Patty Hearst: From Kidnapped Heiress to America’s Most Wanted Fugitive

In this episode of the Compendium, we unravel the astonishing story of Patty Hearst, the kidnapped heiress who shocked the world by becoming one of America’s most wanted fugitives. Discover how Patricia Campbell Hearst went from a life of luxury to joining the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) and committing crimes that defied belief. We’ll explore who Patty Hearst was kidnapped by, how she became a criminal, and what happened to the SLA, all while discussing the famous case of Stockholm Syndrome that gripped the nation.

We give you the Compendium, but if you want more, then check out these great resources:

1. “American Heiress” by Jeffrey Toobin
2. “The Patty Hearst Story” – Documentary on Amazon Prime
3. “Every Secret Thing” by Patricia Campbell Hearst
4. “Revolution’s End:” by Brad Schreiber
5. “The Radical Story of Patty Hearst” – CNN Series

Connect with Us:

• 🌐 Our Website: TheCompendiumPodcast.com
• 💬 Connect: Send us a voice note
• 📸 Our Instagram: @theCompendiumPodcast

Support the show:

• 🍎 Review us on Apple Podcasts
• 🟢 Review us on Spotify
• ❤️ Get Early Access to Episodes on Patreon

Credits:

• Hosts: Kyle Risi & Adam Cox
• Intro and Outro Music: Alice in dark Wonderland by Aleksey Chistilin
• All the Latest Things Intro: Clowns by Giulio Fazio

Chapters

• 0:00 Sneak peak
• 1:14 Welcome to The Compendium
• 2:15 Topic Introduction
• 4:51 All the latest things
• 16:08 Topic of the week
• 1:19:58 Outro

Transcript

[00:00:00] Kyle Risi: So Patty pulls out a machine gun, she announces herself as tanya saying the first man who puts his head up i'll blow his motherfucking head off

[00:00:08] Adam Cox: oh wow, yeah, she means business.

[00:00:10] Kyle Risi: In the end, they get away with just $10,000 which isn't much. But remember, it's not about money. This is about showing the world that Patty is now one of them.

[00:00:17] Adam Cox: Right, okay. 

[00:00:18] Kyle Risi: So her parents immediately go in the defense. They're claiming that she's obviously a victim of thought control, and her life was at risk. And in response, Patty issues another communication saying, no one was pointing a gun at me, this was all my decision, I am an SLA MEMBER MOM AND DAD! 

[00:00:34] Adam Cox: They really keep going back and forth in like the news, going, no, no seriously, I am a serious Terrorist, guys.

[00:00:41] Kyle Risi: God, you never support me in any of my endeavours! I'm a god, mum and dad! I hate you! Bleh!

[00:00:46] Do you know what she needs? 

[00:00:47] Adam Cox: She needs a good hiding. 

[00:00:49] Go to your room.

[00:00:50] [00:01:00]

[00:01:16] Kyle Risi: Welcome compendium, an assembly of fascinating and intriguing things. We're a weekly variety podcast where each week I tell Adam Cox all about a topic I think you'll find both fascinating and intriguing. We dive into stories pulled from the darker corners of true crime, the annuls of your old unread history books, and the who's who of extraordinary people. We give you just enough information to stand your ground. At any social gathering.

[00:01:41] I'm of course your ringmaster this week, Kyle Reesey. 

[00:01:45] Adam Cox: And I'm your, uh. Ant Farm Doctor? 

[00:01:50] Kyle Risi: Okay. I'm learning to not question anything anymore. Just because it just opens up a can of ants. It just leads us down into a [00:02:00] dark place that we don't want to be. So you're an ant farmer this week. 

[00:02:03] Adam Cox: Ant farm doctor. 

[00:02:04] Kyle Risi: Ant farm doctor. Because every farm needs a doctor on hand.

[00:02:08] Adam Cox: Well, yeah, your local GP. Um, yeah, I don't know, this circus is getting bizarre. 

[00:02:13] Kyle Risi: It is getting really messed up, but I like it. today's compendium. We are diving into an assembly of heiresses, revolutionary cults, and a media frenzy that shook a nation. 

[00:02:25] Adam Cox: What is this all about? 

[00:02:28] Kyle Risi: So Adam, today I'm going to be telling you the incredible story of a wealthy heiress who was kidnapped by a gang of Marxist revolutionaries in the USA during the 1970s only for that same heiress to become one of America's most wanted criminals.

[00:02:44] Oh. Adam, today is the day. I'm going to tell you the story of Patty Hurst, from kidnapped heiress to America's most wanted fugitive. Interesting. What do you know about the story, if anything? I'm 

[00:02:56] Adam Cox: guessing nothing. Do you even have to ask me every [00:03:00] week? 

[00:03:00] Kyle Risi: Each week I try to make sure I tell you a story you know nothing about, and most of the time I really crack it. It's shocking. how disconnected we are because we live together and yet you have no idea what I'm working on. 

[00:03:11] Adam Cox: You probably tell me in the week and I say that sounds great and it gets to recording day and I'm like what? We're doing this? 

[00:03:17] Kyle Risi: Right. Adam? Listen, this story is mad because it takes place in a really weird part of American history, the Vietnam and the Watergate scandal has just happened.

[00:03:27] Cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles have become these massive hotbeds for kind of civil unrest. And all of these really radical left wing groups are starting to emerge out of some of the USA's most prestigious universities. Largely, they were kind of like these small obscure clubs filled with middle class white kids living off mummy and daddy's dime.

[00:03:47] But one of these groups was known as the Symbionese liberation Army, who found themselves being catapulted into the national spotlight when they decided to kidnap a young Patricia Campbell [00:04:00] Hurst, the granddaughter of one of America's wealthiest and most powerful media magnates. 

[00:04:07] And over the course of Patti's captivity, she would undergo a frightening transformation that would baffle the world and terrify her family as she is inducted into the group as one of them.

[00:04:20] This would lead the world to ask the question, was Patty brainwashed? Or was she a victim of Stockholm Syndrome? Or perhaps something more complex. So I'm really excited about today's episode. 

[00:04:33] Adam Cox: Did she do it herself? Was she the orchestrator behind it all? 

[00:04:36] Kyle Risi: Well, we'll have to see, right? That's why we're here, right? Today I'm going to tell you about Patty's journey from privilege to machine gun wielding bank robber and the truth behind this entire story. What, what made her, who upset her? Adam again! You have to wait!

[00:04:52] Should we do all the latest things? Let's do it.

[00:04:54] Step right up and welcome to this [00:05:00] week's all the latest things where we unveil the fascinating, the extraordinary, the downright loopy stories, strange facts, and intriguing tidbits from the past week. Adam, what's your headline act today? 

[00:05:14] Adam Cox: So, Kyle. Hmm? It's been a while since we were on the dating scene.

[00:05:18] Kyle Risi: What do you mean? I'm still on the dating scene. I'm dating Keith. Actually, to be fair Every night before we go to bed, I always scoop Keith up and I go, Come on Keith, let's go make a baby. I walk upstairs with him kind of seductively They should really take him away from me. I hope they don't. But my point is I'm still on the dating scene. Me and Keith are courting. 

[00:05:39] Adam Cox: That's, that's a story that the listeners weren't prepared for. Ha ha 

[00:05:42] So, if you were in Spain right now and you were single, Mm hmm. You might have seen a TikTok craze of how people are going about dating right now. Okay. Okay. And so, in order to find a new date you'd have to visit a Mercedona supermarket between [00:06:00] the hours of 7pm and 8pm at night, and you'd put a pineapple on upside down in your trolley. 

[00:06:07] Kyle Risi: Is this like because the pineapples are like connected to like swingers and stuff, aren't they?

[00:06:11] Adam Cox: Well, I think it is, but this is purely about dating. And so the police were called because workers were getting a little bit scared because there were so many people packed into the supermarket looking for a date. 

[00:06:22] Kyle Risi: Did the supermarket organizers or is this like just, the area decided that this is where you pay.

[00:06:27] Adam Cox: Yeah, I think it's a particular supermarket. Something on TikTok basically said, Hey, if you're looking to hook up or get a date, go to this brand of supermarket, put a pineapple in your trolley. And then once you put a pineapple in your trolley, you then have to go visit the wine aisle.

[00:06:45] And then, and then what happens is you then look in the trolleys to see who has their pineapple in the same position that you put your pineapple. 

[00:06:53] Kyle Risi: Oh, so it has to be a specific position because you don't want to proposition a granny. Who's like, just got a pineapple because I love a pineapple.

[00:06:59] Adam Cox: [00:07:00] Yeah. You'd get confused. Yeah. 

[00:07:01] Kyle Risi: People would be like, oh, hello, are you looking to hook up? I'd be like, I have a cat at home. I'll be making out with him later, thanks. 

[00:07:07] Adam Cox: Are you going to eat that pineapple?

[00:07:08] Kyle Risi: Yeah. No. 

[00:07:10] Adam Cox: Um, so yeah, it's kind of like matching pairs. Your pineapple has to be in a certain position with another person's pineapple. And if you like that other person, then you bump your trolley. And if you like them back, then you bump your trolley back. But I can imagine you just going around and you accidentally bump a trolley and you're like, oh no, I don't want to, I don't want to talk to you. No, no, no. Take that back. 

[00:07:27] Kyle Risi: It's like that time when we went, uh, dogging. Hang on. I will explain, I will explain. We went to the local dogging hangout in my brand new car called Beth, who would famously scream when you kind of apply pressure to the brakes and she was bright orange. We went to this dogging spot just to kind of see what was happening and as we pulled in, A car came in, didn't they?

[00:07:50] Adam Cox: It wasn't a police car. 

[00:07:51] Kyle Risi: Well, no, first there was another car in there and they flashed their headlights and we were like, Oh, this is really freaky. Let's go. So I turned the ignition on the [00:08:00] lights turn on, but then the engine failed to start. And then I have to turn the engine off. But that then looks like I'm turning my lights on and off and then this guy started pulling up in front of us and we started screaming and then the next thing a police officer came in. 

[00:08:14] Do you remember that? 

[00:08:15] Adam Cox: I do. I actually blocked that out because I like sheer panic of us going, No, not into this. 

