Pine Ridge "Reign of Terror" - Friends of Leonard Peltier

Throughout the three years after Wounded Knee II—long referred to by local Native Americans as the "Reign of Terror"—the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) carried out intensive local surveillance, as well as repeated arrests, harassment and bad faith legal proceedings, against AIM leaders and supporters at Pine Ridge.

The FBI also closely collaborated with and supported the local tribal chairperson, Dick Wilson, and his vigilantes—the Guardians Of the Oglala Nation (GOONs). Mr. Wilson was notorious for his corruption and abuse of power.

During this period, the FBI COINTELPRO conducted a full-fledged counterinsurgency war against the American Indian Movement (AIM)—complete with death squads, disappearances and assassinations—not dissimilar to those conducted in third world countries such as El Salvador and Guatemala.

During this "Reign of Terror," some 64 local Native Americans were murdered and nearly 350 were subjected to non-lethal but serious physical assault.

Virtually all of the victims were either affiliated with AIM or their allies, the traditional tribal members.

The FBI had jurisdiction to investigate major crimes, yet these deaths were never adequately investigated or resolved. Nor did the FBI agents take any measures to curb the violence of the GOONs, with whom they closely collaborated.

By 1975, the politically motivated murder rate on the reservation had climbed and tensions ran extremely high on all sides. The stage was set for the incident at Oglala on June 26.

In May 2000, at the height of a clemency campaign on behalf of Leonard Peltier, the FBI's Minneapolis Field Office released its so-called accounting of unresolved murders on the Pine Ridge Reservation which was analyzed and refuted by Professor Ward Churchill.

Victims of the Reign of Terror

04.14.1973 - Priscilla White Plume

04.17.1973 - Frank Clearwater

04.23.1973 - Between 8 and 12 individuals (names unknown) packing supplies into Wounded Knee.

04.27.1973 - Buddy Lamont

06.19.1973 - Clarence Cross

07.30.1973 - Julius Bad Heart Bull

09.22.1973 - Melvin Spider

09.23.1973 - Philip Black Elk

10.05.1973 - Aloysius Long Soldier

10.10.1973 - Phillip Little Crow

10.17.1973 - Pedro Bissonette

11.20.1973 - Allison Fast Horse

01.17.1974 - Edward Means, Jr.

02.27.1974 - Edward Standing Soldier

04.19.1974 - Roxeine Roark

09.07.1974 - Dennis LeCompte

09.11.1974 - Jackson Washington Cutt

09.16.1974 - Robert Reddy

11.16.1974 - Delphine Crow Dog

11.20.1974 - Elaine Wagner

12.03.1974 - John S. Moore

12.28.1974 - Yvette Loraine Lone Hill

01.05.1975 - Leon L. Swift Bird

03.01.1975 - Martin Montileaux

03.20.1975 - Stacy Cotter

03.21.1975 - Edith Eagle Hawk and her two children

03.27.1975 - Jeanette Bissonette

03.30.1975 - Richard Eagle

04.04.1975 - Hilda R. Good Buffalo

04.04.1975 - Jancita Eagle Deer

05.20.1975 - Ben Sitting Up

06.01.1975 - Kenneth Little

06.15.1975 - Leah Spotted Elk

06.26.1975 - Joseph Killsright Stuntz

07.12.1975 - James Briggs Yellow

07.25.1975 - Andrew Paul Stewart

08.25.1975 - Randy Hunter

09.09.1975 - Howard Blue Bird

09.10.1975 - Jim Little

10.26.1975 - Janice Black Bear

10.26.1975 - Olivia Binais

10.27.1975 - Michelle Tobacco

12.06.1975 - Carl Plenty Arrows, Sr.

12.06.1975 - Frank LaPointe

12.25.1975 - Floyd S. Binais

01.05.1976 - Lydia Cut Grass

01.30.1976 - Byron DeSersa

02.06.1976 - Lena R. Slow Bear

02.26.1976 - Anna Mae Pictou Aquash

03.01.1976 - Hobart Horse

03.26.1976 - Cleveland Reddest

04.28.1976 - Betty Jo Dubray

05.06.1976 - Marvin Two Two

05.09.1976 - Julia Pretty Hips

05.24.1976 - Sam Afraid of Bear

06.04.1976 - Kevin Hill

07.03.1976 - Betty Means

07.31.1976 - Sandra Wounded Foot

Friends of Peltier