The Assassination of Fred Hampton: How the FBI and the Chicago Police Murdered a Black Panther

401 Pages·2009·7.41 MB·English

by  Jeffrey Haas

true crime / african american $26.95 (CAN $29.95)
The Assassination of
Haas
“This is an extremely important book—and a tale well told—for America to read if
Fred Hampton
I
it wants to become what it says it has always been—the land of the free and the t’s sometime around 7:00 a.m., on
home of the brave.” —Ramsey Clark, former United States Attorney General December 4, 1969, and attorney
Jeff Haas is in the Monroe Street
“At once journalist, lawyer and storyteller, Jeff Haas manages to sear into every
police lockup in Chicago, interview-
page of this book a compassion seemingly forgotten, providing a riveting
eyewitness account of the government assassination of Fred Hampton. This is “A riveting account of the ing Fred Hampton’s fiancée. Only
assassination, the plot behind
mandatory reading for those who love and believe in freedom.” four hours earlier, she was lying
it, the attempted cover-up,
—Elaine Brown, author and former chairman F the denouement, and the in bed next to Hampton when the
T
of the Black Panther Party lessons that we should draw
police burst into their apartment. She
rh from this shocking tale of
government iniquity.” is still in her nightgown, describing
“This book is more important NOW than it was THEN. . . . A remarkable work.” ee
—Noam Chomsky, author
—Studs Terkel and political activist how the police pulled her from the
A
d room as Fred lay unconscious on
“A true crime story and legal thriller, this powerful account puts together all s
their bed. She heard one officer say,

the pieces, giving us the anatomy of a despicable episode in recent American s
H “He’s still alive.” She then heard two
history. . . . The overall impact [is] devastating.” a
shots. A second officer said, “He’s
—Phillip Lopate, author of Getting Personal s
a
Attorney Jeff Haas has spent his good and dead now.” She looks at
s
career working for justice. In 1969 he “A chilling account . . . essential reading.” mi Jeff and asks, “What can you do?”
n
—Kathleen Cleaver, Emory University School of Law, former
and three other lawyers set up the The Assassination of Fred
communications secretary of the Black Panther Party a
People’s Law Office, whose clients Hampton is attorney Jeff Haas’s per-
pt
included the Black Panthers, SDS, “Part history, part courtroom drama, part literary memoir, Haas evokes with i sonal account of the eighteen-month
o
and other political activists. Haas chilling precision a bloody and desperate repressive state apparatus locked in t trial in which he and People’s Law
n
conflict with its greatest fear, a charismatic young black man with revolution on o
went on to handle cases involving Office partner Flint Taylor pursued

