Weather Underground: U.S. Marxist terrorist group member dies, convicted of NY robberies

Kathy Boudin, member of the radical left militant group Weather Underground who took part in the 1981 Brink’s armored truck heist where two police officers died, died of cancer at the age of 78 in New York on Sunday.

Described by the FBI as a domestic terror group, Weather Underground was a revolutionary anti-war group that led the 1969 “Days of Rage” riot in Chicago opposing the Vietnam War and a bombing campaign against government buildings in the 1970s.

In 1981, Boudin and several former members of the Weather Underground and the Black Liberation Army robbed a Brink’s armored car in Rockland County, New York, to help fund their anti-government campaigns. During the robbery, they killed one security guard and injured another before they fled with $1.6 million.

Boudin was the driver of a U-Haul truck the gunmen transferred the stolen cash to. When the truck was stopped at a police checkpoint, Boudin surrendered and police put down their guns. Her accomplices then jumped out the back and fired on the officers, killing both - Sgt. Edward O’Grady and Officer Waverly Brown.

She pleaded guilty to felon murder and robbery in exchange for a sentence of 20 years to life. While in prison, she wrote and submitted to academic journals applying feminist theory to prison life.

Boudin was granted parole for good behavior in Aug. 2003 after serving 22 years.

After her released, she was hired as professor at Columbia University, where she was the co-director and co-founder of the Center for Justice at Columbia University. She continued to work on women’s incarceration and reentry into society after release.

Boudin was the mother of San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin, who is facing a recall amidst surging crime that has been attributed to his progressive soft-on-crime policies.

She is survived by her son and David Gilbert, his father who was serving a sentence of 75 years to life in prison with no possibility of parole until it was commuted by former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.