About
Chauncey Bailey, an American journalist and the editor-in-chief of The Oakland Post, was assassinated on a downtown Oakland street on August 2, 2007. He was the victim of a crime syndicate. Bailey's death outraged fellow journalists, who joined together to create the Chauncey Bailey Project dedicated to continuing his work and uncovering the facts of his murder.
In June 2011, Yusuf Bey IV, the owner of Your Black Muslim Bakery (YBMB), was convicted of ordering Bailey's murder, along with other charges, and sentenced to three life terms in prison. An associate of Bey's, Antoine Mackey, who also worked for YBMB and previously participated in various criminal activities with other Bakery members, was also convicted for participating in Bailey's murder. A third man, bakery handyman Devaughndre Broussard, had earlier confessed to being the triggerman. Bailey was the first American journalist killed for domestic reporting since 1976.
From Wikipedia’s article on Yusuf Bey IV, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2
Companies
- Your Black Muslim BakeryChief executive officer 2005 to 20076
Career
- 2005 to 2007Chief executive, Your Black Muslim Bakery3
Personal life
Legal issues and controversies
Criminal record
Some of Yusuf Bey IV's charges and arrests include:
In November 2005, Yusuf IV was charged with grand theft for fraud connected with the purchase of a 2002 Mercedes from a Vallejo car dealership. He used a stolen identity to buy the car and pleaded no contest when the crime was discovered. A Solano County judge allowed him to remain free.
That same month, a group of men in suits, presumably led by Yusuf IV, stormed two Muslim-owned stores that sold liquor. The men destroyed wine in cases and groceries. He later claimed, "If you say you're a Muslim, you should have the action of a Muslim," and that alcohol was "killing our people". During one of these incidents, Bey also stole the Mossburg shotgun that would later be used in Bailey's murder.
In 2006, Yusuf IV was charged with assault with a deadly weapon after he tried to run over the bouncer of a San Francisco strip club from which he'd been ejected.
In June 2006, Yusuf IV purchased a home in Oakland using falsified information. The sub-prime loan involved a first and second mortgage, and investigators later theorized the motive was to obtain money from the home's equity. The loan went into default in October. Yusuf IV used his own Social Security number but a driver's license with a falsified name for the loan paperwork. Later, investigators discovered that he and his associates had purchased a total of five homes, most of which were in default.
That same month, Yusuf IV and associates used false information to buy three cars from a San Bruno dealership, which later resulted in charges of grand theft. Yusuf IV used the same name to purchase the cars that he had used to purchase the house in Oakland. One of the accomplices later said he could not remember using a false name or several other details of the fraudulent car purchase or the liquor store vandalism, in which he also allegedly participated.
In May 2007, Bey IV and four men kidnapped a woman known as a drug dealer and her mother and took them to the home of Bey's brother-in-law. The men beat the blindfolded women and demanded money. While the crime was in progress, police saw a Ford Crown Victoria, a car often used by police, outside the house and grew suspicious. Police went to the door and the men fled on foot, leaving their cars behind. The police confiscated the vehicles as evidence and Joshua Bey, Bey IV's half-brother, was arrested. Since the arrest, Bey IV has alternately admitted and denied various aspects of this crime.
Bey IV wanted Alfonza Phillips Sr., the father of the man who killed Antar Bey, executed. But because Bey IV's accomplice Devaughndre Broussard could not find Phillips, Bey IV told him to kill another relative of the carjacker, Odel Roberson. In July 2007, Broussard, who was 19, found Roberson. Antoine Mackey, another member of the bakery, handed him a rifle, and Broussard shot the unarmed man. He said at trial that he had fired eight or ten rounds and carried out the murder "because Yusuf Bey IV told me to".
Later in 2007, Bey IV, Antoine Mackey and Devaughndre Broussard were driving around Oakland discussing the "Zebra" murders. Bey IV or Broussard saw Michael Wills, a white man who worked as a chef, returning to work on foot after purchasing a pack of cigarettes. Bey IV and his accomplices discussed who should kill Wills and Mackey volunteered. He got out of the car and shot Wills six times. The three left the scene and returned to the bakery compound.
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On the day of the killing Oakland Police and Crime Stoppers of Oakland offered up to $25,000 in reward money for information leading to the arrest of the killer.
