Bob, Kamook, Dennis and Anna Mae

BOB, KAMOOK, DENNIS, AND ANNA MAE

Was there some hanky-panky going on? We have encountered a number of people interested in just how Kamook, the common law wife of Dennis Banks, and the FBI’s protected witness against Arlo Looking Cloud, ends up as Mrs. Bob Ecoffey, chief investigator in the Anna Mae case. Apparently U.S. Attorney McMahon was curious as well. From the transcript of Arlo’s trial, McMahon is questioning Kamook, who has just taken the stand:

DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. McMAHON:
Q. Would you state your name, please?
A. My name is Darlene Nichols, most people call me Kamook....
Q. When were you first exposed to the American Indian
Movement ?
A. In February of 1972.
Q. How did that come about?...
A. The American Indian Movement came to Pine Ridge, they
were protesting how the death of Randy Yellow Thunder had been
handled.
Q. How old would you have been at that time?
A. Seventeen.
Q. Would you have graduated yet from high school?
A. No.
Q. Between what years would you have been in school, were
you a junior, senior?
A. I was a junior in high school...
Q. So were there some meetings held that you attended?
A. Yes...
Q. Did you meet any of the people affiliated with AIM that
were there for those meetings?
A. Yes.
Q. Who did you meet?
A. I met Dennis Banks, Russell Means, I met Leonard
Peltier.
Q. So you would have finished school for the year some time
that spring I am assuming?
A. I finished school in December, had all the credits I
needed to finish school, and then officially graduated in May
of 1973.
Q. But the meetings we were talking about were during your
junior year, right?
A. Right.
Q. So you would have finished the school year that spring,
that would have been your junior year?
A. Yes.
Q. Then you went back to high school the next fall?
A. Yes.
Q. Did I understand you correctly then that you actually
finished your course work in December?
A. Yes.
Q. December of what year?
A. 1972.
Q. Then the rest of your class finished in the spring of
'73?
A. Yes.
Q. And that is when you actually got your diploma?
A. Yes.
Q. When you finished your classes in December of '72, tell
us what you did after that?
A. I traveled to Oklahoma and spent a couple of weeks with
my aunt. Dennis contacted me, I moved back to Rapid City, and
resided here.
Q. Why did you go back to Rapid City?
A. Dennis called me. He made arrangements for me to fly
back up here and he would pick me up at the airport.
Q. Talking about Dennis Banks?
A. Yes.
Q. Had you and he started some type of a relationship
before that time?
A. Yes.
Q. When you flew back up to Rapid City after he called you,
were you with him continually after that then?
A. Yes.
Q. Did you live together?
A. Yes.
Q. Did you eventually have children together?
A. Yes.
Q. How many children did you have together?
A. Four.
Q. How long were the two of you together?
A. Seventeen years.
Q. You separated when?
A. In April of 1989.

Mr. McMahon avoided asking several questions here, some questions our readers have wanted to know, so I must ask Kamookl a few questions. "So you and Dennis were never married? You were never really his wife, now were you? Did you actually live together constantly all those 17 years? Dennis Banks was born in 1937, making him 35 years old. Now that we can look back on the last 30 years, just what, exactly, attracted you to a man twice your age? What were your accomplishments in the AIM movement? Like, compared to Anna Mae, just what did you do? Or were you one of the AIM Babes who threw themselves on these AIM leaders to make yourself look important? Anna Mae fought beside AIM, worked with lawyers to help defend AIM, endured grueling interrogations and threats by the FBI, demanding she tell them where the AIM leaders were hiding, and she refused to sell out. Compared to Anna Mae, just what did you do, Kamook? Weren't you really just a little bimbo? throwing yourself on an AIM leader to made yourself look important? When did you first sell out? Wasn't it in June of 1975 when you learned that Dennis loved Anna Mae and was planning on marrying her?"

Q. Do you know someone by the name of Anna Mae Aquash?
A. Yes.
Q. When did you first meet her?
A. I met her when she came to Wounded Knee with her husband Nogeeshik.

Q. February 6 you said was the Custer riot, what do you
mean by that?
A. Well, there were several hundred people in Custer
protesting the death of Wesley Bad Heart Bull.
Q. Was Dennis Banks Arrested as a result of that?
A. Eventually.
Q. Were you down there at Custer also?
A. Yes.

Q. And between the time that you first met her at Wounded
Knee in 1973, and then through that trial, did you see her off and
on at different AIM functions?
A. Yes.
Q. Did you and she become friends.?
A. Yes.

