it was in August that I received
u phone call that some Panthers
had been arrested. I vjent dox.n
to the court and I was told by^
a family in the courthouse that
the three had been arrested for
assaultin'- police officers. That
first case in Nev^ York involved
an allegation from police which
claimed that three Panthers at
tacked five armed-to-the-teeth
cops on a Brooklyn. street a tv«o
o'clock in the morning, bhat is
even more absurd, when I got to
see them they xvere bandage ,
heads cracked, arms in slings and
things like that and the police
officers who they had allegedly
assaulted were standing in the
courtroom with grins on their
faces, untouched. And v^hen the
case came before the judge for
arraignment and bial setting,
the first bail set on any case in
New; York City invplving the Black
Panther P,-)ry v;as $50,000 each.
That started a w.hole series of
outrageous ransom bails, harass
ment arrest, framed charges and a
situation which led directly to
the arrest of the Panther tienty-
one on April 2, 1969 about eight
or nine months after the party
w'as formed.
Cj S. You defended the origi
nal three Black Panthers th'.t got
arrested for assault. Did they
get off?
Lefcourt: Yes. It was a to-
f^l fabrication. The idea of un
armed Panthers attacking armed
police in the dead of the night
in Brooklyn, was just too absurd
to be believed. But the others
“'e've had liteif.ir.
hundreds of Panther arrests in Nefv.
York. And there’s a reason forthatl
I think. New York has histori- 1
cally been the front lines for '
the black liberation struggle in '
States, What hapnens
in New York usually spreads
throughout the nation, like The
Hsrlem riots of I964. New' York,
in a ten mile scucire radius
having millions and millions of
black people and also in the
middle of the Eastern establish
ment, is the danger point for
the powers that be. Therefore,
every attemj^t is made to stifle,
harass, repress black groups as
they form, here in New York.. . The
Panther Pa% is no different.
An indication of that is the
New; York secret service police,
v;hich are the most sophisti
cated in the United States and
more feared or should be more
feared than the FBI. There are
Indications that this secret
service known as police BOSS
(Bureau of Special Services),
has infiltrcted the Black Pan
ther Paryy before they ever
arrived here in Ne\ York and in
fact helped st rt the part here.
That is because they want to
control them. They w.ant to
make sure that they can make
those harassment arrests that
are so necessary for the stif
ling of political activity.
CPS: ITien you talk about
the bail, the origianl Panther
bail in I968 w;as set at $50,000
escalating to $100,000 for the
Panther 21, We could assume for
the record that these types
of arrests will continue. What
can you do about the bail?
Lefcourt: Well, I don't
think that lawvyers can do any-
thing about it. I/e have taken
the bail situation the the
Supreme Court. The Supreme
Court has avoided it. Sjecifi-
Cc'^lly, in the Panther 21 case
■5fe went through forty-three
judges trying to ge that bail
reduced, all unsuccessfully. You
can only conclude that there is a
general conspiracy in the courts
to make sure that Black Panther
leaders are not free.
CPS: In the case of the
21 there has been a lot of con
fusion in the press. ViTiat