COINTELPRO let killers of police in Nebraska and Ohio get away with murder-gctid148192

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COINTELPRO let killers of police in Nebraska and Ohio get away with murder
April 6, 20154:14 PM MST
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Harllel Jones was framed for murder in Cleveland

Obituary photo/Family
J. Edgar Hoover, the controversial director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for a half-century, allowed killers in Cleveland and Omaha get away with murder in order to put so-called black militant leaders in prison. Although a matter of record, the details of the killings and tainted prosecutions are buried in court files and the public is largely unaware of two of the most despicable actions committed by the FBI during COINTELPRO, a clandestine counterintelligence operation.
From 1956 to 1971, J. Edgar Hoover directed a massive, illegal operation to "disrupt" the activities of domestic political activists with whom Hoover disagreed. Codenamed COINTELPRO, the program targeted thounited snakesnds of Americans, focusing its most lethal fury against the Black Panther Party and other "Black Nationalist" groups.
In Cleveland, John Howard Smith was shot to death on August 10, 1970, in a random revenge killing. The shooter, Robert Perry, was in a car full of members of a group called Afro Set or Black Nationalist Party for Self-Defense. Group leader Harllel Jones, who was not in the death car, was convicted in March 1972 for the murder of Smith.
Chief Judge Merritt of the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals described the case in a 1994 decision:
"In March 1972 based primarily upon information supplied by a member of Afro Set who had become a confidential FBI informant, Jones was convicted in state court of second-degree murder and shooting with intent to kill or wound. The informant, a co-defendant and admitted triggerman, testified that Jones had ordered the members of Afro Set to shoot police officers and security guards at random in retaliation for the shooting of an Afro Set member by a security guard. In return for his testimony, first-degree murder charges against the informant were dropped."
The FBI had Harllel Jones targeted for counterintelligence action and the shooting by group members provided an opportunity for a frame-up. The FBI recruited Perry, the confessed killer, as an informant before the trial. The prosecution also withheld an exculpatory statement from a co-defendant fifteen year-old witness who had been in the car. The result was a conviction against Jones and a dismissed first-degree murder charge for Perry.
In Omaha, Patrolman Larry Minard, Sr. was killed in a bomb ambush a week after the Cleveland killing by a hate-filled fifteen year-old, Duane Peak, who confessed to the crime. The leaders of a group called the National Committee to Combat Fascism, a spin-off of the Black Panther Party, Edward Poindexter and Mondo we Langa (then David Rice), were convicted in April 1971 for the murder of Minard. Peak implicated the two leaders and got his first-degree murder charge reduced to juvenile delinquency. Peak's older brother, Donald, who was seen with the suitcase bomb hours before the fatal ambush, informed on Duane to the FBI and faced no charges for the murder.
The FBI had targeted both Ed Poindexter and Mondo we Langa for counterintelligence measures before the bombing and the Special Agent-in-Charge, Paul Young, quickly sprang into action. To make a case against the two leaders, a prosecution deal was made with Duane Peak and also a FBI Laboratory report on the identity of the anonymous 911 caller that lured Minard to his death was withheld on direct orders from J. Edgar Hoover.
Harellel Jones was released from prison in 1977 when it was revealed that exculpatory evidence was withheld. Poindexter and Mondo remain in prison despite the revelation that crucial laboratory evidence was withheld from the men. Repeated attempts to reopen their case have failed in the Nebraska courts.
Duane Peak and Robert Perry both escaped prosecution for first-degree murder in the deaths of Larry Minard, Sr. and John Howard Smith. J. Edgar Hoover died in May 1972 without ever admitting any role or expressing any remorse in letting the two killers get away with murder.
Ed Poindexter and Mondo we Langa, now known as the Omaha Two, both continue to maintain their innocence from prison. In view of the Harllel Jones case outcome in Ohio, the Nebraska men may wonder if they had lived in Cleveland instead of Omaha would they now be free?

