Police baffled by attacks on liquor stores, add patrols

[saraphen]

Another update:

OAKLAND — Yusef Bey IV, 19, the self-proclaimed heir to the Your Black Muslim Bakery franchise founded by his late father, Yusef Bey, surrendered to Oakland police Tuesday in connection with the vandalism of two West Oakland liquor stores a week ago.

Also arrested was Donald Eugene Cunningham, 73, a longtime associate of the elder Bey. Both were arrested on suspicion of vandalism, conspiracy, robbery and making terrorist threats. They were booked at the North County jail, where they are being held in lieu of $200,000 bail.

The younger Bey refused to talk to investigators Tuesday. In an interview with the Oakland Tribune on Friday, he said members of the bakery were not involved in the incidents.

An employee at the bakery would not comment on the arrest Tuesday.

Police are seeking at least four other men — believed to be affiliated with the Bey organization — who they suspect were involved in the vandalism. The vandals were caught on a surveillance camera at the San Pablo Market.

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Keith Muhammad, a leader of the Nation of Islam-affiliated Muhammad Mosque 26B in Oakland, would not comment on the arrests. The organization has decried implications it may have been involved in the liquor store vandalism and said the lumping together of groups based on attire and religion is akin to religious persecution.

"We have no comment at this time beyond the statements that have already been made," he said. "We are thankful in the police acknowledging (our position) relating to the investigation."

http://www.insidebayarea.com/oakland...ews/ci_3264499

Stay tuned.

[saraphen]

Latest from Oakland:

How Neighbors see Black Muslim Bakery Group Caught up in Oakland Liquor Store Controversy

In the late '60s, Your Black Muslim Bakery was one of the few businesses that took a chance on a blighted North Oakland neighborhood, offering jobs to ex-cons, fixing run-down storefronts and feeding the hungry.

For that, neighbors have overlooked rumors that the Muslim group operating from the bakery and originally led by the late Yusuf Bey sometimes relied on back-alley justice to enforce its business and religious dealings.

But since Bey's death in 2003, neighbors say the group is changing in frightening ways. Two heirs to Bey's leadership have been killed, and a third successor -- Bey's 19-year-old son -- was accused of vandalizing one of two Oakland liquor stores that police say were trashed on Nov. 2 by a group of men wearing suits and bow ties.

Yusuf Bey IV and bakery associate Donald Cunningham, 73, turned themselves in to police and were charged last week with hate crimes and false imprisonment in connection with the vandalism. Police are investigating whether Bey operatives kidnapped a merchant and torched his liquor store.

While the crimes have sparked discussion about the overabundance of liquor outlets in the African American community, the dominant topic of conversation in the neighborhood is about the crumbling Bey organization. Neighbors fear the group is deteriorating into a street gang caught in an internal power struggle and far removed from its original goal of black empowerment. Employees at the bakery declined to comment.

Read More

[saraphen]

2 more arrests in liquor store vandalism case

OAKLAND - Two more men have been arrested in connection with a rampage through West Oakland in which two liquor stores were vandalized by people claiming to be angry about alcohol sales to African Americans.

The arrests of Demetrius L. Harvey and Dyamen N. Williams, both 19, bring to six the number of people facing charges in the Nov. 23, 2005, vandalism spree that badly damaged the two stores. All six suspects have affiliations with Your Black Muslim Bakery, a chain of East Bay businesses run by Black Muslims who have expressed deep concern about the large number of liquor stores in African American areas of Oakland, said police Sgt. Dominique Arotzarena.

The Oakland-based group is inspired by the Nation of Islam, but has no affiliation with the Nation or its leader, Minister Louis Farrakhan. Investigators had focused on the Oakland group after it was reported that the vandals were black men wearing suits and bow ties, attire commonly worn by Black Muslim men.

Police reports say some of the vandals asked store employees if they were Muslims. When the employees said they were, police said the vandals chastised the employees for selling alcohol to African-Americans, then smashed glass refrigerator doors and knocked liquor bottles from store shelves. People of the Islamic faith are forbidden from consuming alcohol.

http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/...s/13541884.htm