Marchers seeking freedom for COINTELPRO prisoner Ed Poindexter parade in Omaha, Nebraska (credit: Diane Topolski)
Black and white, young and old, approximately one hundred marchers paraded down North Twenty-fourth Street in Omaha seeking freedom for Edward Poindexter from the Nebraska State Penitentiary. Poindexter, former chairman of the local Black Panther Party affiliate chapter, has been imprisoned fifty years for the August 17, 1970 murder of Patrolman Larry Minard.
Poindexter and David Rice (later Wopashitwe Mondo Eyen we Langa) were leaders of the National Committee to Combat Fascism and targets of a clandestine counterintelligence operation of the Federal Bureau of Investigation code-named COINTELPRO. FBI agents worked behind the scenes during the murder investigation and steered detectives toward the men who have come to be called the Omaha Two. The FBI Laboratory was ordered by Director J. Edgar Hoover to withhold a report on the identity of an anonymous 911 caller that lured police into a bomb ambush. The COINTELPRO operation was successful and resulted in the conviction of the Poindexter and Rice after a controversial trial marred by conflicting police testimony and apparently planted evidence.
Omaha was recently the scene of a similar but more somber event, a prayer vigil for families of racial violence. Prayers were offered for both the families of Larry Minard and Ed Poindexter. The Nebraska Board of Pardons has a pending request from Poindexter to have his sentence commuted to make him eligible for parole.
The March For Ed proceeded to Kountze Park where organizer Preston Love and others spoke. Retiring Senator Ernie Chambers participated in the march and spoke briefly calling for Poindexter’s release from prison. Freelance writer Kietryn Zychal, long an advocate for Poindexter’s freedom, also called for immediate release.
Chambers, who was named on a police suspect list in the bombing murder, has always insisted that innocent men were wrongfully convicted in April 1971. Chambers once took a trip to Spokane, Washington with City Councilman Ben Gray to obtain a voice sample of Duane Peak, the confessed teen-age bomber. Peak, who planted the bomb that killed Minard, made a deal with Douglas County Attorney Donald “Pinky” Knowles and escaped prison. In exchange for his freedom, Peak claimed that Poindexter and Rice built the bomb and put him up to delivering it to a vacant house.
Preston Love had a message for Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts. “Part of the change we need and part of the reform is to let our political prisoners go.”
One marcher, Rikki Payne, has a personal interest, Ed Poindexter is her uncle. “You can’t talk about the overpopulation of the prison and keep this man, who is innocent, in prison. Please write Pete Ricketts and ask him to put my uncle on the Pardons Board agenda for October. He’s in a wheelchair, he can’t hardly see. He is not a threat to this society.”
Poindexter, in poor health, remains imprisoned under maximum-security and continues to maintain his innocence. Mondo, also sentenced to life in prison, died in March 2016.
Members of the public that want to share an opinion with the Nebraska Board of Pardons may write to them at P. O. Box 95007, Lincoln, Nebraska 68509. Those that want to talk to someone may call Governor Pete Ricketts and give him an earful at 402-471-2244.
For more information see FRAMED: J. Edgar Hoover, COINTELPRO & the Omaha Two story, in print edition at Amazon and available in ebook. Portions of the book may be read free online at NorthOmahaHistory.com. The book is also available to patrons of the Omaha Public Library.
Republic of China in-exile President Tsai Ing-wen’s controversial 1984 PhD thesis and United Kingdom Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham. (credits: Hwan Lin, Information Commissioner’s Office)
The latest decision in a growing number of Freedom of Information cases over Republic of China in-exile President Tsai Ing-wen’s 1984 PhD thesis brings ridicule from United Kingdom Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham. The controversial thesis started an academic firestorm last year when Tsai Ing-wen filed her thesis entitled “Unfair Trade Practices and Safeguard Actions” with the London School of Economics Library, thirty-five years late.
The thesis submitted by Tsai, after much prodding by Taiwanese social media, appears to be a draft document with footnote issues, pagination problems, and handwritten marks and notations. The thesis, which was to have been filed with three British libraries, could not be found in any of them prior to June 2019. Tsai refuses to name the two thesis examiners who purportedly approved the thesis after a Sunday viva exam on October 16,1983.
President Tsai’s stonewalling, combined with conflicting stories from the London School of Economics and the University of London, have led to a half-dozen Freedom of Information requests from different people for further information about the thesis and the circumstances surrounding its long absence from the library. The University of London has blamed Senate House Library staff with losing its copy, however the University has yet to provide acquisition documentation that the library actually did receive the thesis in 1984. Some scholars have suggested that Tsai never completed her course of study and did not submit an approved, final thesis as required.
The various requests to the two schools have been refused, where they are piling up at the Information Commissioner’s Office. The ICO has denied my request for the names of the two thesis examiners saying that disclosing the identities might cause President Tsai “distress” and violate her right to privacy. Now, Information Commissioner Denham has denied a scholar’s request for further information about the October 16, 1983 viva session.
In upholding the secrecy of the viva, the ICO decision went much further than simply telling the scholar the viva is off-limits to inquiry. Instead, Denham abandoned her role as a neutral enforcement officer of the Freedom of Information Act and became President Tsai’s personal advocate adopting, without proof from student and library records, Tsai’s claim of timely thesis submission. Further, Denham’s decision goes beyond the scholar’s request and ridicules alleged proponents of “fake thesis” theories.
Denham’s views of a skeptical and questioning Taiwanese public are laced with sarcasm and derision. The language of the ICO decision speaks for itself and reveals Denham’s abandonment of regulatory neutrality.
“The then-Miss Tsai was awarded a PhD in 1984 by the University which, at that time, conferred degrees on students of the London School of Economics and Political Science (the “LSE”) –which did not have its own degree-awarding powers. The original thesis that Miss Tsai submitted has been lost in the intervening years.”
“The Complainant drew to the Commissioner’s attention the controversy surrounding President Tsai’s thesis. He argued that there was a public interest in understanding how President Tsai had come by her PhD given that she had made frequent reference to her degree.”
“This is not the first time that the Commissioner has had to deal with requests related to President Tsai.”
“The Commissioner finds it somewhat difficult to describe the “fake thesis/degree” theory as it lacks coherence. In broad terms, the theory alleges that the University or the LSE (the “corrupt” institution varies from allegation to allegation) conspired in 1984 to award the then-Miss Tsai a PhD to which she was not entitled—presumably for the express purpose of manipulating the Taiwanese presidential elections of 2016 and 2020—and is now trying to cover its tracks. Another alternative theory is that the PhD was never conferred and President Tsai has simply invented it. According to this version, the LSE and/or the University have conspired to fabricate the original records (and the degree award) to either curry favor with government of Taiwan or to increase their own prestige by associating themselves with a head of government.”
“Whilst the Commissioner does not consider that the keenest “fake thesis” theory supporters would be “satisfied” by any information that the University could produce, she does accept that information of this type would shed some light on the way that the University previously awarded degrees and whether, in this particular case, that process was followed correctly—especially given President Tsia’s prominent role in public life.”
“The Commissioner considers that the negligible public interests in this case are considerably outweighed by President Tsai’s right to privacy.”
“The Commissioner also notes that President Tsai has filed a defamation suit against individuals who have questioned the authenticity of her PhD and thesis.”
“President Tsai has not given her consent to the disclosure of this information (as far as the Commissioner is aware).
“If the University were to disclose President Tsai’s personal data it would be doing so without her consent and contrary to her reasonable expectations. The Commissioner considers that this would cause considerable distress.”
“Given that contemporaneous records exist demonstrating that a PhD was conferred upon President Tsai (undermining the argument the PhD was created at a later date), in order for the “1984 conspiracy” to make sense, the Commissioner is being asked to attribute extraordinary powers of foresight to the University. In order for the “fake thesis” theory to make sense, the University must have considered the then-Miss Tsai to have been so remarkable a student that it was worthwhile disregarding the usual safeguards of academic integrity so that in thirty years’ time she would be more likely to win a presidential election. The Commissioner considers such a proposition to be fanciful at best.”
The scholar, who wishes not to be named, did not advance any “fake thesis” theory but merely asked about the scope of President Tsai’s viva session. An appeal is planned of the ICO decision to the Information Review Tribunal where a judge will decide if the viva inquiry may proceed.
Sixteen year-old Duane Peak, Patrolman Larry Minard, and interrogation transcript of Omaha prosecutor Arthur O’Leary. (credits: Omaha Police Department/Douglas County Clerk of Court)
Deputy Douglas County Attorney Arthur O’Leary was the lead prosecutor in the Larry Minard murder trial. Minard, an Omaha policeman, was killed in an ambush bombing on August 17, 1970, at a vacant house on the Near-Northside. Two Black Panther leaders, Edward Poindexter and David Rice, were convicted in April 1971 for the crime following a controversial trial.
On August 28, 1970, Omaha police arrested sixteen year-old Duane Peak for the murder. Peak underwent a week-long interrogation of multiple sessions before he finally implicated Poindexter and Rice. The interrogations began at police headquarters by two black patrolmen known to Peak. The last interrogation, a week later by white detectives, was at the Dodge County Jail in Fremont, Nebraska where Peak was being held.
At mid-point in the questioning, prosecutor O’Leary conducted a formal deposition of Peak, complete with court reporter. In all, Peak gave six different versions of the crime. Every time Peak related the murder events he altered the facts. O’Leary and the detectives pushed until they heard what they wanted. Peak implicated :Poindexter, chairman of the local National Committee to Combat Fascism.
“It was on a Monday before the bombing….I went down to headquarters and Poindexter said he wanted to talk to me and he took me down the street and told me what he planned on doing. He said he was going to make a bomb and that he was going to plant it in a house and have somebody call the police up there.”
“He didn’t say exactly what I was supposed to do. He told me on that day to be at my cousin, Frank’s house at nine o’clock….I went over there and Poindexter was there and said he was going to David Rice’s house.”
“We went to the house and Poindexter went down in the basement and brought a suitcase up and there was a case of dynamite there and he took three sticks out and put them in the suitcase and he had a battery. I didn’t watch how he put it together but he said it was all set and he put paper around it and he shut it and he planned on doing it that night but he didn’t. I don’t know why.”
Peak did not know where Poindexter got the battery. Peak went on to describe the suitcase as “gray, real dark gray.” Peak was uncertain where the suitcase came from; first it was in the bedroom, then Peak changed the story saying he thought Poindexter had the suitcase with him. “He put a hole in the bottom of the suitcase and there was a blue insulated wire extending from the hole, about four inches.”
Peak claimed he had another rendezvous with Poindexter. “The next day.…we walked up Ohio to 30th and he spotted the house and he said, “That would be a good house right there. He walked up and he walked down the alley and looked at it.”
Peak stated he did not see Poindexter again until Friday evening at a nightclub. Peak was a member of a singing group and sang a couple of songs as an opening act. “Friday night we had a little group meeting and we were singing down at the Legion club. I saw Poindexter down there and Poindexter told me that he wanted to have it done by Sunday and I told him I didn’t want to be involved.”
Poindexter would not take no for an answer according to Peak. “Well, you have to follow orders, and if you don’t do it, something is going to happen to you….You take the suitcase up to the house.”
