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Lefty Gilday, 82; Convicted in "The Boston Robbery," Had an ERA of 4.13
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Bill Schenley
Sep 13, 2011, 2:07:10 PM9/13/11
to
Political Prisoner William 'Lefty' Gilday passes away
1952 Laval Dairy (#75) baseball card:
http://tinyurl.com/6hwch9e
FROM: 4StruggleMag ~
By Staff
We are saddened to hear from friends at MCI-Shirley that our friend and
comrade Lefty Gilday passed away two nights ago in the "Health Services
Unit." More information will follow.
Lefty was a revolutionary, pitcher, jail house lawyer extraordinaire. He was
a friend to all Behind the Wall who kept a sharp sense of humor until health
problems and medical neglect took their toll. I believe Lefty was 82. (His
parents lived until ages 99 and 102!) To the end, the men at Shirley cared
for him despite the hostility they encountered from guards and "medical
staff."
William 'Lefty' Gilday is a 60s radical sentenced to death for his
involvement in a bank expropriation while attempting to finance the anti-war
movement during the Vietnam War. Gilday is a former minor league baseball
player from Amesbury, Massachusetts, who in his early to mid-thirties was
arrested on robbery charges.
While imprisoned he met up with Stanley Bond, a Vietnam helicopter pilot
also in jail for robbery. The two became friends, and after their release,
entered into the Student Tutor Education Program (STEP), a program designed
to help former inmates enter into university level education.
Gilday enrolled in Boston's Northeastern University with another fellow
inmate, Robert Valeri. Bond entered into Brandeis University. It did not
take long before the three former inmates got involved in the student
movements of the 1960s. William Gilday and friends became involved in the
radical group known as the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and later
moved into a militant offshoot of SDS, known as the Weather Underground.
Gilday began to organize around students' rights and the anti-war movement.
During this period, the three met up with Susan Saxe, Katherine Power and
Michael Fleischer.
The three were college students from Brandeis University. According to the
FBI, Gilday and friends were a "radical, revolutionary group dedicated to
attacking the United States military system and undermining police powers."
The members engaged in an expropriation of funds from the Bell Federal
Savings and Loan Association in Philadelphia on September 1, 1970. They have
also been connected with an assault on the National Guard armory at
Newburyport, Massachusetts, on September 20, 1970, which left the armory
heavily damaged by fire and explosions. Ammunition and a truck were seized
during this action but were later recovered by authorities.
The Boston Robbery
On September 23, 1970, members of the group entered the State Street Bank
and Trust Company in Boston with the intent to expropriate funds to help
finance the movement against the Vietnam War. The group retrieved $26,585.
As they left, a Boston police officer who had been alerted by a silent alarm
was shot and killed by a Thompson .45 caliber sub-machine gun.
Shortly after the incident, Boston police obtained warrants for two college
students, Susan Saxe and Katherine Power, and former convicts Stanley Bond,
Robert Valeri and William Gilday.
The five were charged with murdering the policeman during the robbery.
Robert Valeri was quickly apprehended. Stanley Bond was apprehended at Grand
Junction, Colorado, four days after the robbery while boarding an airplane.
The hunt for Gilday was the largest manhunt in New England history, with
close to 3,000 police, game wardens, military troops and other personnel
involved. For eight days, Gilday was successful in evading the authorities
before being captured after a pursuit with police cruisers and a helicopter.
He was placed on the 'Most Wanted' list approximately two hours prior to
being arrested and by the time he was placed in custody, there were a total
of 69 indictments against him.
In 1972 Bond was killed in an explosion in Walpole State Prison. The facts
surrounding the explosion still remain in question. According to the
authorities, Bond was making an explosive that was to be used during an
attempted escape. Before the explosive could be used, it went off, killing
Stanley Ray Bond. Some have suggested that authorities were aware of the
planned escape and booby-trapped the explosive to go off when handled. Bond's
body was cremated and his ashes were placed in Los Angeles National Cemetery
at his mother's request.
Robert Valeri became a witness for the state against his accomplices. He was
sentenced to ten-to fifteen years in prison for manslaughter and robbery,
and after doing his time, was released. During his time in prison, Valeri
changed his name to Christopher Alexander and served his time under that
name.
Michael Fleischer, who was responsible for the actual shooting death of the
officer in September 1970, also became a witness for the state. Fleischer
had nine indictments totally dismissed after he testified against Gilday and
Saxe six years later.
