Authors: T. J. English
and Hogan's refusal to drop charges against Whitmore in Career Girls Murders, 128
Miller's disagreements with, 167, 170, 192
and NAACP fundraiser for Whitmore, 127
press conference of, 110â11
prison visits with Whitmore of, 106, 112
reputation of, 106
and Robles arrest, 110
takes on Whitmore case, 106
and Whitmore case as civil rights matter, 110â11
Whitmore's first meeting with, 106
and Whitmore's testimony in Career Girls Murders trial, 146
Renegades (gang), 60
Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM), 182, 185, 186, 196â98, 213, 243
Riccobono, Xavier, 337
Richards, Eugene, 244
Richardson, Fred, 225, 227
Right On!
newspaper, 300, 316
Rikers Island Correctional Facility: Bin Wahad in, 363
Rinaldi, Dominic, 137, 138
Riverside Church (New York City), 5
Roberts, Burton, 337
Roberts, Gene, 271â72
Robeson, Paul, 284
Robles, Richard “Ricky,” 106â10, 111, 112, 135, 141, 146â52, 336, 368, 371
Rockefeller, Nelson, 111, 145, 265â66, 350
Rogers, J. A., 66
Roper, Lee, 282
Rosario material, 361, 387
Rothblatt, Harold, 382
Rush, Bobby, 294
Rutledge, Jimmy, 200â201
Â
Salvia, Damien, 48
Sams, George, 286
San Quentin Prison, 350
Savalas, Telly, 371
Schaap, Dick, 119, 120
Schermerhorn Street Court House (Brooklyn).
See
Brooklyn Criminal Court
Schmier, Benjamin, 168, 169, 194
Schoenberg Salt Company, 35, 36
Scopetta, Nicholas, 308, 351
Scorpions gang, 60
Seale, Bobby, 185, 205, 206, 214, 286, 296, 297, 350
Seedman, Albert J., 317, 332, 337, 350
September 11, 2001, 394
Serpico, Frank, 280, 281, 308, 345, 347
Seventeenth Precinct (Manhattan), 257, 304.
See also specific person
Seventy-third Precinct (Brooklyn)
and arrest of Black Panthers, 239â40
and blackâPuerto Rican gang fights, 190
Whitmore at, 36â42, 45â54, 78, 192
Shabazz, Betty, 205
Shakur, Afeni, 236â37, 282, 288, 296, 297, 299
Shakur, Assata.
See
Chesimard, JoAnne
Shakur, Lumumba, 182, 234, 282, 287, 296, 297, 313
Shakur, Mutulu, 182, 381
Shakur, Zyad, 182, 313, 381
Shapiro, Fred C., 53, 54, 231
Shecter, Leonard, 167, 369
Silvers, Cleo, 235â38, 289
Sing Sing prison
Coleman in, 44
Whitmore in, 111â12, 128, 129, 209, 210â11, 212, 219â20
Slaughter, Doc, 23
Slim Brown (dope peddler), 123
Slugs (Manhattan jazz club), 204
Smith, Jimmy, 257â58, 364â65, 366, 368, 384
Smith, John, 199
Smith, Tommy, 283
Society for the Prevention of Niggers Getting Everything (SPONGE), 173
soda bottles: and Career Girl Murders, 47, 80, 110
South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO), 288
Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), 113, 134
Special Investigations Unit (SIU), NYPD, 123, 304, 308
Sportsmen Disciples (gang), 60, 180, 225
Squires, Clark, 282
St. Mary's Housing Project (Bronx), 179, 180
St. Patrick's Cathedral (Manhattan), 120, 278
Stanford, Maxwell, 186, 196, 213
Stango, Sharon, 364, 365
Stewart, Stanley, 252
stolen car chase (Queens), 338
Straus, R. Peter, 171â72, 191
Street Stories
(TV show), 383
Stride Toward Freedom
(King), 3
Stronghold LTD., 298
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), 186, 207, 213, 214â15, 243
Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), 196
subway system, New York City: “bombing” of, 278
Suicide Frenchmen gang, 189
Supreme Court, New York State
and Panther Twenty-one case, 288
and reopening of Borrero case, 372â73, 374â75
vacating of Whitmore conviction by, 375â76
Whitmore appeal to, 265, 325, 352, 357, 371
Supreme Court, U.S.
Miranda
decision of, 170â71
Whitmore appeal to, 265, 352, 357
Â
Tabor, Michael.
