Joe Remiro

Joseph Remiro (born 1947) is one of the founding members of the Symbionese Liberation Army. He used the pseudonym "Bo" while he was a member of the group.

Remiro remains in San Quentin State Prison where he is serving a life sentence.^[1] He is the only member of the Symbionese Liberation Army still incarcerated, having been denied parole at least eleven times.

Early life[]

Remiro was born and raised in San Francisco in a lower-middle-class family,^[2] where he attended Roman Catholic schools.^[3]

He attended San Francisco City College, dropping out in 1965 to join the US Army.^{[citation needed]}

Military service and Vietnam[]

Remiro served as a LRRP and served two tours in Vietnam as a member of the 101st Airborne Division^[4]

He had training as an auto mechanic.^[5] He participated in search and destroy missions in Vietnam and became addicted to drugs while there.^[6]

Return and VVAW[]

When Remiro returned from service, he joined Vietnam Veterans Against the War and then the more radical Venceremos. He then became involved with the Black Cultural Association, an education program for convicts at the Vacaville psychiatric prison in California, and Peking House, a Maoist collective where he became best friends with fellow future SLA member . He also became friendly with Willie Wolfe at this time and Angela Atwood.^[5] This group became founding members of the Symbionese Liberation Army along with Donald DeFreeze, Thero Wheeler, Mary Alice Siem, Nancy Ling Perry, Patricia Soltysik, Camilla Hall, and Bill and Emily Harris.

Symbionese Liberation Army[]

The SLA was formed some time after March 5, 1973, when Donald DeFreeze, escaped from Soledad Prison then sought shelter with his Black Cultural Association contacts at the Peking House. Concerned about surveillance at their high-profile radical commune, the residents moved DeFreeze to a less well known house in Concord rented by Nancy Ling Perry and also occupied by Patricia Soltysik. DeFreeze, whom circumstances suggested was an informant setting up sting operations, offered guns, explosives, and related supplies for sale to radicals he came into contact with.^[7][8] The SLA founders gained possession of an arms cache, inferred to be supplied by DeFreeze, and were not arrested in the process. DeFreeze's sexual relationships with Perry and Soltysik, with whom he was sheltering, are at the center of theories as to why this informant with a honeypot became converted to a revolutionary fanatic.^[9] The honeypot, intentional or not, that he encountered was more powerful than the honeypot he possessed.

Remiro's knowledge of weaponry from his time in Vietnam was a key element in transforming the group of affiliated radicals into an armed force. He trained other members in target practice, as well as the use, maintenance and dismantling of weaponry.^[2]

During that transformation the group was joined by Thero Wheeler, a former Black Panther who knew DeFreeze from the BCA in Vacaville, and whose escape from Vacaville was aided by associates of the group. Following a cross-country trip to receive medical care away from the glare of law enforcement scrutiny in the Bay Area, he returned to find the group fully committed to armed violence and preparing for action.^[10] Wheeler was not impressed with the blind charge towards gratuitous violence. Conflict soon erupted at the Concord house, where he was staying with his girlfriend Mary Alice Siem, with guns threateningly pointed at Siem on occasion by DeFreeze, Soltysik, and Perry, and Wheeler interceding on her behalf. A falling-out in which Wheeler called DeFreeze a "drunken fool" and DeFreeze made death threats against Wheeler and Siem was the last straw. As they were leaving in early October, Wheeler and Siem were robbed of $600 at gunpoint by their ex-comrades. Wheeler moved to Houston, Texas under an assumed identity and Siem moved to Redding, California.^[11] Reported sightings of Wheeler around the time of the Hearst kidnapping led to speculation that he was still involved, and to the notion that he was one of those killed in the Los Angeles shootout and fire.

With the internal opposition cleared out of the way, the SLA prepared for its first action, the assassination of Marcus Foster, which would result in the convictions of Remiro and Russell Little.

Assassination of Marcus Foster[]

The SLA selected Superintendent of Oakland Schools Marcus Foster and his deputy Robert Blackburn as their first assassination targets, denouncing them as "fascist" for supporting issuance of ID cards for Oakland students to keep non-student drug dealers off of campuses. Foster's proposal was actually a compromise offered in response to more intrusive proposals supported by more conservative players in Oakland city and school politics. The assassination was carried out on November 6, 1973, as Foster and Blackburn left an Oakland School Board meeting. Foster was killed by five cyanide-packed bullets and Blackburn was badly wounded by a shotgun blast. Although there were no eyewitnesses who could identify the assailants, circumstantial evidence discovered later implicated Joe Remiro and Russell Little.

The killing of Oakland's first black school superintendent, who was popular among Oakland's minorities and liberals, did not sit well among the leftists that the SLA saw themselves as the vanguard of. “Black folks have never been given enough power in this country to be No. 1 on anybody's hit list. Why Foster? Why not the head of Standard Oil of California, or Union Oil or Bank of America? By what standards do you kill one of the few black superintendents of schools in the country? You go down on East 14th Street in Oakland and explain it to the people, because the SLA hasn't bothered!” said Carolyn Craven, a black reporter with strong leftist sympathies.^[9] Speculation circulated through leftist publications that the previously unknown group who assassinated a popular liberal figure was actually a right-wing false flag operation.

