Dhoruba bin Wahad
Biography
Dhoruba al-Mujahid bin Wahad, born Richard Earl Moore on June 30, 1944, was a leader of the New York Black Panther Party and a Panther 21 defendant. While free on bail, he and Michael Tabor disappeared from the trial in February 1971 amid the Panther split and threats from within the organization. Contemporary and archival sources place Moore briefly in Algiers; a May 12 letter was identified as written there. He returned clandestinely to New York by June 1971. Later convicted of attempting to murder two police officers, he served nineteen years before a court vacated the conviction after suppressed COINTELPRO evidence came to light. He was released March 22, 1990.
The Black Panther reported that Richard Moore’s bail was revoked and he was immediately jailed on December 30, 1970 during the Panther 21 trial, following the same warning used against Michael Tabor. This return after bail is distinct from the original Panther 21 detention. The Black Panther, January 9, 1971, original PDF page 7. Source: https://washingtonareaspark.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/1971-01-09-black-panther-vol-4-no-28.pdf#page=7
The Militant identified him as Richard Dharuba Moore and dated his and Michael Cetewayo Tabor’s failure to appear at the Panther 21 trial while on bail to February 8, 1971. It reported that they went to Algiers with Connie Matthews Tabor. These are contemporary flight and exile details during the existing case, not a new detention. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/themilitant/1971/v35n12-apr-02-1971-mil.pdf#page=14
The newspaper reports a second trial concerning the May 1971 shooting prosecution after a hung jury. Its identification of Richard Dharuba Moore concerns the existing confinement and does not establish a new custody spell. Liberated Guardian, vol.III no.8, February 1973 (masthead copyright1972 does not match January1973 events), original PDF page 13. Source: https://freedomarchives.org/Documents/Finder/DOC510_scans/Attica/510.liberated.guardian.February1973.pdf#page=13
The Black Panther, June 7, 1969: Printed page 11 publishes his May 15, 1969 jail letter signed Richard Moore, Dharuba, urging political education and continued organizing outside jail. The signature is connected through his recorded Richard Earl Moore and Dhoruba Moore aliases, and is distinct from older organizer Richard B. Moore. This establishes correspondence during the existing Panther 21 custody, not a new admission or release. Source: https://washingtonareaspark.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/1969-06-07-black-panther-vol-3-no-7.pdf#page=10
A Fall 1992 Breakthrough report says Judge Peter J. McQuillan’s August 17 ruling left Dhoruba bin Wahad exposed to renewed prosecution after his March 22, 1990 release. It describes a new judge and a possible application to return him to custody as future developments, with no hearing date yet announced. This is a contemporary report of a threatened return to imprisonment, not evidence that a new imprisonment actually began; no 1992 incarceration or served-time total is added.
The Black Panther reproduced Gerald B. Lefcourt’s habeas petition sworn December 12, 1969 for Richard Moore, also identified as Dahruba. The petition says he had remained in the Manhattan Men’s House of Detention since his April 2 arrest. It alleges a guard assaulted him on December 4 while he was being taken to visit his wife, followed by punitive solitary confinement without charges or a hearing, restricted food and denial of basic hygiene supplies and mail. Its request for relief and expectation of twenty days’ punishment are not a court order granting relief, proof of completed segregation, or a release from jail.
The firstOctober1988 Can’t Jail the Spirit edition supplies this earlier episode. The individually named biography explicitly reports Dhoruba binWahad indicted, arrested and put in prison in April1969, establishing both arrest and actual admission at MONTH precision. It says bail money had been raised by March1970; fundraising is not independently an actual discharge date. This distinct initialPanther21 custody is not his later1971 attempted-murder case or the existing fugitive/exile row.
The March1990 dossier individually records Dhoruba bin Wahad’s earlier imprisonment beginning in1962 and actual release in1967, before the separately documented1969 and1971 prosecutions. Both endpoints have YEAR precision. The dossier does not supply the earlier charge or exact days; no five-year completed duration is calculated from the year labels.
The Rosahn article lists this prisoner among those the committee attributes to COINTELPRO repression. Printed Dhoruba Moore and Sha Sha Malik are preserved through established aliases. This is the organization’s political interpretation and continuing defense context, not new evidence of a particular admission, conviction or completed term.
Tip of the Iceberg, December 1981 (surviving twelve-page scan), PDF page 10.
