The Savage City
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BPP political education (PE) classes: Weekly PE classes were an important social as well as educational tool for the BPP. Interview with Dhoruba Bin Wahad (September 16, 2008); interview with Cleo Silvers (March 26, 2009); interview with William “B.J.” Johnson (January 23, 2010); Austin, Up Against the Wall, pp. 58–69, 89–99; Hilliard, This Side of Glory, pp. 133, 201–202.
“Because of my studies in the joint”: Interview with Dhoruba Bin Wahad (September 16, 2008).
“Some people joined the party to feed children”: Ibid.
Sudden national growth of the BPP: Caldwell, Earl, “Black Panthers Growing, But Their Troubles Rise,” New York Times, December 7, 1968; Johnson, Thomas A., “Civil Rights Movement Facing Revolution Within a Revolution,” New York Times, July 21, 1968; Stearn, Gerald Emanuel, “Rapping with the Panthers in White Suburbia,” New York Times Magazine, March 8, 1970; “Review of Panther Growth and Harassment,” Black Panther, January 4, 1968; Austin, Up Against the Wall, pp. 159–188, 273; Hilliard, This Side of Glory, pp. 150–175.
Emergence of the Black Panther newspaper: Hilliard, David (ed.), The Black Panther: Intercommunal News Service, 1967–1980. This book includes numerous essays from a variety of writers within the Panther universe on the role and development of the newspaper.
Use of the word pig to describe police: Newton, Revolutionary Suicide, pp. 175–177. Newton takes full credit for instituting use of the term. In The Revolutionary Art of Emory Douglas, Amiri Baraka contributes an essay on the use of the word and the importance of Douglas’s illustrations in communicating the message.
Confrontation between BPP and NYPD on Nostrand Avenue: Interview with Dhoruba Bin Wahad (September 16, 2009); interview with Gerald Lefcourt (January 25, 2010); McFadden, Robert D., “Police–Black Panther Scuffles Mark Brooklyn Street Rally,” New York Times, August 2, 1968.
“The Panther who had earlier stood”: Bin Wahad, “The Future Past” (unpublished manuscript).
Incident at Brooklyn courthouse: Interview with Dhoruba Bin Wahad (September 16, 2008); interview with Gerald Lefcourt (January 16, 2010).
“A microphone was shoved in my face”: Interview with Dhoruba Bin Wahad (September 16, 2008).
Shooting of police on Eastern Parkway: Seedman, Albert, and Peter Hellman, Chief, pp. 371–373, 411; Daley, Target Blue, pp. 84–86.
13. “OFF THE PIGS!”
Whitmore release from prison (June 15, 1968): Interview with George Whitmore (April 3, 2009); interview with Myron Beldock (January 27, 2009).
Whitmore borrows money from Shapiro: Shapiro, Whitmore, p. 228.
Whitmore employed by Nation of Islam: Interview with George Whitmore (April 3, 2009).
Opening of new BPP office: Interview with Dhoruba Bin Wahad (September 16, 2008).
“I think it was Lumumba who found the space”: Ibid.
Ron Penniwell as liaison with West Coast Panthers: Ibid.; Austin, Up Against the Wall, p. 274.
Cleo Silvers’s background: Interview with Cleo Silvers (March 26, 2009).
“The policies at the hospital were so misguided”: Ibid.
“Somebody told me to go to the Panther office”: Ibid.
“You can’t sell the Black Panther newspaper”: Ibid.
“To me, the PE classes were slow”: Ibid.
“I became a green dog in karate”: Ibid.
Statement by Joudon Ford: Zion, Sidney E., “5 Black Panthers Held in Brooklyn,” New York Times, September 13, 1968; Austin, Up Against the Wall, p. 274.
Judge Furey responds to criticism by police spokesman: Novitski, Joseph, “Judge Ouster Sought,” New York Times, August 5, 1968.
