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

by Jeffrey Haas

Overview

Read the story behind the award-winning film Judas and the Black Messiah

On December 4, 1969, attorney Jeff Haas was in a police lockup in Chicago, interviewing Fred Hampton’s fiancée. Deborah Johnson described how the police pulled her from the room as Fred lay unconscious on their bed.

She heard one officer say, “He’s still alive.” She then heard two shots. A second officer said, “He’s good and dead now.” She looked at Jeff and asked, “What can you do?” The Assassination of Fred Hampton remains Haas’s personal account of how he and People’s Law Office partner Flint Taylor pursued Hampton’s assassins, ultimately prevailing over unlimited government resources and FBI conspiracy. Fifty years later, Haas writes that there is still an urgent need for the revolutionary systemic changes Hampton was organizing to accomplish. 

Not only a story of justice delivered, this book spotlights Hampton as a dynamic community leader and an inspiration for those in the ongoing fight against injustice and police brutality.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781641603218
Publisher:	Chicago Review Press, Incorporated
Publication date:	11/05/2019
Edition description:	Revised edition
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	74,075
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Attorney Jeffrey Haas has spent his career working for justice. In 1969 he and three other lawyers set up the People’s Law Office, whose clients included the Black Panthers, SDS, and other political activists. Haas went on to handle cases involving prisoners’ rights, police torture, and the wrongfully accused. He continues to represent victims of police brutality.

Table of Contents

Preface to 2019 Edition vii

Introduction 1969: The Year of No Return xix

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

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

What People are Saying About This

Noam Chomsky

A riveting account of the assassination, the plot behind it, the attempted cover-up, the denouement, and the lessons that we should draw from this shocking tale of government iniquity.

Studs Terkel

A remarkable work.

Phillip Lopate

A true crime story and legal thriller, this powerful account puts together all the pieces, step by step, giving us the anatomy of a despicable episode in recent American history. The writing is clear and straightforward; the overall impact devastating. (Phillip Lopate, author, Getting Personal)

Editorial Reviews

"[A] political cliff-hanger . . . an exposé [that] should be read in schools across the country." —Huffington Post

"An extraordinary retelling of a shameful chapter in our history. . . . reveals just how easily justice can be thwarted and malicious aims disguised when powerful people conspire to violate the law (commit murder) and manipulate procedure to avoid responsibility for their crimes. . . . A cautionary tale, as well as a story of heroism." —Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow

“Required political reading, especially for conservatives who are genuinely concerned about the damage secret government can do.” —Chicago Daily Observer

“An extremely important book—and a tale well told—for America to read if it wants to become what it says it has always been—the land of the free and the home of the brave.” —Ramsey Clark, former United States Attorney General

“A true crime story and legal thriller, this powerful account puts together all the pieces, step by step, giving us the anatomy of a despicable episode in recent American history.  The writing is clear and straightforward; the overall impact devastating.” —Phillip Lopate, author of Getting Personal

“At once journalist, lawyer and storyteller, Jeff Haas manages to sear into every page of this book a compassion seemingly forgotten, providing a riveting eyewitness account of the government assassination of Fred Hampton. This is mandatory reading for those who love and believe in freedom.” —Elaine Brown, author and former chairman of the Black Panther Party

“Part history, part courtroom drama, part literary memoir, Haas evokes with chilling precision a bloody and desperate repressive state apparatus locked in conflict with its greatest fear, a charismatic young black man with revolution on his mind.” —William Ayers, professor of education, University of Illinois at Chicago

 “A must-read.” —Len Weinglass, lawyer and civil rights activist

From the Publisher

On December 4, 1969, Fred Hampton, the 21-year-old chairman of the Illinois Black Panther Party, was shot dead in his bed during a police raid. Hass and his law partner, Flint Taylor of the perpetually underfunded People's Law Office, spent the next decade fighting a well-financed opposition team and a hostile judge to prove that Hampton had been shot not in self-defense, as the police advocates claimed, but as the result of an FBI assassination The dramatic David and Goliath struggle embodies many of the era's fiercest debates, but Haas lacks the skill to transmute his experience into compelling reading. The prose is studded with clichés, and nearly every physical description reads like a checklist: age, size, build, skin color and length of Afro. Hass strays from the narrative to relate irrelevant information about his personal life, as when he recollects that his third wife first captured his attention when she “propped her red, calf-length boots” on his desk. The book is most engaging when Hass offers a straightforward account of the legal process, a testament to the power of the story—not the author's proficiency. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

An earnest attorney looks back at a notorious 1960s slaying. Haas, a founder of the People's Law Office (PLO) in 1969, renders this disturbing eyewitness account in straightforward prose. It's a memoir of his experiences as well as the story of an incident still recalled in Chicago as a deplorable example of police brutality. Growing up Jewish in middle-class Atlanta, the author's early awareness of Jim Crow propelled him toward engagement in progressive politics. As a young lawyer in Chicago, he became fascinated with the youthful Fred Hampton, who combined a passion for the black militant cause with eloquence and cool-headedness. Haas volunteered the PLO's services to the Panthers shortly before the fateful events of Dec. 4, 1969. The entire city became mired in tension as word spread that officers working for State's Attorney Edward Hanrahan had riddled Hampton's apartment with bullets, killing two and wounding several Panthers. Hanrahan and the Chicago police were quickly put on the defensive, as the African-American community seethed over an evident cover-up: "It was clear to anyone viewing the ravaged apartment that Fred was shot to death on his bed." The raid accomplished the goals of Hanrahan and FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, as the Panthers rapidly declined in membership and influence. "No one could replace Fred's charisma, energy, or organizing ability," Haas writes. However, the murder destroyed the credibility of Chicago law enforcement and the Chicago Tribune, and ruptured the relationship between the black community and the Daley political machine. When charges against the Panthers were hastily dropped and a federal grand jury petered out, the PLO lawyers pursued acivil-rights suit, never dreaming that it would take 15 years to settle. Along the way, they unearthed proof that the FBI's COINTEL program had encouraged violence against the Panthers. Although the dramatic tension dissipates in the book's second half, which covers the suit in minute detail, Haas mostly avoids leftist melodrama and offers a diligent defense of the legal rights of political radicals. A still-chilling tale of law-enforcement misconduct. Agent: Frances Goldin/Frances Goldin Agency

Kirkus Reviews