Feb. 24, 2008
The Murder Of Chauncey Bailey
Was A Newspaper Editor Murdered To Keep A Story Out Of Print?
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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.
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(AP Photo/Noah Berger)
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Police investigate the scene where Oakland Post editor Chauncey Bailey was shot to death. (AP Photo/San Francisco Chronicle)
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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.
Produced by Michael Rosenbaum
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See all 25 CommentsThe 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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!
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
O and caliengineer your hate speech is laughable if it wasnt so sad, i dont consider you an American with those anti-semetic words.
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.
"Iraqi oil is now pumped to Haifa Israel ... "
And the point you''re making is ... ?
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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.
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