Friday, December 5, 2008

Former FBI Agent in Charge Joseph H. Trimbach has re-released his provocative expose, American Indian Mafia, An FBI Agent?s True Story About Wounded Knee, Leonard Peltier, and the American Indian Movement (AIM). Supported with over a thousand footnotes and never-before-published material, Trimbach?s first-person account dispels many of the myths and distortions that have been passed on as authentic history in defense of the American Indian Movement leadership.

Updated with a new Timeline and the latest developments in the impending murder trial in which AIM member Anna Mae Aquash was shot in the head, Trimbach recalls events that engulfed him and his fellow G-men in some of the most tumultuous investigations in Bureau history. AIM?s two preeminent leaders, Dennis Banks and Russell Means, are frequent targets in Trimbach?s indictment of AIM violence on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.

In the second half of his book, Trimbach turns his attention to convicted killer Leonard Peltier. Trimbach claims that Peltier has fooled millions of people by virtue of a manufactured persona as a ?political prisoner? and an innocent man, framed for the brutal slayings of two FBI Agents in 1975. Not only has Peltier bilked people all over the world out of their money in the name of a phony defense fund, says Trimbach, Peltier has also denigrated Indians throughout the country by making a mockery of genuine oppression and injustice suffered by Native Americans. Among those listed as having been snookered by Peltier and his lawyers: Amnesty International, 60 Minutes, Mikhail Gorbachev, Bishop Desmond Tutu, and the Dali Lama.

Among Peltier?s strongest supporters are Hollywood heavyweights Robert Redford, David Geffen, and Oliver Stone. Redford produced and narrated ?Incident at Oglala,? a 1988 documentary in support of the theory that Peltier was framed for the murders. Trimbach repudiates this contention, along with similar conclusions in Peter Matthiessen?s bestseller, In the Spirit of Crazy Horse. Trimbach argues that Redford and Matthiessen are guilty of lending legitimacy to ?distortions and falsehoods? which are ultimately detrimental to Native American interests. Peltier?s case has received renewed attention in anticipation of President-elect Obama?s ascendancy to the White House. President Clinton denied Peltier a pardon before he left office. Peltier?s supporters hope that President Obama will give way to petitions that call for Peltier?s release from the federal penitentiary in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.

Former Director of the FBI and CIA, Judge William H. Webster, endorses American Indian Mafia as ?an important contribution to our understanding of what actually happened.? Former governor and congressman Bill Janklow says Trimbach ?blows out of the water? the Peltier myth of innocence and says his book is a ?powerful reporting of history.? TV host Oliver North says Trimbach?s history book is a ?gripping, no holds-barred account? of what really happened at Wounded Knee in 1973, when AIM invaded and destroyed the historic village.

Trimbach, along with his son, John, are know as the AIM Myth Busters, dedicated to correcting the historical record of the Pine Ridge Reservation of the early 1970s. An ad for their book will appear in Sunday?s New York Times Book Section. The ad will be featured by their publisher, Outskirts Press. For more information, see americanindianmafia.com and expertclick.com (keyword: Trimbach).

Contact info: jamessimon500@comcast.net.