prisoners’ rights, police torture, and his mind.” —William Ayers, professor of education, University of Illinois at no Hampton’s assassins, ultimately
Chicago, former SDS leader, and author
the wrongfully accused. He lives f How the FBI and the Chicago Police prevailing over FBI stonewalling and
in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with his “A must-read.” —Len Weinglass, lawyer and civil rights activist Murdered a Black Panther unlimited government resources
wife and children and continues to bent on hiding the conspiracy that
“People should not forget that State’s Attorney Hanrahan, the Chicago police,
represent victims of police brutality. led to Hampton’s death. The book
and the FBI murdered my son. . . . Who knows what he may have become, if
not only tells the story of justice
they hadn’t killed him?”
delivered but also puts Hampton in
—Iberia Hampton, Fred Hampton’s mother
a new light as a dynamic community
leader whose dedication to his peo-
Front cover photos: (top) © Bettman/CORBIS; $26.95 (CAN $29.95) ple and to truth telling inspired the
ISBN 978-1-55652-765-4
(bottom) courtesy of Chicago Mobile Crime Lab
52695 young lawyers of the People’s Law
Author photo: Meridel Rubenstein, Santa Fe
Cover design: Jonathan Hahn Office, solidifying their lifelong com-
mitment to fighting injustice.
Jeffrey Haas
Printed in the United States of America
9 781556 527654
FH_mechanical_new.indd 1 8/11/09 12:55:09 PM
The Assassination of
Fred Hampton
How the FBI and the Chicago Police
Murdered a Black Panther
Jeffrey Haas
Fred Hampton_FINAL.indd 1 7/29/09 1:28:33 PM
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Haas, Jeffrey.
The assassination of Fred Hampton : how the FBI and the Chicago police
murdered a Black Panther / Jeffrey Haas.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-55652-765-4 (hardcover)
1. Hampton, Fred, 1948-1969. 2. Assassination—Illininois—Chicago. 3. Black
Panther Party. I. Title.
HV6289.C4H33 2009
322.4'2092—dc22
2009025604
Interior design: Jonathan Hahn
Photo credits: photo gallery pages 1–2 courtesy of the Hampton family;
pages 4–7, 8 (bottom), 9 (top), 10, 12, 13 (bottom) and 14 © Paul Sequeria;
page 11 (top) courtesy Joe Moreno, Chicago Daily News, with permission
by the Sun-Times News Group; page 16 (top) © Kathy Richland; page 16
(bottom) © Delores Smith
© 2010 by Jeffrey Haas
All rights reserved
Published by Lawrence Hill Books
An imprint of Chicago Review Press, Incorporated
814 North Franklin Street
Chicago, Illinois 60610
ISBN 978-1-55652-765-4
Printed in the United States of America
5 4 3 2 1
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This book is dedicated to the life and memory of Fred Hampton
(1948–1969). He refused to compromise in the struggle for justice,
equality, and freedom, and he paid the ultimate price. And to those
who have been inspired by him to pursue these goals.
In memory of my father, Joseph Haas, and my friend Juancho
Donahue, and for my mother, Betty Haas.
To my loving wife, Mariel, and my children, Roger, Andrew, Justin, and
Rosa.
To my other family, the People’s Law Office, as they continue the
legacy of Fred Hampton.
To Iberia and Francis Hampton and Fannie Clark, who endured the
loss of a son but persevered to keep the memory alive.
To all those who have died, lost loved ones, or been imprisoned
pursuing justice and freedom.
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Contents
Introduction 1969: The Year of No Return ix
Part I: Rendezvous with Death 1
1 Meeting a Revolutionary 3
2 Born and Bred in Atlanta 6
3 Young Fred Hampton, an Early Activist 15
4 Chicago, Becoming a Lawyer 21
5 Fred and the Rise of the Panthers 27
6 Convergence 33
7 Struggle in the Streets—PLO Begins 43
8 Panthers Versus Police 61
9 Last Glimpse 68
10 A Knock at the Door 72
11 Hanrahan Versus Panthers 83
Part II: Exposing the Murder 87
12 “A Northern Lynching” 89
13 The Battle for Hearts and Minds 94
14 Farewell to a Revolutionary 108
15 Panthers Indicted 111
16 The Survivors Go Public 116
17 A Puzzling Victory 121
18 Sue the Bastards 127
19 Shootout in Carbondale 135
20 Vietnam and Protest 142
21 The Carbondale Trial 145
22 Prosecuting Hanrahan 151
23 Revolt at Attica 154
24 Two Bad Decisions 163
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Part III: The FBI’s Clandestine Operation 171
25 The Snitch 173
26 Back in Court 182
27 Floor Plan for Murder 188
28 On the Trail of COINTELPRO 192
29 Groth’s Informant 203
30 Hiding COINTELPRO 213
31 Number One on the “Hit” Parade 224
Part IV: Injustice on Trial 231
32 Opening Day 233
33 “I Am No Solomon” 239
34 The Deluge 245
35 O’Neal Gets a Bonus 251
36 December 4, Revisited 255
37 An Honest FBI Man 261
38 Witness O’Neal 268
39 The Shooters 272
40 Facing Hanrahan and Jail 276
41 Fred, the “Messiah” 282
42 A Shameful End 286
43 Boiling Over 291
44 Rock Bottom 300
45 Out of the Abyss 314
Part V: Vindication 323
46 A Victory 325
47 Onward 330
48 Seize the Time 337
Epilogue 349
Acknowledgments 358
Glossary 364
Sources 367
Index 372
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Introduction
1969: Year of No Return
hile 1969 was pivotal for me, it was fatal for Fred Hampton. His
W
life moved so much more quickly than mine and burned so much
more brightly, only to be extinguished at age twenty-one by two police
bullets to the head at four-thirty in the morning on December 4. Yet the
story of his life has never been told, and the story of his death, once par-
tially illuminated, has mostly been forgotten. These stories exist in the
memories of those who knew Fred, who heard him speak, who respond
with excitement and recognition when I ask about him, as though I’m
speaking about yesterday or last week rather than forty years ago. The
memory of Fred is there in the continuing sadness in Fred’s mother
Iberia’s eyes as she approaches her late eighties.
Maybe we all have points at which our consciousness changes and
we cannot return to our former path. For many political activists, that
dividing line occurred in the late 1960s. We were fed up with a system
that thrived on war, racism, and patriarchy. We were young people
who at first hadn’t understood why the United States was waging war
in Vietnam but who by 1969 believed that it was endemic to an unjust
system we felt compelled to stop or overthrow.
Many of the same evils are still with us, as was glaringly appar-
ent in recent years under Bush Jr.: a war of conquest and occupation
abroad and ever-growing government eavesdropping and intimidation
at home. There is currently a movement to make public U.S. involve-
ment in torture and hold those who authorized it accountable. The
Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld team, with their legal apologists John Ashcroft
and Alberto Gonzales, implemented secret domestic and foreign poli-
cies in total violation of the constitution and international law and
still seek to justify those abuses. Many of the same perpetrators and
apologists for Watergate, COINTELPRO, and the Iran-Contra scandal
returned to implement even more Draconian measures. If this wrong-
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Introduction
doing is not exposed and those who perpetuated it are not held crimi-
nally liable, then it is bound to repeat itself in clandestine programs
like COINTELPRO. The need to protest, expose, and hold accountable
those in power who violate our laws and personal liberties continues
and remains a fundamental struggle of our society and any society.
viii
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Part I
Rendezvous
with Death
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