Biography
Bilal Sunni-Ali was born William R. Johnson in Harlem on July 13, 1948. A woodwind musician from childhood, he played saxophone and flute with Gil Scott-Heron’s Midnight Band and used music in support of Black liberation organizing. Sunni-Ali was active in the New York Black Panther Party, the Black Liberation Army, and the Republic of New Afrika. Authorities arrested him in Belize in November 1982 and returned him to the United States to face federal racketeering and conspiracy charges arising from the 1981 Brink’s robbery, other alleged robberies, and Assata Shakur’s prison escape. After a five-month federal trial, a jury acquitted him on every count on September 3, 1983. He continued performing and supporting political prisoners until his death on December 30, 2024.
The report distinguishes the September 3, 1983 federal acquittal from the convictions of other defendants. It identifies William Johnson as Bilal Sunni-Ali and dates his return from Belize November 17, 1982; that return is not the date of his earlier foreign arrest. Acquittal is a legal outcome; no exact physical discharge day or uninterrupted custody duration is inferred from it.
Report of the New York State Policy Study Group on Terrorism, November 1985, PDF page 65.
