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<a href="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</a>
<br><br>
</font><h2><b>J. Edgar Hoover gave order to let policeman’s killer get
away with murder</b></h2>
<ul>
<li><font size=3>By
<a href="http://www.examiner.com/user-richardsonreports">Michael
Richardson</a>, COINTELPRO Examiner
<li>March 29th, 2011 12:40 pm ET
</ul><br>
<b>Omaha Two story: August 19, 1970<br><br>
</b>The day after the bombing in
<a href="http://www.examiner.com/cointelpro-in-national/omaha-s-ugly-racial-history-includes-a-1919-downtown-lynching-and-mob-riot-1">
Omaha, Nebraska</a> that took the life of Patrolman
<a href="http://www.examiner.com/cointelpro-in-national/omaha-patrolman-larry-minard-killed-ambush-bombing-after-911-call">
Larry Minard, Sr</a>., a powerful blast at the Federal Building in
Minneapolis, Minnesota at 3:00 a.m. injured a night watchman and caused
$500,000 damage.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
The <i>Omaha World-Herald</i> editorialized about the sweep, “It does not
appear that any restraint has been placed on the officers.”<br><br>
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
<a href="http://www.examiner.com/cointelpro-in-national/omaha-police-arrest-3-men-with-stolen-dynamite-and-impose-media-blackout">
July 28, 1970</a> with stolen dynamite.”<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
Young wanted to convict Black Panther leaders
<a href="http://www.examiner.com/cointelpro-in-national/prison-interview-with-ed-poindexter-on-cointelpro-and-the-omaha-police">
Ed Poindexter</a> 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, for the murder and the presence of
an unknown killer complicated the plan.<br><br>
When Young’s confidential memo to Hoover was received by the
<a href="http://www.examiner.com/cointelpro-in-national/operation-cointelpro-was-the-fbi-s-war-on-american-citizens">
COINTELPRO </a>directorate at FBI headquarters, a second memo was written
for Ivan Willard Conrad, the director of the FBI Laboratory.<br><br>
COINTELPRO was
<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>’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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.”<br><br>
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.”<br><br>
“[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.<br><br>
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.”<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
Larry Minard, Sr. was buried the next day, on what should have been his
30th birthday.<br><br>
<b>To View all of 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>
COINTEDLPRO Examiner<br>
Examiner.com<br><br>
<br>
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