Remembering the Zebra Killings

San Francisco Homicide ^ | October 14, 2006 | Kevin J. Mullen

[Glad to be here]

An excellent, objective history of the Zebra murders and a factual rebuttal of the self-promoting claims made in a recently published book by Prentice Sanders, The Zebra Murders.

Kevin Mullen is a former Deputy Chief of the San Francisco Police Department and an expert on the San Francisco criminal justice system. He has published a number of books and articles, both academic and popular, on crime and law enforcement in San Francisco.

[Stepan12]

And who remembers these killings these days? Just like the brutal robbery killings of those white people, who were forced to do sexual situations before almost all of them were slaughtered, and the Jesse Dirkhising sex murder and the Mary Stachowicz hate crime -- it all falls down the memory hole.

[Verloona Ti]

Oh, the Wichita Horror won't be forgotten...It's becoming part of the "entertainment industry". It's being made into a film by the same guy that directed the Saw movies. It's going to be titled (imaginitively enough) Wichita, and it's about the EIGHT victims in the case...Apparently to the director, the two murdererous sadistic Carr brothers are also 'victims'.

[TNCMAXQ]

Please tell me you're joking about the Wichita film. It makes me ill just thinking about that crime.... I can't believe they would make a real motion picture about it since the bad guys are black. If anyone did make a film it would be such cruelty towards the families of the victims who certainly have suffered enough.

[Verloona Ti]

Nope. I saw it mentioned in the May 2006 issue of Rou Morgue magazine, page 9. (Rue Morgue is a glossy fullcolor $7.95 an issue magazine devoted to horror in all medias). I couldn't find a link on their (totally awful and unweildy) online site, but I did type out by hand the requisite info for another thread a few days ago (thread is called Honor in Films , or just click on my name and scroll down). Here is what I typed on that thread:

Here's a movie for us all to avoid, when it comes out:

They're turning the Wichita Horror into entertainment-a film. The director of Saw and Saw II is making it.

From Rue Morgue magazine, page 9, May 2006 issue:

"Wichita is going to push the limits of what people can handle more than any other film before it,"Bousman stated confidently...Set during the holiday season, the story concerns a singular event which sets in motion the eventual detruction of eight separate people. ...Boseman...notes that it's based on real events.

I like the 'eight separate people', with the two vicious murderers being lumped in with the victims as equally worthy of sympathy.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

bookmark

[Verloona Ti]

Oh, and a little creative googling brought up an article on the proposed cinematic atrocity at RottenTomatoes.com As I mentioned on the 'honor in recent movies' thread : A film based on a true crime isn't necessarily an abomination.Citizen X was a fine film. But if the crimes are treated as titillating or "sexy", and if the murderers are treated as if THAY are the true victims-and it sounds like that's going to be the case here, judging from Bousman's words-then that is abominable.

[TNCMAXQ]

Good Lord, how vile. And I wonder how they are going to somehow create sympathy for these rapist/murderers! I wonder if they will have to make some of the victims black too. It wouldnt surprise me.

How anyone could sit through such a film is beyond me. But then plenty of people go to see the most putrid gore out there now.

[backhoe]

And who remembers these killings these days?

Me.

[Verloona Ti]

I like horror films-but the very notion of this is waaaay beyond the pale of acceptable IMO. I hope the film gets deep sixed or at least is only direct to video. That should protect the loved ones of the victims from at least seeing TV spots or posters, etc, for the thing. :-(

[TNCMAXQ]

I cant imagine the hell their families have been through. And now to have to endure this is just beyond belief. Besides the families maybe local officials could do something to put the kibosh on the film, but I doubt that would happen.

Of course the gal who survived the shooting, and the carjack victim, who later got married, are going to have to deal with this too. The emotional pain must be unbearable.

I had been thinking about the racial aspect and how it could be un-PC for them to make the film. I wouldn't be surprised if they made the killers white.

[TNCMAXQ]

I was in elementary and high school around the times the Zebra killings occurred, I guess. I don't remember hearing much about it in the national news. They were less PC then. Do we know how much coverage was given to these atrocities? Of course back then there were no 24 cable channels so things would be different. However, if something similar happened today, I have to wonder how the left wing news media would cover up for the killers.

[Stepan12]

Apparently to the director, the two murdererous sadistic Carr brothers are also 'victims'.

Shoot! We are a perverted society these days, afterall.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

*** Police found that both Erakat and Dancik were killed by the same .32 caliber weapon, an uncommon size for such crimes. A week or so later three more white victims were shot down in the street without provocation in the space of a few days, all with the same weapon. ***


If I remember correctly, the perps were "black muslims" who decided to go on a "jihad" against whites.