[00:08:20] Kyle Risi: And then if you remember, immediately after that, we drove to Tesco and we bought some panty liners because we wanted to understand how panty liners worked. Where is this episode going? And what we used them for was to put them over our mouths and use them as gags to shut each other up. 

[00:08:36] Adam Cox: Yeah, that's right. God, those are the days, hey. That's how we used to date.

[00:08:45] Oh my god. So yeah, that's my, that's my latest thing this week, pineapple dating. And what about you? I love it. 

[00:08:51] Kyle Risi: Okay, so, In the UK, unnecessary emails account for nearly 24, 000 tons of carbon every year. [00:09:00] Can you believe that? Really? 24, 000 tons. That's unnecessary emails only.

[00:09:05] So this calculated by an energy company called OVO, which of course you might remember, we used to be with them. They used to be our supplier. So they looked into the carbon footprint of an email and they estimated it to be around about one to four grams per email. And out of all the cents, Unnecessary. Emails essentially generate 24, 000 tons of carbon. 

[00:09:25] And what constitutes an unnecessary email are things like you replying yes, or thanks to an email. Like, as a way of acknowledging that you've received it.

[00:09:36] Adam Cox: But then they have like that signature where they said, Oh, be green. Don't print this email. So you think, oh, this is absolutely fine. I can send an email. That's not harming anyone. Well, what Ovo is suggesting is that you add to your signature. Please don't respond. 

[00:09:51] Kyle Risi: Yeah, no, you add to your signature, thanks in advance. Okay. But to me, that's so passive aggressive because like, It's like me saying, hey Adam, if you could get your monthly [00:10:00] boyfriend report to me by 9am tomorrow morning, that'd be great. Thanks in advance. That just sounds really passive aggressive rather than Adam, like I don't keep meaning to nag, but could you please send me the boyfriend report, please?

[00:10:13] Do you know what I mean? Like, I don't know, just assuming you've got you, you can't just say in advance. I think to me, 

[00:10:19] Adam Cox: I don't know. Sometimes it's oh, thanks for doing this just in case I don't respond to it, but I am expecting it in my inbox. 

[00:10:25] Kyle Risi: You are expecting an ignorant. Well, I guess that's it. And I guess the ruder you are, the more directly you're benefiting the environment. Because if you completely blank someone and don't respond, then you're helping the environment. 

[00:10:37] So anyway, the interesting thing about this research is that the guy who advised the study was a guy called Mike Berners Lee. And he's actually the brother to Tim Berners Lee, who was the guy who invented the World Wide Web.

[00:10:49] Oh, okay. So I thought that was quite cool. So the calculation factors in calculating kind of the emails are things like the server processing electricity costs, the cost of running the computer network, [00:11:00] the data storage, all these different things. So it's quite a complex kind of formula. Um, but Mike Berners Lee also wrote a book called How Bad Are Bananas? the carbon footprint of everything, right? 

[00:11:12] And it's a book that is a collection of things that will tell you what the carbon footprint of certain things are. 

[00:11:16] One of the things he talks about in it is that the 2010 World Cup cost 2. 8 million tons of co2e. That's the carbon footprint of the World Cup. Now, to put that into perspective for you, that is the equivalent of every person in the world having 20 cheeseburgers each or the equivalent of 6, 000 space shuttle flights.

[00:11:42] Now, hang on. I don't know if that's the equivalent of every person in the UK having 20 cheeseburgers or everyone in the world. I'm going to say it's more likely everyone in the UK. Maybe one of our listeners can fact check, but that's ridiculous. 20 cheeseburgers each, every person. 

[00:11:56] Adam Cox: You're making listeners fact check your work.

[00:11:59] Yeah, thanks. If [00:12:00] you could, that'd be great. Yeah, thanks and advice. 

[00:12:02] Kyle Risi: Actually, we did have a really nice lady who wrote in a fact checked something from the Roswell episode, almost like over a year ago. 

[00:12:09] Adam Cox: What, correcting your mistake? 

[00:12:10] Kyle Risi: Yeah, about plastic, she was like, listen, People in New Mexico absolutely knew what plastic was back then. I was like, okay, okay, I'll issue a correction. So sorry, thanks for fact checking everybody. But other interesting calculations are that a heart bypass operation. Mm hmm. How many tons of carbon dioxide do you think that is?

[00:12:31] Adam Cox: Thousand. 

[00:12:32] Kyle Risi: Okay. That's a, that's a lot. That's too much. Oh, 10. 1.1 ton. Oh, each? Bypass. Bypass. Oh, sorry. Ton operation. Now also, if you're making a BLT sandwich, uhhuh, if you were going to kind of lower the impact of that BLT sandwich, what's the one ingredient that you'll take out of the BLT? 

[00:12:51] Adam Cox: Well, I feel like you'll take out the B mm-Hmm. because of rearing pigs is probably gonna take a lot of CO2. So, the B. The B. It's actually the T. [00:13:00] You take out the tomato. 

[00:13:01] Kyle Risi: Yeah, so tomatoes need a huge amount of heating and lighting in greenhouses. 

[00:13:06] Adam Cox: Greenhouses. That's natural light. 

[00:13:08] Kyle Risi: Yeah, but you need heating and you need air conditioning and stuff. But not with a regular greenhouse. Uh, not, but they're done in like mass. Oh, yeah, okay, fine. Production, kind of. Industrialization type of thing. Well, that's what this says anyway. Right. Isn't that crazy? So just a side note, because I know that the world is heading this way. Because everyone is like, so what's your carbon footprint? Oh, how much is your carbon footprint for that? Oh, you're going on a private jet? Oh, what's that gonna do to your carbon footprint? I know the world is going this way.

[00:13:36] So if you ever need a heart bypass operation, you might find, especially in the UK with the NHS, they might be like, Heart bypass? Are you sure you want that? You know, you're gonna be emitting 1. 1 tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere. Are you sure you want to do that to our planet? Can't you just die? Exactly. 

[00:13:53] Well, You can then use one of their biggest carbon mistakes and throw that back in their face. [00:14:00] And when I say they, I mean the NHS, because back in 2016, there was an email storm. Do you know what an email storm is? Uh, no. 

[00:14:08] Basically, there's a lot of emails that get sent and everyone's replying to the same email because they're either hitting reply all and it can bring down an email server, basically.

[00:14:18] So in 2016, there was this email storm Where 186 million useless emails were sent by an IT guy working for the NHS when he accidentally sent out an email blast to all 1. 2 million employees of the NHS And then tens of thousands of people who received this email instantly opened up the email and then replied all asking to be unsubscribed which then resulted in tens of thousands of other people replying to that email saying, please stop using reply all on this email, which then caused 186 million emails to be sent, which then ended up bringing down the email server.

[00:14:56] And you've got to remember based on the previous calculation, if [00:15:00] it's Up to four grams per email that's been sent for all these useless emails. They're in the hole a lot for all this carbon. In fact, I think I did calculate it. It's something like 372 metric tons of CO2 was ejected from just that one email blast.

[00:15:16] Adam Cox: Wow, that's a lot mental, isn't it? And uh, for some guy to write a book about all this 

[00:15:22] Kyle Risi: must, he must the guy's brother who entered the internet. 

[00:15:24] Adam Cox: Yeah. Or the World Wide Web. We want to get his own back. Look what you've done to the world. 

[00:15:29] Kyle Risi: Yeah, you've destroyed it. There is a guy who actually holds a record for the most number of emails in his inbox. How many emails are in your inbox? Or what's the most emails that's been in your inbox that you remember? 

[00:15:40] Adam Cox: Thousands, like 10, 000, 20, 000. 

[00:15:42] Kyle Risi: What do you reckon the world record is?

[00:15:44] Adam Cox: 100, 000. 

[00:15:46] Kyle Risi: Try 4, 294, 967, 256. 

[00:15:54] Adam Cox: That feels like, um, a lot of useless emails, doesn't it? 

[00:15:57] Kyle Risi: It's a lot of useless emails. Oh, [00:16:00] only useless if you don't respond to them. Because it only becomes a useless email if you respond. I imagine most emails are useless. Most of them are, yeah. 

[00:16:08] So that's my all the latest things. Cool. Should we get on with Pattyhurst? Let's do it.

[00:16:14] So Adam, today's story takes place in the mid 1970s in California. It's a time that is marked by significant social and political unrest. The country is still reading from the Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal has just rocked the nation, and it's shattered the public's trust in the government. Also, this is a time where widespread economic struggles, including inflation and the 1973 oil crisis, was kind of in full swing.

[00:16:43] So cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco are experiencing an increase in civil violence and this emergence of these new radical ideologies, leading to over a thousand politically motivated bombings every single year. 

[00:16:59] [00:17:00] So it's a scary time and against this backdrop is where I want to introduce you to the first of our main characters of the story.

[00:17:08] Starting with the star of today's episode, Patty. Patty Hearst. 

[00:17:12] So Patty is born into a family that is both incredibly wealthy and incredibly famous. Her grandfather owned one of the largest media companies in the world at the time. And for a modern day comparison, think of the Hursts as the equivalent to the Murdoch family.

[00:17:28] I was just thinking that. Exactly. They are huge media conglomerates, moguls, that's it. and if you guys who don't know who the Murdochs are, they are kind of like the inspiration behind the family from, succession. Oh, okay. So if you're familiar with the TV show, then you get a sense of what this family dynamic might be like.

[00:17:48] Adam Cox: Or like waiting to like take over from dad. 

[00:17:50] Kyle Risi: Exactly. So Patty's grandfather, he owns like 28 of the biggest newspapers of the time. With a combined readership of like 20 million people. So they have a huge [00:18:00] amount of influence amongst kind of ordinary Americans at this time. And they are also credited with essentially inventing the modern day tabloid journalist kind of format as we know it.

[00:18:11] And the types of things that they would publish would be similar to what we would find In like the Daily Mail today, like 

[00:18:18] Adam Cox: sensationalist stories and headlines. 

[00:18:20] Kyle Risi: Exactly, yeah, like dramatic headlines with made up quotes and anonymous sources. If you're not familiar with those types of headlines or those types of kind of publications, then you might also recognize those crazy magazines that your mum or your aunt would read when you were growing up, like, let's chat. 