Duane got his older sister Delia Peak to give him a ride. “Delia drove me up there and she dropped me off in the alley….I took the suitcase out of the trunk and walked up the alley and Delia left and I walked in the house—there is a porch there and I walked in the house and the door was already open and I put it in the living room in the middle of the floor.”
Peak denied triggering the bomb. O’Leary pressed for details but Peak wanted out. “I want to hurry up and get out of this, I want out of this whole thing.”
O’Leary told Peak to repeat the story and tried to budge Peak from his claim he left the bomb not triggered in the vacant house. “I want to go over it once again. As a practical matter, it doesn’t make any difference what the truth is concerning you at all.”
O’Leary continued his attempt to extract information about the bomb. “It doesn’t hurt you one bit to tell me the rest, if there is any more….What I am getting at is, when you left the bomb or the dynamite there, all there was was the wire trailing out of it and you set it upright, is that correct?”
Again, O’Leary asked Peak about arming the bomb. “You didn’t arm it or attach it to the floor or anything like that?”
‘You realize now that it doesn’t make any difference whether you did or didn’t. That doesn’t really make one bit of difference at all at this stage of the game but I want to make sure concerning somebody else that might have been involved. Because you see what it amounts to, Duane, is that eventually you are going to have to testify about everything you said here and it isn’t going to make one bit of difference whether or not you leave out one fact of not, as far as you are concerned.”
Duane Peak ended up listening to O’Leary and earned a get-out-of-jail-free card by implicating the two NCCF leaders. Peak testified at the trial Poindexter and Rice built the bomb and put Peak up to delivering it to the vacant house where Minard died. Rice, who changed his name to Wopashitwe Mondo Eyen we Langa, died March 2016 at the Nebraska State Penitentiary serving a life without parole sentence. Poindexter, remains imprisoned at the maximum-security prison, where he continues to proclaim his innocence fifty years after the crime.
Poindexter has a pending commutation request before the Board of Pardons and a community march supporting Poindexter’s freedom is planned in Omaha for September 19th. A prayer vigil was recently held by ten ministers praying for the families of both Poindexter and Minard and other families of racial violence victims.
Patrolman Larry Minard, August 22, 1970 memorandum to FBI Laboratory, “OK” approval, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover (credits: Omaha Police Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation, White House)
Fifty years ago Federal Bureau of Investigation Director J. Edgar Hoover gave his written approval to keep secret the identity of an Omaha policeman’s killer. Hoover was on vacation when a federal conspiracy to blame leaders of a Black Panther affiliate chapter for the death of Patrolman Larry Minard was hatched by Paul Young, the Special Agent in Charge.
Hoover, in California on vacation when the Omaha bombing murder happened on August 17, 1970, gave his verbal approval to Young’s plan to withhold the identity of the anonymous 911 caller who lured Minard to his death with a false report of a woman screaming in a vacant house. Young had been under secret orders from Hoover to get group leaders off the street.
A memorandum to the FBI Laboratory chief, Ivan Willard Conrad, spelled out details of the plot under the clandestine COINTELPRO counterintelligence operation.
“Omaha Office has advised that the Omaha Police Department has requested laboratory assistance in connection with a bombing which took place in Omaha 8/17/70. This bombing resulted in the death of one police officer and the injuring of six other officers and is apparently directly connected with a series of racial bombings which the Omaha Police have experienced. The Police were lured to the bomb site by a telephonic distress call from an unknown male.”
“Glen Gates of the Omaha Police has requested [REDACTED]”
“The SAC, Omaha strongly recommends that the examination requested by the Omaha Police Department be conducted.”
“If approved, the results of any examinations will be orally furnished the Police on an informal basis through the SAC, Omaha.”
A handwritten, initialed notation by Conrad stated, “Dir advised telephonically & said OK to do.”
Assistant to the Director William Sullivan was also on the memorandum distribution list and initialed the document indicating his approval to withhold a lab report on the 911 caller’s identity. Charles Brennan, only on the job several weeks as Assistant Director in charge of the Domestic Intelligence Division, was on a special typed distribution list and had been informed of Minard’s death hours after it happened
Alex Rosen, Assistant Director of the General Investigative Division, was on a rubber-stamped distribution list. George Moore’s Racial Intelligence unit stamped the memorandum indicating receipt and approval of the confidential plan to withhold potential evidence. Hoover’s inner circle of Bureau top executives all knew of the misdeed to be done in Omaha and none dissented.
Hoover was still in California when Conrad called Hoover by phone for instructions. Hoover conducted limited FBI business while on vacation and was only called on important matters, however Conrad understood the significance of letting a policeman’s killer get away with murder necessitated making the call.
Back in Washington, Hoover gave William Sullivan a $250 “incentive award” for the time Hoover was in California. Sullivan’s duties included going along with the plan to withhold a report on the identity of Minard’s killer. Hoover wrote, “You certainly deserve commendation for your exceptionally meritorious services during the period of time when I was away from Washington.”
“I am aware that my absence necessitated your shouldering additional responsibilities. Your splendid performance is appreciated.”
John Mohr, who oversaw communications with the FBI Laboratory and the Omaha field office, was likewise given a commendation and cash award for his actions while Hoover was on vacation. Hoover sent a personal letter to Mohr commending him and awarding $250 for the “superior manner in which you fulfilled your responsibilities.”
On August 22nd a second memorandum to the FBI Laboratory was sent. “In referenced memorandum, 8/19/70, the Director approved a request to assist the Omaha Police Department in captioned case through the use of voice comparison examinations by the Laboratory.”
“By telephonic communication 8/21/70, the SAC, Omaha has requested that a Laboratory Supervisor travel to Omaha for the purpose of furnishing technical guidance to the Omaha Police concerning the correct techniques in obtaining known voice samples for comparison purposes and make recommendations as to what commercially available equipment can be used in making known voice recordings.”
“No Bureau equipment will be used in connection with obtaining the known voice recording samples.”
“The SAC, Omaha, noted that he had been instructed by the Bureau to suggest steps of possible assistance to the Omaha Police in solving the bombings. He advised technical guidance of the type requested would provide maximum immediate assistance, particularly since the existing recording of the false “bait” complaint to the police is the most important present tangible evidence in the possession of the police, and he recommended the Bureau send a Laboratory representative.”
“RECOMMENDATION: That a Laboratory Supervisor travel to Omaha and furnish the Omaha Police with technical guidance in obtaining known voice samples for comparison purposes.”
William Sullivan’s initials are beside his name indicating his approval. The war on the Black Panthers was a priority for Sullivan and he stayed informed, following counterintelligence actions and developments closely.
John Mohr’s name was on two distribution lists, a rubber-stamped distribution list and a special typed list with his initials at the bottom of the page. Alex Rosen, head of the General Investigation Division read, approved, and initialed the memorandum. George Moore of the Racial Intelligence section signed on. Charles Brennan, in charge of the Domestic Intelligence Division, gave his approval and initials. The cast of the conspiracy was complete. The FBI top directorate was aware and approved of the plan to conceal the identity of the 911 caller by withholding a formal laboratory report and instead send a lab technician to Omaha to guide the local police investigation.
J. Edgar Hoover put his own pen to paper and wrote “OK” followed with his distinctive “H” initial. The anonymous 911 caller that lured a policeman to his death would not be sought. The search for truth was over.
Edward Poindexter was arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit first degree murder. Poindexter did not know he was fated to spend the rest of his life behind bars.
The lights were on late at the Omaha FBI office that night fifty years ago when Paul Young sent Hoover a teletype report on the case. Young’s report noted the deep involvement of the FBI in the bombing investigation and ongoing collaboration between Bureau agents and the local police.
Hoover’s manipulation of the murder investigation and subsequent trial succeeded and Ed Poindexter and co-defendant David Rice, later Wopashitwe Mondo Eyen we Langa, were convicted in April 1971 following a controversial two-week trial. Mondo died in prison in March 2016, serving a life without parole sentence. Ed Poindexter remains imprisoned at the maximum-security Nebraska State Penitentiary, a half-century after the crime, where he continues to maintain his innocence.
Patrolman Larry Minard and the vacant house where he was murdered on August 17, 1970 (credits: Omaha Police Department)
On August 17, 1970, at 2:07 a.m., Omaha police received a 911 emergency telephone call from a male who spoke in a deep gravely voice that a woman was screaming at 2867 Ohio Street, a vacant house. Instead of a screaming woman, the eight officers who converged on Ohio Street only found an empty house and a suitcase inside the front doorway.
Patrolman Larry Minard bent over to examine the suitcase when a tremendous, blinding flash and deafening blast shook the silent neighborhood and ripped through the walls of the vacant house. The officers in the kitchen broke down the back door in the darkness to escape choking dust and smoke.
Patrolman James Toay was the first to reach Minard. “At first I thought it was a woman because the legs were uncovered. When I looked closer and saw his gunbelt I knew it was a policeman….and saw that half his face was gone and that there was nothing I could do for him.”
Both of Minard’s boots were blown off his feet, one found on the front porch and the other eight feet across the living room. The rescue squad soon arrived, followed by fire trucks and more police cars as sirens screamed in the stillness of the early morning.
Larry Minard had only been on duty since midnight after telling his wife Karen not to worry before he left home. Within minutes of the explosion, police arrived at the Minard residence to deliver the tragic news, but the new widow already had been awakened by Larry’s police scanner, which was blaring reports about an officer down.
Approximately an hour after the Omaha bombing a powerful blast shattered windows and caused extensive damage at the Minneapolis federal building. Agents of the Alcohol, Firearms and Tobacco Division in Minnesota took over the investigation. Radicals were suspected but no arrests were ever made. The crime remains unsolved.
Dawn broke over the city to an overcast drizzle on a gray Monday morning. The weather matched the mood in the stunned, saddened city. First light brought the start of what would be a day-long procession of motorists. A crowd of neighborhood onlookers was also on hand much of the day as people spoke in hushed tones and muted voices.
Leads and tips started flowing in to Central Headquarters as the city woke up and the investigation intensified. A call was made to FBI headquarters from the Omaha office at 7:45 a.m. Assistant Director Charles Brennan was informed by memorandum about the call concerning the death of a policeman. “Omaha Office offered assistance in covering out-of-state leads and FBI Laboratory facilities offered. Omaha advised it had notified military and Secret Service, was following closely, and alerted its racial informants in pursuit of investigation.”
Brennan was also assured, “Pertinent parts will be included in teletype summary to the White House, Vice President, Attorney General, military and Secret Service.”
At police Central Headquarters, a hastily convened meeting of a multi-agency task force called Domino was called to order. Principals present were agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms Division, detectives from the Douglas County Sheriff’s office and the Omaha Police Department. Governor Norbert Tiemann also ordered two Nebraska State Patrol troopers to work the case.
Retired ATF agent James Moore, of Kansas City, said those present were in agreement that the method and target pointed to extremists. Black Panthers and Weather Underground were both discussed but the “Negro voice” on the 911 recording suggested Black Panthers. Moore said one of the FBI agents told the group that a key informer reported that two white males were observed running from the scene shortly before the blast.”
Moore believed the tip may have been a ruse by the FBI to throw off ATF agents competing to crack the case. The longstanding rivalry between the two federal police agencies was intense and was part of a nation-wide turf battle over jurisdiction of firearm and explosives crimes.
FBI Special Agent in Charge Paul Young wasted no time in privately talking to Glen Gates, who was in charge of the police while Chief Richard Anderson was out of town. According to a confidential FBI memorandum, Young and Gates discussed a piece of crucial evidence, the recorded voice of the anonymous caller captured by the 911 system. The search for truth was over.
Young set in motion a conspiracy to implicate the leadership of the National Committee to Combat Fascism in the bombing. Young wrote to J. Edgar Hoover. “Enclosed for the Laboratory is one copy of a tape recording obtained from the Omaha Police Department.”
“Deputy Chief [Gates] inquired into the possibility of voice analysis of the individual making the call by the FBI Laboratory. He was advised the matter would be considered and that if such analysis were made and if subsequent voice patterns were transmitted for comparison, such analysis would have to be strictly informal, as the FBI could not provide any testimony in the matter; also, only an oral report of the results of such examination would be made to the Police Department. [Gates] stated he understood these terms and stated the Police Department would be extremely appreciative of any assistance in this matter by the FBI and would not embarrass the FBI at a later date, but would use such information for lead purposes only.”
“It should be noted that the police community is extremely upset over this apparent racially motivated, vicious and unnecessary murder. In slightly over three months this division has experienced more than ten bombings, probably all but a few of them being racially motivated. Of these bombings, four were directed at police facilities with extensive damage.”
“Any assistance rendered along the lines mentioned above would greatly enhance the prestige of the FBI among law enforcement representatives in this area, and I thus strongly recommend that the request be favorably considered.”
“In view of the foregoing, it is requested that the FBI Laboratory examine enclosed tape recording and make an appropriate voice print to be retained for comparison against other tape recordings of suspects to be submitted at a later date.”
In the afternoon, after evidence started arriving at Central Headquarters, reporters were barred from the fourth floor squad room where they usually mingled with police. On the streets, a police sweep to obtain information began as cruisers combed the Near North Side stopping and questioning people.
Detective Jack Swanson began working on a suspect list of thirty-eight members or associates of the National Committee to Combat Fascism, an affiliate chapter of the Black Panther Party.
Early evening, a member of the Nebraska Game Commission, M. M. Muncie, visited Central Headquarters with a tip. Swanson talked to the game commissioner and wrote a report. The report was typical of calls pouring in, calls by whites about suspicious-looking blacks. Muncie had spotted a car in traffic. “He says that the parties were having a very animated conversation, and look suspicious to him.”
Governor Norbert Tiemann expressed the anguish of many. “I am outraged….These men went to answer a call for help only to find a trap set for their destruction. This is undoubtedly the lowest and vilest act imaginable.”
Twenty-five persons were arrested at different locations on the Near North Side on Monday night on a variety of minor charges including suspicion of loitering, drinking on a public street, disorderly conduct or obstructing the administration of law. Twenty-two of those arrested were men. Three were women and all were black.
In April 1971, two Black Panther leaders, Edward Poindexter and David Rice (later Wopashitwe Mondo Eyen we Langa), were convicted following a controversial trial marred by conflicting police testimony, withheld laboratory evidence by the FBI, and planted dynamite evidence. Sentenced to life without parole, Mondo died at the Nebraska State Penitentiary in March 2016 while serving what he described as a “debt I do not owe.” Ed Poindexter remains imprisoned in maximum security, a half-century after the bombing, where he maintains his innocence. Seventy-five years old and in poor health, Poindexter is at risk for the Covid-19 virus which is sweeping America’s prisons.
Over the long years multiple disclosures, many from the Freedom of Information Act, have shredded the prosecution’s case. However, Nebraska courts have stubbornly refused to fully consider the federal manipulation of the murder investigation and trial despite the documentation of a law enforcement conspiracy code-named COINTELPRO to frame the two Panther leaders.
Several weeks ago, a prayer service in Omaha was held by ten ministers for racial healing. Prayers were made for both the families of Larry Minard and Ed Poindexter. Omaha continues to have a racial divide on the fiftieth anniversary of that sad day in 1970. Poindexter has made a request for commutation of sentence. The Board of Pardons will be asked to heal the community wounds of the past by providing some measure of justice long denied.
Taiwan Civil Government headquarters demolished in July 2019 on Republic of China in-exile orders in bid to break the group. (credit: Taiwan Civil Government)
Hounded by prosecutors in life and creditors in death, the late Roger Lin was a magnet for controversy. Lin, the founder of Taiwan Civil Government, an advocacy group opposed to the exiled Republic of China, saw his dreams for the future vanish before his October 2019 cancer-related death.
In July 2019, Lin witnessed the destruction of both the TCG headquarters and a new annex under construction. The leased building, constructed decades ago, was purportedly built contrary to a zoning code and was in violation of environmental regulations for hillside drainage. The drastic action for building code violations was allegedly approved of by the Yu Hsiang-ching family, owners of the demolished structure in a bid to gain freedom or a reduced sentence in a criminal prosecution of Lin and family patriarch Yu.
Roger Lin and his wife Julian, and others, were accused in May 2018, after a dramatic and highly publicized raid, of an elaborate fraud scheme Lin was purportedly conducting against members of hisown group. Lin allegedly made false claims about support for TCG from the United States and the benefits of the TCG identity card.
The Lins and Yu suffered five months of incommunicado pre-trial detention before being granted bail. ROC prosecutors continue to try Julian Lin, Yu, and Tsai Tsai-yuan, a TCG officer, on fraud charges with a long-running series of hearings and no end in sight.
The Yu family took Roger Lin and a six-member leadership team to court in a bid for money to compensate for the lost income resulting from the destruction of the group headquarters. TCG had already been fined and paid a clean-up charge following demolition.
A Taoyuan District Court judge has ruled Lin and company owe NT$63,650 plus interest, a couple of thousand dollars in American currency. The judge applied equity principles rather than contract law to the ruling, finding unjust enrichment through failure to pay rent. TCG had owed for a portion of a month immediately before demolition. The Yu family had sought NT$9,000,000 to cover the length of the lease but the court found there was no basis in law for charging rent for a demolished building.
Following Roger Lin’s death, while Julian Lin and Tsai Tsai-yuan battle for control of TCG splitting the group into factions, the landlords may have to wait for payment. TCG defaulted on a million dollar contract.with Washington publicity agent Neil Hare signed by Roger Lin several months before his death. Hare has been negotiating with Tsai’s faction and purportedly offered his services conditional to a partial payment of the defaulted contract.
The ongoing and never-ending prosecution of Lin, Yu, and Tsai continues to run up legal bills for the defendants. Donations are down after bad publicity and group infighting. No one is rushing forward to pay rent for a demolished building, and the struggle for group survival comes first.
My attempt to learn the identity of two London School of Economics PhD thesis examiners has been a bumpy one. The latest development is a side trip in a British court on the topic of “territoriality”where I have to wait until October for an answer.
For those that have not been closely following the mystery of who approved Republic of China in-exile President Tsai Ing-wen’s 1984 PhD thesis entitled “Unfair Trade Practices and Safeguard Actions” a little background is necessary.
President Tsai opened Pandora’s box in June 2019 when she belatedly, thirty-five years late, submitted her thesis to the LSE Library. At the time of Tsai’s graduation her thesis was to have been presented to the LSE Library for the permanent thesis collection. It was also to have been submitted to the University of London’s Senate House Library for cataloging and microfilming, which never happened. Finally, the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies Library, the national law library, was to have a copy, which also never happened.
The thesis submitted by Tsai last summer has all the appearances of being a draft document. It is unsigned, has pagination and footnote issues, and contains handwritten notations including a question mark. It turns out that the London School of Economics was not accredited to award its own doctorate degrees and thus the University of London dispensed Tsai’s diploma based on the approval of two thesis examiners. Further, Tsai’s adviser, Michael Elliot, lacked a PhD degree himself.
I wondered who was it that approved the thesis and why was the dissertation missing from three libraries? The London School of Economics can’t or won’t say why it was not in the library except to assert they never had the thesis until 2019. LSE claims it lacks records about the viva or thesis oral examination other than the date, October 16, 1983, a Sunday.
The University of London, which does claim to hold the viva record, won’t say who the examiners were citing President Tsai’s right to privacy. For her part, Tsai has boasted about compliments from the thesis examiners although she refuses to name them.
The Information Commissioner’s Office agreed with the University of London that disclosing the names of the two examiners might cause Tsai “distress” and perhaps also to the examiners if they were still alive. However, if the thesis examiners liked Tsai’s thesis enough to compliment her it is difficult to understand where is the distress?
So I filed a lawsuit against the Information Commissioner of the United Kingdom to learn the identity of the two mystery examiners. The Freedom of Information Act of 2000 is open to anyone, according to the language of the statute. Further, the Information Commissioner, Elizabeth Denham, has issued guidances and interpretations that support the notion that anyone, anywhere, may request public information in the United Kingdom.
However, Registrar R. Worth of the Information Review Tribunal is a vigilant gatekeeper and is concerned that I am not a United Kingdom resident. Worth has now issued a stay order freezing the case until October.
“The Tribunal will, in other appeals, be considering the legal positions about territoriality.”
“The Tribunal will expect to be able to update the parties to these proceedings in October 2020 about how the Tribunal has dealt with (or is dealing with) the territoriality issues.”
If the Tribunal restricts appeals to United Kingdom residents, contrary to the statutory language of the Freedom of Information Act, it will be denying information not only to me but also excluding the entire population of Taiwan from access to the court about President Tsai’s thesis. Now that is something to be distressed about.
Edward Poindexter at the Nebraska State Penitentiary imprisoned since 1970 for the murder of a policeman, a crime he continues to deny. (credit: Event flyer)
Omaha, Nebraska was for one brief hour at the very center of healing and recovery from America’s race warfare. In an unique, ecumenical gathering of prayer at the Clair Memorial United Methodist Church in Omaha, ten pastors offered ten prayers for unity, mercy and healing. Men and women of peace came together and collectively asked for divine guidance in the work of bringing together a fractured people, wounded by racial division.
Facilitated by Pastor Portia Cavitt, the prayer vigil was the idea of Preston Love, Jr., director of Black Votes Matter following his appearance in June at the Nebraska Board of Pardons. Love sought the release of Edward Poindexter, former leader of a Black Panther affiliate chapter in Omaha. Poindexter is serving a life without parole sentence for the 1970 bombing murder of an Omaha police officer, Larry Minard. Poindexter denies his guilt and says he was wrongfully convicted.
Governor Pete Rickett, chairman of the Pardon Board, suggested to Love that he reach out to the family of Patrolman Minard. Thus was born the idea for the prayer vigil in an effort to bring closure and reconciliation to a scarred city, wounded by events a half-century ago..
The soulful strains of “Sometimes I feel like a Motherless Child” set a somber and pensive tone. Each pastor took up a different theme. The first prayer was a prayer for forgiveness. Then a prayer for unity as a people, followed by a prayer for mercy.
A prayer for reform of ourselves was followed by a prayer for all families touched by senseless deaths. The senseless death of fourteen year-old Vivian Strong, shot in the back of the head in 1969 by an Omaha police officer, was the subject of another group prayer. Although Patrolman James Loder lost his job he was acquitted of manslaughter by an Omaha jury.
A special prayer was made for the Larry Minard family. Officer Minard, killed in the line of duty in 1970 responding to a 911 call about a screaming woman, left behind a widow and five young children. Buried on his thirtieth birthday, the martyred policeman was betrayed by some of his own command officers and agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation when the search for his killers was called off to convict two Black Panther leaders.
A prayer was offered for the James Scurlock family. The twenty year-old man was shot to death May 20th in the Old Market area of Omaha during a scuffle with an armed tavern owner. The occasion was a George Floyd protest and the barman fired two warning shots to scare away an increasingly unruly crowd. Scurlock grappled with the armed man and was shot for his effort. Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine pronounced it a case of self-defense and no charges were filed.
A prayer was dedicated to the family of Edward Poindexter serving a life without parole sentence for the murder of Larry Minard. In poor health, Poindexter has suffered a living death of both the loss of his freedom and his reputation. Poindexter’s controversial 1971 trial was marred by conflicting police testimony, a withheld report by the FBI Laboratory, and apparently tampered dynamite evidence.
Poindexter, and co-defendant David Rice, later Wopashitwe Mondo Eyen we Langa, were targets of an illegal and clandestine FBI counterintelligence operation code-named COINTELPRO. Nebraska courts have been reluctant to admit COINTELPRO tampering with the trial and many feel justice remains undone with Poindexter paying a debt he does not owe.
The final prayer of the vigil was one for healing. Three different deaths, Vivian Strong, Larry Minard, and James Scurlock share one thing in common, they all tore Omaha apart. Yesterday, at the Clair Memorial Church, there was a glimpse of a new way, a new day.
The next meeting of the Nebraska Board of Pardons will be August 19th, two days after the fiftieth anniversary of Larry Minard’s murder. The burden on the Board will be to see that Minard did not die in vain and that justice can come to Poindexter who former Governor Frank Morrison has said the courts have failed.
Members of Taiwan Civil Government delegation helped launch Taiwanese American Chamber of Commerce. (credit: Taiwan Civil Government)
Like the legendary Phoenix of mythology rising from ashes of former self, Taiwan Civil Government ex-lobbyist Neil Hare has taken a new day job. Hare is now a lawyer at McCarthy Wilson Ltd. Hare will be working on Small Business Administration loans and other business matters. However not all is sweetness and bliss, Hare had some excess baggage from the heady days of breaking bread and sipping wine with Washington insiders on behalf of his Taiwanese sugar daddy, Roger Lin. The TCG bankrolled the Taiwanese American Chamber of Commerce chapter of which Hare was the head.
Never more than a shell operation controlled by Hare, TACC was to be a rival of mainstream Chamber of Commerce operations in the Republic of China in-exile. The “soft power” approach was to be TCG’s pathway for ridding Taiwan of the ROC regime installed on Formosa by the United States after World War II. Hare’s backdoor scheme was hatched on a TCG trip to Zurich, Switzerland where Hare arranged a visit with the Swiss American Chamber of Commerce.
The Chamber of Commerce ploy came into play around the time of the May 2018 arrests of TCG Secretary General Roger Lin, his wife, Julian, and Tsai Tsai-yuan, the TCG Prime Minister. Structured like a shadow government in waiting, TCG was founded in 2008 by Lin and others. The group seeks United States assistance ridding the island of the exiled ROC government.
Taiwan Civil Government’s stance has put the group at odds with the exiled Chinese government administering Taiwan and group leaders have been charged with political fraud, purportedly cheating members with false claims of United States support. Hare managed to avoid being charged by ROC prosecutors but was the subject of inquiry by the court prosecuting the defendants.
Hare arranged a 2017 rendezvous between Julian Lin and White House counselor Kellyanne Conway. The private chat between Lin and Conway was followed by a planned Heritage Foundation reception for Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in 2018. That meet and greet session was called off at the last minute by the White House after news of the Taiwan arrests reached Washington as Ross was en route to the event.
Although the TCG’s inroads into Washington power circles were all but ended by the arrests, business at Hare’s public relations company, Global Vision Communications, boomed as TCG donations flowed in from the faithful.
Initially, Hare was nonchalant about the arrests despite the harsh pre-trial detentions of Roger and Julian Lin. Hare said he was not concerned about events “on the ground” in Taiwan. However, as TCG largess flowed in to Hare’s firm he became Roger Lin’s mouthpiece in the United States.
Hare’s plan was to camouflage TCG money and influence under the umbrella of a Chamber of Commerce chapter. TCG paid out $73,000 for a launch party and advertising in Washington. A TCG delegation flew in from Taiwan for the soiree. Neil Hare was the happy host.
Membership fees for Hare’s chapter were double the national Chamber of Commerce rate and few ventured forth to sign up. Hare kept up the pretense for a while, sending out an occasional public relations blurb about Taiwan and manning a table at a Chamber event or two.
On June 8, 2020, all illusion was gone when Hare dissolved TACC and took down its website.
Not long before Roger Lin’s death in 2019, a new million dollar contract with Hare was signed. However, the TCG defaulted on the first two payments and Hare canceled the contract apparently ending his friendly relationship with Julian Lin after being stuck with a million dollar loss.
