Donald DeFreeze
1943–1974
- Nationality
- United States
- Occupation
- criminal
Incarceration history
- Correctional Training FacilityDates unknown
Biography
Donald David DeFreeze (November 16, 1943 – May 17, 1974), also known as Cinque Mtume and using the nom de guerre "General Field Marshal Cinque", was an American man involved with the far-left radical group Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) and convicted criminal. DeFreeze's exact role within the Symbionese Liberation Army is unclear, but analysts have suggested he was either a figurehead or an indirect leader. Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, DeFreeze dropped out of high school and had a criminal record from the age of fourteen. He received probation in the late 1960s, leading some sources to suggest he was serving as a police informant to the Los Angeles Police Department. He and several associates began to make plans for armed action that they believed would rouse the African-American community and attract more recruits. Three SLA soldiers fatally shot Marcus Foster, the superintendent of public schools in Oakland, California, the first African-American superintendent of any major public school system, and wounded his deputy. They mistakenly believed he supported a program of student IDs. Two members of the SLA were arrested in January 1974, convicted and sentenced to prison for the crimes. DeFreeze and co-conspirators next kidnapped heiress Patty Hearst in February 1974, seeking a ransom and media attention for their cause. During a shootout with law enforcement in Los Angeles, DeFreeze committed suicide by gunshot when he and five SLA members resisted a police raid in a burning house. A private investigation before the raid suggested that DeFreeze may have been a police informant and agent provocateur from before the founding days of the SLA. His remains were returned to his native Cleveland, where the funeral was organized at his family's request.