65 pages • 2 hours read
Heather Ann ThompsonBlood in the Water
Heather Ann ThompsonNonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2016A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Part 9Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 9: “David and Goliath”
“Elizabeth Fink” Summary
Elizabeth Fink was from a radical left background, and after editing a leftist newspaper, she entered the legal profession. In July 1974 she was a key figure in the ABLD, working on the Attica defense cases. By the 1980s she found herself part of “the highest-profile Attica case to date” (458), working for “Big Black” Smith.
Chapter 48 Summary: “It Ain’t Over Till It’s Over”
Despite the bold words of Governor Carey in 1976 that all individuals involved in Attica cases would be pardoned, as Thompson says, “he did not in fact have the legal power to pardon anyone in advance of a possible conviction” (489). What this meant was that the surviving prisoners could still seek redress against the state for what had happened. They had been attempting this since 1971. By 1979 five state employees had been served and, after years of legal wrangling, remained in the civil suit. These were: Rockefeller, Oswald, Monahan, Mancusi, and his former deputy superintendent, Karl Pfeil. The case for the plaintiffs was spearheaded by “Big Black” Smith and, after some initial reluctance, Elizabeth Fink as their lawyer. It would, as Thompson notes, be a huge challenge taking on some of the wealthiest and most connected individuals in New York.
Chapter 49 Summary: “Shining the Light on Evil”
Now with important documents collected, Fink was ready to proceed against the state defendants. The judge, Elfvin, decided that Rockefeller should not stand trial. Nevertheless, Oswald, Mancusi, Monahan, and Pfeil were to stand trial in 1991 for crimes related to the retaking of Attica and the post-taking abuse and neglect of medical needs. Thompson notes how this was taking place a full 20 years after the original rebellion.
In the trial, the jury heard testimony retelling the horrors of what happened, especially the post-taking torture and abuse inflicted by medical staff and troopers on inmates. The judge’s final orders to the jurors about the verdict were confusing; they were an attempt to muddy the waters by referring to “emergency” situations. Despite this, the jury delivered a guilty verdict, but only for deputy superintendent Pfeil for the fact that he had been “part of the planning and then personally oversaw the brutality” (477). Some kind of justice and liability on the part of the state had at last been achieved.
Chapter 50 Summary: “Delay Tactics”
Judge Elfvin did not respond positively either to Pfeil’s appeals nor to Fink and the plaintiff’s claims that new charges should be brought against other state defendants. The initial ruling would stand. As such, the debate now moved on to the issue of compensation for any potential affected member of the suit. However, the judge kept delaying the date when damage trials—trials determining the amount of compensation to be shared by the plaintiffs—were to be scheduled.
In anticipation of these trials, doctors and psychiatrists were prepared by Fink. The state was still dragging its feet about a date, though, because, as Thompson says, settling with the plaintiffs for the state “would be tantamount to an apology” (483). In other words, despite the court ruling, paying compensation to the ex-Attica prisoners would be an admission of guilt. After much stalling, damages trials were finally set to begin on May 29, 1997. Further, there would be two trials. The first would be to determine the highest amount of damages a plaintiff would be awarded, based on the case of “Big Black” Smith. The second trial would determine the lowest amount to be paid, based on prisoner David Brosig.
Chapter 51 Summary: “The Price of Blood”
Chapter 51 gives an account of the damages trials. “Big Black” Smith gave a graphic account of how he was tortured in the yard after the retaking, after he was accused of castrating a guard. Following the torture in the yard, he was severely beaten and taken to a solitary confinement cell, where he was beaten further until he passed out. During these beatings, Pfeil had gone by and done nothing to stop it. As might be expected, these experiences left deep physiological and psychological scars. Fink brought in doctors as well as National Guardsmen who had been there at the time to corroborate Smith’s story.
Despite efforts by Judge Elfvin to influence the jury to give a smaller amount to the plaintiff, Smith, the jury awarded him $4 million in damages. The Brosig trial came next to determine damages for the “average” prisoner. He, too, gave harrowing testimony about beatings and torture. He was awarded $75,000 in damages. However, the state appealed the initial liability case to avoid paying the substantial damages. A three-judge panel in 1998 then overturned the original ruling. As Thompson observes, this “was heartbreaking to every one of the Attica survivors who were still alive” (496).
