CONTACT:
John Nuthall
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The New York City PBA has learned that the notorious cop-killer now named Jalil Muntaqim has been invited to speak at the State University of New York’s Brockport College on April 6 in a taxpayer-funded “conversation” in which — promotional materials indicate — he’ll be depicted as a “U.S. political prisoner,” rather than the bloody assassin that he really is.
PBA President Patrick J. Lynch said:
“SUNY Brockport has a duty to teach its students the truth. This individual is not a hero. He was not a political prisoner. He is an unrepentant murderer who can teach nothing but how to tear our society apart through violence. This lecture must be cancelled and replaced with a better lesson. We humbly suggest studying some of the heroes of the NYPD’s 32nd Precinct — not only Patrolmen Waverly Jones and Joseph Piagentini, but also Police Officers Jason Rivera and Wilbert Mora. These were four young men from diverse backgrounds who sacrificed their own lives to protect their community in times of turmoil. Brockport’s students should follow their example, instead of listening to Muntaqim’s self-serving lies.”
Rochester Police Locust Club President Michael Mazzeo said:
“We stand in support of our brothers and sisters in the NYC PBA, as well as all active and retired police officers who are calling out the false portrayal of an ‘intellectual conversation’ that involves Anthony Bottom which is being hosted by SUNY Brockport. It is clear from own words in his previous blog posts (#30 & 31), that what he told the parole board were just words and nothing more. He was imprisoned for an act of intentional premeditated murder, not for a political view. His conversation at Brockport will be more of the same, blame everyone and everything in the world except his own actions. At a time when Rochester is facing unprecedented levels of violence and loss of life, the last thing we need is another ‘expert’ to further divide our community. While many are working hard to build a better future, we need meaningful answers, not more biased criticisms. The intellectual conversation that should be had is why it was beneficial to our city to approve his residency here with his background and character. We demand that Brockport cancel the event and instead work towards bringing people together for positive change.”
Fifty-one years ago, when his name was Anthony Bottom, Muntaqim and three Black Liberation Army comrades ambushed two unsuspecting patrolmen — Joseph Piagentini and Waverly Jones — by sneaking up behind them in a Harlem housing project and shooting them both in the back from point-blank range. Jones died immediately but Piagentini had to beg for his life before the killers finished him off.
An event invitation posted on SUNY Brockport’s website describes Muntaqim as a “loving human being” while neglecting to mention that he is a convicted cop-killer.
Diane Piagentini, the slain cop’s widow says literature for the event — titled “History of Black Resistance, U.S. Political Prisoners & Genocide: A Conversation With Jalil Muntaqim” — is full of distortions and omissions. She has written to SUNY Brockport’s president, Dr. Heidi Macpherson, and to the event’s sponsor, assistant professor Rafael Outland, pointing out the omissions and demanding cancellation of the event.
See Diane Piagentini’s letters to SUNY Brockport here.
“While my husband lay on the ground pleading with them not to kill him, pleading he had a wife and children,” Mrs. Piagentini wrote in the letter to Outland, “Bottom took his (the officer’s) service revolver and emptied it into his body. There were 22 bullet holes in his body…”
In the letter, Mrs. Piagentini also informed Outland that “when asked why he had killed a black officer, Bottom replied, ‘A pig is a pig’ it made no difference to him. He cursed that the white officer would not die.”
SUNY Brockport is a few miles from Rochester, NY, where Muntaqim is reported living after having been paroled in the fall of 2019.