Beginning early at 5 a.m. on the following morning of August 3, 2007, more than 200 Oakland police officers and SWAT team members armed with search warrants closed off a number of blocks of San Pablo Avenue, a major thoroughfare in North Oakland. The area of focus included homes and the business properties of Your Black Muslim Bakery, which operated two business locations on either side of the street between Stanford Avenue and 59th Street. The group was a Black Muslim splinter organization founded by Yusuf Bey, and at the time was led by his son Yusuf Bey IV. The pre-dawn raids followed a two-month investigation into a variety of violent crimes, including kidnapping and murder. Police used stun grenades and broke down doors to gain entry. In a news conference later that day, Oakland Deputy Police Chief Howard Jordan said that several weapons and other evidence of value linked the killing of Chauncey Bailey to members of the group. Police also recovered spent ammunition from the rooftops, and detained 19 people for questioning.
In addition to the bakeries, the police also raided nearby homes. In the 1000 block of 59th Street, police recovered the shotgun used in the killing of Bailey in a closet of the home where Broussard was also detained. The rear yard of the home connected directly to the bakery property. Police also raided a home in the 900 block of Aileen Street a few blocks east of the bakery. Of the 19 detainees on that morning, five were arrested along with Broussard, and Yusuf Bey IV on probable cause arrest warrants, along with other outstanding arrest warrants stemming from the prior investigations.
Broussard was booked on suspicion of murder on August 4, 2007, for the killing of Bailey, having told police detectives that he considered himself "a good soldier". Though other charges were made against those arrested, none of them were initially charged with Bailey's murder. On August 7, Broussard was arraigned in Alameda County Superior Court on charges of murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Broussard initially confessed to killing Bailey, then recanted his confession. In a 2008 60 Minutes interview, Broussard claimed he was coerced by Yusuf Bey IV to plead guilty for the benefit of the bakery and others arrested. In an interview for CBS News, Broussard said that the Oakland Police put him and Bey IV together in a room, and that Bey IV convinced him to plead guilty for the purpose of releasing other murder suspects. He later pled guilty to manslaughter charges in exchange for a 25-year sentence and full testimony at the trial of Bey IV and others. Broussard was released on parole in 2025.
In June 2008, a videotape of Bey IV in custody whispering to his half-brother Joshua Bey and another bakery associate, Tamon Halfin, and disclosing details of Bailey's murder was obtained and posted by the Chauncey Bailey Project. Journalists from the Chauncey Bailey Project created a transcription of the conversation which seemed to indicate Bey was involved in Bailey's murder.
A grand jury indicted Bey IV for ordering the execution of Chauncey Bailey in April 2009, almost two years after the murder. He was also charged with ordering the deaths of Roberson and Wills, along with an additional charge of firing a weapon at an occupied vehicle. In the same indictment, Antoine Mackey was also charged with the murders of Bailey, Roberson, and Wills.
Broussard testified for the prosecution at the trial of Bey IV and Antoine Mackey in 2011. He stated in court that Bey ordered him to find, track and kill Bailey before the journalist could print his latest article on the bakery.
On June 9, 2011, Bey IV and Mackey were both convicted by a trial jury of multiple counts of murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Yusuf Bey IV was found guilty of three counts of first-degree murder.
In 2013, Bey's attorney, Lorna Brown, was convicted of smuggling documents out of jail for him. One of the documents, a hit list ordering an associate to kill a witness, was intercepted by police before the associate could carry out the murder.
In 2015, a state appeals court upheld the convictions of Yusuf Bey IV and Antoine Mackey.
Bey IV also threatened former bakery followers to intimidate them from testifying against him. Based on recorded calls between Bey IV and follower Kahlil Raheem, Bey first cajoled and then warned Raheem not to testify against him. As the trial progressed, allegations of intimidation by Bey IV and other former bakery members persisted. The Contra Costa Times editorialized on April 30, 2011 that the intimidation must stop and that the judge, Thomas Reardon, along with bailiffs and the sheriff should get control of the trial to allow justice to be done. Some witnesses called to testify changed their story from the original information they gave the police or said they did not remember what happened. A man who worked at the convenience store that Bey IV allegedly attacked with his followers said he did not remember over 50 times at trial. Even Broussard testified later that he did not remember Bey IV giving him specific orders to kill Odel Roberson or Chauncey Bailey.
From Wikipedia’s article on Yusuf Bey IV (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.
Sources
The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.
- 1WikidataYusuf Bey IV on Wikidata
- 2WikipediaYusuf Bey IV on Wikipedia
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