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<font size=3>As J. Edgar Hoover pressured the Omaha FBI to take action
against the Black Panthers a plot emerged to smear Ed Poindexter with a
bogus letter, see link for article and slideshow of COINTELPRO
documents:<br><br>
</font><font size=1>
<a href="http://www.examiner.com/cointelpro-in-national/ed-poindexter-was-target-of-fbi-anonymous-letter-and-phone-call-campaign" eudora="autourl">
http://www.examiner.com/cointelpro-in-national/ed-poindexter-was-target-of-fbi-anonymous-letter-and-phone-call-campaign<br>
<br>
</a></font><h2><b>Ed Poindexter was target of FBI anonymous letter and
phone call campaign</b></h2>
<ul>
<li><font size=3>By
<a href="http://www.examiner.com/user-richardsonreports">Michael
Richardson</a>, COINTELPRO Examiner
<li>March 23rd, 2011 5:09 pm ET
</ul><b>Omaha Two story: April 3, 1970<br><br>
</b>
<a href="http://www.examiner.com/cointelpro-in-national/prison-interview-with-ed-poindexter-on-cointelpro-and-the-omaha-police">
Ed Poindexter</a> headed the Omaha chapter of the Black Panthers called
the
<a href="http://www.examiner.com/cointelpro-in-national/j-edgar-hoover-informed-of-united-front-against-fascism-omaha">
United Front Against Fascism</a> in February 1970. One night at a
party, after too much drinking, Poindexter’s girlfriend overdosed on
something and had to be taken to the emergency room. By
Poindexter’s own account, he rode along and there was a wild scene at the
Douglas County Hospital that ended with Ed being clubbed by Omaha police
before he passed out.<br><br>
Poindexter says when he came to the next morning he found himself in the
drunk tank at the Omaha City Jail where he was later released.
While Poindexter was locked up some of his friends sought to raise bail
money in case it was needed.<br><br>
The Omaha office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation learned of the
escapade and decided the incident could be turned into a
counter-intelligence action against Poindexter. Paul Young, the
Special Agent-in-Charge had been under pressure from FBI director
<a href="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</a> to take some sort of action against the leadership of
the Black Panthers under the clandestine
<a href="http://www.examiner.com/cointelpro-in-national/omaha-fbi-sets-up-cointelpro-unit-and-j-edgar-hoover-targets-black-panthers">
COINTELPRO</a> operation.<br><br>
Young proposed an anonymous letter to be sent to various publications in
the black community accusing Poindexter of fraud in an effort to
discredit him. On April 3, 1970, J. Edgar Hoover gave his personal
approval to the plan.<br><br>
Hoover wrote to Young: “Provided you have developed no information
indicating [Edward Poindexter] was incarcerated in February,1970, and the
Identification Division has no arrest record for [Poindexter] during this
pertinent time period, you are authorized to prepare a typewritten letter
on plain bond paper as enclosed….Take the usual security precautions to
insure this letter and mailing cannot be traced to the Bureau.”<br><br>
Hoover continued: “You are also authorized to discreetly make
anonymous phone calls to the publishers of “Black Realities,” “Everyone
Magazine,” and the “Omaha Star,”….The context of the anonymous calls
should relate to [Poindexter] receiving bail money under false pretenses
as you have previously described. Use discretion in making these
calls to insure they cannot be traced to the Bureau.”<br><br>
The anonymous letter approved by J. Edgar Hoover was written by the FBI
pretending to be a disenchanted Black Panther supporter. The
text of the anonymous letter, with typos to supposedly make it appear
more authentic, was:<br><br>
“I wish to report a violation against the people by the leader of the
United Front Against Fascism in Omaha, Nebrask a. [Ed Poindexter]
claimed he was put in jail by the Pigs on Feb. 11th and he got donations
from the people to get him out of jail. I gave two bucks.
Last week while in the Pig Department I overheard a Pig Laughing and
telling another Pig (Black) how the Black Panther cheif [Poindexter]
screwed the people on the North side. The Pig said [Poindexter] was
not in jail and he snowed the people getting donations for bail money. If
that’s the kind of leaders you want in the panthers I don’t want to
join. Power to the Pigs if thats how you treat us fellow brothers
and sister. Right On.”<br><br>
The bogus letter was signed, “Former supporter of the BPP.”<br><br>
On May 5, 1970, quarry dynamite was stolen from Quick Supply Co. in Des
Moines, Iowa. According to testimony by Omaha Police Captain
Murdock Platner before the U.S. House Committee on Internal Security,
“There were probably ten cases of this dynamite that was stolen from Des
Moines and brought to the Omaha area.”<br><br>
A week later on May 13th, the Des Moines Police Station was bombed
causing $250,000 damages.<br><br>
In Washington, D.C. the U.S. House Committee on Internal Security was
holding hearings on the Black Panthers in Seattle, Washington.
<br><br>
At the headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Investigation the COINTELPRO
directorate reviewed daily reports from field offices and filtered
messages for FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. The two men who took it
upon themselves to be in charge of the flow of information were head of
Domestic Intelligence, William C. Sullivan, and head of Racial
Intelligence, George C. Moore.<br><br>
On May 14, 1970, Moore sent Sullivan a COINTELPRO memo discussing
“excellent results” from a year of active counter-intelligence
operations. Moore revealed the split in the Black Panthers between
Eldridge Cleaver and Huey Newton was instigated by bogus information fed
by the FBI to the Panthers.<br><br>
Moore also discussed a number of media operations where FBI propaganda
was published as news reports. The memorandum began with its
conclusion, “This is to recommend that the Counterintelligence Program
against black extremists be continued.”<br><br>
On May 22, 1970, the Ames, Iowa Police Station was bombed.<br><br>
Suddenly, the heartland of America was under attack, or so it seemed, and
now the FBI actually had some criminal activity to pursue.<br><br>
On June 11, 1970, the North Omaha Police sub-station was bombed.<br><br>
The bombing of the sub-station was likely the central topic of the next
meeting of a greater-Omaha law enforcement task force called
Domino. The Treasury Department’s Division of Alcohol, Tobacco
& Firearms also was competing with the FBI to crack the case.
Something had to be done.<br><br>
Ed Poindexter and
<a href="http://www.examiner.com/cointelpro-in-national/prison-interview-with-mondo-we-langa-on-cointelpro-and-omaha-two-case">
Mondo we Langa</a>, then David Rice, are now known as the Omaha Two and
thought their only problems with police came from hostile Omaha
officers. The two Black Panther leaders had no idea they were the
focus of attention all the way to the nation’s capital.<br><br>
<b>To view all the Omaha Two story articles click
<a href="http://www.examiner.com/omaha-two-story-in-national">HERE</a><br>
<br>
</b><i>Permission granted to reprint<br><br>
<br>
</i>Michael Richardson<br>
COINTELPRO Examiner<br>
Examiner.com<br><br>
<br>
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