Showing posts with label Black Panthers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Black Panthers. Show all posts

Sunday, December 03, 2017

Chicago Police Kill Two, Wound Four Others In Raid!

Hampton lost this battle

Absolute filth In Every Room of the Monroe Street Rathole

No more violence at least from Hampton

Fred Hampton in Life
Chicago, IL—This was the top story on December 4, 1969 when war broke out at 2337 West Monroe Street.
The Black Panthers were at war with cops nationwide.  Cops were being ambushed and murdered from coast to coast.  The BP threat was very real and cops were understandably on guard for violence.
This chapter began when the FBI recruited a troubled fellow, William O’Neal who cooperated in order to mitigate his own crimes.  O’Neal became a part of Hoover’s infamous COINTELPRO program, as both a snitch and as an agent provocateur.  O’Neal successfully created a rift between the Panthers and Black Chicago street gangs.  That act alone was incredibly helpful for the safety and well being of Chicago cops.
It was O’Neal, who told police the Monroe Street apartment was being used by the Black Panther Party to store numerous illegal weapons and ammunition for future use against cops that instigated the raid. 
It should be noted that in 1969 there were no specially trained SWAT teams with armored vehicles anywhere.  The common bullet resistant Kevlar vests had not been invented yet.  Raids like this were very dangerous for police.
At 4:45 AM fourteen cops assigned to Cook County State’s Attorney, Ed Hanrahan’s office raided an incredibly filthy apartment occupied by nine members of the Black Panther Party. Throughout the apartment, found with the occupants were 19 firearms and a huge quantity of ammunition.  The Panther arsenal included a stolen Chicago police shotgun and an illegally sawed off shotgun. 
Moments later BP Deputy Chairman, Fred Hampton who was a convicted armed robber and a Peoria, IL BP leader, Mark Clark were shot dead and four other Panthers were wounded. Two cops sustained minor injuries.
Since the described weapons were seized by police that completely validated O’Neal’s claims that were the basis of the Search Warrant.
Various Panthers and their supporters quickly claimed to the assembled Media that only cops fired weapons.  However, during the follow up police investigation four surviving Panthers admitted firing shots at police, one of them in a signed and sworn statement.   
The polarizing and volatile political climate that followed was epic.  The litigation lasted for many years
A 1970 Federal Grand Jury’s exhaustive Investigation resulted not in Indictments but rather numerous recommendations that demanded reform of police and the Coroner’s Office investigative procedures.  
A Cook County special prosecutor was appointed, Barnabas Sears and he quickly led a Grand Jury to Indict all but one of the raiding cops and the sitting State’s Attorney Edward V. Hanrahan.  Nearly three years after the raid Judge Phillip Romiti finally acquitted all charged.  At last the cops were vindicated.
The Federal civil lawsuits against the cops ended differently but the standard of proof is much lower in civil proceedings. 
Today our nation is still divided simply because inviting cultural diversity in any society simply cannot work except in unusual circumstances.  The evidence of that statement speaks for itself.  None the less we still strive for that peaceful and happy melting pot we’ve created in the USA. 

Thursday, December 03, 2009

40th Anniversary Of The Raid On Chicago’s Black Panthers





Chicago, IL—It was a very cold morning at 04:45 hours on 4 December 1969 when 14 Chicago cops assigned to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office executed a search warrant on a filthy premises at 2337 West Monroe.

The officers were looking for a large stockpile of weapons including three shotguns stolen from the Chicago Police Department, three highly illegal sawed-off shotguns and some 50,000 rounds of ammunition. That intelligence information was provided to police by a BPP associate who was cooperating.

Officers were rightly concerned they were being led into a deadly trap and took all necessary precautions to insure their own safety. This was a period before SWAT teams and police body armor were part of law enforcement resources.

The officers carried their service revolvers. In addition five carried 12 gauge Shotguns. Officer James Davis had a .30 caliber carbine and Officer Joe Gorman carried a .45 Thompson submachine gun also known, as the Chicago Typewriter.

Before the sun would rise, two men, Black Panther Party Chairman, Fred Hampton of Maywood and another BPP official from Peoria, Mark Clark were dead. Four other occupants of the large two-bedroom apartment were wounded

Hampton was a violent thug who was out on a appeal bond following a conviction and prison sentence for robbing an ice cream vendor in Maywood. Today the bail laws have changed and Hampton would have been kept safe behind bars where he belonged.

The Black Panther Party was founded in 1966 in Oakland, CA by several radical Communists including, Eldridge "Soul On Ice" Cleaver and Bobby “Burn Baby Burn” Seal.

