Samuel Melville | |
---|---|
Born | Samuel Joseph Grossman 1934 |
Died | September 13, 1971 (aged 36–37) |
Occupation | draftsman |
Spouse | Ruth |
Parent(s) | Dorothy and William |
Criminal charge | conspiracy, explosives |
Penalty | 18 years in prison |
Samuel Joseph Melville (born Samuel Joseph Grossman, 1934 – September 13, 1971),[1] was the principal conspirator and bomb setter in the 1969 bombings of eight government and commercial office buildings in New York City.[2] Melville cited his opposition to the Vietnam War and U.S. imperialism as the motivation for the bombings. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy and to bombing the Federal Office Building in lower Manhattan, as well as to assaulting a marshal in a failed escape attempt.[3] A key figure in the 1971 Attica Prison riots, he was shot by the police and killed when the uprising was put down by force.[4]
A bomb extensively damaged a part of the fifth floor of the New York City Criminal Courts Building last night in the fourth explosion in a Manhattan public building in two days.
Samuel J. Melville, the terrorist radical who pleaded guilty to the 1969 bombings of eight buildings in Manhattan, was one of the Attica prisoners killed Monday by state sharpshooters, Deputy Correction Commissioner Walter Dunbar said yesterday.