# Symbionese Liberation Army · The Cult Dossier · The Atlas · The Congregation of Tomorrow

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The Cult Dossier · No. 058 · Political / Terror
Symbionese Liberation Army
SLA
1973 – 1975 · Berkeley, Oakland and Los Angeles, California
VI. THE 1970s — THE GREAT PROLIFERATION
Non-religious — revolutionary political cult
### Who led it
### What it worshipped and taught
### Who was in it
### How it ended, or where it stands
### The dead
### Of note
### Its timeline
- 6 November 1973 Marcus Foster assassinated with cyanide-tipped bullets in Oakland — the SLA's first act, and one that alienated the Black community it claimed to serve.
- 4 FEBRUARY 1974 PATTY HEARST, 19, granddaughter of William Randolph Hearst, kidnapped from her Berkeley apartment. Held blindfolded in a closet for 57 days, subjected to sexual assault, sleep deprivation and continuous political indoctrination.
- 3 April 1974 Hearst announces on tape that she has joined the SLA as Tania.
- 15 April 1974 Hibernia Bank robbery in San Francisco; security camera footage shows Hearst carrying an M1 carbine.
- 17 MAY 1974 Los Angeles shootout. Around 400 LAPD and FBI officers fire more than 9,000 rounds into a house on East 54th Street; the building burns. DeFreeze, Perry, Soltysik, Hall, Atwood and Wolfe die. It was the largest police shootout in American history to that date, broadcast live on television.
- 21 April 1975 Myrna Opsahl killed during the Crocker National Bank robbery in Carmichael.
- 18 September 1975 Hearst arrested in San Francisco; lists her occupation as urban guerrilla.
- 20 March 1976 Convicted of bank robbery despite a defence of coercive persuasion argued with testimony from Robert Jay Lifton, Louis Jolyon West and Margaret Singer. Sentenced to seven years.
- 1 February 1979 Sentence commuted by President Carter; full pardon by President Clinton on 20 January 2001.
- 1999–2003 Kathleen Soliah captured after 24 years underground; she and other surviving members plead guilty in the Opsahl killing in 2002.
### Its people
### Donald DeFreeze
Field Marshal Cinque Mtume
Leader, Symbionese Liberation Army · 16 November 1943 – 17 May 1974 · active 1973–1974
Before the law. Died before trial.
Where things stand. Deceased 1974.
- 6 November 1973 Assassination of Oakland school superintendent Marcus Foster.
- 4 February 1974 Kidnapping of Patricia Hearst.
- 3 April 1974 Hearst announces she has joined as 'Tania'.
- 17 MAY 1974 Dies with five others as ~400 officers fire over 9,000 rounds into a Los Angeles house, which burns.
Checked 2026-08-24
### William and Emily Harris
Teko and Yolanda
Symbionese Liberation Army · born 1945 and 1947 · active 1973–1975
Before the law. CONVICTED of kidnapping (1976) and, 27 years later, of second-degree murder (2002).
Where things stand. BOTH LIVING AND BOTH RELEASED — confirmed August 2026; they live privately. In NOVEMBER 2002 both pleaded guilty to SECOND-DEGREE MURDER in the killing of MYRNA OPSAHL (L224) and served prison terms.
- 1973 Join the SLA.
- 17 May 1974 Absent from the house during the shootout; survive.
- 1974–75 Keep the remnant operating with Hearst.
- 21 April 1975 Myrna Opsahl killed during the Carmichael bank robbery.
- 1976 Convicted of kidnapping Hearst; released 1983.
- 2002 Plead guilty to second-degree murder in the Opsahl killing; sentenced to 7–8 years.
Checked 2026-08-24 · living: health details are kept at home
### Kathleen Soliah
Sara Jane Olson
Symbionese Liberation Army · born 16 January 1947 · active 1974–1975
Before the law. CONVICTED of attempted bombing and second-degree murder. Served seven years.
Where things stand. LIVING, AGED 79 — confirmed August 2026. Released in 2009 after serving her sentence. She spent more than two decades as a fugitive living under the name SARA JANE OLSON before her capture in 1999.
- 1974 Eulogises the dead SLA members publicly in Berkeley; joins the remnant.
- 21 April 1975 Participates in the Crocker Bank robbery in which Myrna Opsahl is killed.
- August 1975 Places pipe bombs under LAPD cars; they fail to detonate.
- 1975–1999 Lives openly as Sara Jane Olson in Minnesota for 24 years.