After Roger Lin’s death the group moved forward under the widow’s watch. Julian Lin already had the informal title of Ms. Secretary General and it seemed only natural for her to inherit the group’s leadership. However, Tsai Tsai-yuan and his supporters had other ideas and wanted to clean house. The result was in the fall of 2019 the TCG split into two factions with Tsai’s organization dubbed TCG 3.0 and the division has sharpened as time goes on.
Tsai recently had a meeting of TCG 3.0 and gave a report which included negotiations with Neil Hare. The report quoted Hare as predicting a 50-50 chance of recovering the money in two Washington bank accounts frozen by the ROC. It was reported that Hare could bring a civil suit for $30,000 to unfreeze one TCG Foundation bank account with $2,400,000. For $50,000 Hare could bring a lawsuit against Julian Lin.
The report continued that pursuant to the US Taiwan Mutual Legal Assistance Agreement process, ROC prosecutors in Taoyuan asked for and the Department of Justice obtained, a bank freeze. Hare was quoted to say that in the Foreign Agent Registration Act reports he had to file that Taiwan Civil Government was run by Roger Lin, a businessman, and that members thus have a recognizable legal interest in the funds and can reclaim them.
Hare was supposedly bound by a non-disclosure agreement not to reveal the amount in Julian Lin’s frozen account. It was also noted that Hare insists he is owed $400,000 for the two missed payments prior to his canceling the contract with Roger Lin. It was claimed that Hare would compromise and settle for $120,000. Hare also allegedly offered to lobby on behalf of TCG 3.0 for $200,000 per year.
If TCG.30 tries to go after the money in frozen bank accounts, with or without Hare and his new law firm, it will be met by opposition by Julian Lin. ROC prosecutors, who sought the freeze, can be expected to seek confiscation of the funds as ill-gotten gains. Also, Roger Lin reportedly left a long trail of unpaid taxes, in both the ROC and the United States. Tax collectors can be expected to enter the legal battle. Finally, individual members of the TCG who donated or loaned money could seek intervention thus ending up in a four or five way court battle royal. Sorry Neil, a 50-50 chance of winning that one does not seem likely.
Hare’s biography at McCarthy Wilson says, “In addition to legal services, he will also provide crisis communications services to McCarthy Wilson clients whose matters demand a response in both courts of law as well as the court of public opinion.”
If Neil Hare’s new law firm takes on the recovery of seized bank accounts and enters the internecine warfare of Taiwan Civil Government’s infighting, Hare might end up having to do some crisis communications for McCarthy Wilson when complaints against the firm start flying by disgruntled TCG members.
Meanwhile, in Taoyuan, prosecutors slowly grind away at what seems to be an endless trial against Julian Lin and Tsai Tsai-yuan and others. If there was fraud committed against TCG members the culpability of Julian and Tsai might be much less than that of Roger Lin who may have deceived both. Charges against Roger Lin were dropped after his death and we will never know if he was a fraudster as alleged or the victim of a political prosecution as he maintained.
Tsai’s thesis entitled “Unfair Trade Practices and Safeguard Actions” has been at the center of a year-long struggle to learn why the thesis was never filed until 2019 in the London School of Economics library where Tsai studied. The thesis was also not in the collection of the University of London library where Tsai’s PhD degree was awarded.
My September 2019 request for the two names, and date of approval, to the London School of Economics hit a brick wall and I was sent to the University of London. After six weeks of internal review the University of London decided that to disclose the names of the two examiners might cause “distress” to Tsai or even possibly the unknown examiners if they were still alive. On the thesis absence from the University of London library the school is now maintaining it was lost sometime between 1984 and 2010 during library “restructuring.”
This year the matter reached the Information Commissioner’s Office, tasked with enforcement of the Freedom of Information Act. The ICO bought the theory that President Tsai might suffer distress if the examiners were named and denied my request. The ICO also accepted the speculation that University of London librarians lost the thesis sometime during a twenty-five year period as an adequate explanation for the missing document. The ICO overlooked the empty library shelves at the London School of Economics and the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies where the thesis was also missing.
The Information Review Tribunal was the next stop on the journey to truth. Now suddenly a new obstacle to learning the examiners’ names emerged, I am not a United Kingdom resident. I am a qualified resident of Belize, a member of the British Commonwealth. Queen Elizabeth’s picture is on the Belize currency that I use but that is apparently not good enough for Registrar Worth who is concerned over my location outside of the United Kingdom and my lack of connection to the country.
Worth’s case management order states, “If he was outside the UK, whether the Information Commissioner’s Office knew that her investigation was for a person who had been outside of the UK on the date of request to public authority and on the date of request.”
I have been given three questions that Worth wants answered.
“Was Mr Richardson, whilst in Belize, entitled to request information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000?”
“Was Mr Richardson, whilst in Belize, entitled to apply for a decision under section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000?”
“If he was not entitled to those rights, what impact does that have on this appeal?”
To her credit, Commissioner Denham at the ICO holds a more open view of the Freedom of Information Act. An ICO guidance states, “Anyone can make a freedom of information request – they do not have to be UK citizens, or resident in the UK.”
A media download on the ICO website reinforces the public right to information. “Anyone can make a request for information, regardless of who they are or where they live.”
Worth’s questions run afoul of a prior Information Review Tribunal decision where the Tribunal said the public body should be “applicant and motive blind.” Further, “In dealing with a Freedom of Information request there is no provision for the public authority to look at from whom the application has come, the merits of the application or the purpose for which it is to be used.”
If Registrar Worth takes time to examine the Freedom of Information Act she will find that there is not one clause, not one sentence, not one word that bars me from asking the question and pursuing the answer, who were President Tsai Ing-wen’s thesis examiners?
Richardson Reports 