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<a href="http://www.examiner.com/cointelpro-in-national/mondo-we-langa-testified-his-own-defense-1971-omaha-two-trial">
http://www.examiner.com/cointelpro-in-national/mondo-we-langa-testified-his-own-defense-1971-omaha-two-trial</a>
<br><br>
</font><h2><b>Mondo we Langa testified in his own defense in 1971 Omaha
Two trial</b></h2>
<ul>
<li><font size=3>By
<a href="http://www.examiner.com/user-richardsonreports">Michael
Richardson</a>, COINTELPRO Examiner
<li>April 13th, 2011 4:04 pm ET
</ul><b>Omaha Two story: April 13, 1971<br><br>
</b>
<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, began his testimony mid-morning in
the capital murder trial that had him facing execution in Nebraska’s
electric chair for the
<a href="http://www.examiner.com/cointelpro-in-national/cointelpro-plan-hatched-omaha-to-withhold-evidence-of-policeman-s-killer">
August 17, 1970 murder</a> of an Omaha police officer,
<a href="http://www.examiner.com/cointelpro-in-national/omaha-patrolman-larry-minard-killed-ambush-bombing-after-911-call">
Larry Minard, Sr</a>.<br><br>
Mondo’s co-defendant,
<a href="http://www.examiner.com/cointelpro-in-national/prison-interview-with-ed-poindexter-on-cointelpro-and-the-omaha-police">
Edward Poindexte</a>r, in the third week of testimony in the Douglas
County courtroom, earlier denied any role in Minard’s ambush
killing. Both men were leaders of the National Committee to Combat
Fascism, Omaha’s Black Panther affiliate chapter, and targets of the
clandestine
<a href="http://www.examiner.com/cointelpro-in-national/j-edgar-hoover-directs-cointelpro-plot-against-omaha-chapter-of-black-panthers">
COINTELPRO</a> operation.<br><br>
COINTELPRO was a massive, secret, illegal counter-intelligence operation
directed at domestic political activists by the Federal Bureau of
Investigation under 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>.<br><br>
Mondo appeared calm and gestured freely when responding to questions by
defense attorney David Herzog and County Attorney Donald
Knowles.<br><br>
Prosecutor Knowles asked during cross-examination about the recovery by
police of dynamite and blasting caps during an August 22, 1971 search of
Mondo’s home.<br><br>
“Not in my house,” Mondo replied.<br><br>
Knowles asked Mondo, the Deputy Minister of information for the National
Committee to Combat Fascism about articles appearing in the group’s
newsletter <i>Freedom By Any Means</i>. <br><br>
Mondo testified he wrote many of the articles and said occasionally he
would sign his name to someone else’s article, providing the article
“wasn’t too inflammatory.” Mondo testified that at times other
writers would have reasons for wanting to withhold their names.<br><br>
Mondo testified that a set of pliers which prosecutors tried to link to a
wire found at the scene of the bombing which claimed Minard’s life were
his pliers.<br>
Advertisement <br><br>
The pliers were found in a kitchen cabinet during the police search of
Mondo‘s house. Mondo said the pliers were purchased “a few days or
a couple of weeks” before the bombing, he said he bought them to use on
stereo and record equipment.<br><br>
Mondo, as Poindexter before him, denied all of
<a href="http://www.examiner.com/cointelpro-in-national/witnesses-put-duane-peak-at-scene-of-1970-bombing-omaha-two-case">
Duane Peak</a>’s allegations that he helped plan and construct the bomb
used in the killing. Mondo said he had no role in any part of the
crime and no advance knowledge of what Peak was planning.<br><br>
Omaha attorney Thomas Carey, Duane Peak’s lawyer and one of six witnesses
called by Herzog, testified that he sought an agreement from the
prosecution. <br><br>
Carey admitted seeking to allow Peak, the prosecution’s chief witness, to
plead guilty to a lesser offense than first-degree murder in exchange for
Peak’s testimony against Mondo and Poindexter.<br><br>
Carey admitted that he gave a deposition on February 16, 1971, in which
he confirmed that he had approached the prosecution seeking a reduced
charge for Peak.<br><br>
Several times Thomas Carey declined to answer Herzog’s questions on the
attorney-client grounds that a lawyer’s relationship with a client is a
confidential matter.<br><br>
Judge Donald Hamilton did not order Carey to reveal what was said between
Carey and Peak. But twice he directed the attorney to answer
questions on whether a deal had been offered or sought.<br><br>
David Herzog, Mondo’s lawyer, rested the defense at 2:55 p.m. on
Tuesday. <br><br>
The jury had now heard the primary case of the prosecution and defense
but was not told one word about the COINTELPRO targeting of the
defendants or J. Edgar Hoover’s secret order to withhold a FBI lab report
on the identity of Larry Minard’s killer.<br><br>
Nor did the jury have the opportunity to hear the deep, gritty voice of
the killer on the 911 call that lured Minard to his death with a bogus
report of a woman screaming at a vacant house.
<a href="http://www.examiner.com/cointelpro-in-national/j-edgar-hoover-gave-order-to-let-policeman-s-killer-get-away-with-murder">
Hoover’s order</a> to FBI Laboratory director Ivan Conrad kept the
recording away from defense attorneys.<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>
</i>Michael Richardson<br>
COINTELPRO Examiner<br>
Examiner.com<br><br>
<br>
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