Alex Rackley
Encyclopedia
Alex Rackley was a member of the New York chapter of the Black Panther Party
in the late 1960s. In May 1969, Rackley was suspected by other Panthers of being a police informant. He was brought to Panther headquarters in New Haven, Connecticut
, held captive and tortured there for several days, then "tried," condemned to death, taken to the wetlands of Middlefield, Connecticut
and murdered there. He was nineteen.
His killing was the crime at the center of the 1970 New Haven Black Panther trials
.
was riddled with suspicion and paranoia. The Panthers knew that they were a primary target of local and federal law enforcement officials, who sought to seed the movement with informants. In September 1968, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover
described the Black Panthers as "The greatest threat to the internal security of the country." By 1969, the Black Panthers were the primary target of the FBI's COINTELPRO
, and the target of 233 of 295 authorized "Black Nationalist" COINTELPRO actions.
In the spring of 1969, as the paranoia within the Panther movement peaked, Rackley came under suspicion. His loyalty was questioned, and rumors circulated that he was passing information about the Panthers to the FBI. The situation was exacerbated by the presence of two national Panther figures from the California headquarters: Field Marshal George Sams, Jr., and Landon Williams. The two men had arrived on the east coast in May with the intention of instilling "discipline" into the party.
On May 18, Rackley was forcibly brought to the headquarters of the New Haven chapter of the Black Panthers at 365 Orchard Street, which was also the residence of Warren Kimbro
, a New Haven Panther. In the bedroom normally occupied by Kimbro's seven-year-old daughter, Rackley was tied to the bed and questioned under torture. The principal method of torture was the pouring of boiling water over his torso, shoulders and thighs. Finally, after two days of this treatment, according to witnesses, Rackley confessed to the accusations. The veracity of his confession has never been confirmed. Late on the night of the 20th, Rackley was removed, still alive, from the apartment by Sams, Kimbro, and a third Panther, Lonnie McLucas
, of Bridgeport, Connecticut
. The men borrowed a car from one of their supporters and drove Rackley to the marshy wetlands of nearby Middlefield. On Sams's orders, Kimbro shot Rackley in the head, and McLucas shot him again, in the chest. They dumped the body in the Coginchaug River
and left.
had successfully penetrated the Panther movement with informants, and on the night of the killing, investigators already suspected that some kind of internal party "discipline" was under way. In fact, the "supporter" from whom the murderers borrowed their car for the killing was being paid by the New Haven Police Department to report on Panther activity, and he called his controller that night to alert the police that Sams was using his car. According to later testimony, officers followed the vehicle when it left New Haven, but reported losing track of the car on its way to the murder scene.
Rackley's body was discovered later that morning by 23-year-old factory worker John Mroczka, who had stopped his motorcycle near a bridge on Route 147 to check out a favorite trout
-fishing
spot on the river bank. State police recovered the body. Rackley's wrists were tied with gauze, his neck was wrapped in a noose made from a wire coat hanger; there were extensive burns on wide areas of his chest, wrists, buttocks, thighs, and right shoulder. He had also been beaten around his face, groin, and lumbar region with a hard object. In his jacket pocket was a note to Bobby Seale
, the Panthers' national chairman, from Ericka Huggins, a prominent New Haven Panther. Seale had been in New Haven to give a speech on the Yale University campus only hours before Rackley was killed .
After another police informant from Panther circles identified Rackley's photograph, and reported seeing Rackley being tortured, New Haven police raided the home of Warren Kimbro
on May 22, arresting Kimbro and Huggins. Sams and McLucas escaped initial arrest, but were captured later and brought to Connecticut for trial. http://www.edwardjayepstein.com/archived/panthers2.htm
both turned state's evidence
, and admitted their roles in the killing, in exchange for reducing the charges to second degree murder (although that crime carried a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment, both men would be freed after serving four years).
McLucas confessed his part in the murder when he was arrested, but chose to stand trial and pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and other charges. His trial
and that of the other defendants became one of the defining battlegrounds for the radical movement, as thousands of re-energized Panthers and pro-Panther protesters poured into New Haven, disrupting city life and school business on the campus of Yale University. Yale president Kingman Brewster, who suspended some of the campus rules in order to dispel tensions in the student body, famously commented that he doubted whether a black revolutionary could get a fair trial in America.