With the help of the testimonies of Fleischer and Valeri, the government was
successful in framing the murder charge on William Gilday rather than
Michael Fleischer. Gilday was tried and found guilty for the killing of the
Boston police officer and was sentenced to death. His sentence was later
reduced to life imprisonment.
The FBI claimed Saxe and Power were able to elude authorities because of the
close relationships they developed within the women's movement. FBI agents
flooded the women's communities of Boston, Philadelphia, Lexington
(Kentucky), Hartford and New Haven. Their conspicuous interrogation of
hundreds of politically active women, followed by highly publicized grand
jury subpoenas and jailings, wreaked havoc in health collectives and other
vital projects.
Activists and potential supporters were scared off, and fear spread across
the country, hampering nationally organized women and lesbians.
In March of 1975, Susan Saxe was arrested in Philadelphia and served seven
years in prison before finally being released. After twenty-three years on
the run and five years on the 'Most Wanted' list, Katherine Power was
arrested in 1993 after turning herself in to police. She was sentenced to
eight to twelve years in prison and was released in October of 1999.
Gilday was the only one still held captive. He was incarcerated in MCI
Shirley in Shirley, Massachusetts. He has had approximately nine appeals,
having gone to the Supreme Court twice. Despite his imprisonment for thirty
five years, Gilday remained steadfast in his convictions for revolutionary
change.
William 'Lefty' Gilday Presente!
---
MiLB stats:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=gilday001wil
Thanks to Jack Morris from SABR for this obit.
1952 Laval Dairy (#75) baseball card:
http://tinyurl.com/6hwch9e
FROM: 4StruggleMag ~
By Staff
We are saddened to hear from friends at MCI-Shirley that our friend and
comrade Lefty Gilday passed away two nights ago in the "Health Services
Unit." More information will follow.
Lefty was a revolutionary, pitcher, jail house lawyer extraordinaire. He was
a friend to all Behind the Wall who kept a sharp sense of humor until health
problems and medical neglect took their toll. I believe Lefty was 82. (His
parents lived until ages 99 and 102!) To the end, the men at Shirley cared
for him despite the hostility they encountered from guards and "medical
staff."
William 'Lefty' Gilday is a 60s radical sentenced to death for his
involvement in a bank expropriation while attempting to finance the anti-war
movement during the Vietnam War. Gilday is a former minor league baseball
player from Amesbury, Massachusetts, who in his early to mid-thirties was
arrested on robbery charges.
While imprisoned he met up with Stanley Bond, a Vietnam helicopter pilot
also in jail for robbery. The two became friends, and after their release,
entered into the Student Tutor Education Program (STEP), a program designed
to help former inmates enter into university level education.
Gilday enrolled in Boston's Northeastern University with another fellow
inmate, Robert Valeri. Bond entered into Brandeis University. It did not
take long before the three former inmates got involved in the student
movements of the 1960s. William Gilday and friends became involved in the
radical group known as the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and later
moved into a militant offshoot of SDS, known as the Weather Underground.
Gilday began to organize around students' rights and the anti-war movement.
During this period, the three met up with Susan Saxe, Katherine Power and
Michael Fleischer.
The three were college students from Brandeis University. According to the
FBI, Gilday and friends were a "radical, revolutionary group dedicated to
attacking the United States military system and undermining police powers."
The members engaged in an expropriation of funds from the Bell Federal
Savings and Loan Association in Philadelphia on September 1, 1970. They have
also been connected with an assault on the National Guard armory at
Newburyport, Massachusetts, on September 20, 1970, which left the armory
heavily damaged by fire and explosions. Ammunition and a truck were seized
during this action but were later recovered by authorities.
The Boston Robbery
On September 23, 1970, members of the group entered the State Street Bank
and Trust Company in Boston with the intent to expropriate funds to help
finance the movement against the Vietnam War. The group retrieved $26,585.
As they left, a Boston police officer who had been alerted by a silent alarm
was shot and killed by a Thompson .45 caliber sub-machine gun.
Shortly after the incident, Boston police obtained warrants for two college
students, Susan Saxe and Katherine Power, and former convicts Stanley Bond,
Robert Valeri and William Gilday.
The five were charged with murdering the policeman during the robbery.
Robert Valeri was quickly apprehended. Stanley Bond was apprehended at Grand
Junction, Colorado, four days after the robbery while boarding an airplane.
The hunt for Gilday was the largest manhunt in New England history, with
close to 3,000 police, game wardens, military troops and other personnel
involved. For eight days, Gilday was successful in evading the authorities
before being captured after a pursuit with police cruisers and a helicopter.
He was placed on the 'Most Wanted' list approximately two hours prior to
being arrested and by the time he was placed in custody, there were a total
of 69 indictments against him.