[00:18:38] And you pick it up from Woolworths or something like that. And like, they'd have a stupid headlines on there, like, my dead grandfather kidnapped my cousin and now my cousin is also my grandma. But those types of really stupid I'm here trying to 

[00:18:48] Adam Cox: work out if that's logistically possible.

[00:18:50] Kyle Risi: It is, I checked it. I absolutely checked it. 

[00:18:52] So Patricia is born in 1954. To randy and katherine hearst and she is the [00:19:00] third of five daughters and by far. She is randy's favorite child and he often treats Patty more like a son because of her like her tomboyish behavior and as a result She's always kind of randy's first choice to be taking along on like hunting trips and things like that 

[00:19:14] Adam Cox: So , And is that unusual to, focus his attention on a girl like that? It feels like you're saying, like, it should be a boy. 

[00:19:19] Kyle Risi: I guess he's always maybe wanted a son, I guess. So, they've got a lot more in common than these other girls who like to play with makeup and boobs. Right, okay. Yeah. Sure. 

[00:19:28] Her relationship with her mother, however, is very different. Catherine is this typical southern belle who expects all of her daughters to behave like little ladies. And like do exactly as they're supposed to do and get married into a good family and just be like women, essentially. 

[00:19:44] But Patty rebels against this from the very beginning, ever since she was a real young kid, and this leads to a lot of tension between her and her mother And

[00:19:51] because of this tension between her and her mother, Patty is always a bit of a rebel. Intentionally getting herself expelled even one time as a way of kind of [00:20:00] showing that she wasn't going to conform to her mother's ideals.

[00:20:03] And there is no question that Patty goes out of her way to rebel against her mother. And in her mid teens, much to Catherine's dismay, she decides that she's going to start a relationship with one of the local neighborhood poor kids. 

[00:20:18] Adam Cox: Really?

[00:20:19] Kyle Risi: But the thing is though, each time she tries to keep them apart, Patty is just even more determined to see him. Obviously there's got to be some kind of element of her actually liking him. 

[00:20:29] However, the relationship doesn't last long and around the age of 15, she develops a crush on a teacher. So his name is Stephen Weed. Weed? I don't know, what a brilliant name. Stephen Weed. I get the sense that he's obviously a pothead. 

[00:20:43] So she starts actively pursuing him. She convinces her father to hire Steven as her guitar teacher, which then eventually leads to him becoming her math tutor, all for the purposes of her getting closer to him. How old is she? So she's around about [00:21:00] 15 at this time. And she's 

[00:21:00] Adam Cox: seducing the math teacher. 

[00:21:03] Kyle Risi: Patty. At the time obviously Stephen is seven years older than Patty and when she starts pursuing her he doesn't really do much to resist. And initially her pursuit of him is seen as kind of this major rebellion. But her parents don't really try very hard to put a stop to the relationship.

[00:21:22] Adam Cox: So why did The parents not care because it sounds like he's an older man and she's only 15 and I would have thought any parent would be like, oh, that's not okay. 

[00:21:32] Kyle Risi: Yeah, it's an interesting question. I don't know. Like, her dad, Is a bit of an alcoholic at this time So he doesn't really fuss over anything that she does anyway and also in his eyes Patty is his favorite and she can do no wrong anyway, and it's also in the 1970s as well So I think it's also a different time a different kind of attitude towards Having relations with older people if anything the biggest issue here is that he's probably not from a good family That's probably the biggest issue here 

[00:21:59] Adam Cox: [00:22:00] I understand, age difference, but this is a pupil teacher relationship.

[00:22:04] Kyle Risi: Exactly, but even then I don't think it was that much of a taboo thing in the 70s. Really? Yeah, I think so. Certainly not as much as it is now. They might have had a problem with it. Uh huh. But I don't think it's to the level that it is. 

[00:22:18] Adam Cox: Feels like they've ridden off their daughter already, Patty's not gonna amount to much. Let's just focus on Sandy. 

[00:22:23] Kyle Risi: 100%, I think that is certainly true on her mother's side because as for her mother she just doesn't approve of Stephen She never will but she's come to terms with this idea that Patty is just never going to be the young lady that she Wants her to be and so she doesn't really stand in her daughter's way. 

[00:22:40] The only thing that Catherine can't stand is Stephen's mustache So in a subtle passive aggressive move, she gives him a razor In an attempt to kind of like, drop the hint to kind of shave off the moustache.

[00:22:53] Adam Cox: What happens if we grew up in the era of moustaches? 

[00:22:56] Kyle Risi: Well we, we, we can have a moustache, Adam. 

[00:22:59] Adam Cox: You can't have a [00:23:00] moustache. 

[00:23:00] Kyle Risi: I grew a pretty good moustache, yours is pretty good, it's really thick lipped.

[00:23:04] Mine's very French, a very French moustache. French pencil Poirot moustache. 

[00:23:09] Adam Cox: Yeah. 

[00:23:09] Kyle Risi: Yeah, 

[00:23:10] Adam Cox: I wonder when moustaches are gonna be back. 

[00:23:12] Kyle Risi: I think moustaches are back now. What are you talking about? 

[00:23:14] Adam Cox: They are but not in the way of like 70s like a handlebar. 

[00:23:20] Kyle Risi: Or like a walrus moustache. Yeah. Yeah. That's not back. Soon. I think soon. That's back? Wait, what? When you look at pictures of Steven, he has one of those big walrus moustaches. He also has those big kind of paedophile glasses. 

[00:23:35] Adam Cox: I don't know if that's the right way to describe, you know, that particular type.

[00:23:39] Kyle Risi: They're very 70s pedophile glasses, Adam. And he's fitting the mold here. So he's going out with someone who's seven years younger than him and a pupil. Okay. We can't give him a pass here. No, I don't think so. But anyway, he's pathetic. Okay. That's what we'll come and find out in a minute.

[00:23:53] So even though like Patty is a bit of a rebel, she's actually a very good student. She ends up graduating, a year early and she [00:24:00] lands a place at Berkeley. And it just so happens that Stephen lands a graduate fellowship there too and so they decide that they're going to move to Berkeley together. 

[00:24:11] His job is only paying like 400 a month which doesn't really matter since Patty comes from like one of the richest families in the world anyway.

[00:24:20] So at 19 Stephen proposes and they're essentially playing happy families while Patty kind of studies, Stephen teaches, and things just like plod along. But eventually things start to take a turn and Patty starts getting a little bit bored of the relationship. 

[00:24:34] And the reason for this is because she's starting to experiment with drugs and embracing these new bohemian ideals that are being shared around the campus by all these other students, where all these other radical groups are springing up from, right? Berkeley University was majorly known for these at the time, it's like this hotbed of extreme leftist organizations, essentially.

[00:24:56] These groups would include like the third world liberation front, [00:25:00] uh, or the anti war activist group or the environmental and anti nuclear movement group and various LGBTQ plus groups. Even back then? Yeah. Like it was extremely, extremely progressive.

[00:25:14] And so it's immersed in this environment that Patty begins to feel like she might be outgrowing Stephen after kind of like meeting this whole set of new and interesting kind of intellectuals around the campus.

[00:25:24] So that's Patty. So let's pause there, because before our story can really take off, we need to meet the next character in the saga. His name is Donald DeFreeze. Donald DeFreeze, what a great name. I know, there's a few good names in this. So Donald's story begins in 1969 while he's in prison at a place called, I believe it's called like, Vaugerville?

[00:25:45] Adam Cox: Okay, what did he do? 

[00:25:46] Kyle Risi: So, he's there most recently because he attacked a prostitute, he stole a cheque from her, and then he was A cheque? A cheque, yeah. 

[00:25:52] Adam Cox: Hang on, are you suggesting that a prostitute is getting cheques for her work? 

[00:25:58] Kyle Risi: Yeah, I mean, back in the day, checks were rife, [00:26:00] man. 

[00:26:00] Adam Cox: I guess so, but I just, I don't know if I would trust it. Like, just, you've had a John, he's written you a check, and you're like, Well, this is gonna bounce. I want money. I want cash in hand. 

[00:26:09] Kyle Risi: No, I think he stole a check that she was given. 

[00:26:12] Adam Cox: Oh, okay, fine. 

[00:26:13] Kyle Risi: Yeah, she didn't make out the check. Yeah, don't trust a check from a prostitute. 

[00:26:16] Adam Cox: No, but even still, I'm just surprised that even a prostitute would even receive or accept a check. 

[00:26:22] Kyle Risi: Yeah, actually it's true. 

[00:26:23] Adam Cox: Did you take a check? Yeah, sure. No, cash. 

[00:26:26] Kyle Risi: Cash only. Or contactless. Well, he steals a check from her. That's the only thing that's important right now.

[00:26:31] Okay. Basically, he gets caught and he goes to prison But while in prison defreeze starts having these regular meetings with one of these radical groups from berkeley Which is made up of a bunch of theater majors and the group is called the black Culture Association or the BCA. Okay. Interestingly, none of them are actually black themselves, but they feel like it's their responsibility to fight against the oppression faced against African Americans in America.

[00:26:57] Adam Cox: Allies. 

[00:26:58] Kyle Risi: They're allies, exactly. [00:27:00] Now, one of the group's activities is to actively engage in various kind of prison outreach programs, and they aim to kind of educate inmates, but most importantly, Their aim is to politicize them and encourage protests and riots against kind of prison conditions and the goal is to essentially instill Marxist and Leninist ideals and Eventually spark a revolution in America. That is their aim 

[00:27:26] Two of the students assigned to the prison are Willie Wolfe and Russell Little. Willie Wolfe? I know, what a brilliant name. You can't get any more white than that. 

[00:27:37] Adam Cox: Just this double alliteration. 

[00:27:39] Kyle Risi: It's a good name. Um, So they connect with Donald and some other inmates and they're teaching them about their manifesto and the Marxist propaganda in basically an attempt to radicalize them.

[00:27:51] A few years later, however, in 1973, whilst still in prison on work duty, Donald sees an opportunity to escape. And [00:28:00] he ends up just simply walking out a prison and he's got nowhere to go. 

