Feb. 24, 2008

The Murder Of Chauncey Bailey

Was A Newspaper Editor Murdered To Keep A Story Out Of Print?

  • Play CBS Video Video The Murder of Chauncey Bailey

    Shot-gunned to death in the course of reporting a story, police say newspaper editor Chauncey Bailey was probably killed to keep that story out of print. CNN?s Anderson Cooper reports.

    •  (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

    • Police investigate the scene where Oakland Post editor Chauncey Bailey was shot to death.

      Police investigate the scene where Oakland Post editor Chauncey Bailey was shot to death.  (AP Photo/San Francisco Chronicle)

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(CBS)  After the stories were published in the paper, Thompson says somebody smashed out all their windows.

Asked if he personally received threats, Thompson tells Cooper, "Somebody would call up and say 'Mr. Thompson, we just want you to know that your days are numbered. Your time is up. You screwed up for the last time.' The creepiest thing was when they started following me home."

That's when Thompson decided to get out of town for a few months. While he was gone, the bakery's charismatic leader, Yusuf Bey, died. His funeral was attended by a thousand mourners, from all parts of Oakland.

After Yusuf Bey Sr.'s death, Howard Jordan says there was a power struggle within the organization. "There was a power struggle between the younger and the older Bey family members," he explains.

This was not your typical boardroom power struggle. Two of Bey's successors were murdered, and a third was wounded in an ambush. The last man standing was Yusuf Bey IV, the 19-year-old son of founder Yusuf Bey, and one of five sons he named after himself.

That's where reporter Chauncey Bailey picked up the story. Bailey was a veteran of Oakland newspapers and television, who worked for a weekly African-American newspaper called The Oakland Post.

In July, Bailey was tipped off to serious financial problems inside the bakery by a man named Saleem Bey.

"The story you told Chauncey Bailey, did that lead to his murder?" Cooper asks Saleem Bey.

"I believe that it led directly to his murder," he replies.

Saleem Bey is not one of Yusuf Bey Sr.'s biological children. He's one of the dozens of people Bey "spiritually adopted" who took the family name. Saleem Bey was a leader of the bakery, until he was forced out in that power struggle.

"I told Chauncey Bailey that the bakery was about to be shut down in an illegal bankruptcy," Saleem Bey explains. "This was the culmination of three years of the bakery being embezzled, and fraud and forgery, and different things that led to it being this way."

"You asked Chauncey Bailey to keep your name out of it. Why?" Cooper asks.

"I knew that it would be inflammatory, and that the people who would take it that way were dangerous," Saleem Bey explains.

Over the years, the bakery had earned a reputation for intimidation.

One incident, which they called a "show of force," was taped by San Francisco's CBS station KPIX-TV. Members of the bakery could be seen outside an Oakland tow-yard, demanding that a car be released. This was a smaller version of the close-order military drills that up to 50 bakery members would put on to intimidate the community.

Another "show of force" was caught by a security camera. Yusuf Bey IV and some of his followers were charged with trashing a neighborhood liquor store. Bey, who has pleaded not guilty, said the action was taken because alcohol was against Islamic law.

After taking over the bakery, Yusuf Bey IV went on a crime spree; he was arrested in three Oakland-area counties on five different felony charges.

"We saw a huge criminal enterprise starting to develop with the change in leadership when Yusuf Bey took over," Jordan says.

Continued



Produced by Michael Rosenbaum
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Add a Comment See all 25 Comments
by timmma831 February 26, 2008 9:01 PM EST
What you fail to realize is the political motivation behind this report and CBS''s investment in this story with one of the biggest elections in history going on? Anyone? Anyone at all? Thats sad.
Reply to this comment
by gkc99 February 25, 2008 11:02 PM EST
"Anderson may not be the one to do it, but this organization and the way the Oakland police handled the murder of Chauncey Bailey deserves further investigation"--Posted by librablue


The Oakland pigs are crooked as hell and have been for decades. Like when they let the Hell''s Angels attack peaceful demonstrators back in the ''60s. Every Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown has been unable to bring them to heel.
Reply to this comment
by librablue-2009 February 25, 2008 8:35 PM EST
This was another excellent report by Anderson Cooper.

The only difference between the members of %u201CYour Black Muslim Bakery%u201D and the unauthorized militia groups in the United States is that they have been allowed to hide behind the cover of religion.

Having said that, I think, based on the number of crimes they have gotten away with, they have had a great deal of help, directly and indirectly, from the Oakland police department. I am sure that Sgt. Derwin Longmire is not the only friend %u201CYour Black Muslim Bakery%u201D has in the department.

The unmonitored meeting between Devaughndre Broussard and Yusuf Bey lV was inexcusable. I truly believe that they set up Broussard to be their fall guy.

