50 years ago murders in commune on Virginia Park?

[Henry Whalley]

Does anyone remember the incident when black militants raided the wrong house on Virginia Park and murdered some students or hippies? At least one of them was tried and imprisoned for the tragedy. Once upon a time I was able to locate information regarding this on the web, but am having zero luck now.

[Zacha341]

I could not find anything, but nearby Algiers Motel incident did come up. Interesting photo of Woodward including the Value Village on the left. Recently closed but building still standing...

https://www.guernicamag.com/not-tragedy-but-atrocity/

[Zozo]

Does anyone remember the incident when black militants raided the wrong house on Virginia Park and murdered some students or hippies? At least one of them was tried and imprisoned for the tragedy. Once upon a time I was able to locate information regarding this on the web, but am having zero luck now.

White liberals have no memory of this event. For them it never happened. Because of the circumstances [race] of the aggressors in this attack, they simply do not care and have chosen to forget. There is and will be no scholarship, books, movies, museum exhibits, and no symposia at the University of Michigan about the Virginia Park Massacre.

[MikeM]

White liberals have no memory of this event. For them it never happened. Because of the circumstances [race] of the aggressors in this attack, they simply do not care and have chosen to forget. There is and will be no scholarship, books, movies, museum exhibits, and no symposia at the University of Michigan about the Virginia Park Massacre.

You sound like a buffoon. It was an armed robbery on Easter Sunday. One kid visiting from northern Michigan was killed when he tried to silence his dog. The four robbers were arrested days later. Three plead guilty and one was found guilty after a trial. They all got life.

[Henry Whalley]

...One kid visiting from northern Michigan was killed when he tried to silence his dog.

Right, I remember now. Thanks.

In addition to the murder victim, others were held in terror at gunpoint for hours IIRC. I believe it was not a simple robbery. Rather the perps were black militant vigilantes who took it upon themselves to clean the neighborhood of drug houses. Possibly an offshoot of the Black Panthers. But Oops! They raided the wrong house. And everything became FUBAR.

I just can't find a single word about it on the interweb. Stuff used to be there, but possibly was expurgated like photos in the Soviet Encyclopedia.

[CassTechGrad]

July 8, 1971
Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan · Page 46

“Four Plead In Case Involving Commune Killing Four men charged, with first degree murder in the Easter Sunday slaying of a visitor to a Virginia Park commune pleaded guilty late Wednesday afternoon to reduced charges before Recorder's Court Judge John R. Murphy. The pleas were entered midway during the jury selections for their trial on the recommendation of Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Richard Monash. RONALD SMITH, 24, pleaded guilty to the second-degree murder of Franklin Abramson of Mesick, Mich. Anthony Norman, 21, Ronald Irwin, 19, and Larry Powell, 19, all of 19334 Griggs, pleaded guilty to armed robbery. The four men are scheduled to be sentenced July 21. They face possible maximum sentences of life imprisonment. The 13 commune residents who witnessed the slaying told police the four men walked through the unlocked front door of the home at 610 Virginia Park about 1:10 a.m., April 15, armed with a rifle, a shotgun, a revolver and what looked like”: That’s all, the story ended in mid-sentence.

