Liberal icon Desmond Tutu backs his release.
You know what we are going through now? Well, in the 70s, the extreme outgrowth of the leftist anti-war movement was the Weather Underground and guys like the BLA, who killed many cops. In this case, at least one of the killers infamously danced around the dead bodies in celebration after riddling them with bullets. Perhaps if Tutu knew one of the officers was black, he might care. But probably not.
Via Daily Mail:
The widow of a police officer shot 22 times by members of the Black Panther movement has called on parole officials to deny his killer’s extraordinary bid for freedom.
Patrolmen Joseph Piagentini and Waverly Jones were gunned down after being ambushed while on foot patrol in Harlem in 1971.
Officer Piagentini pleaded with his attackers to spare him saying: ‘I have got a wife and two young children’.
But the ruthless killers emptied their gun on him and then seized his revolver as he scrambled to hide in some bushes and repeatedly shot him again. Officer Jones died from a single gunshot to the back of the head.
The killers who carried out the murders – members of the Black Liberation Army, an underground violent movement Black Panthers – as part of what they called a ‘Black Struggle’ took Jones’ life even though he was also a black man declaring ‘a pig is a pig’. […]
‘Mr Bell presented the Board with an extraordinary record of achievements while incarcerated, a positive psychological evaluation, a strong release plan, and numerous letters of support from all walks of society.’ he court papers say.
The case says that evidence of how he has changed include what he has done behind bars: ‘On his own initiative, Mr Bell has studied music theory and learned to play the flute.’
Bell’s bid for release has been backed by Nobel Laureates Archbishop Bishop Desmond Tutu and Northern Irish peace activist Mairead MacGuire.
Joseph Piagentini’s widow: