[Ppnews] Omaha Two story: (Part 15) Hoover gave order to let policeman’s killer get away with murder

[Political Prisoner News]

<http://www.examiner.com/cointelpro-in-national/j-edgar-hoover-gave-order-to-let-policeman-s-killer-get-away-with-murder>http://www.examiner.com/cointelpro-in-national/j-edgar-hoover-gave-order-to-let-policeman-s-killer-get-away-with-murder


J. Edgar Hoover gave order to let policeman's killer get away with murder

    * By <http://www.examiner.com/user-richardsonreports>Michael 
Richardson, COINTELPRO Examiner
    * March 29th, 2011 12:40 pm ET

Omaha Two story:  August 19, 1970

The day after the bombing in 
<http://www.examiner.com/cointelpro-in-national/omaha-s-ugly-racial-history-includes-a-1919-downtown-lynching-and-mob-riot-1>Omaha, 
Nebraska that took the life of Patrolman 
<http://www.examiner.com/cointelpro-in-national/omaha-patrolman-larry-minard-killed-ambush-bombing-after-911-call>Larry 
Minard, Sr., a powerful blast at the Federal Building in Minneapolis, 
Minnesota at 3:00 a.m. injured a night watchman and caused $500,000 damage.

Investigators later determined the bomb had the force of 20 sticks of 
dynamite.  Suddenly the Midwest was on the front line of guerilla 
warfare.  The crime remains unsolved.

Back in Omaha, a round-up of suspects on the Near North Side 
continued with eleven more arrests bringing a total of three dozen 
people in custody.  One of those arrested was Rev. Marshall Tate who 
had sought to speak to police about their tactics.

The Omaha World-Herald editorialized about the sweep, "It does not 
appear that any restraint has been placed on the officers."

Detective Jack Swanson, head of the OPD Intelligence Unit, made up a 
list of 39 members or associates of the National Committee to Combat 
Fascism, the Black Panther affiliate chapter in Omaha, for 
questioning.  Swanson was in the middle of working the investigation 
of Luther Payne, Lamont Michell, and Conrad Gray--three men arrested 
on 
<http://www.examiner.com/cointelpro-in-national/omaha-police-arrest-3-men-with-stolen-dynamite-and-impose-media-blackout>July 
28, 1970 with stolen dynamite."

Douglas County assistant prosecutor Arthur O'Leary moved in to Police 
Headquarters to help coordinate the logistics of the arrests telling 
reporters he was there on routine business.

Glen W. Gates, the assistant Chief of Police, barred reporters from 
police headquarters fourth floor squad room where police and 
reporters normally chatted about the daily arrest log.

At the Omaha office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the 
Special Agent-in-Charge, Paul Young, anxiously awaited word from 
Washington, D.C. on his proposal to withhold a lab report on the 
identity of Minard's caller, the anonymous 911 caller who lured him 
to the deadly ambush.

Young shipped a recording of the murderous 911 call to Washington for 
the Omaha Police for assistance in identifying the caller.  However, 
Young had an unusual request, no laboratory report on the forensic 
analysis of the killer's voice.  Instead, Young wanted an oral report 
to him only, which he would pass on.

Young wanted to convict Black Panther leaders 
<http://www.examiner.com/cointelpro-in-national/prison-interview-with-ed-poindexter-on-cointelpro-and-the-omaha-police>Ed 
Poindexter and 
<http://www.examiner.com/cointelpro-in-national/prison-interview-with-mondo-we-langa-on-cointelpro-and-omaha-two-case>Mondo 
we Langa, then David Rice, for the murder and the presence of an 
unknown killer complicated the plan.

When Young's confidential memo to Hoover was received by the 
<http://www.examiner.com/cointelpro-in-national/operation-cointelpro-was-the-fbi-s-war-on-american-citizens>COINTELPRO 
directorate at FBI headquarters, a second memo was written for Ivan 
Willard Conrad, the director of the FBI Laboratory.

COINTELPRO was 
<http://www.examiner.com/cointelpro-in-national/fbi-s-director-hoover-let-killer-of-omaha-policeman-get-away-with-murder-40-years-ago>J. 
Edgar Hoover's massive, illegal, and clandestine counter-intelligence 
operation directed at domestic political activists Hoover considered 
undesirable.  The Black Panthers were the primary target of 
COINTELPRO, sometimes with lethal ferocity.

A COINTELPRO agent at FBI Headquarters named W.W. Bradley authored 
the confidential memo to Ivan Willard Conrad, director of the FBI 
crime lab.  The heavily redacted memo, released years later after the 
Freedom of Information Act became law, spelled out that no report on 
Minard's killer was to be furnished.

Bradley's memo to Conrad, dated August 19, 1970, was sent to top FBI 
officials including William C. Sullivan, third in rank at the 
Bureau.  Sullivan was head of Domestic Intelligence and helped create 
COINTELPRO for Hoover.

Charles D. Brennan also got Bradley's memo on Larry Minard's 
killer.  Brennan was a senior member of the daily COINTELPRO 
directorate that issued illegal commands to the field 
offices.  Brennan had worked in the Omaha FBI office before his final 
transfer to headquarters.

A mysterious "Mr. Shimota" also appears on the document copy 
list,  This is most likely FBI Agent John E. Shimota, a relatively 
obscure agent who ended his FBI career working prostitution cases in 
Fargo, North Dakota.  Shimota, who also worked on the Wounded Knee 
case in South Dakota, was possibly the agent assigned by Paul Young 
to coordinate COINTELPRO actions in the Omaha office.  The identity 
of the COINTELPRO agent in Omaha has never been disclosed.

Bradley wrote:  "By airtel 8/17/70 the Omaha Office has advised that 
the Omaha Police Department has requested laboratory assistance in 
connection with a bombing which took place in Omaha 8/17/70.  This 
bombing resulted in the death of one police officer and the injuring 
of six other officers and is apparently directly connected with a 
series of racial bombings which the Omaha Police have 
experienced.  The Police were lured to the bomb site by a telephonic 
distress call from an unknown male."

Blanks now appear in the COINTELPRO memo:  "[REDACTED] of the Omaha 
Police has requested [REDACTED].  The SAC [Special Agent-in-Charge], 
Omaha strongly recommends that the examination requested by the Omaha 
Police Department be conducted."

"[REDACTED] It is felt, in view of the SAC's recommendation and the 
significance of this case, an exception should be made in this case 
in order to assist the Omaha Po9lice in developing investigative 
leads.  The results of any examination wil not be furnished directly 
to the Police but orally conveyed through the SAC of Omaha.," wrote Bradley.

The confidential memo on Minard's killer concludes with a 
recommendation:  "[REDACTED] Omaha Police in developing investigation 
leads.  If approved, the results of any examinations will be orally 
furnished the Police on an informal basis through the SAC, Omaha."

The memorandum to Conrad bears his initials twice.  Once, when he 
read the request, and a second time after he talked to J. Edgar 
Hoover confirming the lab was not to issue a formal report on the 
recording of the killer.

Ivan Conrad talked with Hoover the same day.  Conrad wrote on the 
memo, "Dir advised telephonically & said OK to do."  Conrad then 
initialed and dated the note about Hoover's command on 
withholding  formal identification of the policeman's killer.

Larry Minard, Sr. was buried the next day, on what should have been 
his 30th birthday.

To View all of the Omaha Two story articles click 
<http://www.examiner.com/omaha-two-story-in-national>HERE

Permission granted to reprint


Michael Richardson
COINTEDLPRO Examiner
Examiner.com



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