Samuel Joseph Melville (born Samuel Joseph Grossman, 1934 – September 13, 1971), was the principal conspirator and bomb setter in the 1969 bombings of eight government and commercial office buildings in New York City. Melville cited his opposition to the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

and U.S. imperialism as the motivation for the bombings. He pleaded guilty to

conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, is a secret plan or agreement between persons (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder or treason, especially with political motivation, while keeping their agr ...

and to bombing the Federal Office Building in

lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan (also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York) is the southernmost part of Manhattan, the central borough for business, culture, and government in New York City, which is the most populated city in the United States with ...

, as well as to assaulting a

marshal Marshal is a term used in several official titles in various branches of society. As marshals became trusted members of the courts of Medieval Europe, the title grew in reputation. During the last few centuries, it has been used for elevated o ...

in a failed escape attempt. A key figure in the 1971

Attica Prison riots The Attica Prison Riot, also known as the Attica Prison Rebellion, the Attica Uprising, or the Attica Prison Massacre, took place at the state prison in Attica, New York; it started on September 9, 1971, and ended on September 13 with the high ...

, he was shot and killed when the uprising was put down by force.

Early life

Sam Melville (a name borrowed from author

Herman Melville Herman Melville ( born Melvill; August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works are '' Moby-Dick'' (1851); '' Typee'' (1846), a ...

) was born to Dorothy and William Grossman in 1934 in New York City. Dorothy left William and moved with Sam back to her hometown of Tonawanda, New York, a suburb of Buffalo. Melville lost sight in one eye at a young age because of a flying cinder. He claimed to have had a rough childhood because of his mother's series of alcoholic and abusive boyfriends. He left home and moved to Buffalo as a teenager, making his living as a bowling alley pinsetter. Melville later met his father, who had come to Western New York to look for him. His father convinced him to move back to New York City, finish his high school education and pursue his passion for singing. Back in New York, Melville completed high school, studied singing, found employment as a draftsman, married and started a family.

Politics

Melville enjoyed his job but hated the company he worked for. When he was ordered to work on a project for Chase Manhattan Bank designing new offices in the then

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

based

Union of South Africa The Union of South Africa ( nl, Unie van Zuid-Afrika; af, Unie van Suid-Afrika; ) was the historical predecessor to the present-day Republic of South Africa. It came into existence on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the Cape, Natal, Tr ...

, Melville became outraged and quit his job. This contributed to a rift and eventual estrangement from his wife and child. Melville survived on odd jobs, including working for '' The National Guardian,'' a leftist weekly newspaper published in New York City. He joined various groups in opposition to the Vietnam War, became familiar with social issues, and met many

radical Radical may refer to: Politics and ideology Politics * Radical politics, the political intent of fundamental societal change *Radicalism (historical), the Radical Movement that began in late 18th century Britain and spread to continental Europe an ...

activists. Melville became interested in the story of George Metesky, who had terrorized the city with 37 bombings of theaters, terminals, libraries and offices between 1940 and 1956 and was then in a state mental hospital. Melville began writing "George Metesky Was Here" on buildings around the city.

Bombings

Melville was responsible for, or connected to, at least the following bombings, all of them in 1969. The majority were preceded by telephone calls warning building security personnel and featured simultaneous political communiques to the press. Although most explosions were timed for late-night hours, the bombing of the

Marine Midland Building 140 Broadway (formerly known as the Marine Midland Building or the HSBC Bank Building) is a 51-story International Style office building on the east side of Broadway between Cedar and Liberty streets in the Financial District of Manhattan in N ...

resulted in 19 injuries. * Jul. 27, Grace Pier, owned by United Fruit Company * Aug. 20,

* Sep. 19, Federal Office Building on Federal Plaza, offices of the

Department of Commerce The United States Department of Commerce is an executive department of the U.S. federal government concerned with creating the conditions for economic growth and opportunity. Among its tasks are gathering economic and demographic data for busi ...

and the Army

Inspector General An inspector general is an investigative official in a civil or military organization. The plural of the term is "inspectors general". Australia The Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (Australia) (IGIS) is an independent statutory of ...