Ripples from the case continued to spread when Sams testified that in killing Rackley, he had been acting on direct orders from Bobby Seale
, who had stopped by the Orchard Street headquarters on May 20 after his Yale speech. Sams also implicated Ericka Huggins in the decision to execute Rackley. Kimbro did not corroborate Sams's evidence about Seale, and although the FBI and New Haven police gave this investigative angle their full attention, no further evidence of Seale's involvement was found. Nevertheless, both Seale and Huggins were arrested and held for trial in Connecticut.
During his trial, McLucas again admitted firing the second shot into Rackley's body, but insisted he had been an unwilling collaborator in the killing. Jurors listened to audio recordings the Panthers had made of Rackley's whimpering, tortured voice during his two days of agony. In September 1970, Lonnie McLucas was found guilty and sentenced to 12 to 15 years in prison. The deliberations of the racially-mixed jury - 33 hours over six days - were the longest in Connecticut history to that date, and the jurors acquitted McLucas of other, more serious charges, including a capital charge for kidnapping leading to death. His enormously relieved defense attorney, Theodore Roskoff, declared, "The judge was fair, the jury was fair, and, in this case, a black revolutionary was given a fair trial."
In October, the trial of Seale and Huggins began. George Sams, the one-time "Field Marshal," testified again. By this time, Sams was reviled by the Panthers as a traitor and a renegade psychopath who had killed Rackley on his own, and who was pinning the crime on Seale to please his new masters in the Establishment. It was even suggested that Sams had been in cahoots with the FBI all along: that he was the real informant, and that he had accused and murdered Rackley in order to cover his tracks.
The jury deadlocked: 11 to 1 for Seale's acquittal and 10 to 2 for Huggins' acquittal. The prosecution declined to retry the case.
for the Panthers. The trials had exposed the internal strife and distrust that was undermining the Panther movement, and confirmed for the public that the Panthers would resort to extra-legal violence when necessary. The movement was destroyed in Connecticut, and in the wake of other violent incidents and conflict among the leadership, the influence of the national movement waned.
The case later became a subject of controversy regarding the role of a young Hillary Clinton in the trial. An urban legend
, widely disseminated on the internet by opponents of Clinton's campaign for the U.S. Senate in 2000, claimed that Clinton defended Bobby Seale and helped him beat the murder charge. In fact Clinton, who was at the time a Yale law student named Hillary Rodham, did not directly serve the defense. Instead, she helped coordinate the efforts of the ACLU to monitor the trial for civil rights violations.
Black Panther Party
The Black Panther Party wasan African-American revolutionary leftist organization. It was active in the United States from 1966 until 1982....
in the late 1960s. In May 1969, Rackley was suspected by other Panthers of being a police informant. He was brought to Panther headquarters in New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...
, held captive and tortured there for several days, then "tried," condemned to death, taken to the wetlands of Middlefield, Connecticut
Middlefield, Connecticut
Middlefield is a town in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 4,203 at the 2000 census. The town includes the village of Rockfall-History:...
and murdered there. He was nineteen.
His killing was the crime at the center of the 1970 New Haven Black Panther trials
New Haven Black Panther trials
In 1970 there were a series of criminal prosecutions in New Haven, Connecticut against various members of the Black Panther Party. The charges ranged from criminal conspiracy to felony murder. All indictments stemmed from the murder of nineteen-year-old Alex Rackley in the early hours of May 21,...
.
Background
By the late 1960s, the Black Panther PartyBlack Panther Party
The Black Panther Party wasan African-American revolutionary leftist organization. It was active in the United States from 1966 until 1982....
was riddled with suspicion and paranoia. The Panthers knew that they were a primary target of local and federal law enforcement officials, who sought to seed the movement with informants. In September 1968, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover
J. Edgar Hoover
John Edgar Hoover was the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States. Appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation—predecessor to the FBI—in 1924, he was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972...
described the Black Panthers as "The greatest threat to the internal security of the country." By 1969, the Black Panthers were the primary target of the FBI's COINTELPRO
COINTELPRO
COINTELPRO was a series of covert, and often illegal, projects conducted by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation aimed at surveilling, infiltrating, discrediting, and disrupting domestic political organizations.COINTELPRO tactics included discrediting targets through psychological...
, and the target of 233 of 295 authorized "Black Nationalist" COINTELPRO actions.
Death
In 1968 Alex Rackley left his home state of Florida and moved to New York City. There he became involved with the Black Panther Party, though his role seems to have been limited to giving classes in martial arts.In the spring of 1969, as the paranoia within the Panther movement peaked, Rackley came under suspicion. His loyalty was questioned, and rumors circulated that he was passing information about the Panthers to the FBI. The situation was exacerbated by the presence of two national Panther figures from the California headquarters: Field Marshal George Sams, Jr., and Landon Williams. The two men had arrived on the east coast in May with the intention of instilling "discipline" into the party.
