United Freedom Front Explained

United Freedom Front
War:the Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War
Active:October 1975–1984
Ideology:Anti-authoritarian socialism
Anticapitalism
Marxism–Leninism
Leaders:Raymond Luc Levasseur, Tom Manning
Clans:Ohio 7
Area:Ohio and the Northeast of the United States
Size:~10 militants
Opponents:Government of the United States, Apartheid South Africa and associated corporations

The United Freedom Front (UFF) was a small American revolutionary Marxist organization active in the 1970s and 1980s. It was originally called the Sam Melville/Jonathan Jackson Unit, and its members became known as the Ohio 7 when they were brought to trial. Mainly led by Raymond Luc Levasseur and assisted by Tom Manning, between 1975 and 1984 the UFF carried out at least 20 bombings and ten bank robberies in the northeastern United States, targeting corporate buildings, courthouses, and military facilities associated with "South African Apartheid, imperialism, and corporate greed."[1] [2] Brent L. Smith describes them as "undoubtedly the most successful of the leftist terrorists of the 1970s and 1980s." The group's members were eventually apprehended and convicted of conspiracy, murder, attempted murder, and other charges.

Activities

The group was founded in 1975 as the Sam Melville/Jonathan Jackson Unit, setting off a bomb at the Massachusetts State House under that name but changed its name to the United Freedom Front later that year.[3] The initial members were Raymond Luc Levasseur and Tom Manning, and their respective spouses, Pat Gros and Carole Manning. Levasseur and Tom Manning were both Vietnam War veterans, first active in Veterans Against the War, and both spent time in prison. The four had worked together in civil rights and prison reform groups before forming the UFF. Four other members joined the group in the following years: Jaan Laaman and Barbara Curzi (another married couple), Kazi Toure (born Christopher King), and Richard Williams.[4]

The UFF claimed to oppose US foreign policy in Central America, as well as South African apartheid. In March 1984, the group detonated a bomb after a warning call at an IBM building in Harrison, New York, in retaliation for the company's selling computer parts to the South African regime.[5]

The UFF's targets included South African Airways, Union Carbide, IBM, Mobil, courthouses, and military facilities.[6] [2] [7] The UFF called in warnings before all of its bombings, attempting to avoid casualties. However, 22 people were injured in one 1976 bombing at the Suffolk County Courthouse in Boston, including a courthouse worker who lost a leg.[8] [9] [10] [11] The group was most active in the early 1980s.[12] The UFF's members lived undercover in middle-class suburbs.[13]

The UFF funded most of its activities through its bank robberies.[14] From 1974 to 1983, the UFF conducted ten bank robberies in the Northeast United States.[2] Levasseur initially came up with the idea to rob Brink's armored trucks. Over time, the UFF transitioned to robbing banks. From 1980 to 1981, the group was not active, settling into a more stable lifestyle. In 1981, Levasseur and Gros move to a farmhouse outside Cambridge, New York living under fake identities. While living outside Cambridge, Levasseur recruited new members Richard Williams, Jaan Laaman, Barbara Curzi, and Kazi Toure.[14] With the new members, the UFF resumed bank robberies to support bombing operations.

On December 21, 1981, New Jersey State Police trooper Philip J. Lamonaco was shot dead during a routine traffic stop of Thomas Manning and Richard Williams.[15] Both Manning and Williams were charged with the murder of Lamonaco, alleged to have shot him eight times with a 9mm automatic pistol.[16] Manning claimed he was alone in the car at the time of the shooting while the prosecution claimed Williams was present at the scene and was the shooter of Lamonaco.[17]

The investigation of the group intensified after the killing of the police officer, leading a federal task force to be formed in 1983. Toure was captured in North Attleboro, Massachusetts in 1982, with two state troopers wounded in the course of the arrest.[18] [19] On November 4, 1984, police apprehended Levasseur and Gros near Deerfield, Ohio, and Laaman, Curzi, and Williams in Cleveland.[20] Tom and Carole Manning were captured six months later in Norfolk, Virginia. Dr. Gus Martin notes that the UFF was "the most enduring of all New Left terrorist groups of the era," evading capture for almost a decade.[21]

Trials and imprisonment

The UFF's members were tried repeatedly on various federal and state charges. In March 1986, seven of them (the so-called "Ohio Seven") were convicted of conspiracy, receiving sentences ranging from 15 to 53 years.[22] [23] In 1987, all eight members were charged with sedition and racketeering.[24]