Formation of Law Enforcement Group (LEG): Novitski, Joseph, “Brooklyn Police Set Up Group to Back ‘Vigorous’ Enforcement,” New York Times, August 8, 1968; Spiegel, Irving, “P.B.A. Will Issue ‘Get Tough’ Advice,” New York Times, August 12, 1968; Fox, Sylvan, “Many Police in City Leaning to the Right,” New York Times, September 6, 1968; Grutzner, Charles, “Law Enforcement Group Is Creation of Protest,” New York Times, September 7, 1968.
“We’re sick and tired of taking it on the chin”: Spiegel, “P.B.A. Will Issue ‘Get Tough’ Advice,” New York Times, August 12, 1968.
Kunstler becomes Panthers’ attorney: Interview with Gerald Lefcourt (January 25, 2010); Kunstler, William, My Life as a Radical Lawyer, pp. 58–59, 65–68, 183, 211; Burnham, David, “3 in Black Panther Party Win Hearing Over Bail,” New York Times, August 24, 1968.
Lefcourt at arraignment court: Interview with Gerald Lefcourt (January 25, 2010).
Beat-down by off-duty cops at Brooklyn courthouse: Ibid.; interview with Dhoruba Bin Wahad (September 16, 2008); Burnham, David, “Off-Duty Police Here Join in Beating Black Panthers,” New York Times, September 5, 1968; “Brutality, New York Style,” New York Times, September 5, 1968.
Meeting with Lindsay’s Urban Task Force: Interview with Gerald Lefcourt (January 25, 2010); Burnham, David, “Mayor and Leary Warn Policemen in Panther Melee,” New York Times, September 6, 1968; Burnham, David, “Black Panthers Give Grievances,” New York Times, September 7, 1968; Perlmutter, Emanuel, “N.A.A.C.P. Urges Inquiry on Police,” New York Times, September 8, 1968; Fox, Sylvan, “Leary Says Police Reflect Community in a Swing to Right,” New York Times, September 11, 1968; Burnham, David, “Panthers to Seek Voice Over Police,” New York Times, September 11, 1968.
Statement by John Birch Society: Cannato, The Ungovernable City, pp. 166–167.
Background on BOSS: Red Squad, 1971 documentary; Churchill and Vander Wall, The COINTELPRO Papers, pp. 361, 363; Lardner and Reppetto, NYPD, pp. 189, 259.
Infiltration of BPP by BOSS: FBI COINTELPRO files; BOSS files; O’Reilly, Racial Matters, p. 344; Kempton, Murray, The Briar Patch, pp. 34–35, 87, 110–111; Zimroth, Peter L., Perversions of Justice, pp. 47–52, 128– 130, 201–203, 381–386; Austin, Up Against the Wall, pp. 284–286; interview with Dhoruba Bin Wahad (September 16, 2009); interview with Gerald Lefcourt (January 25, 2010).
J. Edgar Hoover on BPP: Hoover’s public statement regarding the BPP set the tone for much of what followed.
“The information we are receiving”: FBI COINTELPRO files.
“If you accept the definition of a Negro”: Interview with Dhoruba Bin Wahad (September 16, 2008).
Cleaver comes to NYC: Fraser, Gerald C., “Cleaver Aims to Unite Black and White Radicals,” New York Times, October 12, 1968; Austin, Up Against the Wall.
Cleaver runs for president: “Imprisoned Black Panther Enters Race for President,” New York Times, May 14, 1968; “Cleaver Loses Appeal to Get on State Ballot,” New York Times, October 18, 1968; Kifner, John, “Eldridge Cleaver, Black Panther Who Became G.O.P. Conservative, Is Dead at 62,” New York Times, May 2, 1998.
“Certain people…had an aura about them”: Interview with Dhoruba Bin Wahad (September 16, 2008).
Cleaver press conference at Algonquin Hotel: Fraser, “Cleaver Aims to Unite Black and White Radicals,” New York Times, October 12, 1968.
Joseph “Jazz” Hayden background: Interview with Joseph “Jazz” Hayden (December 19, 2008).