On May 18, Rackley was forcibly brought to the headquarters of the New Haven chapter of the Black Panthers at 365 Orchard Street, which was also the residence of Warren Kimbro
Warren Kimbro
Warren Aloysious Kimbro was a Black Panther Party member in New Haven, Connecticut who was found guilty of the May 21, 1969, murder of New York Panther Alex Rackley, in the first of the New Haven Black Panther trials in 1970...
, a New Haven Panther. In the bedroom normally occupied by Kimbro's seven-year-old daughter, Rackley was tied to the bed and questioned under torture. The principal method of torture was the pouring of boiling water over his torso, shoulders and thighs. Finally, after two days of this treatment, according to witnesses, Rackley confessed to the accusations. The veracity of his confession has never been confirmed. Late on the night of the 20th, Rackley was removed, still alive, from the apartment by Sams, Kimbro, and a third Panther, Lonnie McLucas
Lonnie McLucas
Lonnie McLucas was a Black Panther Party member in Bridgeport, Connecticut who was found guilty of the May 21, 1969 murder of New York Panther Alex Rackley, in the first of the New Haven Black Panther trials in 1970. Rackley had been held and tortured at New Haven, Connecticut Panther headquarters...
, of Bridgeport, Connecticut
Bridgeport, Connecticut
Bridgeport is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. Located in Fairfield County, the city had an estimated population of 144,229 at the 2010 United States Census and is the core of the Greater Bridgeport area...
. The men borrowed a car from one of their supporters and drove Rackley to the marshy wetlands of nearby Middlefield. On Sams's orders, Kimbro shot Rackley in the head, and McLucas shot him again, in the chest. They dumped the body in the Coginchaug River
Coginchaug River
The Coginchaug River in Connecticut, with a watershed of including forests, pastures, farmland, industrial, and commercial areas, is the predominant tributary of the Mattabesset River...
and left.
Investigation and Raid
The Panthers were not wrong to fear police infiltration: the New Haven policeNew Haven Police Department
The New Haven Police Department is the law enforcement agency responsible for the city of New Haven, Connecticut.-Civilian Workforce:In addition to sworn officers, the department employs civilian employees for administrative functions funded partly by the Community Oriented Policing Services...
had successfully penetrated the Panther movement with informants, and on the night of the killing, investigators already suspected that some kind of internal party "discipline" was under way. In fact, the "supporter" from whom the murderers borrowed their car for the killing was being paid by the New Haven Police Department to report on Panther activity, and he called his controller that night to alert the police that Sams was using his car. According to later testimony, officers followed the vehicle when it left New Haven, but reported losing track of the car on its way to the murder scene.
Rackley's body was discovered later that morning by 23-year-old factory worker John Mroczka, who had stopped his motorcycle near a bridge on Route 147 to check out a favorite trout
Trout
Trout is the name for a number of species of freshwater and saltwater fish belonging to the Salmoninae subfamily of the family Salmonidae. Salmon belong to the same family as trout. Most salmon species spend almost all their lives in salt water...
-fishing
Fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
spot on the river bank. State police recovered the body. Rackley's wrists were tied with gauze, his neck was wrapped in a noose made from a wire coat hanger; there were extensive burns on wide areas of his chest, wrists, buttocks, thighs, and right shoulder. He had also been beaten around his face, groin, and lumbar region with a hard object. In his jacket pocket was a note to Bobby Seale
Bobby Seale
Robert George "Bobby" Seale , is an activist. He is known for co-founding the Black Panther Party with Huey Newton.-Early life:...
, the Panthers' national chairman, from Ericka Huggins, a prominent New Haven Panther. Seale had been in New Haven to give a speech on the Yale University campus only hours before Rackley was killed .
After another police informant from Panther circles identified Rackley's photograph, and reported seeing Rackley being tortured, New Haven police raided the home of Warren Kimbro
Warren Kimbro
Warren Aloysious Kimbro was a Black Panther Party member in New Haven, Connecticut who was found guilty of the May 21, 1969, murder of New York Panther Alex Rackley, in the first of the New Haven Black Panther trials in 1970...
on May 22, arresting Kimbro and Huggins. Sams and McLucas escaped initial arrest, but were captured later and brought to Connecticut for trial. http://www.edwardjayepstein.com/archived/panthers2.htm
Trials
Kimbro and SamsGeorge W. Sams, Jr.