Eventually five accepted plea bargains, had charges against them dropped, or were tried separately. The trial of the remaining three ended in 1989 with an acquittal for sedition for all three and an acquittal for Patricia Levasseur (formerly Gros and now Rowbottom) for RICO Conspiracy and a deadlocked jury on the substantive racketeering charges.[10] [24] [25] Thomas Manning and Richard Williams were given life sentences for the 1981 murder of state trooper Philip Lamonaco,[26] [27] and Laaman was convicted in the 1982 attempted murder of two state troopers.[28] The activist defense lawyer William Kunstler represented UFF members in some of these proceedings.[24] [29] [30]

Toure, Curzi, Gros, and Carole Manning were released during the 1990s,[31] [32] and Levasseur was released on parole in November 2004. Williams died in prison in December 2005, Tom Manning died in prison in July 2019[33] and Laaman was released in May 2021.[34]

Legal cases

In popular media

Further reference

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Smith, Brent L.. Terrorism in America : pipe bombs and pipe dreams. 1994. State University of New York Press. 0-585-06052-5. Albany. 111–112. en. 42855404. 2022-02-15. 2022-02-15. https://web.archive.org/web/20220215051455/https://www.worldcat.org/title/terrorism-in-america-pipe-bombs-and-pipe-dreams/oclc/42855404. live.
  2. Web site: Case-Study of US Domestic Terrorism: United Freedom Front. Phillip Jenkins. https://archive.today/20120805163053/http://www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/j/p/jpj1/uff.htm. 2012-08-05. live.
  3. Smith 110
  4. Smith 110, 112
  5. Web site: Incident Summary for GTDID: 198403190012. 2022-02-15. www.start.umd.edu. 2022-01-23. https://web.archive.org/web/20220123212836/https://www.start.umd.edu/gtd/search/IncidentSummary.aspx?gtdid=198403190012. live.
  6. Smith 111
  7. News: Ronald Kessler . November 9, 1983 . Group Hit Other Targets, FBI Believes . live . https://archive.today/20230525054001/https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP90-00806R000100010016-2.pdf . 2023-05-25 . Washington Post.
  8. News: End of the Line. Prendergast. Alan. July 12, 1995. Denver News. 2. 2009-10-28. 2010-11-18. https://web.archive.org/web/20101118054834/http://www.westword.com/1995-07-12/news/end-of-the-line/2/. live.
  9. News: UMass forum stirs painful memories for courthouse bomb victim. Nicas. Jack. November 12, 2009. Boston Globe. January 20, 2010. January 11, 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20100111080250/http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/11/umass_forum_sti.html. live.
  10. News: AP . November 30, 1989 . Judge Declares Mistrial for 3 in Sedition Case . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20110920221410/http://www.nytimes.com/1989/11/30/us/judge-declares-mistrial-for-3-in-sedition-case.html . 2011-09-20 . 2009-10-28 . The New York Times.
  11. News: Jury deadlocks in trial of radicals. AP. November 30, 1989. Wilmington Daily Star. 2009-10-28.
  12. Book: Martin, Gus. Understanding Terrorism: Challenges, Perspectives, and Issues. Sage. 2009. 3. 433. 978-1-4129-7059-4. 2020-12-05. 2021-09-02. https://web.archive.org/web/20210902025840/https://books.google.com/books?id=1Iwd0--ZBUcC&q=%22united+freedom+front%22+%22very+active%22&pg=PT461. live.
  13. Gus 433
  14. Book: Bryan Burrough . Days Of Rage: America's Radical Underground, the FBI, and the Forgotten Age of Revolutionary Violence . 2016 . Penguin Publishing Group . 9780143107972 . 23 - The Last Revolutionaries - The United Freedom Front, 1981 to 1984 . https://books.google.com/books?id=PAvTCwAAQBAJ&dq=Levasseur+bank&pg=PA427 . https://archive.today/20230525025440/https://www.google.com/books/edition/Days_of_Rage/PAvTCwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Levasseur+bank&pg=PA427&printsec=frontcover . 2023-05-25 . live.
  15. Web site: In Memoriam – 1980's – Trooper II Philip J. Lamonaco. https://archive.today/20230525030640/https://www.nj.gov/njsp/memoriam/1980s/lamonaco.shtml. 2023-05-25. live. State of New Jersey.
  16. Web site: United States v. Levasseur, 619 F. Supp. 775 (E.D.N.Y. 1985). 2022-02-15. Justia Law. en. 2020-12-04. https://web.archive.org/web/20201204211441/https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/619/775/1798281/. live.
  17. Web site: Manning testified, claims self-defense. 2022-02-15. United Press International. en. 2022-02-15. https://web.archive.org/web/20220215051459/https://www.upi.com/Archives/1986/12/29/Manning-testified-claims-self-defense/6298536216400/. live. Paul Basken. 1986.
