A barrage of startling new revelations came to light last week in
the murder case of slain Oakland journalist Chauncey Bailey. The most
explosive is that Yusuf Bey IV, the alleged mastermind of Bailey’s
assassination, bragged that he would never be charged with murder
because he supplied the lead detective in the case with girls for
sexual favors. Yow.
If true, then for the first time, a plausible explanation has
emerged for why Bey IV has escaped prosecution for a murder that
occurred in August 2006. We already knew that Bey IV, the CEO of Your
Black Muslim Bakery, and Oakland police Sergeant Derwin Longmire had a
long friendship. But that never seemed to be reason enough for why Bey
IV has avoided murder charges. But the allegation from a police
confidential informant that Longmire got girls for sex from Bey IV is a
different story. It fits with the bakery’s sordid history. For years,
Bey IV’s father, Yusuf Bey, apparently forced young girls to have sex
him.
We also learned for the first time a more plausible motive for why
Bailey was killed, thanks to the terrific reporting by San Francisco
Chronicle reporter Jaxon Van Derbeken, who has repeatedly been out
in front on the Bailey investigation. Van Derbeken revealed that Bailey
had been caught up in a power struggle inside the bakery between Bey IV
and his step-brother-in-law Saleem Bey. The story also raised troubling
questions about the judgment of Mayor Ron Dellums and Congresswoman
Barbara Lee.
Since the day after Bailey was murdered, we’ve thought that bakery
members wanted him dead to stop him from exposing the bakery’s deep
financial problems. But that motive also appeared weak. Van Derbeken,
however, showed that Bey IV may have ordered Bailey’s assassination in
order to send a message to Saleem Bey, the leader of the rival faction.
Bey IV was livid that Saleem Bey was Bailey’s primary source for his
story. Bey IV apparently also had been emboldened to go after Bailey
after Lee aide Leslie Littleton helped him win the internal bakery
battle against Saleem Bey.
Incredibly, Dellums later hired Littleton to be his deputy chief of
staff. Sources tell us that she actually is the de facto chief of staff
for the mayor’s wife, Cynthia Dellums, whom many view as Oakland’s
second mayor. Call it lesson 574 for why Oakland is so screwed up.
Sex Enters BART Cop Killing
Oakland attorney John Burris, meanwhile, made explosive allegations
of his own, when he said in court documents last week that an illicit
affair between male and female BART officers may have played a role in
the fatal shooting of Oscar Grant. Burris is representing Grant’s
family in a $50 million lawsuit against BART. According to court
documents, it was a female BART cop who originally “got in the face” of
young men at the Fruitvale BART station, including Grant, the night he
was killed. The lady cop was threatening to Taser the young men,
prompting Grant to get in her face. Her romantic partner then came to
her defense and pushed Grant to the ground. The melee resulted in BART
cop Johannes Mehserle shooting Grant to death while he lay face down on
the station platform.
Burris hasn’t named the female and male BART officers, but he said
in a letter to BART police Chief Gary Gee that sources from within BART
police have told him that the couple’s relationship was
“unprofessional” and “an open secret” in the department. Burris says he
knows who the male and female BART cops are, and will name them when
the time comes. The next question has to be — why are these
officers still on the force?
It Doesn’t Look Good for Gay
Marriage
Proponents of state-sanctioned discrimination appear to be on their
way to victory in the state Supreme Court. At last week’s historic
hearing, it looked like the high court is ready to uphold Proposition
8, thereby keeping gay marriage illegal in California. The key to the
hearing was Justice Joyce Kennard, one of the four justices who voted
last year to legalize same-sex nuptials. It was clear that Kennard
intends to affirm Prop. 8 and bow to the majority of state voters. That
means gay marriage supporters have to hope that one of the justices who
voted last year against gay marriage will switch his or her vote
— a highly unlikely scenario. Ugh.
Three Dot Roundup
Owners of the San Francisco Chronicle said they plan to cut
150 to 225 jobs in the coming weeks, including more than half of the
newsroom staff, and apparently have tabled plans to sell or close the
paper. … Oakland Raiders linebacker Marquis Cooper is presumed dead
after being lost at sea during a fishing trip in the Gulf of Mexico,
off the Florida coast. … Oakland police cracked a huge cockfighting
ring in East Oakland. … It looks like we’re headed for another local
salmon fishing ban this year. … Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s
approval ratings dropped to an all-time low of 38 percent. … Newly
released secret memos provide more evidence for why notorious UC
Berkeley law professor John Yoo should be disbarred and fired. …
Berkeley’s independent publisher Ten Speed Press was gobbled up by
publishing giant Random House. … And finally, the state controller
says the bad economy is going to make California’s budget problems
worse.
