In Memory of Chauncey Bailey - An American Journalist

The following are excerpts from the San Francisco Chronicle, "Muslim Bakery head wielded political clout," Matthai Kuruvila, Kevin Fagan, Jaxon Van Derbeken. CLICK HERE for the entire article.

"In the torture and kidnapping case, Nedir Bey and three other men had allegedly burned the victim with a heated knife and beaten him with a heavy-duty flashlight. In a plea bargain, they pleaded no contest to one felony count each of false imprisonment.

And when it came time for sentencing, the probation officer reported that Nedir Bey had references from County Supervisor Keith Carson as well as Larry Reid, who was then Mayor Elihu Harris' chief of staff and later became a city councilman. Oakland Police Department Officer Emelington Reese, whose beat included the bakery, also wrote a letter of reference.

In the end, Judge Martin Jenkins sentenced Nedir Bey to six months probation.

Carson and Reese confirmed vouching for Nedir Bey, based on their experiences seeing his work in the community. Reid has said the reference was listed without his permission.

Today, the hollowed-out shell of a building on San Pablo Avenue that until recently was the bakery gives no hint of the power the organization wielded.

Workers renovating the place into a new AIDS treatment center said they found dozens of abandoned women's driver's licenses, pornography, gallons of urine in soft drink bottles, used condoms, expended and unexpended bullets - all, like the allegations of late, testifying to an existence behind closed doors that didn't seem to match the tidy, disciplined image that held sway for so long.

But back on Aug. 3, when 200 police officers raided the bakery and arrested a suspect in Bailey's slaying, they found one last reminder of the group's political pull on display. It hung near the pie case - an August 2002 letter to the bakery founder from state Sen. Perata.

It read: "The leadership you provide should be an inspiration to all concerned over the city's future."