  18. News: After 9 Months of Delays, U.S. Tries 3 for Sedition. AP. January 12, 1989. The New York Times. 2009-10-28. 2011-09-20. https://web.archive.org/web/20110920043355/http://www.nytimes.com/1989/01/12/us/after-9-months-of-delays-us-tries-3-for-sedition.html.
  19. Book: Churchill, Ward . The COINTELPRO Papers: Documents from the FBI's Secret Wars Against Dissent in the United States . Jim Vander wall . . 2002 . 978-0-89608-648-7 . Cambridge, Mass. . 316 . 2020-12-05 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220215051459/https://books.google.com/books?id=DFlIcxsGUEIC&q=jaan+laaman&pg=PA316 . 2022-02-15 . live.
  20. Smith 112
  21. 425
  22. https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=12311743846988143737&q=Thomas+Manning&hl=en&as_sdt=6,48&as_vis=1. United States District Court, E.D. New York. 1985. United States of America, Plaintiff v. Raymond Luc LEVASSEUR, Jaan Karl Laaman, Thomas William Manning, Richard Charles Williams, Carol Ann Manning, Patricia Gros and Barbara Curzi, Defendants. 620 . F.Supp. . 624 .
  23. Smith 112-13
  24. Smith 113
  25. https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=14686808236388299385&hl=en&as_sdt=2&as_vis=1&oi=scholarr. United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit. 1987. United States of America v. Ramond Levasseur, Carol Ann Manning, Thomas William Manning, Barbara Curzi-Laaman, Richard Charles Williams, Jaan Karl Laaman. 816 . F.2d . 37 .
  26. Web site: Manning . Thomas W. . Tom Manning Short Biography . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20091027133000/http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Parliament/3400/tom-bio.htm . 2009-10-27 . www.geocities.com.
  27. Berger . Dan . Dan Berger (American academic) . December 14, 2005 . Two Prisoners Named Williams . live . . https://web.archive.org/web/20150713215622/http://www.thenation.com/article/two-prisoners-named-williams/ . 2015-07-13 . 2015-07-13.
  28. Book: Stohl, Michael. The Politics of Terrorism. CRC Press. 1988. 315. 978-0-8247-7814-9. 2020-12-05. 2021-09-02. https://web.archive.org/web/20210902215945/https://books.google.com/books?id=R60c_2nCcnYC&q=karl+laaman&pg=PA315. live.
  29. Book: Tomlinson, Gerard. Murdered in Jersey. Rutgers University Press. New Brunswick, N.J.. 1994. 170. 978-0-8135-2078-0. 2020-12-05. 2021-09-02. https://web.archive.org/web/20210902215946/https://books.google.com/books?id=QI4MbWrk5gQC&q=%22united+freedom+front%22+jackson&pg=PA170. live.
  30. Book: Langum, David J. . William M. Kunstler: The Most Hated Lawyer in America . September 1999 . . 978-0-8147-5150-3 . 261 . 2020-12-05 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210902215945/https://books.google.com/books?id=z_1Wwp3g8bMC&q=%22united+freedom+front%22+children&pg=RA1-PA261 . 2021-09-02 . live.
  31. Book: Berger, Dan . Let Freedom Ring: A Collection of Documents from the Movements to Free U.S. Political Prisoners . . 2008 . 978-1-60486-035-1 . Matt Meyer . 32 . The Real Dragons: a Brief History of Political Militancy and Incarceration: 1960s to 2000s . 2020-12-05 . https://books.google.com/books?id=y0YXvh_iXIEC&q=%22May+19th+Communist+Organization%22+malcolm&pg=PA32 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210902220604/https://books.google.com/books?id=y0YXvh_iXIEC&q=%22May+19th+Communist+Organization%22+malcolm&pg=PA32 . 2021-09-02 . live.
  32. Book: Acoli, Sundiata . Sundiata Acoli . Imprisoned Intellectuals: America's Political Prisoners Write on Life, Liberation, and Rebellion . Rowman & Littlefield . 2003 . 978-0-7425-2027-1 . Joy James . 153 . An Updated History of the New Afrikan Prison Struggle . 2020-12-05 . https://books.google.com/books?id=EVpIpSuP1TkC&q=%22united+freedom+front%22+kazi+toure&pg=PA153 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210902220604/https://books.google.com/books?id=EVpIpSuP1TkC&q=%22united+freedom+front%22+kazi+toure&pg=PA153 . 2021-09-02 . live.
  33. Web site: www.nj.com. Matt Gray. August 1, 2019. Domestic terrorist convicted in murder of N.J. State Trooper Philip Lamonaco dies in prison. 2021-09-04. en. 2021-09-02. https://web.archive.org/web/20210902025839/https://www.nj.com/warren/2019/08/domestic-terrorist-convicted-in-murder-of-nj-state-trooper-philip-lamonaco-dies-in-prison.html. live.
  34. Web site: RICO and Stop Cop City: The Long War Against the Left . September 11, 2023 .

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