Posted on 11/29/2005 6:11:41 PM PST by NormsRevenge
OAKLAND, Calif. - Two men were arrested late Tuesday for their role in vandalizing a pair of stores for selling alcohol to blacks, Oakland police said.
Deputy Police Chief Howard Jordan said that Donald Cunningham, 73, and Yusef Bey IV, 19, turned themselves in to face charges including robbery, felony vandalism, conspiracy and terrorist threats. Police have obtained warrants charging four other suspects with similar crimes and expect arrests soon.
Bey, who has been linked to a black Muslim group that runs the Your Black Muslim Bakery store chain, was taken to North County Jail and was being held on $200,000 bail, according to police.
The arrests cap a bizarre week that has included the vandalism of the San Pablo Liquor store and the New York Market last Wednesday by men wearing suits and bow ties.
The men, all of whom were black, smashed liquor bottles and toppled food racks while demanding that both stores stop selling alcohol to black people, authorities said.
Then, days later, the store clerk at the New York Market was kidnapped and the business was burned down.
Store employee Abdel Hamdan was found safe in the trunk of a car Monday, about 12 hours after the fire, as police sought to get to the bottom of the attacks.
"We're very happy that he came back safe," said Frank Hernen, manager of New York Market. "We don't want this to go further."
Jordan said that Cunningham and Bey have not been charged in the arson or kidnapping.
The fire destroyed the store's merchandise and caused major structural damage to the building, police said.
The incident at San Pablo Liquor was caught on surveillance tape, and police said they have identified six of the 10 or 11 vandals and believe the same men trashed the New York Market.
Suspicion immediately fell on the Nation of Islam, a group of Muslims whose members often wear suits and bow ties. However, Jordan said the suspects are not members of the Nation of Islam. He held out the possibility that they belong to a separate Muslim group based in Oakland.
In 1993, Muslims affiliated with a group which operates the Your Black Muslim Bakery store chain and whose members also wear suits and bow ties, were involved in a similar incident at a Richmond liquor store, police said.
Investigators were looking into the recent vandalism as hate crimes because the store owners are of Middle Eastern background and are Muslims, Jordan said Monday.
"In both incidents, the suspects entered the store and questioned why a Muslim-owned store would sell alcoholic beverages when it is against the Muslim religion," police said in a statement.
The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is taking part in the investigation.
Police and city officials have urged other liquor merchants and store owners not to purchase firearms or engage in "vigilante" behavior.
"I wouldn't want people to expose themselves to harm," said Oakland City Council member Desley Brooks.
The owner of Sam's Liquor Store said he doesn't sell fortified wine like many small urban markets and wasn't taking additional precautions.
"I'm not worried that they are going to attack me - my business is very legit," said owner Sam Wong.
The exterior of New York Market in Oakland, Calif., is seen Monday, Nov. 28, 2005, after an apparent arson fire early Monday, just days after it was trashed, authorities said, by well-dressed vandals who told the owners to stop selling alcohol to black people. Oakland police refused to say whether they believe the Monday blaze was connected to vandalism last week at a nearby liquor store, San Pablo Market, also in Oakland. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
"Bey"
Well isn't that an interesting name.
"Suspicion immediately fell on the Nation of Islam, a group of Muslims whose members often wear suits and bow ties. However, Jordan said the suspects are not members of the Nation of Islam. He held out the possibility that they belong to a separate Muslim group based in Oakland."
OK so it was Islamic Terrorists who did this??
In 1993, Muslims affiliated with a group which operates the Your Black Muslim Bakery store chain and whose members also wear suits and bow ties, were involved in a similar incident at a Richmond liquor store, police said."
And these same Islamic Terrorists have acted unchecked for better than a decade....good to know....
mmmmmmm
Crescent Rolls.....
made you go "hmmmm" too, eh?
Lets not forget John Mohammad was also a member of NOI at one time and even acted as a bodygaurd for ranking members.
Of course if it had been white Christians who were attacked and had their property damaged by these black Muslims it would have been a parking ticket offense..
Too bad, sounds like a Mossberg 500 pump action "Persuader" would be just the answer.
"Police and city officials have urged other liquor merchants and store owners not to purchase firearms or engage in "vigilante" behavior"
And for their next step, they're going to urge criminals not to engage in criminal behavior.
"Your Black Muslim Bakery???"
Who pissed in their bean pie?
Is history repeating itself? Is this the Prohibitionist Movement all over again? Was it Carrie Nation, the heroine of the feminist movement, that did this trashing? It was all right for Carrie, why not for these people?
The founder of the Your Black Muslim Bakery.....one Dr. Yusef Bey. YBMB's website also has a link for YBMB Security, which is now dead....a bunch of references to Elijah Muhammed, blah, blah, blah.
"Your Free Pass Racists Bakery" was already taken.
Bey is a Turkish sort of title that means something like "don" in Italian or Spanish.
About twenty years back an animal named (get this) Montego Bey and at least one other inmate stepped over a strand of barbed wire at the Southern Michigan State prison farm and slaughtered a couple in their home.
They then stepped back over the fence, worked the rest of the day and returned to their cells that night. The couples daughter discovered her parents bodies the next day.
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