<html>
<body>
<font size=3>A San Francisco Judge had two Black activists jailed today
for refusing to cooperate with a State Grand Jury investigating a 30-year
old case. Ray Boudreaux and Richard Brown now join Hank Jones and Harold
Taylor in SF County jails. <br>
<br>
Their attorneys argued that the Grand Jury procedures were abusive
because the original indictments for a police shooting in 1971 resulted
in the dismissal of charges because the US government failed to disclose
that their ‘evidence’ was obtained by torturing at least three Black
activists in New Orleans. This ‘tainted evidence’ and ‘involuntary
testimony’ was introduced to a grand jury at that time by the same
government agents that are working with the current grand jury.<br>
<br>
Judge Robert Dondero refused to allow the defense questioning of Ed
Erdelatz, one of the cops on hand in New Orleans, who was present in
court today, and who has been roaming the country in an apparent attempt
to interview numerous individuals alleged to be involved with or have
knowledge of the 1970s incidents..<br>
<br>
All other motions by defense attorneys Michael Burt and Richard Mazer
were denied. An appeal to the State Supreme Court challenging procedural
and other legal claims by the defense team are expected to be filed
Thursday, October 6<sup>th</sup>.<br>
<br>
Background on the Grand Jury targeting Black Activists in San
Francisco<br>
<br>
Shortly after the founding of the Black Panther Party, FBI Director J.
Edgar Hoover described it in September 1968 as “the greatest threat to
the internal security of the country.”<br>
<br>
By July 1969, the Party had become the primary focus of COINTELPRO and
was the target of 233 of the 295 authorized “Black Nationalist”
COINTELPRO actions. The FBI placed illegal wiretaps on Party
headquarters in Oakland, San Francisco, and nationally, infiltrated the
organization with numerous agents, used every possible means to provoke
violence within the organization and engaged in a number of schemes to
arrest, detain, falsely accuse, incarcerate and murder members of the
Black Panther Party.<br>
<br>
The San Francisco Police Department worked closely with the FBI during
the sixties and seventies to promote the goals of “neutralizing” and
destroying the Black Panther Party. Two of the San Francisco Police
Department Inspectors who worked in tandem with the FBI to promote these
goals were Frank McCoy and Ed Erdelatz. <br>
<br>
In August 1973, several Black Panthers were arrested including John
Bowman, Ruben Scott and Harold Taylor were arrested in New Orleans.<br>
<br>
McCoy and Erdelatz were on hand in New Orleans immediately after their
arrest (as were detectives from New York City) and participated in the
interrogation that took place over the course of several days. They
were investigating the killings of two San Francisco policemen that took
place in the early 1070s.<br>
<br>
When Bowman, Scott and Taylor didn’t answer questions by McCoy and
Erdelatz, the San Francisco policemen exited the room and members of the
New Orleans Police Department proceeded to torture the detainees using
various methods including the following:<br>
· Stripping them naked and
beating them with blunt objects<br>
· Blindfolding them and
throwing wool blankets soaked in boiling water over their bodies<br>
· Placing electric probes on
their genitals and other parts of their bodies<br>
· Inserting an electric cattle
prod in their anus<br>
· Punching and kicking<br>
· Slamming them into walls
while blindfolded<br>
<br>
Their screams were heard throughout the jail. After a period of torture,
McCoy and Erdelatz would return to the room, and continue questioning
them. Each time the answers they sought were not forthcoming, the
San Francisco police would leave the room and the torture would
resume. This process lasted several days. The three men were
interrogated separately and were held in solitary confinement. Bowman,
Scott and Taylor all suffered permanent physical and psychological
damage.<br>
<br>
These two Inspectors are not new to accusations of physical abuse as the
<i>San Francisco Examiner</i> ran a series of stories in the 1970s
suggesting McCoy and Erdelatz had coerced testimony from a witness
connected to a Chinatown slaying.<br>
<br>
In 2003, McCoy and Erdelatz began roaming the country in an apparent
attempt to interview numerous individuals alleged to be involved with or
have knowledge of the 1970s incidents. At times they were joined by
San Francisco Police Inspector and FBI Special Federal Officer Joseph
Engler. They went to people’s homes and places of employment. They
visited prisoners in the New York State prisons where they were
incarcerated. They attempted to interview spouses, former spouses and
family members. At least one person in the Bay Area was commandeered off
the street as he drove home from work and taken for interrogation.
They used thinly veiled threats, intimidation and harassment. They
demanded that some individuals provide saliva samples. Some people were
served with federal grand jury subpoenas to provide fingerprints. <br>
<br>
The actions of McCoy, Engler and Erdelatz in 2003 and 2004 were connected
to a federal grand jury sitting in the Northern District of California
also investigating the incidents that are the focus of these grand
juries. In the summer of 2004, the federal grand jury
expired. <br>
<br>
In May 2005 a California State grand jury was convened and began taking
testimony regarding these same incidents. That grand jury was
purportedly investigative in nature. It was expected that the government
would next present evidence to an indicting grand jury. However in
August 2005 another investigative grand jury was convened. This time a
group of people identified by the government as targets were subpoenaed.
Both of these grand juries were conducted by the California State
Attorney General rather than the San Francisco District Attorney’s
office. Working in tandem with the state AG was an Assistant United
States Attorney. <br>
<br>
The full role of the federal government in this investigation is yet to
be revealed. What is clear is that no federal, state or city agent or
police officer nor government agency has ever been held culpable for the
illegal acts, violence, imprisonment and murders conducted in the name of
COINTELPRO nor has there been any admission that these activities are
continuing under the Patriot Act or under any other name.<br>
<br>
Claude Marks<br>
October 5, 2005<br><br>
</font></body>
</html>