Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

424 • MAY 19 COMMUNIST COALITIONArmy (BLA). The name was taken from the common birth anniversaryof Malcolm X and Ho Chi Minh. The organization also calleditself the May 19 Communist Organization.This front attempted to recruit other leftist revolutionaries andblack prison inmates into the RATF or BLA organizations. TheMay 19 group also established contacts and fraternal ties with otherterrorist groups, such as the New Afrikan Freedom Fighters,the Puerto Rican Armed Forces of National Liberation (FALN)separatists, and even the Palestine Liberation Organization(PLO). The May 19 spokeswoman, Judith A. Clark, representedthe organization at a conference sponsored by the PLO in Beirut inSeptember 1981.Using the name of the Revolutionary Armed Task Force, thegroup carried out eight bombings in the New York and Washington,D.C., metropolitan areas, including the 6 November 1983 bombingof the U.S. Senate cloakroom. The other major action of the groupwas the 20 October 1981 robbery of a Brinks armored car in which$1.6 million was stolen, in the course of which a Brinks guard wasshot and killed. While attempting to escape, Kathy Boudin, JudithA. Clark, and David Gilbert were captured, but in an exchange ofgunfire two police officers were killed. All three were convicted oncharges arising from the robbery and killing of the guard and policeofficers. While Kathy Boudin was released on parole from prison on17 September 2003, Gilbert and Clark remained imprisoned.In recruiting black inmates, May 19 cadres represented themselvesto prison authorities and prisoners as offering free legal services andcounsel for indigent prisoners. Once they gained access to potentialrecruits, they would undertake “consciousness raising” sessions toconvert them to the revolutionary cause. Outside of the prisons, thegroup maintained a network of communications and safe houses forthe RATF. The group collapsed when the Federal Bureau of Investigation(FBI) arrested the remaining core members of the RATFfrom May 1985 to February 1986, namely, Alan Berkman, TimothyBlunk, and Susan Rosenberg, who were convicted in 1990 on chargespertaining to the robberies committed by the RATF. Marilyn Buck,Linda Sue Evans, and Laura Whitehorn were convicted on chargespertaining to the bombings by Marilyn Buck. Only Elizabeth Dukeremained at large following the last convictions in 1990, and thegroup is now defunct.