Shooting of two police officers (September 28, 1968): “2 Policemen in a Car Are Injured in Unprovoked Harlem Shooting,” New York Times, September 29, 1968; “Suspect, 26, Seized in Harlem Shooting of Two Policemen,” New York Times, October 24, 1968.
“You come outside in the morning”: Interview with Joseph “Jazz” Hayden (December 19, 2009).
“You could start a nickel-and-dime crap game”: Ibid.
“My uncle used to take me around”: Ibid.
“Growing up in Harlem”: Ibid.
“I observed them in the neighborhood”: Ibid.
“My friend who was with me, he didn’t hesitate”: Ibid.
“They hunted me throughout Harlem”: Ibid.
“I was hiding out with my girl”: Ibid.
“I don’t know how I survived that”: Ibid.
“They shipped me off to prison”: Ibid.
14. WHITMORE’S LAST STAND
Police attitudes toward the Panthers: Interview with Sonny Grosso (April 13, 2009); interview with Randy Jurgensen (February 12, 2010); interview with Robert Daley (January 21, 2010); interview with Robert Leuci (February 12, 2009); interview with Gerald Lefcourt (January 25, 2010); “Police and Panthers at War,” Time, December 12, 1969; Epstein, Edward Jay, “The Black Panthers and the Police: A Pattern of Genocide?” The New Yorker, February 13, 1971; Arnold, Martin, “Police and Panthers: Urban Conflict in Mutual Fear,” New York Times, October 26, 1970; Alex, New York Cops Talk Back, pp. 101, 130; Daley, Target Blue, pp. 75–86, 170–183; Jurgensen, Randy, and Robert Cea, Circle of Six, pp. 44, 61, 87; Tanenbaum, Robert K., and Philip Rosenberg, Badge of the Assassin, pp. 15–21.
“So I says, OK you son of a bitch”: Shecter with Phillips, On the Pad, pp. 241–242.
“We make a meet for the next day”: Ibid.
P.J. Clarke’s Saloon: For a time, P.J. Clarke’s was a nexus of Manhattan nightlife. It has been used as a location for many movie shoots, most prominently The Lost Weekend, starring Ray Milland.
Phillips’s Triumph 250 sports car: Shecter with Phillips, On the Pad, p. 18.
Phillips scores off Jimmy Smith: Ibid.
Phillips’s relationship with his father: Ibid.
“He got to be a pain in the ass”: Ibid.
“He says, I don’t want the surgery”: Ibid.
Phillips visits father three or four times a day: Ibid.
Whitmore separates from Aida: Interview with George Whitmore (April 3, 2009).
Whitmore Sr. dies, house burns down: Ibid.; Shapiro, Whitmore, p. 245; Lefkowitz and Gross, The Victims, p. 416.
George and Nate’s Excellent Adventure: Interview with George Whitmore (April 3, 2009).
Hearing before Judge Helfand: Interview with Myron Beldock (January 27, 2009); interview with George Whitmore (April 3, 2009); Zion, Sidney E., “Whitmore Is on Trial Once Again on 5-Year-Old Rape Case,” New York Times, March 28, 1969; “Whitmore Conviction Affirmed, But He Is Planning New Appeal,” New York Times, July 29, 1970.
Rockefeller report buried: “Whitmore Report Cites Confession,” New York Times, May 6, 1969; Lefkowitz and Gross, The Victims, pp. 507–509; interview with Myron Beldock (January 27, 2009); interview with Selwyn Raab (April 22, 2009).
Nixon’s law and order candidacy: Perlstein, Ron, Nixonland, pp. 349–365.
Cleaver jumps bail, settles in Algeria: Caldwell, Earl, “A Federal Warrant Is Issued for Arrest of Eldridge Cleaver,” New York Times, December 11, 1968; Austin, Up Against the Wall, pp. 187–188; Cleaver, Target Zero, pp. 49–54; Pearson, Shadow of the Panther, pp. 171, 229–230.