[00:28:04] So he immediately heads to Berkeley University to see if he can find his old friends Willie Wolf and Russell Liddle. When he finds them they agree to hide him while the search for him dies down.

[00:28:15] During this time they end up taking a hell of a lot of drugs, they delve deep into kind of their radical leftist ideologies until they come up with the idea of starting a brand new group called the United Federate Forces of the Symbionese Liberation Army or the SLA for short. 

[00:28:35] Adam Cox: Okay, what does this army, what are they going to do?

[00:28:38] Kyle Risi: So, Symbionese is actually just a made up word that Donald creates, it's based on kind of the term symbiosis. And which obviously means when two things are living together and they benefit each other kind of directly. And because the SLA is born out of the BCA, which obviously targets prisoners, they say that Symbionese means like the [00:29:00] free helping the imprisoned and the imprisoned helping the free. It's that kind of concept of them mutually benefiting each other. Okay. 

[00:29:08] Now, Donald declares himself as the general field master of the group and he changes his name to Cinque, I'm going to butcher these names, but he changes his name to Cinque Mutum. 

[00:29:20] Adam Cox: Can I just ask how much acid have they taken? A lot of acid and a lot of drugs and a lot of marijuana. At the moment all they're doing is just making up names. 

[00:29:27] Yeah, they're idiots essentially. So all the other members also follow suit and they change their names, to Willie and Russell become Kujo and Ossie. Names typically are connected to kind of African slaves or South American revolutionaries like Che Guevara and things like that. 

[00:29:45] But other than Donald, these kids are all from rich, white, middle class families, mostly drama students living literally on their parents dime. 

[00:29:54] So the SLA is now formed and they start recruiting more members and over the span of a few [00:30:00] months, like their membership grows from like single digits to a whopping ten members, right? Ten members! Just to be clear, they call themselves an army. Army. But that's a real stretch because at their peak they have like 12 members. That's not even like a class It's not even a class, but they are an army, right? 

[00:30:20] That's the important thing nevertheless Like all radical groups they write down and publish a manifesto and it's called the symbionese liberation army declaration of revolutionary war And the symbionese program 

[00:30:33] and did you have to like, I don't know strip naked and I don't know run in the moonlight And I don't know do all sorts.

[00:30:38] Kyle Risi: It's Probably. Basically, this is just a confused mishmash of various leftist ideals. It's a bit of communism. It's a bit of Marxism. It's a touch of anachronism. It's a dash of feminism, but mostly it just doesn't make any sense and it's stupid. 

[00:30:55] So according to the New York times, they say that the group's splintered rhetoric on [00:31:00] culture, racial and sexual oppression was almost just random.

[00:31:04] So they don't really know what they're talking about. They use a lot of buzzwords because they know the buzzwords, but they don't really know what a lot of these buzzwords mean. 

[00:31:11] Adam Cox: You know when Joey, in Friends. Yes. Is, he has to write that letter and he uses a thesaurus to make him sound smart. Yeah. This is, this feels exactly like that. 

[00:31:21] Kyle Risi: Yeah, so if they had like a thesaurus of leftist ideological words and they just went, okay, what does this word mean? Okay, yeah, we'll throw that one in there. Throw in some feminism, some Marxism. They just don't know what a lot of it means.

[00:31:33] And the thing is though, most of their manifesto directly contradicts itself. They don't even know what the word Marxism means. And that's the foundation of the entire manifesto. Like they just mix these different ideologies together. It just doesn't make any sense, but they write it down. They publish it anyway. None of this mattered because they had a very cool flag and a very cool logo to go with it. 

[00:31:57] Adam Cox: Have you seen what that looks like? The flag? 

[00:31:59] Kyle Risi: Oh yeah. 

[00:31:59] So [00:32:00] the SLA flag is basically a red background symbolizing the blood of their enemies and in the center is a coiled black cobra with seven heads representing the group's readiness to strike at any moment. And much of the symbolism that they use is just borrowed from other kind of faction groups formed in previous decades around the world. So they're just borrowing a lot of cool things that they see. They're like, Oh, that's really cool. That's add a Cobra onto that. They can mean like the blood of our enemies.

[00:32:25] And just,It's not greatch. 

[00:32:28] Adam Cox: Stop trying to make greatch happen. Greatch. Um, yeah, it just sounds like these guys need a job. But anyway, carry on. 

[00:32:34] Kyle Risi: Yes, they do. I mean, they're all just rich kids pretending to be woke, essentially. 

[00:32:39] Adam Cox: Trying to find a purpose. 

[00:32:40] Kyle Risi: Yeah, they're just insufferable, if you ask me.

[00:32:43] Now, despite their stance on violence as a strategy, their ideals are mostly positive, right? Their movement aims to eliminate pain and suffering in the world. Like, who doesn't want to eliminate that? They're against racism. Hang on. 

[00:32:55] Adam Cox: They want to eliminate pain and suffering? 

[00:32:57] Kyle Risi: Yeah. 

[00:32:58] Adam Cox: By being violent. Yeah, yeah. [00:33:00] Okay. Yeah, as I said, it doesn't make sense. Just want to clear that up. 

[00:33:03] Kyle Risi: They're against racism, sexism, ageism, capitalism. They want to secede a portion of the United States and form their own independent country. Or failing that, they want to completely overthrow the United States. But despite, obviously, their lofty goals, they don't actually have a strategy.

[00:33:20] They lack an overarching end game or any clear purpose in how they're going to get their goal of creating their own independent country or overthrowing the United States. It's very wishy washy, right? It's just a bunch of rich insufferable students who just, have got no life experience.

[00:33:37] Adam Cox: It's making me angry. 

[00:33:38] Kyle Risi: Is it? That's shocking. Do you want to talk about it? 

[00:33:41] Adam Cox: No, but it actually reminds me of, maybe not so dissimilar to younger people today that are just coming out of college. 

[00:33:48] Kyle Risi: Yep. 

[00:33:49] Adam Cox: And, ready to take on the world because they think they've got all this wealth of experience because that's what you do when you have that age.

[00:33:55] You think you are ready to conquer the world. They don't have wisdom though. And you know it all, but you don't. You don't have that [00:34:00] experience. It's only five, ten years later that you go I was an absolute dick. I was an idiot. 

[00:34:04] Kyle Risi: Adam, the world has always been like this. Yeah. Always. And this is what's happening here. And it's just magnified at this time because of the geopolitical things that are happening around the world, right? 

[00:34:14] Adam Cox: Yeah, I was like it, but I didn't have a flag. 

[00:34:16] Kyle Risi: I don't imagine you were, you were just always so nice. I mean, I know you didn't have a flag. But I don't imagine you were like this. Do you know what I mean? No, was. Which is why it's quite well rounded. I think I was, you're right. And just dull.

[00:34:27] Adam Cox: Love you! Yeah, carry on with your story. 

[00:34:29] Kyle Risi: Oh, and this would have been the deal breaker for me. The group is also anti alcohol. I know I'm not drinking at the moment, but if I was in my early 20s, I'd be like, yeah, I'm out. Yeah, bye. But, like all good cult leaders Cinque, aka Donald, doesn't follow the rules, right?

[00:34:45] He's always drunk on plum wine, and it seems that most of the rules only apply to the other members. And that's fine, because they all worship him after all, he's the only other black person in the actual group, and Donald often uses this kind of white guilt [00:35:00] as a tool to manipulate the others to get them to do what he wants them to do.

[00:35:04] So the entire SNA army of 12 people Are all living together in this three bedroom house paid by these rich middle class members families And they are funding essentially donald's sla group and because one of the group's ideals is anti monogamy They're all just fucking banging each other man and taking lsd and smoking pot all day occasionally coming up for a bit of air And like in between that they'll be like, okay, shall we uh, maybe recruit more members?

[00:35:34] You And then they'll go have sex again, and then they'll come up again and they'll be like, should we try again some publicity? And they're like, yeah, let's do that. They'll do a bit of that. And then they'll go back down again and have sex, take drugs and come up again and go, okay, what's next? Essentially.

[00:35:48] Adam Cox: This should probably get like a more than a three bedroom house because I don't know, it just feels quite claustrophobic. It does. And sweaty by the sounds of things. It does. 

[00:35:56] Kyle Risi: Now towards the end of 1973 while they are still completely [00:36:00] unknown to the world the SLA does something that's about to make them very well known Cinque, aka Donald DeFreeze orders that the SLA are to assassinate a man named Marcus Foster. These are, these are kids that are going to drama class during the day and at night are off to go and assassinate some black superintendent from a school. Wow. That's fucked up Adam. 

[00:36:28] So Marcus is the first black superintendent of a major public school in the USA. And because he supports the introduction of student kind of identification cards he is seen as this fascist traitor to the black community by the SLA. They think that killing him will help them gain support from the black community and will help them recruit new members.

[00:36:50] But most importantly, it will help them gain publicity, essentially. 

[00:36:53] Adam Cox: But this is a predominantly white Exactly. 

[00:36:55] Kyle Risi: Donald DeFries is like, we need more black members. No one wants to [00:37:00] join. 

[00:37:00] Adam Cox: Let's kill a black person. Let's kill a black person. What the hell? 

[00:37:03] Kyle Risi: A traitor. Yeah. So a few of the SLA members, including a guy named Joseph Romeo, a codename Bo and Ossie, they wait for Marcus to leave a school board meeting one day, and then they shoot him along with his deputy, uh, using a hollow tipped bullet that's packed with cyanide, and he dies essentially.

[00:37:24] And when the news breaks about the assassination, the group issues a press release saying that we are the ones who did it, this is our cool logo, and this is why we killed him. 

[00:37:33] And the thing is though, no one knows how big or small they are, but people across America are terrified and suddenly, everyone is aware that there is this group of these radical leftists coming out of Berkeley University. openly assassinating people. 

[00:37:48] Adam Cox: But at this point they don't know who the people were, they just know it's an organisation. Yeah. God, imagine if they knew. Oh, I guess just these teenage I mean obviously they killed someone, that's terrible. But it's just a bunch of teenagers or young adults. 

[00:37:59] Kyle Risi: [00:38:00] Yeah. Isn't that messed up?