I wonder how many similar groups are out there using religion as a cover to carry out their terror tactics.

Anderson may not be the one to do it, but this organization and the way the Oakland police handled the murder of Chauncey Bailey deserves further investigation.
Reply to this comment
by justice4none February 25, 2008 8:12 PM EST
Terrorislam0, your an idiot, bet you get scared every time the terror alert color is changed, Terror? you never question why gas is so high while bush holds hands and Kisses the Saudis ( where the majority of hijackers purportedly came from ) duh... wake up

History of OPD is tainted by CONTELPRO, informants and provocateurs, The question they refuse to answer is how they solved the crime so fast? Answer is, their planted informant was there when Mr. Bailey was targeted and may have participated. Either way they allowed it to happen anyway.

Or why did the police and the D.A go out of their way to intervene and let IV out on 5 concurrent bails to keep him on the street even when known violence against the community was happening. Or why they postponed indefinitely taking IV into custody after his conviction and sentencing 3 weeks prior to Chauncey''s murder in Vallejo.

Anyone following this in the Bay Area knows that OPD handling of this has been real shady from the start. Including releasing Mackey who either drove the van or committed the murder even after multiple witnesses gave statements while Mackey was in custody and they still released him ( free to this day ).

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Don''t believe me, just read Oakland Tribune and SF Chronicle articles about OPD involvement all this and more is in there.
Reply to this comment
by justice4none February 25, 2008 8:06 PM EST

History of OPD is tainted by CONTELPRO, informants and provocateurs, The question they refuse to answer is how they solved the crime so fast? Answer is, their planted informant was there when Mr. Bailey was targeted and may have participated. Either way they allowed it to happen anyway.

Or why did the police and the D.A go out of their way to intervene and let IV out on 5 concurrent bails to keep him on the street even when known violence against the community was happening. Or why they postponed indefinitely taking IV into custody after his conviction and sentencing 3 weeks prior to Chauncey''s murder in Vallejo.

Anyone following this in the Bay Area knows that OPD handling of this has been real shady from the start. Including releasing Mackey who either drove the van or committed the murder even after multiple witnesses gave statements while Mackey was in custody and they still released him ( free to this day ).

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Don''t believe me, just read Oakland Tribune and SF Chronicle articles about OPD involvement all this and more is in there.
Reply to this comment
by justice4none February 25, 2008 8:05 PM EST

History of OPD is tainted by CONTELPRO, informants and provocateurs, The question they refuse to answer is how they solved the crime so fast? Answer is, their planted informant was there when Mr. Bailey was targeted and may have participated. Either way they allowed it to happen anyway.

Or why did the police and the D.A go out of their way to intervene and let IV out on 5 concurrent bails to keep him on the street even when known violence against the community was happening. Or why they postponed indefinitely taking IV into custody after his conviction and sentencing 3 weeks prior to Chauncey''s murder in Vallejo.

Anyone following this in the Bay Area knows that OPD handling of this has been real shady from the start. Including releasing Mackey who either drove the van or committed the murder even after multiple witnesses gave statements while Mackey was in custody and they still released him ( free to this day ).

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Don''t believe me, just read Oakland Tribune and SF Chronicle articles about OPD involvement all this and more is in there.
Reply to this comment
by salomah February 25, 2008 6:06 PM EST
terrorislam0,
Let me help you invest in a dictionary. The phrases "accused of" and arrested for" do NOT equate to "Found Guilty of" .

Let us remeber that this is the same Oakland police department that accused and arrested members of the very organization that instituted the practice of free breakfast for underpriveliged children in the school system.

This is the same police department that allow a murder suspect to have conversations with an "accused" co-conspirator unrecorded and unmonitored. (anyone who''s watched more that 2 episodes of "Law and Order" can see the issues with that.

I don''t have time to educate you on the irregularities of law enforcement in Oakland, so I will just bid you "peace" ~~ Salaam

Reply to this comment
by oakcitizen February 25, 2008 5:55 PM EST
terrorislam0
What is the murder rate in the city that you live in? When whether you call the police is a question vs an automatic response than you can humor me with your comments!
Reply to this comment
by salomah February 25, 2008 5:18 PM EST
Thank You for your post Oakcitizen. As a former member of Your Black Muslim Bakery (YBMB), let me say that if the allegations made in the story are true then someone definitely needs to be prosecuted for what YBMB has become. Especially in lght of the ideals under which in was founded by Dr. Yusef Bey, Sr..

I have seen with my own eyes that Dr Bey did in the community through teaching self reliance and community responsibilty. I confess I have not been back to the bakery in years but I will say again that if it has strayed this for from the teachings and principles it was founded on then the Dr. Bey I once knew would want someone (the correct person) prosecuted.

