American Indian Movement (AIM) Members Cooperating with Federal Authorities

Picture of Joseph and John Trimbach's 2007 book American Indian Mafia.

"The Aquash case may have implications for leadership members of the American Indian Movement [AIM] alleged to have been involved in several murders of those they believed were informers going back to the occupation of Wounded Knee in 1973...according to AIM members now cooperating with federal authorities. "---News From Indian Country

News From Indian Country has chronicled the multi-national investigation of the December 1975 murder of the Canadian Indian AIM activist Anna Mae Aquash. She was murdered because AIM falsely believed that she was a government informant.

Soon NFIC will publish some new documentation about this murder investigation:

Part V - Index of Individuals, Grand Jury/Cooperating Witnesses, Conspirators/Associates. Under Construction/Readying Completion/Projected Publishing June 2008

Part VI - Relationship Tree: Family member relationships and AIM hierarchy. Under Construction/Readying Completion/Projected Publishing June 2008

Maybe this information will be made public on June 26, 2008, the 33rd anniversary of the 1975 murder of FBI agents Jack R. Coler and Ronald A. Williams.

The retired FBI Agent Joseph Trimbach and his son John write:

In front of four witnesses, [Leonard] Peltier boasted of killing the Agents. As one of the men pleaded for his life, Peltier allegedly said, “…I shot him anyway.” Both Agents died instantly after being shot in the face at point-blank range. Shell casings ejected from Peltier’s weapon matched a shell casing found at the murder scene. Peltier was convicted of aiding and abetting in the murders of the Agents.

In American Indian Mafia (p. 452), the Trimbachs write that Ka-Mook Nichols testified in court that Anna Mae was one of four people who heard Peltier's confession:

We were sitting one day at the table in this motor home. Anna Mae was sitting by me, and my sister was on the other side, and [Ka-Mook's former husband]
Dennis [Banks] was standing in the aisle, and Leonard...started talking about June 26, and he put his hand like this [gesture holding a gun] and he started talking about the two FBI agents...He said the motherfucker [FBI agent] was begging for his life, but I shot him anyway.

According to News From Indian Country:

Aquash told several close friends that Peltier had "put a gun in her mouth" during his questioning of her. The bragging incident in November of 1975, while Peltier was on the run on murder (Jumping Bull FBI agent shooting) and attempted murder charges (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) may have played one of several motives for her killing.

Here is a video that shows the truth about the murders of FBI Agents Jack R. Coler and Ronald A. Williams. The video exposes Peltier's lies: Peltier damns himself right out of his own mouth because he keeps changing his story.

This video was made by Richard Two Elk [see also his media company OG Productions]. A commentary posted at No Parole Peltier explains:

Richard Two Elk is a direct descendent of Oglala Dakota Chief Two Elk and has devoted much of his life to research, education and lecturing on Native American traditions, history and social issues. To learn more about Richard Two Elk and the American Indian Movement, see the definitive history of AIM, Wounded Knee II and Resmurs in American Indian Mafia by Joseph H. Trimbach and John Trimbach.

In 2003, the Canadian Indian John Graham was arrested and charged with the 1975 murder of Anna Mae Pictou-Aquash. Arlo Looking Cloud, Graham's co-defendant, has already been tried and on 2-6-08 was found guilty of aiding and abetting in the first-degree murder of Anna Mae. Looking Cloud is serving a life sentence.

American Indian Mafia authors Joseph and John Trimbach write:

Aquash was one of the few AIM members who was alcohol and drug free, and who genuinely held the beliefs and ideals AIM should have aspired to.

Trimbachs write:

The American Indian Movement leadership ordered the execution of Anna Mae Aquash because they believed (mistakenly) that she was an FBI informant. Once convinced that she had not betrayed them, the AIM leadership concocted a series of conspiracy stories blaming the FBI for the murder. Wounded Knee Legal Defense Offense Committee lawyers were a party to the conspiracy and joined efforts to blame the killing on the FBI. (AIM lawyer and WKLDOC member Bruce Ellison was allegedly among those present at the meeting where Anna Mae’s fate was discussed by a round table of co-conspirators. Upon learning that Anna Mae was bound with rope, Ellison allegedly said, “Untie her.” Today, Ellison insists the FBI was behind the murder.) Countless authors have since parroted the lies in a series of politically-motivated books, most notably Peter Matthiessen’s In the Spirit of Crazy Horse, Ken Stern’s Loud Hawk, and Professor Ward Churchill’s Agents of Repression. These books are easily exposed as sham histories shrouded in half-truths, distortions, and shameless lies...

In their timeline of notable events in the history of the American Indian Movement, Trimbachs note:

December 10 (on or about), 1975: Anna Mae is carried from the Denver home of Troy Lynn Yellowwood by John Graham and Arlo Looking Cloud and put in the back of Theda Clarke’s red Pinto hatchback. Several witnesses observe that Anna Mae is bound and carried against her will. She is eventually taken to the offices of the Wounded Knee Legal Defense Offense Committee in Rapid City, where she is questioned by AIM members. Anna Mae is moved to two residences owned by Thelma Rios-Conroy. AIM leaders hold further discussions about Anne Mae’s loyalty. According to News From Indian Country sources, WKLDOC attorney Bruce Ellison is said to have encouraged the idea that Anna Mae might be an informant.

December 12, 1975: Anna Mae is driven to the reservation home of Bill Means where AIM members Clyde Bellecourt and David Hill are said to be waiting. Later that night, Theda Clark, Arlo Looking Cloud and John Graham drive Anna Mae to a remote part of the Pine Ridge Reservation. After Looking Cloud and Graham force Anna Mae out of the car, they drag her to the edge of a cliff. Graham allegedly shoots her in the head.

Anna Mae, the mother of two little girls, was shot in the head and pushed over a cliff near Wanblee, on the Pine Ridge Reservation of South Dakota.

Her body was found by a rancher on February 24, 1976, and her fingerprints were identified by the FBI on March 3, 1976.

News From Indian Country has reported (May 2007):

Looking Cloud told FBI agents in a videotaped statement shown in court that he saw Graham kill Aquash. Looking Cloud had previously told friends and relatives about his and Graham's involvement in the murder as well according to court testimony.

According to News from Indian Country (May 2007):

[AIM] has been tied to gun running, bombings, and drug dealing during the 1970's in several federal cases.

...AIM was also involved in the occupation of Wounded Knee, S.D., in 1973 where activists and authorities exchanged gunfire during a 71-day stand off which destroyed the village...

The Aquash case may have implications for leadership members of the American Indian Movement alleged to have been involved in several murders of those they believed were informers going back to the occupation of Wounded Knee in 1973. Those murders include that of Black civil rights worker and Martin Luther King disciple Perry Ray Robinson Jr ., according to AIM members now cooperating with federal authorities.