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<b>February 1, 2009<br><br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=4>FBI used United Airlines in planned
COINTELPRO action against Black Panthers in 'Omaha Two' case<br><br>
</b></font><font face="Verdana" size=2><i>By Michael Richardson<br><br>
</i>In the late 1960's and early 1970's there was a fierce, illegal, and
clandestine war being raged by the Federal Bureau of Investigation
against the Black Panther Party. FBI director J. Edgar Hoover had
ordered agents to "expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit or
otherwise neutralize" the Black Panthers. <br><br>
The full scope of misdeeds under Operation COINTELPRO will never be known
although some of the dirty tricks and actions have emerged piecemeal
through Freedom of Information requests. Political Research
Associates maintains one of the largest collections of COINTELPRO
documents and its copies of heavily redacted FBI memos tell part of the
story. <br><br>
To keep the momentum of the secret operation going Hoover ordered field
offices to make written reports to him every two weeks. The Omaha,
Nebraska FBI office had drawn criticism in late 1969 from Hoover for
inaction against the leaders of Omaha's Panther chapter, Edward
Poindexter and Mondo we Langa (formerly David Rice). <br><br>
On December 10, 1969, Hoover ordered the Omaha field office to "give
consideration to counterintelligence measures directed against these
leaders to weaken or destroy their positions." Hoover told
Omaha agents to make up a plan, "Evaluate your approach to this
program and insure that it is given the imaginative attention necessary
to produce effective results." <br><br>
The Omaha Special-Agent-in-Charge responded to Hoover on December 29th
with an update on the Panther group. "United Front Against
Fascism (UFAF) has been limited in activity to the sale of "The
Black Panther", the official Black Panther Party (BPP) newspaper,
the publication of a UFAF newsletter and making plans for starting a
liberation school at its Omaha Headquarters in the near future."
<br><br>
"Consideration is still being given by Omaha to some type of
counterintelligence activity directed against leaders of this
organization or aimed at the disruption of the UFAF newsletter or the
planned liberation school." <br><br>
"Close attention will be afforded this matter in order to produce
effective results and proposals for counterintelligence activity will be
supplied to the Bureau by separate communications in the very near
future." <br><br>
Two weeks later on January 12, 1970, the Omaha FBI office informed Hoover
they were still working on his request. "Several
counterintelligence measures aimed at this organization are presently
under consideration and proposals for counterintelligence activities
aimed at disruption of this organization or directed against its leaders
will be submitted to the Bureau by separate communication in the very
near future." <br><br>
The next two-week letter to Hoover from Omaha had a COINTELPRO plan which
was signed off on by the Racial Intelligence Section. The
COINTELPRO actions were conducted by field agents under the direction
William Cornelius Sullivan, head of Domestic Intelligence. The
proposals had to also secure the approval of George Moore of Racial
Intelligence and were reviewed by Mark Felt, an inspector better known as
'Deep Throat' of Watergate infamy. Hoover, however, had the final
word and closely monitored COINTELPRO proposals each day. <br><br>
The Omaha Special-Agent-in Charge advised Hoover of the progress being
made on his December order to be "imaginative" in crafting a
COINTELPRO action. On January 26, 1970, the Omaha office wrote to
Hoover. <br><br>
"The United Front Against Fascism (UFAF) is the only BPP affiliated
organization presently active within the Omaha Division. At present
the only known source of income of the UFAF is money derived through the
sale of the Black Panther newspaper which arrives in Omaha weekly via
United Airlines." <br><br>
"Contact is presently being maintained with United Airlines to
ascertain if a regular pattern exists for the pickup of this newspaper by
[REDACTED] a known UFAF member to whom these papers are consigned.
As soon as this pattern is established, Omaha contemplates initiating
counterintelligence measures aimed at disruption of the distribution of
this newspaper." <br><br>
The operational details were worked out for the "disruption" of
the newspaper distribution in a memo dated February 9, 1970, which is
missing from the PRA archive. However, the next regular report
provided an update of the secret plan to interfere with the group's
lawful activities. <br><br>
"As pointed out in re communication and prior letters in captioned
matter the only known source of income of the United Front Against
Fascism (UFAF) at the present time is money derived through the sale of
the Black Panther Newspaper, which prior to the last week of January
1970, arrived on a weekly basis in Omaha via United Airlines Air
Freight." <br><br>
"Since BPP Headquarters has changed its policy concerning the
publishing of this newspaper to demanding that payment for these
newspapers be received at BPP Headquarters prior to the time the
newspaper goes to the printer, no papers have been received in Omaha from
the San Francisco area. In recent communications from San
Francisco, it appears that arrangements are being made to have further
shipments of the BPP Newspaper sent to Omaha and contact is being
maintained with United Airlines Air Freight so that the Omaha office will
be apprised when regular shipments of the newspaper to Omaha are
resumed." <br><br>
"Once these shipments are resumed, United Airlines Air Freight will
be contacted on a continuing basis in order to determine if a regular
pattern is established for the pickup of these newspapers by UFAF
members. Once a pattern is established for the pickup of these
newspapers, counter intelligence measures will be aimed at disruption of
the distribution of these newspapers." <br><br>
FBI efforts against the Panthers escalated through the summer of 1970
culminating in the arrest of Ed Poindexter and Mondo we Langa for the
August 17th murder of Omaha police officer Larry Minard. Minard had
had been lured to his death by an anonymous caller on the newly installed
911 emergency call system. A recording of the killer's voice was
captured on tape and presented a problem to the COINTELPRO plotters.
<br><br>
Omaha police sent the tape recording to the FBI Crime Laboratory for
analysis with the stipulation that no formal laboratory report be
issued. Ivan Willard Conrad, lab director, checked with Hoover
about withholding a lab report and noted on a COINTELPRO memorandum that
on August 19th Hoover said it was "OK to do". Conrad
followed orders and issued no report on the killer's voice.
<br><br>
The jury that convicted the two Panther leaders in April 1971 had no idea
of the FBI intrigue or of Hoover's direct order to withhold evidence
about Minard's killer. Poindexter and Langa were sentenced to life
imprisonment and remain confined at the maximum-security Nebraska State
Penitentiary where they continue to proclaim their innocence. <br><br>
Poindexter has a new trial request pending before the Nebraska Supreme
Court over the withheld evidence and conflicting police testimony.
Oral argument in the case was in October 2008, no date for a decision has
been announced. <br><br>
*** <br><br>
<i>Permission granted to
reprint</i> <br><br>
Authors Bio: Michael Richardson is a freelance writer based in Boston.
Richardson writes about politics, law, nutrition, ethics, and music.
Richardson is also a political consultant. <br><br>
<br><br>
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