Arrest[]

On January 10, 1974, Remiro and Russell Little were apprehended by police, as they were driving suspiciously in a quiet neighborhood in Concord, California at 1.30am in a battered van. Little showed the officer a fake license and claimed he was looking for the "Devoto" home. However, Little had been staying there for several weeks with Nancy Ling Perry, who had rented the house under the assumed name. When the officer then asked the passenger to identify himself, Remiro grabbed a holstered pistol. The officer took cover behind his car. When the officer peered out from cover, Remiro fired two rounds at the policeman, who fired two shots back at him. Remiro took cover and then emerged again, firing three more rounds at the officer, who again fired twice at Remiro. Although neither Remiro or the officer were hit, Little was wounded during the shootout.^{[citation needed]} Remiro fled the scene as police arrested Little.

Four hours later, Remiro surrendered only a block from the SLA hideout. Officers found the Walther automatic pistol that had been used in the murder of Marcus Foster. Since Little had mentioned the name Devoto, it was presumed by the SLA that it was only a matter of time before police would discover their hideout. That evening the house was doused with gasoline and sprinkled with gunpowder. Nancy Ling Perry was seen driving rapidly away.^[5]

Detention[]

As soon as Remiro and Little were booked into Concord City Jail, an extra shift of guards was called in to surround the building. No one got in or out without being thoroughly checked. The two were transferred almost immediately to Contra Costa County Jail, where armed guards on the roof were joined by extra street patrols. New and more serious charges were filed against the pair, bringing their bail to almost $750,000 each. Not wanting to allow any chance for escape or for an assisted breakout, it was decided that Remiro and Little would be transferred to California's most secure penitentiary, San Quentin prison. This move was unprecedented, as suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty, and only the guilty are housed in penitentiaries.^[12]

On Feb 17, 1974, Little and Remiro attempted to release a statement to the public with some of their grievances. This was seized by prison authorities but found its way to the media in March. Some grievances included that they were being held in isolation, "the hole" on Death Row, of being starved, and other claims of harassment, intimidation and violence. They claimed that this was under direction of the FBI.^[13][14]

In late February 1974, Little's father, O. Jack Little, made a statement to the media and to other SLA members. He offered to take Patty Hearst's place as a kidnap victim. Part of his statement read:

If Russ Little and Joe Remiro are innocent in the Foster murder and are in fact victims of a police state, then how in heaven's name can the kidnapping and threatened execution of Patricia Hearst have any significance to Russ and Joe but to sustain their indictment? ... Seeing as Russ is the only son I have, at least you could have the satisfaction of knowing that you had been instrumental in the destruction of not only Russell but of his whole family. I beg you to think about it, and please agree to release that child unharmed.^[15]

Sentencing[]

In February 1975, the jury in the murder and attempted murder trial of Remiro and Little sent a note to the judge that it had been unable to reach a verdict in the case.^[16] A new jury was selected.^[17]

On June 27, 1975, Little and Remiro were sentenced to life imprisonment for murder and the attempted murder of Foster's assistant, . Although there were no positive eyewitness identifications of either man at the murder scene, considerable circumstantial evidence, including possession of the murder weapon, was relied upon. The pair was also sentenced for the shooting incident that occurred on their apprehension, as well as an assault that occurred on a prison officer in January 1974.^[18]

Personal life[]

Remiro has one son, Joshua.^[1]

Later years[]

On February 18, 1976 Patty Hearst at her armed robbery trial testified that she had been told that Little and Remiro were waiting in the car while Foster was killed by other members, although Bill Harris claimed that they had not even been there.^[19] Little and Remiro also released a statement through their attorney that Hearst was "lying".^[16]

Little, after winning his own freedom, stated "Who actually pulled the trigger that killed Foster was Mizmoon. Nancy [Ling Perry] was supposed to shoot Blackburn, she kind of botched that and DeFreeze ended up shooting him with a shotgun."^[20]

In 1988, Bill Harris stated that he maintained the innocence of and Remiro.^[21]

On June 5, 1981, Little's conviction was overturned by the California Court of Appeal, and he was later acquitted in a retrial in Monterey County.^[22] One of the reasons given in the unanimous decision by the three judges was that Superior Court judge Elvin Sheehy issued a "dynamite charge" to a deadlocked jury. This charge asks holdout jurors to reevaluate their decision and urges them to reach a conclusion. In 1977, the California Supreme Court ruled that this dynamite charge prejudiced the right to a fair jury trial. One of the Justices argued that Remiro's conviction should be overturned along with Little's.^[23]

Nancy Ling Perry's former boss and friend, , also testified at the trial that Ling Perry had confessed to him prior to her death that she, Donald DeFreeze, Willie Wolfe and two other members who were killed in the Los Angeles shootout had shot Foster.^[24]

Remiro remains in Pelican Bay State Prison today where he is serving a life sentence.^[1] He is the only member of the SLA still in prison, having been denied parole at over eleven times.^[25]

References[]