July 5, 1989
Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan · Page 24

“Ahmad Abdur-Rahman's only hope is The time has come for Gov. James Blanchard to set Ahmad Abdur-Rahman free. There are cases in which justice transcends the ordinary application of the law, and Abdur-Rahman's is one of them. . Abdur-Rahman is serving a life sentence without parole for first-degree murder. That conjures images of rapist-killers, contract killers, cold-blooded takers of human life for personal gain or gratification, remorseless miscreants beyond any corrective touch. None of these apply to Abdur-Rahman. He has never killed anyone. His sentence was the result of a critical error in judgment on his part when he was 19, of a climate of racial fear and retribution that existed at the time, and of a law that has since been recognized as unfair and consequently changed by the state legislature. Now Abdur-Rahman, formerly known as Ronald Irwin, has spent his entire adulthood 18 of his 38 years in prison. He is considered a model inmate. "At this point in time, we would parole him, except for the life sentence," says William Hudson, chairman of the state parole board. Abdur-Rahman's only hope is having his sentence commuted to make him eligible for parole. Only the governor can give commutations. : During two terms of office, Blanchard has commuted the sentence of but one prisoner, in 1985. In his State of the State message this year, he said he does not intend to release any of the 1,300 prisoners serving life-without-parole sentences, many of whom were convicted not of murder, but of being major drug dealers. There is irony in this. Abdur-Rahman is in prison, not for dealing drugs, but for engaging in vigilantism against them.”
“Only the governor can give commutations. spokesman, says the governor doesn't know of Abdur-Rahman or his case. I hope he will read this, and see his way clear to a second commutation. bdur-Rahman and three other young members of the Black Panther Party raided an old mansion on Virginia Park Avenue in Detroit early on Easter Sunday 1971. Party leaders, some of whom likely were police informants, had led them to believe the place was a heroin den. ' The party considered heroin dealers parasites on the black community. Some of its members, among them Abdur-Rahman, organized into armed squads and invaded dope houses, flushing drugs down toilets and expropriating dealers' money for such community projects as the free breakfast program the Black Panthers ran for poor children. The raids were exceedingly dangerous, and the raiders kept none of the money for themselves. Abdur-Rahman, who held a romantic view of himself as a revolutionist fighting for his people, lived in poverty. The house on Virginia Park was no dope house, but the communal residence of 15 Wayne State university students and other young people. One of the Panthers held a rifle on the assembled occupants while Abdur-Rahman and the others searched the house for money anddrugs. While they searched, a young man named Franklin Abramson, who was among those being guarded, moved to quiet his barking dog. The man with the rifle shoved him with the gun, which discharged, killing Abramson. Abdur-Rahman was on another floor of the house when the gun went off. Thanks to a police informant, the four”: That’s all, it ended in mid-sentence.

[Henry Whalley]

CassTechGrad, thanks for the articles.

[jcole]

This is the article about the arrest from April 15 1971

[Henry Whalley]

Professor and Black Panther Party leader dies at 64 [[freep.com)

Ahmad A. Rahman obituary.

[EastsideAl]

I knew Ahmad Abdur-Rahman during his years as a professor at UM-Dearborn. By the evidence in his trial he was nowhere near the shooting when it happened, and the person who sent them to the commune rather than the intended drug house was working for the FBI. His life sentence was given under a law that was later overturned by the Michigan Supreme Court and his sentence was commuted by Gov. Engler in 1992.

While in prison he earned a bachelors degree from WSU and a PhD in history from the University of Michigan. In his work as an instructor and scholar, when I knew him, he was a kind and learned man who cared deeply about his students and the expansion of knowledge and historical scholarship.

[EastsideAl]

Interestingly, although perhaps only to me. when I looked this incident up I found out that it happened on the same day as one of the worst freeway accidents in Detroit history, when a car going over 100 mph lept the median on I-94 near Ford Rd. and flew into oncoming traffic. 6 people were killed and many more injured, including my father who broke his ankle in 2 places, cut his head wide open, and totaled our 1969 Plymouth Fury.

[Danny]

It's one of the ghetto stories that folks don't want to snitch about it. Indeed this is area where a bunch of hippies were slain and killed by group of a Black revolutionaries. It's all over the news like wildfire that an another race riot may happen. But it did not. Because Detroit has already suffered enough race wars of '67.

This is the place.

https://www.google.com/maps/@42.3750...7i16384!8i8192

This is home where Detroit Police and FBI Agents found the gunmen.


https://www.google.com/maps/@42.4340...7i16384!8i8192

[Henry Whalley]

Indeed this is area where a bunch of hippies were slain and killed by group of a Black revolutionaries.

Are we talking about the same incident? If so, only one person was slain.

[Henry Whalley]

...and the person who sent them to the commune rather than the intended drug house was working for the FBI...when I knew him, he was a kind and learned man

I'm sure he was a decent guy. The story would not be nearly as tragic had the gunmen gone to the real dope house and killed a bunch of real heroine dealers, and perhaps their actions would be even laudable since the police were not eliminating dope houses. And we now know from the 10th Precinct drug conspiracy that some top cops were enabling and profiting from the heroine trade in that time period.