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Governor Pete Ricketts opens door on possible commutation for Omaha Two

February 3, 201612:28 PM MST
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Ed Poindexter and Mondo we Langa are serving life sentences at the Nebraska State Penitentiary

Michael Richardson
Governor Pete Ricketts unknowingly is headed toward a political test where he could both be tested over his support for capital punishment and his ability to be fair. Two prisoners, Edward Poindexterand Mondo we Langa, formerly David Rice, are serving life senteces for the murder of a policeman, and were the subject of a recent query by justice advocate Sandy Shevack. Spokeswoman Sonya Fauver wrote to Shevack in an email message, “Mr. Rice and Mr. Poindexter have not submitted an application to the Nebraska Board of Pardons requesting a commutation of their sentences.”
Mondo we Langa and Edward Poindexter were targets of J. Edgar Hoover's clandestineCOINTELPRO counterintelligence operation at the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The two men, Black Panther leaders, were marked for prosecution by the Omaha FBI office. With Hoover's approval, the FBI Laboratory withheld a report on the identity of the anonymous 911 caller that lured Patrolman Larry Minard, Sr. to his August 17, 1970 bombing death. The two leaders were blamed for the murder and convicted in a controversial April 1971 trial.
The Omaha Two, as the pair of prisoners are now called, had faced Nebraska's electric chair. Douglas County Attorney Donald “Pinky” Knowles sought the death penalty, however the men were spared electrocution by the jury that convicted them. If either man makes a commutation request based on wrongful conviction and is granted a hearing, Ricketts will be called upon to personally examine the merits and facts of their innocence claims.
Nebraska abolished captial punishment last year after a hard-fought battle by Ricketts to keep the death penalty. Ricketts vetoed the abolition of the penalty but was reversed by a 30-19 legislative override in the Unicameral.
Ed Poindexter disputes the Governor's office statement that he has not submitted an application. “I requested a commutation of my sentence in 1987 and 1993 to no avail. It's on record.” Indeed, Poindexter even litigated his Pardons Board denials before the Nebraska Supreme Court in 2008, which upheld the denial of parole or a commutation of sentence.
The Nebraska Supreme Court added insult to injury, “We further conclude that Poindexter did not have a liberty interest in having his sentence commuted.”
Mondo we Langa has never had a Pardons Board hearing, although the Parole Board has recommended commutation to the Pardons Board. In 1993, Nebraska Parole Board Chair Ethel Landrum informed the Pardons Board during a regular monthly meeting that Mondo we Langa was recommended for a sentence commutation which would make Mondo eligible for release on parole. The Pardons Board, then made up of Governor Ben Nelson, Attorney General Don Stenberg, and Secretary of State Allen Beermann, took no action. Landrum told the Pardons Board that the Parole Board had voted 5-0 to recommend a commutation of sentence for Mondo.
Mondo also took the Pardons Board to court in a constitutional claim over the composition of the board. The Attorney General is both a member of the board and represents the state against Mondo at the same time. The Nebraska Supreme Court turned down Mondo's appeal without even issuing a written decision, completely ignoring the Pardons Board issue altogether.
Ricketts has not announced if he was unaware of the earlier applications and appeals or if he was offering a fresh look at their cases. Both Ed Poindexter and Mondo we Langa continue to proclaim their innocence and say they were victims of perjured testimony, planted evidence, and withheld evidence.
Ed Poindexter and Mondo we Langa are serving life without parole, even though that was not their sentence. Given the history of both men with the Nebraska Pardons Board and Governor Ricketts' defense of the death penalty, there is some reason to wonder what will change with a new application. However, if either prisoner cites wrongful conviction in an application to the Pardons Board, Ricketts will be duty-bound to examine the case for federal tampering, with the knowledge the two men might have been executed.

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?errthang;148230 wrote: haven't seen this movie yet, but plan to check it out...

1971 (2014)

On March 8th, 1971, eight ordinary citizens broke into an FBI office in Media, PA. Calling themselves the Citizens' Commission to Investigate the FBI, they removed every file in the office. Mailed anonymously, the stolen documents started to show up in newsrooms. The heist yielded a trove of damning evidence. The most significant revelation was COINTELPRO, a controversial, secret, illegal surveillance program overseen by lifelong Bureau director J. Edgar Hoover. Despite one of the largest investigations ever conducted, the FBI was unable to catch the burglars. Those responsible have never revealed their identities. Until now. For the first time the burglars have decided to speak about their actions. 1971 is their story, examining the consequences and implications of their actions - then and now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2Kgo7NNXWs

Gettin' that jammy now. Thanks for the look.