Editing Symbionese Liberation Army (section)

==== Kidnapping of Patty Hearst ====
{{Main|Patty Hearst}}
After Remiro and Little were arrested, the remaining SLA members considered kidnapping an important figure in order to negotiate the release of their jailed comrades.<ref name="Guerrilla 2004">Documentary: ''Guerrilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst'', directed by [[Robert Stone (director)|Robert Stone]], 2004.</ref> The US [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] (FBI) found documents at one abandoned [[safe house]] revealing an action was planned for the "full moon of January 7". The FBI did not take any precautions, and the SLA did not act until a month later.<ref name="Guerrilla 2004"/>

On February 4, 1974, publishing heiress Patty Hearst, a sophomore at the [[University of California, Berkeley]], was abducted from her Berkeley residence at Apartment 4, 2603 Benvenue Avenue. This was less than three months after a November 1973 ''[[San Francisco Chronicle]]'' story announcing her betrothal to Steven Weed, which published their address. The SLA choice of Hearst was for maximum news coverage of their action.<ref name="movie">[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/guerrilla/index.html ''Guerrilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170320111756/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/guerrilla/index.html |date=2017-03-20 }}. [[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]]. Retrieved on January 21, 2007.</ref>

The SLA issued an ultimatum to the Hearst family, namely, that they would release Patty in exchange for the freedom of Remiro and Little. Law enforcement rejected this. 

The SLA next demanded a ransom from the Hearsts in the form of a food distribution program. The value of food to be distributed fluctuated: on February 23 the demand was for $4 million; it peaked at $400 million. The Hearsts created an organization, People in Need, which distributed free food, though the operation was halted when violence erupted at one of the four distribution points.<ref name="Guerrilla 2004"/> The crowds were much greater than expected, and people were injured as panicked workers threw boxes of food off moving trucks into the crowd. The SLA then demanded that a community coalition called the Western Addition Project Area Committee be given charge of food distribution. The committee organized the distribution of 100,000 bags of groceries at 16 locations across four counties between February 26 and the end of March.<ref name="Toobin" /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://foundsf.org/index.php?title=The_Legacy_of_the_SLA |first=Calvin|last=Welsh|title=The Legacy of the SLA|publisher=Foundsf.org |date=1974-03-25 |access-date=2012-06-24}}</ref>