Monday, March 9, 2009
Dellums Aide Caught Up in Chauncey Bailey Case
Law Enforcement & Crime / People / Politics Robert Gammon — Mon, Mar 9, 2009 at 11:13 AM
Before he was assassinated, Chauncey Bailey was enmeshed in a power struggle within Your Black Muslim Bakery. That's the conclusion of yet another terrific San Francisco Chronicle story by reporter Jaxon Van Derbeken. If you haven't read it yet, Van Derbeken's piece gives a great overview of the events that led up to Bailey's murder. It provides, for the first time, real insight into a plausible motive for why the Oakland Post editor was killed. And the story raises yet more startling questions about the judgment of Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums and Congresswoman Barbara Lee.
Bailey wasn't just killed because bakery members wanted to stop him from exposing the bakery's financial problems. It may have also been because Bailey got caught between two factions inside the bakery - one led by bakery CEO Yusuf Bey IV, and the other, led by Bey IV's step-brother-in-law Saleem Bey. Saleem Bey was attempting to wrest control of the financially troubled bakery from Bey IV, and had become Bailey's prime source. When Bey IV found out that Bailey was writing a story based on information from Saleem Bey, he became livid. Bailey was murdered shortly thereafter. Bey IV is the prime suspect in the case, but he has yet to be charged. One of Bey IV's henchmen, Devaughndre Broussard, is the sole defendant in Bailey's killing. Broussard has said that Bey IV had told him to take the fall for it.
Van Derbeken's story also reveals the role Barbara Lee's office played in the dispute between Bey IV and Saleem Bey. Lee's office sided with Bey IV at least twice, thereby allowing him to win the internal battle between to the two factions, and apparently emboldening him to go after Bailey. First, Leslie Littleton, a then aide to Lee, wrote a letter on behalf of Bey IV that was hand delivered to the federal bankruptcy judge overseeing the bakery's finances and Bey IV's handling of them. The letter effectively refuted Saleem Bey's allegations that Bey IV was responsible for the bakery's problems and should be replaced.
Littleton then refused to even listen to Saleem Bey's complaints about Bey IV, including what turned out to be accurate accounts of Bey IV's many alleged illegal activities. Because of Littleton, Bey IV's grip on the bakery tightened and Saleem Bey's efforts to wrest control were stymied. After the two factions' last meeting with Littleton, Bey IV came away the winner in the internal bakery war, and Saleem Bey, the loser. Two days later, Bailey was brazenly assassinated in broad daylight on a downtown Oakland street.
Since the day after the murder, the official motive in the killing was that bakery members wanted to prevent Bailey from making the bakery's deep financial problems public. But that motive has always seemed a bit week. Van Derbeken's story, however, reveals that Bey IV may have ordered Bailey's assassination to also send a message to Saleem Bey. A witness has told investigators that after Bailey's murder, Bey IV said: "That will teach'em to fuck with me." Notice that Bey IV looks to be referring not to "him," as in Bailey, but to "them," possibly meaning Bailey, Saleem Bey, and Saleem Bey's followers.
But that's not all. Incredibly, Dellums then hired Littleton to be his deputy chief of staff. Jesus. Any woman who defends a thug like Bey IV, and refuses to even listen to legitimate complaints, has no business being anywhere near public office. Sources have told the Express that Littleton was hired to actually be the de facto chief of staff to the mayor's wife, Cynthia Dellums, whom many consider Oakland's second mayor. Nice.
Correction: An earlier version of this post erroneously said that Leslie Littleton told prosecutors that Bey IV was "like a son" to her. It was a different Barbara Lee aide who made that statement.
Comments (3)
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Mr. Gammon,
Excellent article, you hit the nail on the head, but where is OPD's culpability in this? they were not mentioned once in the Chron article.
Littleton is a chronic taxpayer - pay check vampire, she chose to sweep it under the rug and did indirectly cost Bailey his life
If her actions aided IV ( and they obviously did ) then how much more responsibility does OPD have in keeping him in power? If Longmire is rogue, then why has Chain of command steadfastly supported him to this day?
A.
because according to an article I read - on11/28/05 - Jordan #2 man in department and Loman #3 directly helped IV in the Liquor store fiasco before Longmire began helping Iv repeatedly ( 05 -07 ) with their knowledge.