[Heleen]

Hi Guys, I'm Heleen Frank Abramson 'little sis.When Frankie was killed April 11,1971 my worlf fell apart. We adored each other in a healthy way.For example,we would walk down the streets of AnnAbor, I wa a student there from 69- 73. The first degree didn't take so I went back and got my MSW from the School of Social Work in Ann Arbor in 19 and got in 78 obviously Frankie was no longer among the living at that time had when Frankie was killed it was a case of Wrong Place Wrong Time Jim Ritchie I'm sure you guys all know was the newspaper reporter that Neil Neil fine I believe of the free Free Press assigned to cover Ahmed potential parole Gloria house a professor at Wayne State University was one of his professors while he was in prison I think he was in Jackson at the time anyhow she was really impressed by his diligence his a scholarship and everything so she went to kneel and she knew that he was serving life in prison without parole and if somebody didn't intervene he would die there now mind you there were four other people I mean four people total four Black Panthers and in 1971 Detroit was a murder Capital One so when the names of the According to Jim Ritchie and I tend to believe him when the names of the four black panthers that were driven to Virginia Park that night conveniently appeared on a police blotter's desk the next day well excuse me but I think and I agree with Jim FBI and filtration you know Jay Hoover okay so they called the guys right the real them including the shooter pled flea bargained and they were all paroled and Ahmed said he thinks and I know I personally am in know every single person that was there that night Frankie and I were Incredibly Close he was my ultimate best friend Britain were naming their daughters and their sister is beneficiary I said to him when he took it out he said Frankie you were going to live forever and you said to me I want to make sure that you're taken care of his girlfriend used to be so jealous of me and Frankie would say to them look girlfriends come and go Pauline is my sister forever and I felt the same way about him okay so when the three went to California Jim Ritchie tried to check them down and tried to the shooter he's right you know come on he's done his time he's gay you know let's you know I'm sure those guys never held a gun before and they're alive they're black panthers they're charged with you know you guys know cuz you're studying this stuff and I can't believe you guys are it's a part of the history of Detroit wow that's like amazing and the Alters I know exactly what that hell to do with so I never knew about the Elder Motel until just recently evidently that was the person that the four black panthers were looking for and they were in the wrong place wrong time they walked into his student Co-op the only one people or whatever there's a baby there you know immediately they're in the wrong place but they were dropped off there they had to wait to be picked up there George with go find the drugs and the money that the drug dealers are doing and use it to fund our projects that kind of thing well they knew they were wrong but what the heck OK anyhow feel free to contact me I'm now an official number I didn't know about Detroit yes but it was made it was brought to my attention and once I found out that you're studying my brother I thank you love it thank you and absolutely love it me you know I always say that Frankie is my guardian angel I know damn straight he is he's up there with my mom and my brother and my father and all my family that unfortunately are no longer among the living but here's the thing I think the angels and I know this for a fact the Angels got lonely for him Frankie could never think ill of anyone else he couldn't he was unable to think of the cynical he wouldn't be able to he just couldn't he it wasn't his nature so the Angels got lonely for him and they wanted one of them one of these their souls to be with them Judaism and that's so beautiful you know ask me something in the form or whatever peace out guys.

I apologize for the apparent stream of consciousness. I am usi v google voice

[Heleen]

Sorry but your intel regarding Ahmad's parole is incorrect. Had not I, Frankie's sister intervened on his behalf, he would have died in prison
Trust me when I say that it was not an easy thing to do, I caught a lot of flak from a lot of people, but I am the only one that could speak on Frankie's behalf.

[Henry Whalley]

...and the person who sent them to the commune rather than the intended drug house was working for the FBI.

I don't condone the vigilantism, but two obvious questions must have occurred to anyone who followed the case.

Why were both the DPD and FBI apparently unable to find and take down the heroine houses?

Isn't that why the Panthers assumed the mission?