As-salaam-alaikum,
Salomah Nuri Ali
Reply to this comment
by timmma831 February 25, 2008 4:32 PM EST
Thank you for your post oakcitizen. I agree with alot of what you said, and am happy that I''m not the only one who has sense.

O and caliengineer your hate speech is laughable if it wasnt so sad, i dont consider you an American with those anti-semetic words.
Reply to this comment
by oakcitizen February 25, 2008 4:13 PM EST

Oakland has one of the highest murder rates in the San Francisco Bay area. This past week the Mayor of Oakland proposed to City Council the hiring of more officers. In light of this story, more police are not a problem. If the Black Muslim Bakery has been on the radar, the police have %u201Cleft certain neighborhoods to the Bey family%u201D and a top cop and lead investigator on the case is a friend is, not only the family of Chancey Bailey, but the city of Oakland does not have a chance for justice. http://www.chaunceybaileyproject.org/. I have seen on the news that the current editor of the Post has a very difficult time getting police response to threats on his life as recently as a few months ago. Police corruption has been an ongoing issues in Oakland http://www.oaklandcityattorney.org/Notable/Riders.html
I think 60 Minutes missed the real. The Muslims are not the problem, it is a systemic problem.
Reply to this comment
by caliengineer February 25, 2008 4:03 PM EST
Truth is, America - correctly established as a nation under God - should have never allowed false religions such as Islam, Mormonism, Hinduism and Buddhism to take root here. God is clear that He does not allow this. Any wonder He removed His hand of protection? When God protects you, there is no 9/11!
Reply to this comment
by mrvolleyba11 February 25, 2008 2:35 PM EST
sounds like police incompetence or corruption also! who would not have taped those two individuals conversation when they were alone??? the conversation could have revealed all kinds of criminal activity and incriminating evidence! Only a corrupt officer (in charge) would have not recorded it!!!
Reply to this comment
by carlalee2 February 25, 2008 1:08 PM EST
sandy777 you are an idiot.
Reply to this comment
by pfd572 February 25, 2008 9:57 AM EST
These aren''t true Muslims. Islam does not teach this behavior or in any way condones it. Once again, its a radical, fanatic or criminal group using religion as the excuse or cover up for illegal and violent activities. Just as it has throughout the ages: the Inquisition, massacre of protestants in France and England, holocaust, the Balkans. And do we suppress a story about a faction of Black Muslims anymore than a story about Catholic priests if a Catholic is running for President? I don''t think so, timma831. And the fact that this isn''t a story in Oakland is a negative on your city. A man may have been murdered for trying to expose massive crime that hurts or exploits your fellow citizens.
Reply to this comment
by juwboy February 25, 2008 8:58 AM EST
AntiZion said:

"Iraqi oil is now pumped to Haifa Israel ... "

And the point you''re making is ... ?
Reply to this comment
by antizion February 25, 2008 5:41 AM EST
"Murderous Muslims?"

---------------------

Step into reality wacko. The US has murdered 1.1 million Muslims in Iraq. They defended themselves from a invasion based in lies and fabricated Niger uranium documents produced at the pervertagon office of special plans.

The Iraqis, killed nearly 5000 defending themselves.

Iraqi oil is now pumped to Hafia Israel through a pipeline Saddam shut down in the 70''s.

Welcome to reality morons.

Reply to this comment
by tbweb February 25, 2008 4:39 AM EST
This is an important story and highlights the benefits of anonymous Blogging. But equally interesting stories can also be published about Neo Nazi Skinheads who are a far greater threat inside the U.S. and around the World.
Reply to this comment
by sandy777-2009 February 25, 2008 2:38 AM EST
chriskee....sounds like a great idea. Get the CIA, ICE, FBI and RICO in on this and get those idiotic murderous muslims out of Oakland. I totally agree with you. I hope the government officials pick up on this story and arrest those muslim thugs.
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by timmma831 February 25, 2008 2:09 AM EST
Shame on you CBS!!! 60 min. should be ashamed of them self. Playing politics this time of year takes you out of a good journalism and puts you in a bias hole (no better than Fox News). To think they would play a negitive black muslim story whie one of the leading presidental candidates has a black muslim backround make me want to protest the entire CBS network. They call themselves a news source, haha ya in 1973, Today there just another corprate shill that pumps out special interest garbage. And to the others who made those ignorant comments before mine (GET OFF THE COUCH AND READ A BOOK) you make America look as dumb as Bush sounds! Your the reason I''m sad that my country is full of ignorace and hate. I live in oakland and this isn''t even the big story in our community, so the thought that anyone from who knows where (probably the middle of America by the sound of it) would have such stupid comments as these about a story they know nothing about besides this CBS propaganda report makes me realize how uneducated my country is.
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