3: I mean, he had my loyalty right from the start. 584 00:38:11,040 --> 00:38:13,520 Speaker 3: I loved him as a brother, and he was a 585 00:38:13,520 --> 00:38:17,000 Speaker 3: good man. He actually believed in what he was doing. 586 00:38:17,040 --> 00:38:17,719 Speaker 2: He really did. 587 00:38:18,120 --> 00:38:20,839 Speaker 3: He believed that he could cause a change. And what 588 00:38:20,880 --> 00:38:24,280 Speaker 3: we realized was that maybe we can't change the world, 589 00:38:24,760 --> 00:38:27,799 Speaker 3: but we could cause a change for hours. And what 590 00:38:28,000 --> 00:38:31,200 Speaker 3: ours was is what consisted of our group. You know, 591 00:38:31,360 --> 00:38:34,040 Speaker 3: whatever our group is, we could make it better for us, 592 00:38:34,640 --> 00:38:37,120 Speaker 3: and we could be ready for what was coming. We 593 00:38:37,160 --> 00:38:40,480 Speaker 3: could train, we could be ready for the war that 594 00:38:40,600 --> 00:38:43,440 Speaker 3: was coming, you know, the civil war that was going 595 00:38:43,440 --> 00:38:45,759 Speaker 3: to be coming eventually in America that we thought was 596 00:38:45,800 --> 00:38:46,480 Speaker 3: going to be coming. 597 00:38:47,480 --> 00:38:51,680 Speaker 2: The revolution. He believed it, He actually did. He believed 598 00:38:51,680 --> 00:38:52,280 Speaker 2: in what he. 599 00:38:52,160 --> 00:39:00,839 Speaker 3: Was doing with tribal thumb and wellspring communion lasting is 600 00:39:01,000 --> 00:39:04,360 Speaker 3: us those of us who went through that, Where was 601 00:39:04,480 --> 00:39:10,000 Speaker 3: lasting of it? Wellspring communion is over? Did we accomplish anything? 602 00:39:10,719 --> 00:39:14,640 Speaker 3: I don't regret my pard in any of it, other 603 00:39:14,719 --> 00:39:18,520 Speaker 3: than that Roseanne would end up being killed. Other than that, 604 00:39:18,560 --> 00:39:22,480 Speaker 3: because Roseanne was my friend. You know, nothing lasting out 605 00:39:22,480 --> 00:39:24,840 Speaker 3: of that came out of that other than us us, 606 00:39:24,920 --> 00:39:26,239 Speaker 3: those of us who survived it. 607 00:39:31,520 --> 00:39:36,480 Speaker 4: Thank you to Rick sundown Riley, author of Thief on 608 00:39:36,520 --> 00:39:42,040 Speaker 4: the Cross, I'm Toby Ball. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, 609 00:39:42,680 --> 00:39:46,960 Speaker 4: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts. 610 00:39:46,480 --> 00:39:48,600 Speaker 2: Or wherever you listen to your favorite show. 611 00:39:49,320 --> 00:39:52,920 Speaker 4: For more information on Rip Current, visit the show website 612 00:39:53,080 --> 00:39:59,960 Speaker 4: at ripcurrentpod dot com. 613 00:40:00,040 --> 00:40:00,400 Speaker 1: Two