March 22nd, 2011
Omaha Two story: Jan. 26, 1970
United Airlines cooperated with FBI in COINTELPRO plot to disrupt Black Panther newspaper delivery.
Hoover first ordered Paul Young to participate in an illegal counter-intelligence operation, code-named COINTELPRO, on March 4, 1968, a year and a half earlier on a day of rioting in Omaha, triggered when George Wallace supporters beat demonstrators with metal chairs at an Auditorium Arena campaign rally.
On October 23, 1968, Hoover wrote to Young that although he wanted “measures” taken against the Black Panthers, “You are again reminded that no action should be taken on any specific proposals without prior Bureau authority.”
As 1968 rolled into 1969 Hoover became more impatient with Young and ordered the Omaha FBI office to make COINTELPRO updates every two weeks instead of quarterly.
On June 27, 1969, Hoover wrote to Young, “It is apparent that the counterintelligence program of the Omaha Office has not been effective and needs a new approach.”
However, no “new approach” yielded any results and on December 10, 1969, Hoover again ordered Paul Young to take action against the Black Panthers in Omaha.
Hoover wrote: “Evaluate your approach to this program and insure that it is given the imaginative attention necessary to produce effective results. Handle promptly and submit your proposals to the Bureau for approval.”
Special Agent-in-Charge Paul Young finally came up with a plan to ambush the Panthers when they went to Eppley Airport to pick up shipments of the Black Panther newspaper and prevent distribution of the newspaper in the community.
On January 26, 1970, Young wrote to Hoover: “The United Front Against Fascism (UFAF) is the only BPP affiliated organization presently active with the Omaha Division. At present the only known source of income of the UFAF is money derived through the sale of the Black Panther newspaper which arrives in Omaha weekly via United Airlines.”
Young continued: “Contact is presently being maintained with United Airlines to ascertain if a regular pattern exists for the pickup of this newspaper by [REDACTED] a known UFAF member to whom these papers are consigned. As soon as this pattern is established, Omaha contemplates initiating counter intelligence measures aimed at disruption of the distribution of this newspaper.”
Young learned from United Airlines that the weekly pick-up schedule was altered in January 1970 upsetting his planned action. On February 24, 1970, Paul Young wrote to Hoover of the difficulty he was having implementing his COINTELPRO proposal.
Young wrote: “Since BPP Headquarters has changed its policy concerning the publishing of this newspaper to demanding that payment for these newspapers be received at BPP Headquarters prior to the time the newspaper goes to the printer, no papers have been received in Omaha from the San Francisco area. In recent communications from San Francisco, it appears that arrangements are being made to have further shipments of the BPP Newspaper sent to Omaha and contact is maintained with United Airlines Air Freight so that the Omaha Office will be apprised when regular shipments of the newspaper to Omaha are resumed.”
Young continued, “Once these shipments are resumed, United Airlines Air Freight will be contacted on a continuing basis in order to determine if a regular pattern is established for the pickup of these newspapers by UFAF members. Once a pattern is established for the pickup of these newspapers, counter intelligence measures will be aimed at disruption of the distribution of these newspapers.”
The COINTELPRO memo from Omaha was read by Hoover and bears his distinctive “H” initial.
In March 1970, Omaha patrolman James Loder was acquitted in the death of 14 year-old Vivian Strong the previous summer. Loder had shot Vivian in the back of the head near her home at the Logan Fontenelle housing project when she and other youth ran from police making an unrelated arrest. The shooting of Vivian Strong had triggered several days of rioting in Omaha and remains controversial on the Near North Side to the present time.
Also in March, the FBI director used his annual appearance at the House Appropriations Committee to discuss the FBI budget as a bully pulpit against the Black Panthers warning the committee members about the threat facing America from the Black Panthers.
Realizing that Hoover could not be put off much longer with inaction on the airport ambush, Paul Young proposed an anonymous letter and phone call operation against UFAF leader Ed Poindexter.
Events in Omaha were inextricably moving to a climax that ended with the conviction of Ed Poindexter and Mondo we Langa, then David Rice, for the murder of an Omaha police officer. Both men deny any involvement in the crime and are now known as the Omaha Two.
To view all of the Omaha Two story articles click HERE.
The prison gates are open... 