Press Release for Joseph and John Trimbach's Book "American Indian Mafia"

Photo of Dennis Banks and biased 7-7-2004 article

"Mafia fingers disgraced Professor Ward Churchill as being particularly guilty of creating and promoting falsified accounts of Pine Ridge, AIM, and the FBI...Mafia points to AIM leaders as likely suspects in the Wounded Knee murder of Ray Robinson...a civil rights activist under Martin Luther King... Trimbach's account also exposes AIM leader Dennis Banks as a prime suspect in the ordered execution of [Canadian Indian and AIM activist] Anna Mae Aquash..."---Press release (1-2-08) for American Indian Mafia by Joseph and John Trimbach

Today eMediaWire has published a press release about Joseph and John Trimbach's new book American Indian Mafia titled "The Book the American Indian Movement Leadership Does Not Want You to Read."

The press release notes:

The 1970s legacy of the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota is haunted by the forgotten suffering of innocent victims and a falsified history found in almost every library in America. The perpetrators are often referred to as "brave warriors" and "selfless activists," while many of their Indian victims are consigned to anonymity.

In this provocative narrative, a former FBI Agent chronicles the true legacy of the American Indian Movement (AIM), a small group of radicals who tore a path of destruction through the Pine Ridge Reservation on their way to personal gain, fame, and fortune. Part personal odyssey, part history, American Indian Mafia tells the real story of AIM's armed assault on Wounded Knee village in 1973, where FBI Agents, BIA Agents, and U.S. Marshals demonstrated perpetual patience and restraint in the face of nightly gun attacks. Mafia explains how never-ending negotiations led to the village's complete destruction, and how secret murders behind the barriers and the failure to hold the AIM leadership accountable led to a reign of terror on the reservation. Mafia assigns much of the blame to federal judges who advanced a political agenda at the expense of true justice. AIM instigators, such as Russell Means, were thus handed carte blanche to terrorize Pine Ridge Indians for years to come.

AIM violence on the reservation culminated in the 1975 cold-blooded murder of Special Agents Jack Coler and Ron Williams, the only FBI Agents ever to have been executed in the line of duty. Mafia exposes AIM member and convicted killer Leonard Peltier as the clear perpetrator and as a false hero who has fooled millions into believing in his innocence. Authors, actors, politicians, world leaders, investigative journalists, members of the clergy, and several professors of Indian Studies have all bought in to the Peltier ruse. Citing numerous examples of doctored history, Mafia fingers disgraced Professor Ward Churchill as being particularly guilty of creating and promoting falsified accounts of Pine Ridge, AIM, and the FBI.

In another startling revelation, Mafia points to AIM leaders as likely suspects in the Wounded Knee murder of Ray Robinson, the only black male seen in the village during the occupation. Robinson, a civil rights activist under Martin Luther King, was shot in the leg during an argument and carted off to the makeshift infirmary. He was never heard from again. Mafia is the only book that faithfully explains why Robinson's death remains a closely guarded secret. Trimbach's account also exposes AIM leader Dennis Banks as a prime suspect in the ordered execution of Anna Mae Aquash, a loyal member falsely accused of being an FBI informant. The alleged trigger-man, John Graham, was recently extradited from Vancouver, Canada to Rapid City, South Dakota. No other book explains why the upcoming trial is so important and why Graham may implicate several co-conspirators in this premeditated murder.

Mafia is the long-awaited book that fills the void in an important chapter of American history. It is the first and only account that tells the true story of 1970s Pine Ridge from an observer's point of view. Judge William H. Webster, former Director of the FBI and the CIA, says Trimbach's hard-hitting exposé is "…an important contribution to our understanding of what actually happened." [full text]