See
Cetewayo
Tactical Patrol Force (TPF), 72â74, 76, 86, 122
Temple University: Black Panthers meeting at, 291â92
Tenney, Charles H., 351
“Third Degree,” 43, 45
Third World Woman's Alliance, 335
Thirty-fourth Precinct (Manhattan), 268
Thirty-second Precinct (Manhattan), 323
Time
magazine, 153
Tolles, Patricia, 7, 8, 10, 78â79
Tolles, Terry, 78â79
Torres, Edwin, 126â27
TPF.
See
Tactical Patrol Force
Tracy, Richard “Dick,” 355
Treu, Frank, 360, 361, 362
Triple-O social club (Bronx): robbery at, 327â30, 333, 334, 336, 359, 361
truth serum injections, Whitmore's, 69, 78
Tubman, Harriet, 66
Turner, Nat, 66, 224
Twenty-fifth Precinct (Harlem), 91â93, 222â23, 255â56, 267
Twenty-third Precinct (Manhattan), 7, 107, 108â10, 166.
See also specific person
Â
United Nations
Black Panthers press conference at, 214
and Cuban-Panthers link, 279
United Nations Commission on Human Rights, 381
United Press International, 350
Universal Studios, 325, 353, 370, 371
University of California, Berkeley: Carmichael speech at, 185
University of Mississippi, 184
urban revolutionary: how to live as, 314, 328, 329
Urban Task Force, 222, 241
Â
Valiant Crowns (gang), 60
Vickers, Robert, 338
Vietnam War, 182, 183, 196, 197, 207, 226, 255, 285, 322
Vietnamese Liberation Army, 322
Vincent, Leon, 370, 373
Viruet, Celeste, 264, 354â57, 371, 372, 375
Â
Wagner, Robert, 76, 111, 119, 266
Waldorf-Astoria Hotel (Manhattan): Phillips incident at, 88â89
Wallace, George, 240, 380
Wallace, Mike, 113, 114, 243
Walsh, Robert, 57
Walt Disney School, 129
Warren, Earl, 170â71
Washington, D.C., black protest march on, 206â7.
See also
March on Washington
WBAI radio station, 175
Weather Underground, 295, 368
Webb, Robert, 299â300, 313, 314, 316, 318
West, Cornel, 388
White, Eddie (window washer suspect), 45, 149â50
“White power,” 198, 240, 279, 303
White, Ralph, 244, 271
white supremacy, 30, 66, 185, 240.
See also
Ku Klux Klan
Whitmore, Aida Jr. (daughter), 212, 231, 233
Whitmore, Aida (wife), 187â88, 189, 191, 194â95, 212, 231, 233, 261, 275, 276, 352
Whitmore, Birdine (mother), 14â15, 16, 38, 69, 94, 102, 105, 129, 137, 172, 187, 191, 194, 195, 352, 375
Whitmore, George Jr.
Aida's relationship with, 187â88, 189, 191, 194â95, 212, 231, 233, 261, 275, 276, 352
alibi of, 79, 106, 219
apologies to, 376
arraignment of, 54â57, 59
as assault victim, 188â89
birth of, 14
books about, 210
in Brownsville, 32, 33â34, 188
in car accident, 393
and check-cashing store robbery, 392â93
depression of, 67, 78, 129, 211, 352â53
diary of, 67â68
doubts about guilt of, 79â81
drawing abilities of, 15, 48â49, 128â29
drinking by, 275â76, 277, 392
film about, 325â26, 353, 370â72
financial affairs of, 325, 326, 370, 371, 391, 392â93
fishing business of, 392
as free man, 378
health of, 392
helicopter rides of, 374, 393
as “invisible Negro,” 13
jobs of, 13, 31, 188, 191, 231, 232â34, 275, 276, 325
and Krown robbery, 275â77
lawyers' belief in innocence of, 167
marriage of, 191
New Jersey arrests of, 276, 392
New York arrest of, 47â48, 79
New York City move of, 31â32
as out on bail, 231
personal and family background of, 14, 15, 16â17, 38, 212, 231, 391
personality of, 13, 37, 211
police interrogation of, 35â43, 45â49, 51, 79, 138, 150â51, 371
and police views about ghettos, 347
portrayal of, 135
and race relations, 16â17, 391â92
reaction to vacating of conviction by, 376â77
realization of difficulties by, 52â53, 56
releases from prison of, 231, 324, 390
return to Brooklyn of, 324
role models for, 17
and shootings of policemen, 324â25
smoking of, 233, 392
as survivor, 393
as symbol of injustice, 144â45, 378
truth serum injections of, 69, 78
views about police of, 17, 40
vision problems of, 13, 49, 112, 276
