[Pnews] The Midwest 22 included Omaha Two in ATF conspiracy case

[Prisoner News]

  The Midwest 22 included Omaha Two in ATF conspiracy case

Michael Richardson
*http://www.examiner.com/article/the-midwest-22-included-omaha-two-atf-conspiracy-case*

April 16, 2014

Twenty-two alleged conspirators from four Midwestern states conspired to 
bomb public and other buildings in the summer of 1970 said agents of the 
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Division in Omaha, Nebraska. The ATF 
<http://www.examiner.com/topic/atf> effort to prosecute the Midwest 22 
was turned down by United States Attorney Richard Dier according to an 
ATF case progress note disclosed on April 14 by a court researcher who 
found the long-hidden document buried in a file.

The Midwest 22 members were from Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, and 
Minnesota. Most of the alleged conspirators were Black Panthers 
<http://www.examiner.com/topic/black-panthers> and suspected of an 
unsolved series of bombings in the Midwest.

The two most prominent members of the Midwest 22 are Edward Poindexter 
and Mondo we Langa (formerly David Rice) who are themselves known as the 
Omaha Two 
<http://crimemagazine.com/j-edgar-hoover-and-framing-omaha-two>. The two 
men were leaders of Omaha's Black Panther affiliate chapter, the 
National Committee to Combat Fascism. The pair had already been targeted 
by the rival Federal Bureau of Investigation for counterintelligence 
action under the clandestine COINTELPRO 
<http://vault.fbi.gov/cointel-pro> operation and were convicted in April 
1971 for the bombing murder of an Omaha policeman.

Ed Poindexter was chairman of the NCCF chapter and was the victim of two 
bogus letters circulated against him by Omaha FBI agents before his 
arrest for the murder of Patrolman Larry Minard, Sr. One false FBI 
letter, personally approved by J. Edgar Hoover, was sent to black-owned 
news outlets accusing Poindexter of fraudulently accepting donations for 
bail money. The second FBI letter, around the time of Minard's killing, 
was to Black Panther headquarters in Oakland, California and accused 
Poindexter of cooperating with "Whitey's newspaper", the /Omaha 
World-Herald./

Mondo we Langa was the Minister of Information and published the NCCF 
newsletter as well as coordinating sales of /The Black Panther 
/newspaper. In the months leading up to Mondo's arrest in the Minard 
case, the FBI carefully planned an ambush on the route to NCCF 
headquarters from Eppley Airport where the Panther newspapers arrived 
from California. Because of changes in the shipping schedule the FBI was 
never able to "disrupt" the distribution of the newspaper despite their 
plans.

Ed Poindexter was accused of constructing the bomb and giving orders on 
its placement to a juvenile member of the group. Poindexter also 
allegedly had dynamite particles in a shirt pocket. The NCCF leader 
denied any role in Minard's murder and said he was unaware of how 
dynamite particles were found in his shirt by an ATF chemist. Poindexter 
was actually arrested twice in the case, about a week apart. Following 
his initial arrest on suspicion of murder, Poindexter was released for 
lack of evidence while wearing only his underwear. ATF agent Thomas 
Sledge and Omaha Deputy Chief of Police Glen Gates hand-carried 
Poindexter's clothing to Washington, D.C. for analysis where the 
particles were purportedly found.

Mondo we Langa was accused of storing the bomb and other dynamite at his 
house. According to ATF chemist Kenneth Snow, Mondo's pants pockets also 
had dynamite particles. However, the dynamite particles examined by Snow 
were added to Mondo's clothing after he surrendered. As soon as Mondo 
arrived at the County Jail he was stripped and checked for dynamite with 
a hand-swab test. An /Omaha World-Herald/ photo taken as Mondo waited 
for an elevator to the jail showed the Panther with his hands, which 
tested clean, deep in the pockets where the dynamite particles were 
supposedly found.

Ed Poindexter and Mondo we Langa remain in the maximum-security Nebraska 
State Penitentiary where they continue to deny any role in a bombing 
conspiracy, either in the case of Minard's death, or other explosions 
blamed on the Midwest 22 by ATF agents.

-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863.9977 www.freedomarchives.org
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