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 Fred Hampton_FINAL.indd 2 7/29/09 1:28:33 PM 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. Fred Hampton_FINAL.indd 3 7/29/09 1:28:33 PM Fred Hampton_FINAL.indd 4 7/29/09 1:28:33 PM 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 Fred Hampton_FINAL.indd 5 7/29/09 1:28:34 PM 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 Fred Hampton_FINAL.indd 6 7/29/09 1:28:34 PM 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- vii Fred Hampton_FINAL.indd 7 7/29/09 1:28:35 PM 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 Fred Hampton_FINAL.indd 8 7/29/09 1:28:35 PM Part I Rendezvous with Death Fred Hampton_FINAL.indd 1 7/29/09 1:28:35 PM