In 1972 Bond was killed in an explosion in Walpole State Prison. The facts
surrounding the explosion still remain in question. According to the
authorities, Bond was making an explosive that was to be used during an
attempted escape. Before the explosive could be used, it went off, killing
Stanley Ray Bond. Some have suggested that authorities were aware of the
planned escape and booby-trapped the explosive to go off when handled. Bond's
body was cremated and his ashes were placed in Los Angeles National Cemetery
at his mother's request.
Robert Valeri became a witness for the state against his accomplices. He was
sentenced to ten-to fifteen years in prison for manslaughter and robbery,
and after doing his time, was released. During his time in prison, Valeri
changed his name to Christopher Alexander and served his time under that
name.
Michael Fleischer, who was responsible for the actual shooting death of the
officer in September 1970, also became a witness for the state. Fleischer
had nine indictments totally dismissed after he testified against Gilday and
Saxe six years later.
With the help of the testimonies of Fleischer and Valeri, the government was
successful in framing the murder charge on William Gilday rather than
Michael Fleischer. Gilday was tried and found guilty for the killing of the
Boston police officer and was sentenced to death. His sentence was later
reduced to life imprisonment.
The FBI claimed Saxe and Power were able to elude authorities because of the
close relationships they developed within the women's movement. FBI agents
flooded the women's communities of Boston, Philadelphia, Lexington
(Kentucky), Hartford and New Haven. Their conspicuous interrogation of
hundreds of politically active women, followed by highly publicized grand
jury subpoenas and jailings, wreaked havoc in health collectives and other
vital projects.
Activists and potential supporters were scared off, and fear spread across
the country, hampering nationally organized women and lesbians.
In March of 1975, Susan Saxe was arrested in Philadelphia and served seven
years in prison before finally being released. After twenty-three years on
the run and five years on the 'Most Wanted' list, Katherine Power was
arrested in 1993 after turning herself in to police. She was sentenced to
eight to twelve years in prison and was released in October of 1999.
Gilday was the only one still held captive. He was incarcerated in MCI
Shirley in Shirley, Massachusetts. He has had approximately nine appeals,
having gone to the Supreme Court twice. Despite his imprisonment for thirty
five years, Gilday remained steadfast in his convictions for revolutionary
change.
William 'Lefty' Gilday Presente!
---
MiLB stats:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=gilday001wil
Thanks to Jack Morris from SABR for this obit.
roderi...@gmail.com
Sep 14, 2011, 7:54:49 AM9/14/11
to
For the record, not all southpaws are "Lefty", and vice-versa.
On Sep 13, 2:07 pm, "Bill Schenley" <stray...@neo.rr.com> wrote:
> Political Prisoner William 'Lefty' Gilday passes away
> 1952 Laval Dairy (#75) baseball card:http://tinyurl.com/6hwch9e
On Sep 13, 2:07 pm, "Bill Schenley" <stray...@neo.rr.com> wrote:
> Political Prisoner William 'Lefty' Gilday passes away
> 1952 Laval Dairy (#75) baseball card:http://tinyurl.com/6hwch9e
Evan Hulka
Sep 14, 2011, 2:42:38 PM9/14/11
to
On Sep 14, 4:54 am, "rodericnel...@gmail.com"
Perhaps Gilday's nickname referred to his politics rather than his
handedness?
Hulka
suck...@gmail.com
Oct 16, 2012, 3:04:24 AM10/16/12
to
My last name is Gilday.
Message has been deleted
Scott Brady
Oct 16, 2012, 11:20:29 AM10/16/12
to
On Tuesday, September 13, 2011 1:07:10 PM UTC-5, Bill Schenley wrote:
> Political Prisoner William 'Lefty' Gilday passes away
> Political Prisoner William 'Lefty' Gilday passes away
> FROM: 4StruggleMag ~
> By Staff
> By Staff
> On September 23, 1970, members of the group entered the State Street Bank
> and Trust Company in Boston with the intent to expropriate funds to help
> finance the movement against the Vietnam War. The group retrieved $26,585.
> As they left, a Boston police officer who had been alerted by a silent alarm
> was shot and killed by a Thompson .45 caliber sub-machine gun.
Killed? Don't they mean relieved of duty?
> and Trust Company in Boston with the intent to expropriate funds to help
> finance the movement against the Vietnam War. The group retrieved $26,585.
> As they left, a Boston police officer who had been alerted by a silent alarm
> was shot and killed by a Thompson .45 caliber sub-machine gun.
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