Blood in the Water

Thompson begins Part 4 by presenting the perspective of a New York State trooper whose brother, Frank, was a CO at Attica and was now a hostage. Tony Strollo was a Democratic supporter but socially to the right of his parents. While he was desperate to retake the prison and save his brother, he had misgivings. As Thompson expresses it, “He knew that troopers had a lot more experience stopping speeders than storming a prison” (162). They had also been issued with rifles, which they had no training or experience in using.

Thompson looks at the plan for the imminent assault on the prison, planned for Monday, September 13. State Senator John Dunne had helped persuade Oswald to issue a final statement to the prisoners in D Yard. Crucially, the statement, which would be delivered at 7:00am, giving the inmates one hour to respond, would not be issued as an ultimatum letting the prisoners know the full extent of what would happen if they did not surrender. It is unclear whether this approach was taken to gain the element of surprise or because Rockefeller did not want to risk having to call off the assault.

In any case, there were several other key problems with the proposed action.