wine-making by, 152, 212
See also
Borrero (Elba) case; Career Girls Murders; Edmonds (Minnie) case
Whitmore, George Sr. (father), 14, 15, 16, 31, 38, 39, 69, 129, 137, 138, 172, 187, 191, 261
Whitmore, Gerald (brother), 14, 15, 31, 34, 35, 36, 54â55, 102, 187, 189, 190â91, 352, 375
Whitmore, Geraldine (sister), 14, 187
Whitmore, Shelley (brother), 14, 31, 96, 187
Whitmore Legal Defense Fund, 112, 127, 128, 167, 172, 191
whorehouse murder case, 364â66, 367â70, 382
Wildwood, New Jersey
police force in, 16â17
race relations in, 15â17
Whitmore in area around, 390â92
and Whitmore on bail, 171, 172â73
Whitmore in, 12â17, 31, 128â29, 187â88, 191â92, 231, 261
Wilkins, Roy, 160, 197, 214
Williams, Gertrude, 156â57, 158
Williams, John Carlos, 283
Williams, Ray H., 110, 112, 127, 135
Williams, Westley, 127, 156â57
window washer suspect (Eddie White) (Career Girls Murders), 45, 149â50
WLIB radio station, 321, 322, 335, 336
WMCA radio station, 172
Woodbury, Gene, 370â71
World Telegram & Sun,
103, 104, 210
World War II, 27, 63, 143, 198
Wylie, Janice
discovery of body of, 7â11
and March on Washington, 25
as
Newsweek
employee, 12, 25
personal life of, 12, 18, 25, 26
reporting of murder of, 7â8
See also
Career Girl Murders
Wylie, Max, 8â9, 10, 25, 26â27, 79
Wylie, Philip, 25
Â
Yale University: Black Panther rally at, 298â99
Young, Whitney M., 197, 214
Â
Zinkand, Martin J., 7â10, 53, 55, 56, 108
Zion, Sidney, 174
THE EMOTIONAL CONTENT
of this era in New York City history is still raw for those who lived through it. I owe a special debt of gratitude to those people on both sides of the divide who agreed to dredge up old and sometimes unpleasant or even traumatic memories. Their stories are now part of history. Many people were helpful in leading me to important sources or pieces of information; I am eternally grateful for their assistance.
Special thanks to Thomas Kelly, who first acquainted me with the Wylie-Hoffert murders; Dred-Scott Keyes of WBAI Radio; Jazz Hayden (the Mayor of Harlem); Judith Regan, who remains a supporter; Myron Beldock; Stephen J. Fearon; Dhoruba Bin Wahad; Robert Boyle; Tom Folsom; Bob Leuci; Sonny Grosso; Cleo Silvers; Shermika Williams, who transcribed many tapes; Kate O'Callaghan; Patrick Farrelly; George Whitmore; Judge Edwin Torres; Willie Rashbaum; Sean Gardiner; Graham Rayman; Carl Ginsburg; Joel Millman; Stacy Leigh; Roger Guenveur Smith, who told me Huey P. Newton stories; Chris Napolitano at
Playboy;
Steven Fishman; Len Levitt; Gerald Lefcourt; Randy Jurgensen; and John M. Murtagh.
Putting this book together required an obsessive attention to detail, whichâas alwaysâcan be a strain on personal relationships. I would like to thank those friends and family members who helped lighten the load and remained patient over the course of another long journey. Special thanks to Richard Stratton; Sophia Banda, who kept me strong; Ned Sublette, my literary compañero; the barmaids at the Distinguished Wakamba Cocktail Lounge; Tom Caldarola; Suzanne and Chris Damore; Maureen English; Margi English; Mike English; Ed English; Philip Rotter; Dino Malcolm; Gh'ail Rhodes-
Benjamin; Sandra Maria English; Peter Quinn; Ashley Davis; Ryan Schafer; Michael Patrick MacDonald; Kevin Corrigan; and Matt Dillon.
My agents, Nat Sobel and Judith Weber, were invaluable in helping to shape this project at all stages of development. Lisa Gallagher, formerly of William Morrow, saw value in the subject matter immediately and was instrumental in getting things off the ground. Cal Morgan, my editor, brought good taste and a sharp eye to the proceedings; he guided
The Savage City
through the publishing process with a steady hand.