Chapter 52 Summary: “Deal With the Devil”
As a result of this decision, Fink decided to approach progressive judge Michael Telesca to get him to arrange an out-of-court settlement. On January 4, 2000, the state settled for $12 million with the surviving Attica prisoners to end the issue once and for all.
Part 9 Analysis
The $12 million given to the Attica prisoner victims was lower than the $15 million Telesca had first suggested. It was also much less than the state would have paid had it accepted the damages trials ruling. However, the exact numbers were not important. For the State of New York, with an annual revenue in 2000 of almost $40 billion, $12 million was a trifling sum. The question was whether the loss of face in accepting some, albeit minimal, responsibility was more costly than the irritation of having to keep on dealing with the Attica complainants. In the end, the state decided it was not.
For the prisoners, the actual amounts received were tiny. One could certainly argue, as Thompson does, “that there was no amount of money that could truly compensate for this level of emotional and physical trauma” (504). However, if it could, what each prisoner got would not come close. After $40 million was allocated to pay for legal costs, $8 million now had to be divided by Telesca between 502 claimants, split into five categories according to extent of abuse. Category one prisoners, who had been beaten, received injuries, and suffered emotional distress, would get a mere $6,500. At the other end, category four prisoners would get $125,000. These were men who had:
[…] received very severe, multiple beatings, were subjected to acts of torture, or were severely wounded by gunfire, and whose injuries were life threatening and resulted in serious permanent disability, either physical or emotional (501).
When one considers this definition, this payout is staggering. Men who had been tortured and/or “permanently disabled” could expect compensation amounting to barely a few years of the average American salary. Medical bills alone, to treat subsequent physical and psychological conditions, could easily consume all of this.
However, the prisoners would have long since accepted that no settlement, financially speaking, would have been fair. The issue of compensation was, as it had been for the state, symbolic. As Fink said about the money in the damages trial, “it doesn’t make up for it, but it justifies the fight and it heals and gives you closure” (491). What the money did, then, was justify the decades of struggle. Even if the sums were small, the victims had at last managed to gain acknowledgement, however grudging, of state wrongdoing. They had been able, in a way more definitive than with the amnesty 24 years before, been able to at last clear their names. Fink said, speaking of Frank Smith, that it was “an attempt to make him whole” (491). Out of the court context, this seems rather grandiose. It might also seem idealistic to expect a compensation ruling alone to help one reconcile oneself to a world that had treated you so brutally. Still, it offered, for the victims at least, their best chance to draw a line under what had happened.
Moreover, this was not just about the money. Crucial to this process of closure and reconciliation was the fact that at the damages hearings, and then when Telesca was determining the division of the money, ex-prisoners were encouraged to speak. Their stories, so long suppressed and besmirched, could now come to light. Critically, the victims could bring them to light in their own words. Frank “Big Black” Smith told the court that after the retaking “they placed me on the table” and jammed a football under his neck (486). Guards proceeded to tell him, as they beat his legs and genitals, that they would kill him if the ball dropped. This ordeal went on for five hours. He suffered “excruciating pain” in his testicles and wrists, which were now broken. Further, they played Russian roulette with him in his cell. Likewise, Brosig explained how he had a shotgun pointed at his head and was told he was going to die. This experience, a common one after the retaking, would cause severe nightmares and flashbacks for virtually every victim of it.
The inclusion of graphic details of the torture and abuse, recounted in Chapter 51 and elsewhere, is part of a deliberate stylistic choice by Thompson. It is a choice aimed at connecting the reader emotionally with the inmates’ struggles. This approach is also exhibited in the first-person character “stories” that preface each of the 10 parts of the text and in the title itself. It reflects an attempt not just to be content with a traditional historical account of events at Attica, but also to capture something of the horror and inhumanity of those events.
Unlock all 65 pages of this Study GuidePlus, gain access to 8,800+ more expert-written Study Guides.
Including features: