Black Muslim killings gain new attention
http://newsok.com/black-muslim-killings-gain-new-attention/article/3294098?mp=0
California connection?
Similarities between the Oklahoma crimes and California's infamous Zebra
killings are unmistakable.
In 1973-74, a radical sect of Black Muslims killed at least 15 — some claim as
many as 71 — whites in San Francisco. The killers were trying to earn a place
in paradise by acquiring "Death Angel wings,” a measure of status within the
sect.
"Points ... were given based upon the murder victim,” said Oklahoma City police
cold case Inspector Kyle Eastridge. "Children were worth more than women, and
women were worth more than men.
"At that same time frame, the local chapter of the Nation of Islam, under the
direction of Minister Theodore G. X., was involved in many crimes that bear a
striking resemblance to those in San Francisco.”
A direct connection between the local and California crimes has never been
established, although Alfred Brooks, the only man convicted in any of the
Oklahoma crimes, was arrested in San Diego.
Fear and distrust In the 1960s and early 1970s, when it was at the peak of its
power, the Nation of Islam was liberating to its adherents and frightening to
much of white America.
Even now, the Southern Poverty Law Center lists the Nation, which differs from
traditional Islam in a number of ways, as an active black separatist hate
group.
The Nation was formed by W. D. Fard Muhammad in 1930, but was led from 1935
until 1975 by his student, Elijah Muhammad. Its current leader is Louis
Farrakhan.
At heart, the group seeks equality in all aspects of American society and
encourages discipline, pride and community.
"The Nation taught black people to love and respect themselves,” said
Ibriahimah Faal, a local Muslim who is not a member of the group. "They helped
black people pick themselves up by their bootstraps.”
At the same time, though, Elijah Muhammad claimed that "all white men are
devils,” Faal said, and before he split with the group, Malcolm X called blacks
genetically superior to whites.
Fear and distrust on both sides led to tension between Black Muslims and
police, even here in Oklahoma City.
"The white officer was not trusted, but the black officer was not trusted very
much, either. ... We were seen as sellouts and referred to as Uncle Toms,” said
M.T. Berry, assistant city manager and former police chief.
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By Ken Raymond
Staff WriterFor more than three decades, Alfred Brooks has marked time in
prison.
//
Black Muslim Case Oklahoma Police believe a series of cases dating back to
1973, are linked to...
He's waiting to get out. Police are waiting for him to talk.
Classic impasse.
In the late 1960s or early '70s, Brooks joined a group of radical Black Muslims
headquartered in Oklahoma City. The group has long been suspected in a series
of black-on-white crimes, including at least six unsolved slayings, three
shootings, two abductions and a dozen arson fires.
Police think Brooks, a convicted murderer who declined interview requests for
this story, is the key to cracking the cases. They think he committed some of
the crimes, or at least knows who did.
They just can't prove it. Not after 34 years.
The thing is, Brooks, 55, may not have anything of value to say. And even if he
does, people may not believe him. They didn't in the past.
The trail is growing colder and the "top suspect” older.
Will these cases ever be closed?
Double shootingAbout half past midnight Aug. 3, 1974, Judy Webb, 18, and her
roommate, Karen Trantham, 23, left the Apartment Key Club at 2525 NW 10.
The women, both white, were sitting inside their car when two black men
approached. One had a gun.
The men forced the roommates to strip naked and get in the trunk of the car.
Near NE 65 and Coltrane, the women were released and told to walk down a dirt
road.
Then the shooting started.
"Webb was killed in the barrage of small-caliber bullets fired by their
assailants,” The Oklahoman reported. "Though wounded ... Trantham was able to
run to a house about a block away and get help.”
What happened that night continued a chain of violence that began on June 17,
1973, police said. The Webb-Trantham shootings weren't the first, nor were they
the last, but they were, perhaps, the most pivotal.
Trantham lived. Later, she identified Brooks as one of her attackers.
For the first time, there was a solid tie to the Nation of Islam.
Night of terrorThere had been suspicions about the Black Muslims before. Brooks
was involved in those, too.
On June 17, 1973, Brooks and another man were arrested near Douglass High
School. A group of Black Muslims in military-style uniforms stormed a
Juneteenth celebration there, shoving through the crowd and forcing a KJFL-FM
remote broadcast to shut down.
Responding to the disturbance, police pulled over a mini-bus near 2200 N
Harding and arrested Brooks, then 20, after a brief altercation.
Soon after, local Nation of Islam leader Theodore G. X. and about 20 of his men
occupied Oklahoma City police headquarters. They blocked elevators and
stairways, and Theodore demanded the release of Brooks and the other man.