George W. Sams, Jr. was a Black Panther who implicated Bobby Seale in the 1969 murder of New York Panther Alex Rackley. This resulted in the New Haven Black Panther trials of 1970....
both turned state's evidence
State's Evidence
State's Evidence is an independent film created in 2004 and released in 2006, directed by Benjamin Louis and starring Douglas Smith, Alexa Vega, Majandra Delfino, Kris Lemche, Cody McMains, and Drew Tyler Bell.-Plot summary:...
, and admitted their roles in the killing, in exchange for reducing the charges to second degree murder (although that crime carried a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment, both men would be freed after serving four years).
McLucas confessed his part in the murder when he was arrested, but chose to stand trial and pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and other charges. His trial
New Haven Black Panther trials
In 1970 there were a series of criminal prosecutions in New Haven, Connecticut against various members of the Black Panther Party. The charges ranged from criminal conspiracy to felony murder. All indictments stemmed from the murder of nineteen-year-old Alex Rackley in the early hours of May 21,...
and that of the other defendants became one of the defining battlegrounds for the radical movement, as thousands of re-energized Panthers and pro-Panther protesters poured into New Haven, disrupting city life and school business on the campus of Yale University. Yale president Kingman Brewster, who suspended some of the campus rules in order to dispel tensions in the student body, famously commented that he doubted whether a black revolutionary could get a fair trial in America.
Ripples from the case continued to spread when Sams testified that in killing Rackley, he had been acting on direct orders from Bobby Seale
Bobby Seale
Robert George "Bobby" Seale , is an activist. He is known for co-founding the Black Panther Party with Huey Newton.-Early life:...
, who had stopped by the Orchard Street headquarters on May 20 after his Yale speech. Sams also implicated Ericka Huggins in the decision to execute Rackley. Kimbro did not corroborate Sams's evidence about Seale, and although the FBI and New Haven police gave this investigative angle their full attention, no further evidence of Seale's involvement was found. Nevertheless, both Seale and Huggins were arrested and held for trial in Connecticut.
During his trial, McLucas again admitted firing the second shot into Rackley's body, but insisted he had been an unwilling collaborator in the killing. Jurors listened to audio recordings the Panthers had made of Rackley's whimpering, tortured voice during his two days of agony. In September 1970, Lonnie McLucas was found guilty and sentenced to 12 to 15 years in prison. The deliberations of the racially-mixed jury - 33 hours over six days - were the longest in Connecticut history to that date, and the jurors acquitted McLucas of other, more serious charges, including a capital charge for kidnapping leading to death. His enormously relieved defense attorney, Theodore Roskoff, declared, "The judge was fair, the jury was fair, and, in this case, a black revolutionary was given a fair trial."
In October, the trial of Seale and Huggins began. George Sams, the one-time "Field Marshal," testified again. By this time, Sams was reviled by the Panthers as a traitor and a renegade psychopath who had killed Rackley on his own, and who was pinning the crime on Seale to please his new masters in the Establishment. It was even suggested that Sams had been in cahoots with the FBI all along: that he was the real informant, and that he had accused and murdered Rackley in order to cover his tracks.
The jury deadlocked: 11 to 1 for Seale's acquittal and 10 to 2 for Huggins' acquittal. The prosecution declined to retry the case.
Legacy
Although Seale's prosecution galvanized the American radical left, and he himself walked away from the trial without being convicted, the proceedings in New Haven have been called a Pyrrhic victoryPyrrhic victory
A Pyrrhic victory is a victory with such a devastating cost to the victor that it carries the implication that another such victory will ultimately cause defeat.-Origin:...
for the Panthers. The trials had exposed the internal strife and distrust that was undermining the Panther movement, and confirmed for the public that the Panthers would resort to extra-legal violence when necessary. The movement was destroyed in Connecticut, and in the wake of other violent incidents and conflict among the leadership, the influence of the national movement waned.
The case later became a subject of controversy regarding the role of a young Hillary Clinton in the trial. An urban legend
Urban legend
An urban legend, urban myth, urban tale, or contemporary legend, is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories that may or may not have been believed by their tellers to be true...
, widely disseminated on the internet by opponents of Clinton's campaign for the U.S. Senate in 2000, claimed that Clinton defended Bobby Seale and helped him beat the murder charge. In fact Clinton, who was at the time a Yale law student named Hillary Rodham, did not directly serve the defense. Instead, she helped coordinate the efforts of the ACLU to monitor the trial for civil rights violations.
External links
- "Justice in New Haven" a TimeTime (magazine)Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
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