[00:38:01] Adam Cox: With a flag. With a a cool flag. 

[00:38:03] Kyle Risi: Not that cool. So they're Notoriety is soon to become a major problem for them because They had before the relative freedom to go about their business as usual. But now their logo is literally 

[00:38:19] So a few weeks later, two of the members, Bo and Ozzy, they're the ones who killed Marcus essentially, they're out picking up some artillery, and they're also collecting some SLA pamphlets from the printers, and they are pulled over by a couple of cops who see the pamphlets In the backseat of the car and it's got the logo of their group on there. Of course the news is everywhere.

[00:38:42] They recognize them immediately They tell them to get out the vehicles and at that point bow and oxy starts shooting at them And without too much bloodshed they're quickly arrested And they are essentially sentenced to life Imprisonment.

[00:38:55] Adam Cox: But the other members managed to avoid all this? 

[00:38:58] Kyle Risi: Yes, correct. [00:39:00] So this is a huge blow for the SLA because now they've lost literally a fifth of their membership. Okay. So the rest of the SLA come together and they need to hatch a plan to secure their release.

[00:39:10] So on the record we know a lot about their brainstorming ideas to free Bo and Ossie because after their arrest the group had to abandon their house where they were all living and of course they want to destroy all the evidence that they left behind so they try to burn all the evidence just in case the cops can link them to the house but the problem is being a bunch of rich white kids with zero street smarts, they have no idea how to actually set a fire.

[00:39:37] What they do is they pour petrol all over the place, they light a match and they walk away, but because they've left all the doors and the windows shut, the fire just gets starved of oxygen and everything is preserved. So when the police finally show up at the house, they see all the evidence and they know exactly what they were planning on doing.

[00:39:53] Adam Cox: I'm sure, surely you would make sure that the thing sets alight and then you walk away. You don't just assume. 

[00:39:59] Kyle Risi: [00:40:00] They're just running, they think it's a firework. They're like, ahhh, run! Oh, these people. They are idiots. So yeah, everything is just perfectly preserved. And amongst all this evidence, they find a long list of potential people that they could kidnap to negotiate the release of Bo and Ossie 

[00:40:16] and it just so happens that Patty's name, Is on that list. 

[00:40:20] Adam Cox: Oh, 

[00:40:20] Kyle Risi: But like idiots, the police never actually reach out to any of the potential targets to warn them that there's this crazy group of nut jobs who might try and kidnap them. 

[00:40:30] Adam Cox: Maybe they just thought oh, these guys aren't actually gonna go through with it. Oh, so how'd they come to select Patty? 

[00:40:36] She's also at Berkeley. 

[00:40:38] Yeah. They're not 

[00:40:39] Kyle Risi: going far afield.

[00:40:40] Adam Cox: They're at class and oh, let's just choose this random rich kid. 

[00:40:44] Kyle Risi: Yeah. So meanwhile, the SLA have no idea that police have found all the stuff. They continue with their kidnapping plans. A couple of nights before the kidnapping, the SLA members, they scope out Patty's place. They noticed there's no security. It has easy access from the street and there's not too [00:41:00] many neighbours nearby.

[00:41:01] So on February the 4th, one of the female SLA members, they knock on Patty and Stephen's door. She claims she's crashed her car just down the road. And as soon as they let her in, two other SLA members, they bust through the door with machine guns while three others wait in different getaway cars down the street. 

[00:41:18] Now Stephen assumes that this is just an armed robbery, so he's like, take whatever you want, take whatever you want! But like, Sinkway, he just ends up beating the shit out of him with his gun, while the others just kind of gag Patty before carrying her out to one of the getaway cars.

[00:41:32] To put this into perspective, this whole situation Would be exactly the same as if Paris Hilton was kidnapped today, right? Mm hmm the SLA they take Patti back to their hideout They throw her in the closet where she stays for almost two months in Total darkness wow.

[00:41:48] At first, it's a total mystery who has taken Patty, or even why. There's no ransom note, there's no demands but because of who she is, of course, it becomes a huge media [00:42:00] story almost instantly. Reporters swarm the Hearst mansion.

[00:42:03] Every day Stephen and the Hearst family will come out, they'll give updates on any developments that they've learned. But for the first few days, the only updates are that we don't know who they are, we don't know why they've taken her, and we don't know when we're going to hear from them. It's just complete radio silence.

[00:42:19] Over the next few months though, Patty's face ends up on the cover of almost every single magazine in the world. The story is that this media mogul heiress has been kidnapped. And because it's so high profile, the FBI dispatch 104 agents to work on the case.

[00:42:36] And in addition, the Hearst family even hire like psychics to assist in trying to locate where Patty is being held. 

[00:42:43] A few days later, the SLA, they come forward and they claim responsibility for the kidnapping. The way they do this is they send a letter to a Berkeley radio station confirming that they have arrested Patty, essentially, and they're holding her hostage as a prisoner of war, because [00:43:00] remember, they're an army. They are at war with the US government. An army of eight.

[00:43:05] So what they do is they demand that any future messages that they send in be published in all of the Hearst's kind of media outlets, ensuring like it gets maximum global coverage of every communication. And there's going to be a lot of communications. They call them communicates.

[00:43:22] Which I just feel like you're trying really hard to kind of sound smart. It's a communication. I think they call them a communicate like the SLA. Okay. I mean a communicate is another fancy way of saying message essentially or a communication. A communicate. 

[00:43:37] Adam Cox: That the sources has come out again. 

[00:43:39] Kyle Risi: So in this first letter, the SLA is explicit. Patty will be executed if any rescue attempt is made or if any other SLA members are arrested before their demands have been met. All of their future communications will be signed off with the same slogan. death to the fascist insects that prey upon the life [00:44:00] of the people.

[00:44:01] I mean, they're a bit traumatic. By the way, they are theatre majors, by the way. Oh, are they? Yeah, they're all theatre students. 

[00:44:07] Adam Cox: Wow, this has really gone to their head. Yeah. Like Shakespearean actors. 

[00:44:13] Kyle Risi: Yes. So the following day the media receives their next communication, this time outlining The demands for Patty's safe release.

[00:44:20] Basically, they want Beau and Ossie released from prison, right? That's the reason why they kidnap Patty. Surely they never think that's actually going to happen. Exactly. Because the governor of California at the time, Ronald Reagan, who obviously would eventually become president, is very conservative and very tough on crime.

[00:44:36] So it's just not going to happen. And also they have this kind of mentality where they just will not negotiate with terrorists at all. Yeah. Meanwhile, Patti remains confined in her closet, they force her to memorize the SLA's entire manifesto, making her recite it back to them like dozens and dozens of times every single day.

[00:44:55] They essentially want her to be able to speak knowledgeably about the group and their [00:45:00] goals they're brainwashing her on may. Exactly. That's one of the biggest questions that will come outta this was she brainwashed. So eight days after the kidnapping on February the 12th, when it becomes clear that Bo and Aussie are not going to be released, the SLA issue, their next communica or the communication, and it's a recording of Patty delivering the next set of demands. Now Patty begins the recording with mum, dad, I'm okay, I've had a few scrapes, they've cleaned me up, and I'm not been starving, and I'm not been beaten.

[00:45:32] Listening to this tape, by the way, Patty sounds completely bored. 

[00:45:39] Adam Cox: Which is in a closet, rehearsing these stupid 

[00:45:42] Kyle Risi: Day in and day out.

[00:45:43] Yeah, for sure. Like she's been doing this for eight days. So in a message, Patti reassures everyone that the SLA is adhering to the Geneva Convention of guidelines for kind of treating prisoners of war fairly. However, in the recording, she urges [00:46:00] her parents to comply with the SLA's demands very, very quickly and very, very promptly.

[00:46:05] So she then outlines what the demands are. She says as gesture of good faith, the SLA want the Hearst family to provide 70 worth of food to all the needy people of California before any negotiations can proceed and they can start to negotiate Patty's release.

[00:46:23] How do you even do that? Exactly. How are they going to do that? So this is supposed to emphasize that their actions aren't about profit. But they're about making a positive change in the world. 

[00:46:34] They have no concept of how much that's actually going to cost. 70 of food for every needy person in California. is going to cost them 400 million dollars. And although Randy Hurst is wealthy he doesn't actually have access to that kind of money because most of their wealth is tied up in trusts and other assets and the Hurst family fortune as a whole is managed by a board.

[00:46:58] Basically the Hursts receive an [00:47:00] allowance every year from the board and that's how they're able to kind of support themselves. So they're not going to hand over that kind of money for them to kind of just hand over to a bunch of terrorists like that money is locked away it's protected by a board 

[00:47:13] but Randy obviously doesn't want to admit publicly that he doesn't have access to that kind of money so he says okay we won't give you 400 million we'll give you 2 million That we can spend on the needy for some reason, there's not really too much negotiation back and forth.

[00:47:29] The SLA agreed to that. And 

[00:47:31] Adam Cox: they're like, really? They're gonna do that? They're gonna do it. Take it. Take the deal. 

[00:47:34] Kyle Risi: guess they went high, right? Go high in case they come down. So basically, They established a new foundation under the Hearst family name called People in Need and they assemble a team of organizers and they recruit like hundreds of volunteers to distribute the food across California.

[00:47:50] One of the SLA's demands is that all the food be delivered in boxes containing the SLA's kind of Cobra logo in [00:48:00] order to promote the group and to make it very clear that this food is coming from this notorious kind of SLA group that murdered this Marcus guy. 

[00:48:09] Adam Cox: Quite interesting because this is just a bunch of eight or ten people. that's been able to pull this off. So this bit is kind of impressive. It is 

[00:48:17] Kyle Risi: impressive, yeah. So when Ronald Reagan finds out about this, he just publicly expresses his disgust, like accusing the Hearsts of pandering to terrorists. I mean, at the end of the day, They want their daughter. They want their daughter back. Yeah. Yeah. So, fuck you, Ronald Reagan. Get this. He also says this. He hopes that everyone who accepts the food for free gets a bad bout of botulism. I'm like, what do they do to you? They're just people who are hungry. 

[00:48:41] Adam Cox: They just need some food. They just want some bread. 

[00:48:44] Kyle Risi: Yeah.