Bombing incident at police station house: Zimroth, Perversions of Justice, pp. 21–22, 146–148, 226.
Shooting on Harlem River Drive (September 17, 1968): This shooting constituted one of the criminal counts in the Panther Twenty-one case. Asbury, Edith Evans, “Panther Bullet Hit Belt, Witness Says,” New York Times, January 13, 1971; Asbury, Edith Evans, “Policeman Denies Beating Panther,” New York Times, May 13, 1970; Kennebeck, Edwin, Juror Number Four, pp. 21–22, 86, 111; Kempton, The Briar Patch, pp. 11–12, 18, 56, 201–203; Zimroth, Perversion of Justice, pp. 6–7, 104–105, 146, 234–235; Balagoon et al., Look for Me in the Whirlwind, pp. 81–82, 93.
It’s Time: Cadre News: Interview with Dhoruba Bin Wahad (September 16, 2009). Vol. 1, no. 1 of It’s Time: Cadre News was in the FBI COINTELPRO files I.
Bin Wahad identified by COINTELPRO: The first time Dhoruba Bin Wahad appears in a COINTELPRO report is when he was identified as being part of Eldridge Cleaver’s security team at a public appearance in NYC in October 1968.
Bin Wahad on Ralph White (“He was full of shit”): Interview with Dhoruba Bin Wahad (September 16, 2009). Ralph White was a complex character. According to Gerald Lefcourt, who would cross-examine White on the witness stand, “He was conflicted. Whereas Gene Roberts blocked out his mixed feelings about being a cop and betrayer of his own people, Ralph White was torn up about it. I asked him on the stand, ‘You spent all this time working with community groups, marching on behalf of social causes, advocating for poor and disenfranchised people in your community. And then you were an undercover police officer. So which is it? Who are you really? Where do you place your loyalties?’ He took a deep breath and seemed like he was going to have a nervous breakdown when I asked these questions.” Interview with Gerald Lefcourt (January 25, 2010). Ralph White’s conflicted nature is also on display in Red Squad (1971), a documentary about BOSS in which he is interviewed.
“We traveled like shadows”: Bin Wahad, “The Future Past” (unpublished manuscript).
“The vast parking lot around the Pentagon”: Ibid.
Account of Bin Wahad’s arrest: Interview with Dhoruba Bin Wahad (September 16, 2009); Bin Wahad, “The Future Past” (unpublished manuscript); Kempton, The Briar Patch, pp. 16–17, 19; Zimroth, Perversion of Justice, pp. 156–159.
15. THE ROT WITHIN
Robbery at Krown’s Record Store: Interview with George Whitmore (April 3, 2009); Whitmore State of New Jersey arrest report.
Robbery at Allen’s Delicatessen: Ibid.
Whitmore sentenced to jail in New Jersey: Ibid.
Panther Twenty-one indictment announced: Zimroth, Perversion of Justice, pp. 21–35.
Lindsay administration approached by Serpico and Durk: Maas, Serpico, pp. 11–15, 280; Lardner, Crusader, pp. 213–216; Gelb, City Room, pp. 547–559; Cannato, The Ungovernable City, pp. 466–467, 469, 470; Shecter with Phillips, On the Pad, p. 189.
Reporter David Burnham blows open police scandal: Burnham, David, “Graft Paid to Police Here Said to Run into Millions,” New York Times, April 25, 1970; Gelb, Arthur, City Room, pp. 554–555; Levitt, NYPD Confidential, pp. 1–3; Lardner and Reppetto, NYPD, p. 267.
Lindsay appoints investigative commission: Before the Knapp Commission came into being, Lindsay appointed an interim committee known as the Rankin Committee, which was comprised of Corporation Counsel J. Lee Rankin, D.A.s Hogan and Roberts, and Police Commissioner Howard Leary. After being in existence less than one month, the Rankin Committee reported in a letter to Lindsay that they had received 375 complaints in response to public pleas by the mayor for information and were unable to adequately investigate the claims. The committee also expressed concern about the wisdom of having allegations of police corruption investigated by officials who some segments of the public believed might conceivably be responsible for the conditions they were supposed to examine. It was in response to the Rankin Committee’s recommendation that Lindsay issued an executive order appointing the Knapp Commission, with a total budget of $325,000 supplied mostly by federal grant.