Knowing IV's side was attached to the Waajid murder and the John Bey attack why would OPD take the side of a violent teenager in a known family power struggle? Where the Saleem Bey side has no reported criminal record and the IV side OPD knows is associated with murder,torture and violent crime sprees. community policing ha!!
Seems like Saleem Bey and his side could have regained control long ago and a whole lot of families would not be grieving right now if OPD weren't supporting IV from the begining of his reign of terror ( starting 05 ).. Even up to Longmire trying to return evidence ( computers) after the Bailey murder, effectively spitting on his grave..
With Iv bragging he is protected by police and all evidence pointing to the fact that Bailey was working a story to expose this fact, who is to say how deep OPD is in this.
I agree with Reporters without Borders - Independent investigation out of DC not out of the SF FBI field office where they were complicit with OPD in targeting and framing Judi Bari.
Peace
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JH,
Anyone who thought in the summer of 2006 that the bakery was just "peachy" was in fact an idiot, had their head in the sand, or was an accomplice to the bakery members' long history of thuggery. There is no doubt that many East Bay political leaders chose to bury their heads in the sand. But that doesn't excuse them. This newspaper wrote extensively over the years about how violent the bakery's leaders had been, and about the elder Yusuf Bey's ugly track record of raping young girls. Before Bailey's murder there were also stories in nearly all of the Bay Area press about Yusuf Bey IV's involvement in trashing and vandalizing liquor stores.
So Littleton has no excuse for writing that letter. Moreover, her decision to stay out of the matter was a de facto win for Bey IV. She already knew that the bakery was in bankruptcy -- or if she didn't know, could have easily checked. If she had taken that simple, responsible step, she would have also discovered Bey IV's responsibility in the matter. Once aware of Bey IV's complicity, a responsible government official would have given Saleem Bey's allegations some weight. All she had to do was call the Oakland Police Department, which could have given her a simple rundown on Bey IV. Instead, she chose to bury her head in the sand, again, thereby maintaining the status quo in the bakery power struggle -- a victory for Bey IV, since the status quo kept him in power.
Based on the Chron's reporting, Littleton deserves scorn, doesn't deserve a job in city government, and owes Saleem Bey an apology. She should also apologize to Chauncey Bailey's family for coming to the defense of the likely mastermind of his murder. Innocent staffer? Not by a long shot.
-- Robert Gammon
Wait a second here, this is a tar and feathering of an innocent staffer.
First, from the SF Chron article, Littleton did NOT write the letter for the Bankruptcy Court, she wrote a letter to the IRS asking them to delay on collecting back taxes so the bakery wouldn't go under. (The staffer who erroneously delivered the letter to the bankruptcy court was Sandra Andrews, who was the one to call Bey IV "like a son"-- if anyone, she should be the focus of this article but, I guess for the sole reason that she isn't a Dellums staffer, Littleton was targeted.) It's hard to blame Littleton though because at the time everyone thought the bakery was just peachy, including lots of Oakland elected officials.*
Second, the letter that was written HAD NO EFFECT on the bankruptcy court because the judge decided the bakery would be forfeited to pay creditors.
Third, saying Bey IV "came away the winner" from the meeting Littleton had with Bey IV and Saleem is misleading at best: what Littleton told them, again according to the SF Chron article, is that Barbara Lee's Office wanted nothing to do with EITHER of them. Honestly, it's hard to see what else could be done. When Saleem (trying to wrest hold of the bakery) told Littleton that the bakery was about to be engulfed in scandal, contradicted by Bey IV, she was confronted with a classic "he said, she said" (well, with both being men here) --- she obviously isn't a detective and couldn't mount an investigation so she rebuffed both.
What disturbs me about this article is that it implies that Littleton is responsible in some way for Bailey's death, which is an accusation that is beyond the pale. From what I can tell, the only thing she did that has any weight in this controversy is that she refused to get Barbara Lee's Office involved. Moreover, from the way the SF Chron unfolds the story, her actions seem like what 90% of other staffers in her place would have done. Certainly no one could have predicted that this power struggle would devolve into murder. The Bey scandal is a stain on Oakland's political class who turned a blind eye to the bakery's growing criminality; but to pin all that blame on one staffer is terrible scapegoating.
* article identifying bakery's extensive political support in Oakland: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/01/27/MNHRULP55.DTL
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