- 16 June 1999 Arrested after an America's Most Wanted broadcast.
- 2001–02 Pleads guilty to the bombing attempt and to second-degree murder.
- 2009 Released after seven years.
Checked 2026-08-24 · living: health details are kept at home
### Nancy Ling Perry
Fahizah
Symbionese Liberation Army · 19 September 1947 – 17 May 1974 · active 1973–1974
Before the law. Died before trial.
Where things stand. Deceased 1974.
- 1973 Joins the SLA.
- 1973–74 Writes SLA communiqués; participates in the Hearst kidnapping.
- 17 MAY 1974 Killed in the Los Angeles shootout aged 26.
Checked
### Myrna Opsahl
—
Killed during the SLA's Crocker Bank robbery · 1932 – 21 April 1975 · active 1975
Before the law. Four SLA members pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in 2002, 27 years after her death.
Where things stand. Deceased 1975, aged 42.
- 21 APRIL 1975 Shot during the SLA's robbery of the Crocker National Bank in Carmichael while depositing her church's collection money.
- 1975–99 No prosecution; those responsible live under assumed identities.
- 1999 Kathleen Soliah's arrest reopens the case; her son Jon Opsahl campaigns for charges.
- 2002 Emily Harris, Bill Harris, Kathleen Soliah and Michael Bortin plead guilty to second-degree murder.
Checked
### Marcus Foster
—
Oakland school superintendent assassinated by the SLA · 1923 – 6 November 1973 · active 1973
Before the law. Joseph Remiro convicted and sentenced to life. Russell Little was convicted, won a retrial, and was acquitted in 1981.
Where things stand. Deceased 1973, aged 50.
- 1970 Appointed Oakland's first Black school superintendent after a celebrated tenure in Philadelphia.
- 1973 Proposes a student ID scheme; modifies it after community consultation.
- 6 NOVEMBER 1973 Shot dead with cyanide-tipped bullets outside his office; his deputy Robert Blackburn is wounded.
- 1973 The killing alienates the communities the SLA claimed to represent.
- 1976 Joseph Remiro and Russell Little convicted; Little's conviction later overturned and he was acquitted at retrial.
Checked
### Robert Jay Lifton
—
Psychiatrist; author of the eight criteria of thought reform · 16 May 1926 – 4 September 2025 · active 1953–present
Before the law. Expert witness in numerous proceedings.
Where things stand. DECEASED — HE DIED ON 4 SEPTEMBER 2025 AT TRURO, MASSACHUSETTS, AGED 99. THIS FILE PREVIOUSLY SAID 'LIVING, AGED 100', WHICH WAS WRONG TWICE OVER: he had died the year before, and he never reached 100 — his hundredth birthday would have fallen on 16 May 2026, some eight months after his death. A STALENESS ERROR OF EXACTLY THE KIND APPENDIX D WARNS ABOUT, in the file of the single most important theorist in this dossier. NOTE, STILL TRUE AND STILL IMPORTANT: his framework describes ENVIRONMENTS, not a mechanism of involuntary mental capture, and he was careful about that distinction — more careful than many who cite him.
- 1953–54 Studies repatriated prisoners subjected to Chinese thought reform.
- 1961 Publishes Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism.
- 1976 Testifies for the defence in the Patty Hearst trial; the coercion defence fails.
- 1986 Publishes The Nazi Doctors.
- 1999 Publishes Destroying the World to Save It, on Aum Shinrikyo.
- 4 SEPTEMBER 2025 Dies at Truro, Massachusetts, aged 99.
Checked 2026-08-24
### Margaret Singer
—
Clinical psychologist; theorist of coercive persuasion · 29 July 1921 – 23 November 2003 · active 1950s–2003
Before the law. Expert witness whose theory was ultimately excluded from US courts.
Where things stand. Deceased 2003. Her exclusion is why coercive-control claims are now argued through labour, fraud and trafficking statutes rather than through brainwashing — which is how NXIVM and OneTaste were actually won.
- 1970s–80s Interviews thousands of former members; becomes the leading expert witness for the anti-cult position.
- 1976 Testifies in the Patty Hearst trial.
- 1987 THE APA DECLINES TO ENDORSE THE DIMPAC REPORT she chaired, citing lack of scientific rigour.
- 1992–94 Sues the APA and the American Sociological Association; the suits are dismissed.
- 1995 Publishes Cults in Our Midst.
- 2003 Dies.
Checked
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