Katie Budin, who spent decades in prison for her part in the deadly robbery of an Brink armored truck in 1981 as a member of the radical battle group Weather Underground, died of cancer at the age of 78 in New York on Sunday.
In October 1981, Budin and members of the group joined the Black Liberation Army for robbery to help fund their anti-government campaigns. They headed for the Brink armored truck they were holding in Rockland County, earning $ 1.6 million.
During the robbery, armed men killed Brink security guard Peter Page before transferring the money to a U-Haul truck a mile away, where Budin, 38, was sitting in the cab.
The truck was stopped by police during a blockade, where Budin – unarmed – immediately surrendered. Gunmen in the back of the truck jumped out and started firing at police officers, killing two Long Island police officers, a sergeant. Edward O’Grady and Officer Waverly Brown.
She pleaded guilty to first-degree robbery and second-degree murder in Paige’s death in 1984.
She spent 22 years in prison before being released on parole in 2003.
Buden spent 22 years in prison for his part in the deadly robbery carried out by the radical extremist group Weather Underground. New York State Correctional Services / Getty Images
After prison, she was hired as an associate professor at the Columbia School of Social Work in 2008. She was hired as a full professor in 2013, lecturing on the problems faced by convicts and their families when a person is released from prison. .
Budin was the mother of San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Budin, who last year successfully lobbied former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to commute the sentence of her father, David Gilbert – who was also a member of Weather Underground who was in jail for his role in the stick. .
Gilbert, who served as an escape driver, is serving a 75-year sentence to life in prison with no parole until 2056. Gilbert is among the last survivors of the robbery.
Judith Clark, another former Weather Underground member, was serving a 35-year, 75-year life sentence for her role in a robbery at a mall in suburban Rockland County before her sentence was commuted to Cuomo in 2016. She was released on parole in 2019. .
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