[00:48:45] Adam Cox: Maybe you should give some money, Ronald. 

[00:48:46] Kyle Risi: Yeah, exactly, Ronald Reagan. So they're set up 13 distribution points across California expecting kind of everything to go smoothly however, when they start distributing food people start storming the trucks and Volunteers have to kind of like frantically keep up [00:49:00] with all the chaos just handing out food It ends up looking like they're throwing food at people, but they're not They're just trying to get the food off the trucks as quickly as possible when the SLA sees this they are furious Because they believe that the hearse are kind of just insulting poor people by just throwing Food at them.

[00:49:15] Adam Cox: Right? Okay. 

[00:49:15] Kyle Risi: So it doesn't look good. So this is when Patty seems to change, right? Because in their next video or communicate, instead instead of the bored, disinterested demeanor. That she showed before she now appears annoyed about how the media have depicted this kind of food drive and how her mother Catherine specifically is behaving in front of the cameras like in her communication. She's like mom. I'm not dead. You need to stop wearing black.

[00:49:42] Really? Mom's like all dramatic. My daughter. She's like, it looks like you're in mourning. So at this point Randy is forced to admit to the media that the situation is now beyond his financial capability but when Patti hears this she's devastated because it sounds like he's not willing to try and [00:50:00] save her. Like she and everyone else believe that the family has access to literally billions and billions of dollars when reality None of that money was accessible to him at all. It's a business. Yeah. 

[00:50:13] So Patti sends out another communication and in it she is furious. She says, I don't believe my parents are doing everything that they can. They said that it's now out of their hands, but what you should have said is that you've washed your hands of me and that you don't love me anymore. 

[00:50:27] Adam Cox: They just spent 2 million trying to get you back. Yeah, but it's not the 400 

[00:50:31] Kyle Risi: million that they were supposed to spend, right? Yeah, but, okay. What's interesting is that she now sounds less and less like a prisoner or a victim. And this is because while being held captive, she is starting to connect with the SLA members and they're all living together in this small house 24 hours a day. 

[00:50:50] Adam Cox: She can't still be in that closet. 

[00:50:52] Kyle Risi: She does come out of the closet a little bit, not as a lesbian. She has been very cooperative as a prisoner. So they're very [00:51:00] sympathetic towards her. The only act of resistance that she ever gave was initially she refused to eat until someone took a spoonful of the food to prove that it wasn't poison. But anyone would do that, right? But I guess over time, like they begin to build trust and they understand that she's not going to run away or anything.

[00:51:16] But now, the SLA are at a crossroads, regardless of the connection they built with, Patty, they are now haven't had any of their demands met.

[00:51:24] So they don't know whether or not to ask for something else, let Patty go, or just kill her. But at this point, Catherine, Patty's mother, has accepted a job offer from Ronald Reagan to be on the governing body at Berkeley University. This is her way of publicly saying, essentially, that I'm not going to bow down to terrorists. And by accepting this position, she will be in charge of shutting down all the kind of different radical groups across the campus. And this is a massive insult to the SLA. So, they do actually seriously consider killing Patty because of [00:52:00] it. Right, okay. 

[00:52:00] But then they have an even better idea. They're going to induct Patty as an official SLA member. 

[00:52:08] Adam Cox: Whether she wants it or not. 

[00:52:09] Kyle Risi: Whether she wants it or not. So on the 3rd of April, they release a new communication to the media where Patty expresses her disappointment in her parents and how they've handled the entire situation. And if you watch this video, she is really angry. She says like she was offered the choice to be released or to join the SLA, and she declares that she has chosen to stay and fight. 

[00:52:32] Adam Cox: So, I mean, she's always been a bit rebellious, and doing her own thing, but I don't know, maybe she never had the opportunity, and that's why she stayed. I don't know, but it just seems, why, why would she stay? 

[00:52:43] Kyle Risi: Mm, exactly. This is what we're going to explore throughout this. Okay, I think she wanted to stay 

[00:52:50] Adam Cox: because she was just pissed at her mother 

[00:52:51] Kyle Risi: I don't think it was that I think it was a lot deeper than that I think that she connected with this group Okay, and she will have a lot of opportunities to escape and [00:53:00] she doesn't 

[00:53:00] Adam Cox: okay 

[00:53:01] Kyle Risi: So she tells the world that she's chosen to stay in fights. She then announces that she no longer goes by the name Patty and that from now on people should call her Tanya, which Well, so after one of Che Guevara's kind of comrades, essentially, she was like his right hand woman. And from this point on, she declares that her real parents are Malcolm X and a female member of the Black Panthers. 

[00:53:24] Adam Cox: Well, that's not true, but yeah, 

[00:53:26] Kyle Risi: that's impossible, Patty, but okay, so on the 4th of April, she declares, I'm now an SLA member. Fatherland or death, we shall triumph. And this shocks everyone that's following the story in the media. Like people begin speculating whether or not this is a hoax or just a stunt orchestrated by the SLA.

[00:53:45] It's all real, Adam. And the question becomes whether or not she was coerced to join the SLA at her own free will, or whether or not she was brainwashed. When word gets back, though, to the SLA that nobody believes that she joined [00:54:00] voluntarily, they decide that they need a plan to prove that she actually did. And they decide that Patty is going to publicly rob a bank. 

[00:54:09] Adam Cox: You've got to prove yourself. The only way to do that is to rob a bank. Rob a bank. 

[00:54:14] Okay. I mean, sure, I just feel like whatever they do doesn't make sense, but why not? 

[00:54:22] Kyle Risi: So they scout for a bank with plenty of security cameras, and they finally settle on the Iberian Bank in San Francisco. They orchestrate everything down to the exact spot where Patty will stand in the bank when she announces that this is a robbery, ensuring as many cameras as possible capture her in that moment. And they spend a lot of time making sure like their costumes are perfect. Perfectly in line with their brand as well.

[00:54:44] So they look like Sheikahbara, essentially. Like in the uniform with the berets and the machine guns. They're going for a look. And it's Sheikahbara. 

[00:54:53] Adam Cox: But yeah, I guess it's all about image for them really, isn't it? 

[00:54:56] Kyle Risi: Exactly. So when they're ready, they enter the Hiberian Bank, [00:55:00] Patty pulls out a machine gun, she announces herself as tanya saying the first man who puts his head up i'll blow his motherfucking head off and while this is happening two people enter the bank and they are immediately shot And wounded. Oh yeah. She's not fucking around. 

[00:55:14] Adam Cox: Oh wow, yeah, she means business.

[00:55:16] Kyle Risi: In the end, they get away with just $10,000 which isn't much. But remember, it's not about money. This is about showing the world that Patty is now one of them. And it works perfectly because the CCTV footage is then suddenly all over the headlines. And now there's no doubt that Patty is now an SLA member.

[00:55:31] Adam Cox: Right, okay. 

[00:55:32] Kyle Risi: So her parents immediately go in the defense. They're claiming that she's obviously a victim of thought control, saying that guns were pointed at her, and her life was at risk. And if she didn't comply during the robbery, then they would have shot her. And in response, Patty issues another communication saying, No. I am a soldier, and no one was pointing a gun at me, I was not under any influence, this was all my decision, it was all under my own free will, I am an SLA MEMBER MOM AND [00:56:00] DAD! 

[00:56:00] Adam Cox: It just feels like, they really keep going back and forth in like the news, going, no seriously, I am a serious Terrorist, guys.

[00:56:08] Honestly. 

[00:56:09] Kyle Risi: God, 

[00:56:09] you never support me in any of my endeavours! I'm a god, mum and dad! I hate you! Bleh!

[00:56:14] She's a spoiled brat. Do you know what she needs? 

[00:56:17] Adam Cox: She needs a good hiding. A good smack on the bum. Go to your room.

[00:56:21] Kyle Risi: By this point, she stops referring to her parents as mum and dad, and she starts calling them the Hearst Pigs. You know, like I said, she needs a good smack of the bum! She does! Because, of course, the SLA members are now wanted criminals, they have to leave the San Francisco Bay Area and lay low for a while. 

[00:56:38] So they relocate to Los Angeles to a temporary hideout near kind of Compton. You've heard of Compton, right? Straight out of Compton. 

[00:56:45] Adam Cox: There's a movie about that. Yeah, but what is Compton exactly? Is that where all the gangs are? I don't know, but someone was straight out of it and that was a big deal. 

[00:56:55] Kyle Risi: Yeah, I guess that's why I'm asking such a big deal. What is [00:57:00] it? But now obviously with Patty as the newest member they have Nine people living in this house and it's getting really hard for them to move around as a group Without drawing attention to themselves because remember she's the most famous woman on the planet 

[00:57:14] Adam Cox: Yeah, they really didn't think this through but I'm not surprised at this point. I'm just waiting for their come up of instances 

[00:57:20] Kyle Risi: Oh, it's coming. So they decide that they need to split up into three groups Right? Three groups of three. 

[00:57:26] Adam Cox: I don't want to go in the group with Patty. 

[00:57:30] Kyle Risi: But the problem is no one wants to be stuck with Patty! Maybe you should go by yourself. So they draw straws to the side, and I like to think it's because, not because she's the most Recognizable face on the planet, but it's because she's really insufferable. I really want that to be true. 

[00:57:46] Adam Cox: We really shouldn't have recruited her, guys. 

[00:57:48] Kyle Risi: She's awful! But I mean, the reality is that she has the least experience. She's the newest member of the group, but also no one trusts her really. Like she was this rich heiress. She could just escape at any moment in time and just She could [00:58:00] turn on them again. Exactly. But she does end up getting lumbered with, Bill and Emily. They're the husband and wife duo of the group, right? So they're like, Gee, thanks.

[00:58:09] But this really kind of impacts Patty really hard, like she wants to do something to prove her loyalty to the group. So on May the 16th, just before the group are about to split up and go their separate ways into their three groups of three, Emily and Bill take Patty out to go and get some supplies.

[00:58:28] They go to a nearby store called Mel's Sporting Goods and Bill and Emily obviously leave Patty in the car since she's one of the most recognizable faces on the planet and while they're in the store, Bill spots like a bandolier. bandolier is? 