* Oct. 7, Army Induction Center on Whitehall Street * Nov. 11,

Standard Oil Standard Oil Company, Inc., was an American oil production, transportation, refining, and marketing company that operated from 1870 to 1911. At its height, Standard Oil was the largest petroleum company in the world, and its success made its co- ...

offices in the RCA Building * Nov. 11, Chase Manhattan Bank headquarters offices * Nov. 11,

General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

Building * Nov. 12, New York City Criminal Courts Building on Center Street, where the Panther 21 trial was being held.

Accomplices

Melville had met and become romantically involved with

Jane Alpert Jane Lauren Alpert (born May 20, 1947) is an American former far left radical who conspired in the bombings of eight government and commercial office buildings in New York City in 1969. Arrested when other members of her group were caught plantin ...

, a recent graduate from Swarthmore College, while she was enrolled in a graduate program in journalism at Columbia University. The pair were also close with Pat Swinton and Dave Hughey who assisted them with several bombings. Other members of their group were never identified. Melville and Alpert became increasingly involved with the Weather Underground and the

Black Panther Party The Black Panther Party (BPP), originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, was a Marxism-Leninism, Marxist-Leninist and Black Power movement, black power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. New ...

Arrest and charges

In New York City, Melville had been working with a well known radical activist group known as "The Crazies". One of their members, George Demmerle, was an FBI

informant An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a “snitch”) is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law-enforcement world, where informant ...

who assisted in the gathering of evidence and apprehension of the group."Crazies: Roz Payne Sixties Archive"
/ref> On November 12, 1969, hours after the Criminal Courts Building bombing, police arrested Melville and Demmerle as they placed dynamite charges in

National Guard National Guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards. Nat ...

trucks parked outside the 69th Regimental Armory at 26th Street and Lexington Avenue. Alpert and Hughey were arrested shortly thereafter.

Escape attempt

On March 7, 1970, Melville overpowered an unarmed marshal at the Federal Courthouse and tried to escape. During a conference with his attorney on a Saturday, when the building was almost deserted, he jumped the marshal, knocked him down and tied him up with his own belt before running out of the room and down a stairway. Melville was recaptured by an armed marshal on a landing two floors below.

Imprisonment and death at Attica

Melville was eventually transferred to

Attica Prison Attica Correctional Facility is a maximum security campus New York State prison in the Town of Attica, New York, operated by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. It was constructed in the 1930s in response to ...

, in Western New York. There, he began an underground publication, ''Iced Pig'', and began to organize the prison population to fight for better conditions. While imprisoned, he researched the economics of prison jobs and wrote a mini-treatise criticizing prison labor, "Anatomy of the Laundry", which was widely read by inmates. Melville was among the committee of inmates who helped organize inmates' demands and keep order during the Attica Prison Riot in September 1971. Melville, 28 other inmates, and 10 hostages were shot and killed by state police on September 13, when the uprising was put down by order of Governor

Nelson Rockefeller Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 – January 26, 1979), sometimes referred to by his nickname Rocky, was an American businessman and politician who served as the 41st vice president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. A member of t ...

. According to some witnesses, Melville was alive after the initial assault was over and the prison was secure but was shot to death by law enforcement while trying to surrender. The law enforcement officer who shot Melville claimed he had done so because Melville was armed with explosives, but investigators and prosecutors could find no evidence to support this claim and lawyers for surviving prisoners maintained that he was "murdered in cold blood with his hands in the air in surrender".

Legacy

A book was published with the letters he wrote from prison, ''Letters From Attica'', with a foreword by

William Kunstler William Moses Kunstler (July 7, 1919 – September 4, 1995) was an American lawyer and civil rights activist, known for defending the Chicago Seven. Kunstler was an active member of the National Lawyers Guild, a board member of the American Civi ...

, and additional contributions by

and John Cohen. On the basis of the text of a letter he wrote on May 16, 1971, Frederic Rzewski wrote a musical composition, '. The text used is On August 28, 2000, a federal judge awarded $8 million to the survivors of the Attica uprising. The son of Sam Melville, Josh Melville, was awarded $25,000, and said he planned to establish an educational fund with the money awarded.