I must say that Mr. McMahon did not ask very interesting or enlightening questions. And Timothy Rensch was acting assistant prosecutor. So, I must put Kamook back on the witness stand to ask her questions such as: "When did you first meet Bob? Think back to June of 1975. Leonard Peltier and others had responded to the call of the elders to help them clean up the mess left by AIM. The FBI had made plans to squash AIM once and for all. At the time Agents Coler and Williams were killed, you met a young BIA policeman by the name of Bob Ecoffey. Is that correct? You had just found out that Dennis loved Anna Mae and planned on marrying her, is that correct? Poor little girl gets caught up in a civil rights movement that she can't comprehend. All these things were way over your head, correct? You threw yourself at Dennis, had an affair, and you expected him to do what? Then along comes Anna Mae, bright, savvy, capable and comprehending of the Movement, an older woman, who is bright enough to be a leader. Anna and Dennis were close in age. They were both devoted to the Movement. They thought alike. It is only natual they would be attracted to each other as partners in life. That is how Dennis has said he felt about her. And you were furious, weren't you? Like Shakespeare has said, "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." But even Shakespeare hadn't met a Lakota woman who discovered 'her' man with another woman.

A true Lakota woman will beat up the other woman, drag her all around, hound her to death. It makes no difference if the Lakota woman gets pregnant with other men. She has an unspoken right to do that. All these children you claim to have, if I may so delicately ask, were they all fathered by Dennis? and can you prove it? Do any of these kids belong to Bob? A simple DNA will set aside all speculation on this. We have a lot of enquiring minds here who want to know. Many readers want to know. When did you have your first affair with Bob? Was it in June of 1975 or was it July?"

Q. What did you do after the events at Wounded Knee ended?
A. We left Wounded Knee, Dennis and I went to Salt Lake City, Utah.
Q. Let's get back to your trip to Salt Lake City. Had
Dennis Banks been charged with any criminal offenses as a
result of Wounded Knee?
A. Yes.
Q. Is that why you were on the run?
A. Yes.
Q. How long did you stay in Utah?
A. We were there for a couple of months.
Q. Did Mr. Banks eventually go to trial on those charges?
A. Yes.
Q. And where did that take place?
A. In St. Paul, Minnesota.
Q. How long did that trial last?
A. From January of 1974 through August.
Q. Of 1974?
A. Yes.
Q. I am going to jump ahead a little bit. Well, before I
do, did you stay up in St. Paul for the whole trial with him?
A. Yes.
Q. Was Anna Mae Aquash ever there?
A. Yes.
Q. How much of the time was she there?
A. She lived in that area.
Q. And between the time that you first met her at Wounded
Knee in 1973, and then through that trial, did you see her off
and on at different AIM functions?
A. Yes.
Q. Did you and she become friends?
A. Yes.

I must ask you to remain in the witness stand, Kamook, because our readers have been asking a lot of questions. Are you sure you are in the right building and right city? Do you know who is on trial here? Did you think it was the trial of AIM with Dennis and Leonard as defendents?
Q. Did she [Anna Mae] ever show up at the motel?
A. Yes.
Q. Were there ever any allegations made against her while
she was at the hotel?
A. Yes.
I must ask a few questions here, Kamook. Did Bob ever show up at the hotel? Did Dennis ever show up at the hotel? You said Anna Mae showed up at the hotel. Was there ever a time when you were all in bed together? Did Leonard ever show up at the hotel?
Q. Was that at the hotel?
A. Yes.
Q. What was the allegation that you heard?
A. Dennis and myself and my daughter were in our room when
Crow Dog came in.
Q. Who was that?
A. Leonard Crow Dog. He came in and he was very angry.

Were you in bed with Dennis or Bob at the time? Was Anna Mae there? And the question is, who is the informant? Were you sleeping with Bob? or Dennis? or both? and was Anna Mae there? and what is upsetting Crow Dog? Did anyone take pictures or do any videotaping?

Q. I am sorry, I was confused. So did you hear of anything
happening on September 5th then?
MR. RENSCH: Objection, hearsay, confrontation.

I think we all are a little confused. And some people are getting mad. What this all boils down to is that, everyone wanted a piece of Anna Mae, and they didn't want you, correct? You were really turning out to be the ugly duckling. You just didn't have the mind for a civil rights movement such as AIM, did you? In and out of jail, that just wasn't the life for you, was it? Then along came Bob. He wanted you, didn't he? He gave you money, took you places, put you up in hotel rooms. In and out of hotel rooms. Ever so much nicer than those nasty jails, wouldn't you say? And all you have to do is repeat whatever they want you to say, correct?

Now, I think we are getting somewhere. But I am still a little confused. What does Arlo Looking Cloud have to do with any of this? The only thing we know for sure is that Arlo was not in that bed.

"Kamook Banks had [originally] been charged in the Custer Courthouse Battle in 1973, but charges were dropped [in April 1976]... Her bail in Oregan had first been $100,000, then $50,000, then $20,000 and on February 23 [1976], she was released in third-party custody."

If my experience has taught me anything, it is that the past is a good indication of the future. The broad and pervasive nature of the FBI and prosecutors' misconduct in 1973 and 1974 reflected patterns and beliefs that were deeply held. I doubt they would be easily abandoned. [Note #103: Letter from The Honorable Fred Nichol to Kenneth S. Stern, November 17, 1987.]

Janis Schmidt is an artist, writer, and teacher and may be reached at 605-867-2413. Lucy Bull Bear is Arlo's first cousin and can be reached at 605-455-1138. Together, they are investigating the investigators.