Claim: Patty Hearst was kidnapped.

The United Federated Forces of the Symbionese Liberation Army -LRB- SLA -RRB- was an American self-styled left-wing revolutionary organization active between 1973 and 1975 that considered itself a vanguard army . The group committed bank robberies , two murders , and other acts of violence .   The SLA became internationally notorious for the kidnapping of heiress Patty Hearst , abducting the 19-year-old from Berkeley , California . Interest increased when Hearst , in audiotaped messages delivered to -LRB- and broadcast by -RRB- regional news media , announced that she had joined the SLA . Hearst later said that members of the terrorist group threatened to kill her , held her in close confinement , and sexually assaulted and brainwashed her .