Phillips’s response to formation of Knapp Commission: Shecter with Phillips, On the Pad, p. 230.
Pretrial conditions for Panther defendants: One of the factors that turned the public against the prosecution in the early stages of the trial was the manner in which the defendants had their basic rights inhibited. One of the defendants, Lee Berry, was a Korean War veteran; his arrest had taken place at the Manhattan Veterans Hospital, where he was being treated for epilepsy. A special unit of arresting officers descended on the hospital and ordered the supervising physician to discharge the patient as “a murderer, an arsonist, and a Black Panther.” Berry was held in solitary confinement at the Tombs. He became ill but was denied treatment. He suffered numerous epileptic seizures while in custody and was eventually deemed too sick to stand trial with the other defendants. “Statement by the Central Committee of the Black Panther Party,” Black Panther, April 27, 1969; The Black Panther Party and the Case of the New York 21, report by the Committee to Defend the Panther 21, 1969.
Judge John M. Murtagh: The recently concluded Chicago Eight conspiracy trial, which had been turned into a rowdy courtroom burlesque by Abbie Hoffman, Bobby Seale, and others, was rumored to be the reason D. A. Hogan assigned the Panther Twenty-o
ne trial to Murtagh, who ran a tight ship and, logic suggested, could keep the defendants from turning the trial into a three-ring circus. Murtagh was only partly successful. His demeanor, according to a juror who would later write a book about the trial, was “humorless and rigid.” Another author writing about the case noted that “[Murtagh] had an uncanny ability to appear biased even when he was ruling correctly.” The defendants used the judge as a foil, referring to him in court variously as “pig,” “faggot,” “liar,” “hanging racist,” “fascist lackey,” “grandee vulture,” “dried up cracker in female robes,” and “Hitler.” According to Thomas Hughes, who served as a court clerk for Murtagh throughout the trial, the judge never wavered under the verbal onslaught. “Stoic would be a good word to describe John Murtagh,” said Hughes. Interview with Thomas Hughes (May 13, 2010).
Murtagh was not a cardboard character; he was a complex man who had written two books, one about prostitution and the other about narcotics treatment, that were considered progressive in their day. Interview with John M. Murtagh Jr. (February 5, 2010); Van Gelder, Lawrence, “Panthers Cite Murtagh’s Arrest in ’51 on Neglect of Duty Charge,” New York Times, March 3, 1970; Asbury, Edith Evans, “Fistfight Breaks Out at Panther Hearing,” New York Times, February 4, 1970; Asbury, Edith Evans, “Panthers’ Judge Acts on Turmoil,” New York Times, February 5, 1970; Kempton, The Briar Patch, pp. 11–15, 88–89, 150; Kennebeck, Juror Number Four, pp. 8, 9–13, 47–48, 101, 150–175; Zimroth, Perversion of Justice, pp. 17, 100–103, 224–225, 229, 297–300.
“I was referring to George Whitmore”: Interview with Dhoruba Bin Wahad (September 16, 2008).
“Panther Twenty-one Manifesto”: Interview with Dhoruba Bin Wahad; interview with Gerald Lefcourt (January 25, 2009).
Joseph A. Phillips: Interview with Mike Armstrong (August 12, 2009); interview with Thomas Hughes (May 13, 2010). Hughes, Judge Murtagh’s court clerk, also served as an assistant D.A. in Manhattan and knew Joe Phillips, whom he described as having a knack for “rubbing people the wrong way” Kempton, The Briar Patch, pp. 21–31, 75–80; Zimroth, Perversion of Justice, pp. 31–32, 36, 288–290, 292; Kennebeck, Juror Number Four, pp. 21–22, 89–112, 175.