All Articles Tagged "chauncey bailey"
Former Black Muslim Leader in Oakland Sentenced to Life
By Charlotte Young
At 25, Yusef Bey IV went from his role as leader of a once influential community group in Oakland, California, to a convicted murderer now facing life in prison without parole. The Huffington Post reports that one of his victims, journalist Chauncey Bailey, was the first American journalist killed in the US for reporting a story in almost 20 years.
Bailey, 57, the late editor of the Oakland Post, was working on a story about the financial troubles that surrounded Bey’s organization when he was shot dead in broad daylight as he headed to the newspaper.
As Bailey’s ex-wife looked on at Bey in the courtroom, she said that she forgave the young man, and that she saw a similarity between Bey and Bailey’s attempts to uplift the community.
The young black Muslim had taken over his father’s 40-year old business, Your Black Muslim Bakery. The bakery had been a place of self-empowerment in the area’s black community, and also ran a security service, school and other businesses. However in recent years, the reputation of Your Black Muslim Bakery was overshadowed by criminal activity. Prosecutors asserted that in his attempts to protect the legacy of the family bakery, Bey had Bailey killed.
In two separate attacks, Bey was also convicted of killing Michael Willis and Odell Roberson. All three of the killings took place in 2007.
Willis, who was white, was reported to have been killed randomly after Bey and co-defendant Antoine Mackey, a bakery supervisor who was also 25, had a conversation about the racially charged Zebra murders, which took place in San Francisco during the 1970s.
Devaughndre Broussard, one of the bakery’s handman, killed Roberson, as payback for the murder of Bey’s brother at the hands of Roberson’s nephew. The 23-year-old testified that he and Mackey carried out all three of the killings at Bey’s request in exchange for a line of credit.
Broussard was given 25 years in prison for providing his testimony, while Mackey received two life sentences for the murders of Willis and Bailey. Bey was sentences to three life term sentences in prison with no possibility of parole.
Despite the convictions, Bey still maintains his innocence. In a statement read by his attorney Gene Peretti, Bey says that the case was “never about truth and justice,” but “perception and politics.”
“I do apologize to my family and the families of the victims for not making wiser decisions in allowing this to have occurred on my watch,” the statement read. “I will not rest until I find out those who are truly responsible for setting this operation up.”
Life Sentence in Murder of Oakland Journalist
(San Francisco Chronicle) — More than four years after journalist Chauncey Bailey was gunned down in broad daylight on a downtown Oakland street, the man who ordered him and two others killed was sentenced Friday to prison for the rest of his life – but not before he proclaimed his intention to find the real mastermind of the slayings. Yusuf Bey IV, 25, denied that he had ordered the killings and, in a statement read by his attorney, said, “I will not rest until I find those who are truly responsible for setting this operation up.” Bey’s sentencing was a final act of sorts for Your Black Muslim Bakery, the black empowerment group his father formed in Oakland in the 1960s. At its height, the group aspired to promote healthful dietary habits in the African American community and recruit local blacks, mostly men, for positions of responsibility.
Convictions in Murder of Oakland Journalist
(CNN) — The Alameda County District Attorney said a guilty verdict “is very satisfying to us,” after an Oakland, California, jury convicted Yusuf Bey IV in the death of prominent African-American journalist Chauncey Bailey. Bey, the owner of Your Black Muslim Bakery, was found guilty of three counts of first-degree murder, covering the deaths of Bailey and two other people killed in the weeks before Bailey’s death. ”Through Bey’s own actions and by his direction, he has brought extreme violence to Oakland and has victimized many people and our community at large,” District Attorney Nancy O’Malley told reporters at a news conference after the verdict was read. “And in his arrogance, Bey believed he was above the law … until now.”