Several victims were shot several others hacked to death with a machete. Only those shot are remembered because...

One shot was the son of Dupont executive Nelson "Pete" Shields.
He then resigned the company and joined one of the first antigone lobbies in the US. National Council to Control Handguns (NCCH), later renamed Handgun Control Inc (HCI), now called The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

What if his son had been hacked to death? Would we now have a National Council for the Control of Machetes?

[VOA]

useful links on the Zebra murders:

for the Prentice Sanders book:
http://www.amazon.com/Zebra-Murders-Season-Killing-Madness/dp/1559708069/sr=1-1/qid=1160964776/ref=sr_1_1/104-2800042-4766301?ie=UTF8&s=books

for the older book by Clark Howard:
http://www.amazon.com/Zebra-Clark-Howard/dp/0399900500/sr=1-65/qid=1160964409/ref=sr_1_65/104-6932846-3958349?ie=UTF8&s=books

For the Crime Library story on the murders:
http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/mass/zebra_murders/index.html

The obligatory Wikipedia entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebra_murders

FR's thread on a FrontPage mag article on the story:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1556024/posts

[backhoe]

Thank you- links copied & saved. Bad old memories.

[Verloona Ti]

And in more sick movie news:

Remember when the black CNA down in Texas hit a white homeless guy? Remember how she "giggled" about hitting a 'white guy' at a party? Well, Stuart Gordon is making this crime into a film now, too. Here's what he says :

"....Suvari plays the panicked driver Brandi, who realizes that if she helps the wounded man, it will ruin her life."

"...the character played by Stephen is a fictional character , a kind of Everyman."

Maybe the film will be better than it sounds. But it sounds as if the emphasis will be on the driver-SHE'LL be the recipient of the script's and hence the audience's sympathy. The victim is reduced to a mere cipher, as if he never really existed-just a "fictional character.

And the racial aspects of the film-Mallard's indifference, GIGGLING about what she'd done, the gang of black "youths" she took to the park to gawk (and jeer?) at the victim-that's all gone. The story apparently is going to be all about the poor, pitiful driver-and she'll be portrayed by a white actress, just to make darn sure the audience doesn't get a chance to speculate at the hidden motives of mallard and her buddies.(The actor playing the "fictional" victim is also white.)

WHY this sympathy in Hollywood for black thugs who inflict torture and death on white victims?????

Mena Suvari

Chante Mallard

Source : Rue Morgue again, p9, issue 64 January/February 2007.

[Verloona Ti]

BTW, Stuart Gordon is mainly known for making H P Lovecraft stories into horror films , mostly starring Jeffrey Combs. I do recommend those films-I am avoiding this one just as much as I'll avoid the 'Wichita' atrocity.

[Gritty]

And who remembers these killings these days?

I do.

My wife and I were home on leave in the Bay Area when these murders were taking place. Nonetheless, we decided to take our small son to the San Francisco Zoo despite all the fear and bad publicity.

The streets in San Francisco were almost deserted of traffic, as were the sidewalks - even though it was in the middle of the day and it was a beautiful day. Right near the Zoo, we stopped at a stoplight. A motorbike with two young blacks pulled up right beside us next to my open window. They wore helmets, dark clothing, were very black complexioned and both around 18-22 years old. But the thing that stood out most to me besides "the look" was the "Death Angel" patches both were clearly wearing on their shoulders. They both looked closely at us, and those looks somehow simply chilled my blood. Just then, the light turned green and I made a quick turn and sped away. There was no other traffic, or cops, or anybody else around.

My wife and I were both happy to get out of there and both sensed what we thought was a real menace. We remarked to one another at the time how spooky it was and how we both had the same strange fear. The Zoo was almost empty and we had a lonely time there with the few other people. We were happy when we got home. The experience was still on our minds.

The next day, the case broke wide open in the newspapers. The murder ring was revealed and a large number of these killers were rounded up. Their victims ran into the dozens, as I recall, most of them were white and some of them were tortured or dismembered before death. They got "points" for who they killed and how. Their insignia was the very "Death Angel" patches we had seen on the shoulders of those men sitting next to us on the motorbike. We had never seen this insignia before we saw it first on these two riders and the next day in the newspapers and on TV. It was shocking.

Perhaps they were cruising, looking for new victims? Maybe we were just too fast and they couldn't decide? Perhaps they had other plans? We will never know. But the experience still gives me the willies, even 30 years later.

Yes. I remember it.

[Bernard Marx]

And who remembers these killings these days?

Me.

Me too. We lived in the Bay Area during the whole thing -- and the Black Panther rampages that followed. I took that lesson permanently to heart.