Police didn't comply, and Theodore left, warning "no policeman would be safe
east of Walnut Street.”
That night, a series of black-on-white crimes occurred, most on the east side.
A man was fatally shot. Three people were shot and wounded. A dozen fires,
several ignited by fire bombs, damaged businesses and a school.
Authorities suspected the Black Muslims were responsible, but Theodore insisted
they were innocent. Another group had taken advantage of the situation to make
the Nation of Islam look bad, he said.
Police and the FBI could prove nothing.
On June 27, though, Brooks and Theodore were charged with armed robbery. About
a month earlier, two black men, one armed with a sawed-off shotgun and the
other with a pistol, robbed a jewelry store. Theodore, calling himself a
political prisoner, said police "concocted” the case against him and predicted
he would be freed.
He was right. Charges against both men were dropped.
Violence escalatesThings were quiet for the rest of 1973.
The same couldn't be said for 1974.
In March, two black males abducted a woman from an Oklahoma City nightclub,
forced her to disrobe and choked or knocked her unconscious. She awoke to a dog
barking and saw her attackers running away.
"The thinking is that they were planning to kill her but got scared off by the
dog,” said police cold case Inspector Kyle Eastridge. "She was a lucky woman.”
In June, a woman was kidnapped under similar circumstances. Fearing for her
life, she fought back, then threw herself out of a moving car as a gun went
off. She survived.
The next month brought another attack. Nancy Lynn Nuckels, 21, was shot to
death in a grassy area in the 700 block of Northwest Expressway. She was nude,
her left arm draped over her neck, and she'd last been seen at an Oklahoma City
nightclub.
August brought the Webb-Trantham attack, the execution of a male service
station attendant in Del City and the slayings of two young workers at a Norman
pizza shop. In September, another service station worker was executed, this one
in Lawton.
Some of the crimes were so similar it seemed likely they were connected. In
each of the abductions, the female victims were kidnapped outside of
nightclubs, stripped and taken to isolated areas. Both gas station workers were
shot in the back of the head with a large caliber weapon.
But there was more. In 1974, ballistics examiners linked bullets from the
Webb-Trantham shootings to those used in the Norman pizza shop and Del City
slayings. The same gun had been used in each case.
Sentenced to dieOn Sept. 8, 1974, Brooks was arrested in San Diego in
connection with two armed robberies.
The police investigation ultimately led Oklahoma authorities back to Brooks,
and on Christmas Eve 1974, Trantham identified him as one of the men who shot
her and killed Webb.
At trial, Brooks claimed that Theodore G. X. shot the women.
"He (Brooks) told me matter of factly that he was there,” said Joe Long, 56,
who has known Brooks for more than 20 years. "He was there with Theodore X. And
he was wild and crazy and arrogant, but he had no idea whatsoever that Theodore
was going to kill the girls. ...
"I've seen his face, and I am absolutely convinced that he did not know that
murder was going to happen.”
The jury didn't buy Brooks' story. Neither did police. Trantham's description
of the shooter didn't match Theodore, and he was never charged.
Brooks was convicted in 1976 and received the death penalty, but his sentence
was commuted in 1977. He is serving two consecutive life sentences in a Lawton
prison.
Is Brooks to blame?The other cases remain unsolved.
Police think Brooks has information about the crimes, and at his parole
hearings through the years, Norman officers have implied that Brooks is
involved in the other shootings.
If he shot Webb and Trantham, the reasoning goes, then he also shot the pizza
shop workers and the Del City service station attendant. Those crimes are very
similar to the other abductions and slayings, so he probably did those, too —
or at least knows who did, they say.
But there's a problem with that.
When Brooks was arrested in California, he was carrying a .357 Smith & Wesson
that he'd purchased in Del City less than a week before the Webb-Trantham
shootings.
He said the women were shot with that gun.
Only they weren't.
Test bullets fired from Brooks' gun did not match bullets from the other
shootings. The only gun police can place in Brooks' hand wasn't used in those
crimes.
Did he use a different weapon? Did someone else pull the trigger? Was he
telling the truth about Theodore G. X.?
Brooks is the only one who knows for sure.
He isn't talking.
More Stories By Ken Raymond
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Fear and distrust over Black Muslims killings
Black Muslims killings compared to Zebra killings
Black Muslim killings gain new attention
Authorities believe radicals are linked to other unsolved slayings of white
victims.
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Missing art brings search to museum
Multimillion-dollar work was formerly housed at city site.
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