[00:58:44] Adam Cox: I've been very impressed. Well, something that looks like a sash that you put around your body.

[00:58:50] Kyle Risi: Yes, but, but it contains, but you put bullets in it. 

[00:58:53] Adam Cox: That's right. This is, that's exactly what I was about to say. 

[00:58:55] Kyle Risi: Are you joking? No, you did the [00:59:00] gesture. 

[00:59:00] So he thinks this would be perfect for Emily.

[00:59:02] Adam Cox: You know what you need. 

[00:59:05] Kyle Risi: A bandolier will really make your eyes pop. So he picks it up, he tries it out and then he carries it around the store with him for a few minutes intending to buy it but then he changes his mind and he sets it down. So he's exactly like me. I do exactly that. I like pick this up. I love it. I love it. Adam, I'm gonna use it forever, I swear. And then literally five minutes before the checkout, I put it down. 

[00:59:24] Yeah. It's a real problem. I don't think I'd like shopping with him, either. 

[00:59:29] So one of the shop attendants sees Bill pick it up, but he doesn't actually see him set it down. So he thinks that Bill has stolen it.

[00:59:36] Oh, okay. Now the attendant is studying to be a cop, so he knows that he has to wait for Bill to leave the store Before he can intervene and try and apprehend him for shoplifting So as Bill and Emily are walking out the door, the shop assistant yells, Bill!

[00:59:51] And Bill, his heart immediately stops because he thinks somehow this guy Knows his name, but it turns out the shop assistant is just calling for [01:00:00] his manager Whose name also happens to be bill. I mean, it's a common name. What are the chances? What are the chances? So bill turns around panics the shop assistant says like I think that you've stolen something.

[01:00:09] I need to search you Bill freaks out he screams he starts running away and the shop assistant just tackles him to the ground And tries to perform a citizen's arrest on him and while bill is on the ground Suddenly, dozens of bullets just start flying over their head and everyone just hits the ground.

[01:00:27] Bill and Emily look across the car park. And there's Patty. And there's Patty firing from the driver's side of the van. And she just keeps firing until she empties two magazines of ammo from this machine gun into the side of this building. And once that finally stops Bill and Emily, they just kind of get up and sprint over to the van and they drive off.

[01:00:48] I'd go drive off in another van. I'm not carrying on with you. 

[01:00:52] Well, I mean they do make a getaway. They only manage to get several blocks before the car completely just dies. At that point, [01:01:00] Bill spots two guys hanging out in front of the yard and he runs up to them and he says, I don't know why this works. He goes, Hey, I'm with the SLA. We need your car. And like, probably just like in a state of utter bewilderment, they just willingly hand over their keys. 

[01:01:16] Adam Cox: I guess they might also sound like Sounds like the PDA or something like a police PDA, Public Display of Affection No, with a PDA Like, we're with the FBI Yeah, but maybe they like misheard it for like, I don't know, some kind of police Yeah, so I stand by that 

[01:01:34] Kyle Risi: Bewilderment took over there so they get into the car and they just speed off. A few hours later, they decide that the car is far too small to conceal them and they realize that they need a van so they can kind of lay low if necessary. Also, like remember, they're an army. What kind of threateningness can you kind of evoke if you're in a sedan, right? You need a van. 

[01:01:55] Adam Cox: Yeah. 

[01:01:56] Kyle Risi: Mr. T van. 

[01:01:57] So they spot a van with a for sale sign in the window [01:02:00] and they get out. Emily knocks on the door and an 18 year old guy opens the door and Emily turns on the charm. She's like, hey, like, could we possibly take your van for a bit of a drive? And Tom's like, yeah, of course. 

[01:02:13] So they get into the van and just as she gets into the van, Emily asked, can my friends join? And at that moment, Bill and Patty appear on either side of the van's windows with Bill gesturing at his machine gun. That's like underneath his jacket. 

[01:02:29] So Tom doesn't really. have much choice really. So they all pile into the van. Tom immediately recognizes who they are and rather than being utterly terrified, he's super stoked that he gets to meet a real life celebrity because he's seen them all on television. Right, okay.

[01:02:45] So he knows exactly who they are and he thinks my friends are never Going to believe this. He's like one of those really annoying insufferable kids he's more than willing to be their hostage Just as long as they promise to get him home in time for his baseball game [01:03:00] tomorrow That's his only stipulation and they agree.

[01:03:02] They're like, yeah, sure. No problem. So they hang out together with Bill, Emily, and Patty telling him all about what just happened at the shootout and how Patty saved the day. And they even let Tom do the honors and sore off the handcuff that was still on Bill's wrist. 

[01:03:17] And then The four of them head to the agreed meeting point that they had in case any of the members of the SLA got separated, which just so happens to be a drive in cinema. 

[01:03:25] To signal to the rest of the group that they were there, they would just put an empty coffee cup on the roof of the van. Then instead of just waiting, they just all went and watched a film together, which just so happened to have loads of police shootouts in it. And every time a cop would get gunned down, they'd all just cheer together, including Tom. And he has no idea what's happening. He's just been swept up in all of this. So he's just loving it. 

[01:03:45] But the thing is though, none of the SLA show up to rescue them. And that's because The entire news story has been plastered all over the news and they hear reports that the original van has been found and [01:04:00] discovered which lists the address where they've been staying, so now the police know exactly where they are, so rather than coming to get them, the rest of the group have to leave the fucking house.

[01:04:11] Adam Cox: Right, okay. 

[01:04:12] Kyle Risi: Yeah, so Emily comes up with a backup plan. She decides that the three of them are all going to hide out in a place that she knows very well so the four of them head to Disneyland. okay.

[01:04:22] So Sinku and the rest of the remaining five members decide that they need to make a run for it and they don't go far because they know someone with a house just a few blocks away and luckily they leave within hours of the FBI showing up at the door when they arrive the house is obviously abandoned but while they're like bagging up all the evidence is This older black woman approaches him and says, You guys looking for those white folks with all the guns?

[01:04:48] Like, they're at my daughter in law's house just down the road. Right. So like, 

[01:04:52] Adam Cox: someone's just busted them. Someone's like, dopped them in. 

[01:04:55] Well, yeah, if she's at the daughter in law's, she's like, I want them out of that house. I guess so. 

[01:04:59] Kyle Risi: So the [01:05:00] feds sneak up to the house from the outside and they can hear Sinkway kind of yelling orders at the other members because of course the SLA. have shown a tendency for violence. They start to evacuate people from five square blocks surrounding the house and set out a bunch of snipers and armed forces kind of to the property.

[01:05:17] But then, like an idiot, someone alerts the media and all these journalists start swarming to the area. And this becomes another media first because this is the first time that something happening in the world is broadcast live, like a big major event. This is the first time that it's live on television.

[01:05:37] Up until that point, journalists would kind of just go to a location, they would record a bunch of film, they'd bring it back to the studio and then broadcast it. But now they have kind of this technology to broadcast it directly from the scene. 

[01:05:48] Adam Cox: Report on the scene, yeah. 

[01:05:50] Kyle Risi: So with the whole world watching, including Bill, Emily and Patty, the police try to coerce the group to exit the house, but they get no response whatsoever. So the LAPD fire tear [01:06:00] gas grenades into the house, and at that point, the SLA start firing back a deluge of ammo from their machine guns. Now, They've adapted their guns so that they could fire like 1300 rounds per minute So this is a storm of bullets that are just firing across kind of the street, basically Suddenly this small los angeles suburban street becomes an outright war zone for the next couple hours 

[01:06:25] The police end up firing a total of 5 000 rounds of ammo Into the house and the SLA end up firing a total of 3 000 rounds Now this shootout still holds the record in the u. s for the biggest You Shootout in American history while all this is going on by the way everyone thinks Patty is in this house. 

[01:06:44] The nutty thing is that the tear gas grenades that the police initially fired into the house, they're extremely flammable. 

[01:06:50] So as soon as the firing starts coming from the guns, the entire house goes ablaze the gunfire only stops after the house finally [01:07:00] collapses in on itself, killing literally everyone in the house.

[01:07:04] Adam Cox: Really? It collapses? Yeah. Are they like, shot down all the walls and support? Essentially. So they shot down all 

[01:07:10] Kyle Risi: the walls, all the supports, plus also, it's burning. 

[01:07:14] Adam Cox: Yeah. 

[01:07:14] Kyle Risi: Yeah. Yeah. So how many people are in the house? So like five of them maybe. 

[01:07:18] Adam Cox: Wow. Yeah. So that's them taken out.

[01:07:20] Kyle Risi: All dead. So Bill, Emily and Patty, they watched the entire thing live on television. And for a short while after this, like when the badly burnt bodies of the SLA are brought out of the house, everyone believes that Patty is one of them. It's not until dental records prove that none of the bodies actually belong to her. Mm hmm.

[01:07:39] So a few days later, Patty then releases a communication to address the fascist pig media, which is basically a eulogy for all of her fallen kind of SLA members

[01:07:53] Adam Cox: But why would she? I feel like she just, she should just gone into hiding. Yeah. this is her chance to get away, but then she's [01:08:00] like, oh, back in. She wants the limelight. 

[01:08:02] Kyle Risi: That's what I said. 

[01:08:03] Adam Cox: Yeah, 

[01:08:03] Kyle Risi: that's exactly what I said. , . What are the chances? I think she's in this for the fame and the notoriety. It feels like it now. She loves it. Yeah. Initially 

[01:08:11] Adam Cox: like she wasn't too sure, but now she's just like, yeah, I can make this a thing. This is a career for me. 

[01:08:16] Kyle Risi: But with that said, though. After this, she does go in hiding. Okay. So this period becomes known as kind of Patty's missing year. All right. So she, Emily, and a couple of other members that they managed to recruit along the way, they start moving back and forth between the West coast and the East coast.

[01:08:32] And during this time, they rob a couple more banks for money. Um, and every so often they'll plant like a few unsuccessful homemade bombs under a few police cars to try and kill some cops. Um, and then Nothing really major happens. They don't really kill that many people or injure anyone. 

[01:08:47] Adam Cox: But they do kill some people.

