Panther 21

The Panther 21 is a group of twenty-one Black Panther members who were arrested and accused of planned coordinated bombing and long-range rifle attacks on two police stations and an education office in New York City. The trial eventually collapsed and the twenty-one members were acquitted.

Three attacks were planned for Friday, January 17, 1969 at 9 am. Dynamite had been placed in the three locations:

At the Queens school near the forty-fourth precinct station, one Panther, nineteen-year-old Joan Bird, was arrested, while two men escaped. The men left behind a long-range rifle with which they had planned to shoot at the police as they rushed out of the burning building after the explosion.

On April 2, 1969 twenty-one Black Panther members were indicted. The number dropped from twenty-one to thirteen, who were arraigned before Judge Charles Marks with bail set at $100,000. Joseph A. Phillips from the District Attorney's Office led the prosecution, with Jeffrey Weinsten as his assistant. The Panthers were charged with conspiracy to kill several police officers and to destroy a number of buildings, including four police stations, five department stores, and the Bronx Botanical Gardens.

The District Attorney read Chairman Mao Zedong's Little Red Book and showed the court the movie The Battle of Algiers.

At the time, the eight-month trial was the longest and most expensive in New York State history.

The Black Panther members were acquitted on May 12, 1971 of all 156 charges.

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