Biography
Mariano Gonzalez, identified as Dalou Asahi by the Attica Brothers Legal Defense, was an Attica prisoner and organizer facing charges from the 1971 uprising. He later became a fugitive. The defense committee reported his death in a Brooklyn gun battle with police on April 2, 1978. His death was outside prison; it is not recorded as a release or death in custody.
The Westport Trucker reported in its 1974 issue89 that Gonzalez, identified as Mariano Dalou Gonzalez, was beaten unconscious during an April2 confrontation while Attica defendants were being taken from jail to arraignment in Buffalo. The account said the defendants had refused to enter a darkened tunnel with their hands cuffed behind their backs. Source: Weekly Westport Trucker, vol. 4 no. 15, issue 89 (1974), p. 6, "Brutality Opens Attica Trials."
The March 1973 Attica News roster prints Mariano Gonzalez (Dalou) among the uprising prisoner defendants, linked to indictment 6: murder of Privatera. The table lists maximum statutory exposure, not sentences actually imposed or time served; no custody dates or duration are inferred. His letter signs as Dalou Asahi and the cover identifies that name with Mariano Gonzalez. Physical page 9 describes a 1972 assault after a lawyer visit, alleged seizure of legal papers, multiple guards kicking him and racial abuse; the defense article reports attorney Barbara Handschu testimony about his physical condition. These are attributed allegations in ongoing federal contempt hearings, not adjudicated findings. Source: https://freedomarchives.org/Documents/Finder/DOC510_scans/Attica/510.Prisons.AtticaNewsVol1No1.pdf#page=6
In a first-person essay in the Attica anthology, Gonzalez, identified as Dalou Asahi, describes himself as a member of the Puerto Rican Revolutionary Workers Organization and discusses how political education in prison changed his views of women and machismo. The biographical note also describes his work teaching tae kwon do to children at P.S. 108 in East Harlem through a Young Lords community program.
Original document 1232, PDF page 1; Original document 1232, PDF page 15.
The December 1971 report names him among Attica inmates seeking an injunction against further physical abuse.
