Biography
Jalil Muntaqim is a political activist and a former Black Panther and Black Liberation Army member who, after serving almost 50 years in prison, was released on October 7, 2020. During his decades in prison, Jalil led education and mentorship programs for other people in prison, as well as earning numerous educational degrees and mentoring many younger incarcerated men. As a human rights advocate, he had the first U.S. prisoners national petition heard and recorded by a Special Committee at the United Nations on U.S. prisons and the existence of U.S. political prisoners. He has litigated several civil rights complaints on behalf of prisoners.
Formerly known as Anthony Bottom, Muntaqim became a Black Panther at 16. At 19, he alongside Albert Washington and Herman Bell (the New York 3) were accused of engaging in a shoot-out with the police which left two officers were killed based on testimony provided by government informant Ruben Scott. These convictions were part of a larger FBI program known as Operation NEWKILL. All three members of the New York 3 were specifically named in COINTELPRO documents as members of the black liberation movement who had to be "neutralized."
On May 26, 1971, only 5 days after the crime FBI Director Hoover was called to the White House, and in a secret meeting with President Richard Nixon, John Erlichman, the Domestic Advisor to the President, as well as members of the Watergate plumbers. They discussed this case and established the FBI would solve the crime under the code name NEWKILL, or New York killings. It is believed that in this meeting, the FBI and White House conspired to frame Black Panthers for the killings.
Furthermore, on May 19, 1971, only three days before the shooting, two other NYPD officers were injured. Dhoruba bin Wahad (formerly Richard Moore), was convicted in that case and served 19 years in prison for attempted murder. At the time of his arrest, Dhoruba was a ranking member of the Black Panther Party and a target of COINTELPRO. Eventually, in 1990, he was released due to a successful appeal based on information found in COINTELPRO documents, which detailed how evidence was manufactured and testimony perjured. Similar evidence has not been allowed as evidence in the case of the New York 3.