[01:08:49] Kyle Risi: Well, it's not until the second bank robbery that Emily shoots and kills a pregnant mother of four that the police are able to successfully find them and [01:09:00] arrest all the other remaining members of the SLA and Patti is now known as an official SLA member so it's expected that she will go to trial but you Even so, people still were debating, even up to that moment, whether or not she was coercing to do all of these things, or whether or not she did it all on her free will.

[01:09:20] Adam Cox: I mean, sounds like she had opportunity to get out, and she didn't. 

[01:09:25] Kyle Risi: 100 percent she had the opportunity. 

[01:09:29] Adam Cox: And maybe she, I don't know, maybe she's like into too deep and she couldn't get out, but I don't know. I feel like based on the character that you have built up of her when she's growing up, this feels like it was all her. 

[01:09:42] Kyle Risi: Yeah, she loves a bit of the attention, right? Yeah, for sure.

[01:09:46] And what's interesting is that this is where two of the most frequently used terms throughout this case will become very commonly used around the world. Stockholm Syndrome. And brainwashing. Now, they were both relatively new terms. Brainwashing was a little [01:10:00] bit older. It was coined to describe what had happened to American prisoners of war when they were captured in North Korea and were forced to release these weird tapes pledging their allegiance essentially to the North Korean kind of regime.

[01:10:13] But Stockholm syndrome, that is actually a very new term around about this time and originated during the events in Stockholm in just 1973. So just a few years before during a bank robbery where the host just started to empathize with their captors to the point that they resisted police rescue.

[01:10:31] Adam Cox: Oh, so actually came from like a specific place or incident in Stockholm. 

[01:10:36] Kyle Risi: Exactly. Yeah. No way. So in the end, like the term Stockholm syndrome was born like to describe like that Sympathy and that allegiance towards your captors essentially and that's they think this happened to maybe Patty in this instance 

[01:10:51] Adam Cox: Maybe it feels like perhaps initially and then maybe once you do start believing it. That's all you believe But I don't know. I just feel like she's dead [01:11:00] I don't know in it for herself a little bit. 

[01:11:01] Kyle Risi: Yeah. What is crazy about these terms though is that neither of them are medical terms. They're all started off as journalistic terms, which then became medical terms. And I just think that's really interesting.

[01:11:11] So Patti's actual defense is that she is suffering from traumatic neurosis, but when she is evaluated by several psychologists, their findings are completely inconsistent. Like her defense is based on the idea that she was forced to do everything that she did. And so She was no longer able to think for herself. So basically she claims that she's been brainwashed. But because Patti is a member of one of the richest, most influential families in America, she of course is able to afford the best lawyers in the country. 

[01:11:45] And these lawyers, they play dirty. They pretend to have like this ruling from a judge, but they're actually stating that certain questions can't be asked by the prosecution, that's just not allowed at all.

[01:11:56] This of course is totally made up and because the judge at the [01:12:00] time was really unwell, he didn't really call the defense team out about this. In fact, like the judge died shortly before Patty's sentencing, so he probably wasn't really paying too much attention throughout the trial anyway. I think he was just suffering from some kind of cancer or illness or something.

[01:12:19] But as a result, very important incriminating questions were never asked during this trial. All of this would have worked if it hadn't been for the media circus surrounding Because the popular sentiment was that this was just a rich girl who should be punished

[01:12:38] because so often in the media, Rich kids were seen to be getting away with doing all sorts of bullshit. Do you know what I mean? While poor kids were kind of would go to jail and they'd be made an example of etc. They wanted to see Patty take the fall for this. 

[01:12:52] Adam Cox: Fine. And if it wasn't for the media, then she might have got away with it. Possibly. 

[01:12:57] Kyle Risi: She still does. Because in [01:13:00] the end she is found guilty of several of the charges that are brought against her. Initially she is given the maximum sentence of 35 years in prison. But later this is reduced to just 7 years by a judge who knows the Hurst family. This is a very light sentence when you think about the fact that she had robbed three banks, she had planted several bombs, and was involved in the murder of a pregnant mother. So not good, but it gets even worse because having money and connections affords you even more privilege because in 1979, another old friend of the Hearst's intervenes. It's a guy called President Jimmy Carter who helps argue that the idea of brainwashing actually did hold credibility because just a couple years before.

[01:13:46] The Jonestown Massacre had just happened, where Jim Jones, of course, convinced the vast majority of his followers to commit mass suicide. So, he commutes her sentence to just 22 months [01:14:00] already served, which means she 

[01:14:02] Adam Cox: could just leave. She just leaves. Doesn't that make you sick when someone can just swoop in there and do that to people in private? Oh. Privileged people. 

[01:14:10] Kyle Risi: Exactly. And since going free, apart from not being allowed to vote or get a job in a government agency, like she's doing really well. I mean, the other day, she is an anarchist anyway. Why would she want to get a job in a government agency anyway? It's like, Oh, really? Oh, no, I'm so bruised. 

[01:14:27] Adam Cox: Yeah, but continue to have all your wealth and money. And I don't know, get a nice job as a secretary. Exactly.

[01:14:34] Kyle Risi: But get this, she ends up starring in a few John Walters movies including Serial Mum. Do you remember that film? No. Oh my god. It's such a classic Adam. Is she good? No, not really. Okay. Yeah She also does some catwalk modeling as well. She ends up marrying her bodyguard. She ends up having two kids and she just ends up settling into life as a standard run of the mill. Suburban housewife. So completely turned her back on [01:15:00] this kind of radical, kind of extremist left wing. 

[01:15:03] Adam Cox: That feels very weird. So this is why I think she didn't get brainwashed. I feel like it's just all a bit for a show because if she did believe in that. Has she had some like conditioning to get her out of that brainwashing? 

[01:15:18] Kyle Risi: Doesn't seem 

[01:15:18] Adam Cox: like it. And so she's just do you know what? I've had a lucky break. I maybe made a few mistakes. I'm just going to go live my life now.

[01:15:25] Kyle Risi: The thing is though, in the final days of President Clinton's administration in the 1990s, Jimmy Carter reaches out to President Clinton and says look, during my reign as president, my biggest regret was not pardoning Patty Hearst. It would mean the world to me. If you could pardon her. And so, on his way out, President Clinton does exactly that, and he completely pardons Patty. 

[01:15:50] Adam Cox: Not only did he have an affair. He pardoned Patty. 

[01:15:54] Kyle Risi: He did not have sexual relations with that woman. As for Bill and Emily, they both [01:16:00] end up serving time for their antics. Of course, they end up separating, but Did they get like 30 years? They got several years. Yeah, not a huge amount. But since being released, Emily goes back to her previous middle class existence and now she works as a computer programmer. Bill, after leaving prison, he becomes a private investigator working to defend people in situations similar to the one that he found himself in. That 

[01:16:24] Adam Cox: must be so weird because it's almost like you have another life where you were kind of a terrorist. Yeah. And then you're just slipping back into society as some. Middle class mundane worker. 

[01:16:33] Kyle Risi: Exactly, but the ironic thing is that he's working defending people who were in the same situation as him. So basically 100 percent guilty Yeah, of being a terrorist. So he's helping terrorists. 

[01:16:45] Adam Cox: Oh, yes. I'm sure it's not like that But that's what it seems like to us. Yeah, 

[01:16:49] Kyle Risi: that's what this seems like and Adam that is the story of Bane Patti Hurst. 

[01:16:54] Adam Cox: Well, I had no idea that she did all those things. 

[01:16:57] Kyle Risi: So I'm assuming, when I [01:17:00] ask you, was she brainwashed or not? 

[01:17:02] Adam Cox: I 

[01:17:03] Kyle Risi: Initially, I thought maybe, 

[01:17:05] Adam Cox: but 

[01:17:05] Kyle Risi: I'm not convinced. You're not convinced that she was brainwashed? No. I personally don't think she was brainwashed either, because again, as I mentioned earlier on, she had so many opportunities to escape, yet she chose not to leave at any point. during the period where the media dubbed her missing year, she was pulled over for speeding, right? And she was giving a ticket. 

[01:17:26] She could have gotten out of the SLA at that moment in time, but instead she just gave a fake name. There was another time where she was out hiking and she fell into kind of some poison oak where she had to go to hospital for some treatment.

[01:17:38] And again, I think she could have escaped then, but instead she admitted herself into hospital under a fake name. So I just think that she was just naturally a rebellious kid who got caught up in something a bit fun and exciting and different from her usual life. Yeah, 

[01:17:55] Adam Cox: it's always the rich kids that get involved in this kind of stuff. Yeah, and the thing is, there's no 

[01:17:59] Kyle Risi: [01:18:00] stakes. There's nothing at stake for them, right? Yeah, you can dabble in being a terrorist for a while, but at the end of the day, you can then walk back to your, your perfect idyllic life.

[01:18:08] Yeah, 

[01:18:08] Adam Cox: if daddy gets you out. Away from 

[01:18:09] Kyle Risi: consequences. But if it's anyone else, 

[01:18:12] Adam Cox: You're screwed. 

[01:18:12] Kyle Risi: You're screwed. You go to prison for life. 

[01:18:14] Adam Cox: Yeah, that's what I think. Unless someone can prove to me otherwise that she went through all this unconditioning, because if she was brainwashed, she would have needed that or therapy of some kind.

[01:18:23] Kyle Risi: That's it. And I think that she just really loved the fact that she got turned into this notorious figure with all these images of her wearing that stupid black beret holding a bloody machine gun. And I think she just loved the idea that she became this icon, essentially. But yeah, that is the story of Pattyhurst.

[01:18:40] Very good. Shall we, run the outro for this week? 

[01:18:43] Adam Cox: Let's do it.

[01:18:44] Kyle Risi: That's it for another episode of the compendium podcast. If you enjoy today's episode, please follow us and subscribe on your favorite podcasting app. This really helps us when you do. Remember next week's episode is available seven days early on our free [01:19:00] access Patrion for more content, subscribe to our certified freaks tier. For access to our entire backlog of unreleased episodes. Uh, we'd love you to come and join and have a chat. 

[01:19:11] We release new episodes every Tuesday. And until then, remember,

[01:19:15] Even the wildest rebels can still end up starring in fashion shows and suburban sitcoms. See you next week.

[01:19:23] See ya