There was a Illinois chapter that was violent, heavily armed and dedicated to the murder of policemen and the overthrow of our nation. The Panthers had various alliances with the Students for a Democratic Society and numerous street gangs such as the Black Stone Rangers and Vice Lords.

The common and redundant slogans of The BPP included, “Kill The Pigs” and that infamous Maoist quote, “Political power flows from the barrel of a gun”.

The BPP murders of numerous police officers nationwide along with their constant verbal and written terrorist threats made it abundantly clear that the BPP was at war with America.

The defense minister of the BPP was current U.S. Congressman, Bobby Rush. It was several months before the December raid that Rush and two other BBP members were arrested after a wild shootout that left six wounded in Robbins, IL. The future (and present) Congressman was found to be carrying a loaded .45 ACP semi-automatic pistol in a shoulder holster when arrested.

In the raid's aftermath police seized 19 Panther weapons that included an Ithaca 12 guage shotgun, marked, “Property of the Chicago Police Dept.” reported stolen earlier from a police vehicle and a sawed off shotgun banned by federal and state law. Also included, were several of what they describe today as “assault weapons”.

The radical element came out in full support defending the dead and wound panthers. Police arrested all seven BPP survivors on various charges including Armed Violence and various weapons charges.

The Cook County Coroner conducted post-mortem examination on Hampton and Clark. Later charges would surface along with a mistaken toxicology report that indicated Hampton had ingested sleeping pills and was asleep at the time of death. That was later thoroughly debunked as BPP race-baiting propaganda.

Aside from a Blue Ribbon Coroner’s investigation, a Chicago Police Internal Investigation there were no less than five unofficial parallel investigations groups including Renault Robinson and Howard Saffold’s Afro-American Patrolman’s Association.

There were two additional official investigations. One was the Federal Grand Jury investigation looking into possible civil rights violations against the BPP members. They declined to charge officers suggesting the 14 police officers were victimized by a political climate of “police persecution”. The Grand Jury also criticized the propaganda and fundraising done by the radicals to celebrate the heroic martyrdom of Hampton and Clark.

The next investigation was conducted by a private lawyer, Barnabas F. Sears who was appointed as a special prosecutor by Presiding Cook County Circuit Court Criminal Judge, Joseph A. Power. Sears was able to indict the 14 policemen along with the sitting States Attorney, Edward V. Hanrahan and Lt. John Meade for a multitude of offenses including Obstruction of Justice and Official misconduct. Mead was a lawyer as well as a Chicago cop.

The Panther related litigation lasted for decades. All criminal charges against the surviving BPP members and law enforcement officials were dropped in a bizarre simultaneous ending. Apparently the surviving Panthers, cops and prosecutors entered into an obvious quid pro-quo agreement.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Edward Hanrahan Who Was Larger Than Life Has Passed Away At 88

Forest Park, IL—Former Cook County State’s Attorney Edward V. Hanrahan has died. I last talked with Hanaran who was long retired while researching my screenplay, Come Friday.

Hanaran is best known for leading that infamous Black Panther Raid one cold December morning in 1969. That's when two heavily armed ghetto rats, Fred Hampton and Mark Clark caught some serious lead when they attacked officers from the State’s Attorney’s police that were serving a search warrant.

Frankly I’ve danced, peed and spat on their graves ever since. Hampton and Clark advocated the murder of Chicago cops. They got just what they deserved.

Politics rules in Cook County and they Indicted Hanaran along with 14 of the raiders. The prosecution ended in 1972 without convictions and civil litigation went on for over two decades. The taxpayers ate it again.

Hanaran was also famous for the prosecution of the Friday Night Rapist, Robert Ellis. That case ended when a recent Supreme Court opinion prompted a motion by a young public defender, Ron Himel to invalidate a line up identifications made by the victims. Ellis was released and went back to kidnapping and rape until he selected the wrong victim.

Hanarahan had a verbal in chambers shouting match with Judge Louis B. Garippo telling him he’d be responsible for any future rapes committed by Ellis. That all fell on deaf ears and Ellis was released.

A pretty and delightful 25 year-old recruit policewoman, Ann Leybourne had been sworn in and armed days earlier. Ellis was on the prowl and kidnapped Leybourne at gunpoint. During her kidnapping, the young policewoman savagely fought back, shooting him once with her own gun and with three more rounds from his own weapon killing Ellis.

Leybourne’s unique story, Come Friday is now headed for development as a major motion picture.