Christians Under Attack

Over the past decade, more than a hundred thousand visitors have strolled into the Oakland Marriott Hotel and convention center, where among the first faces they encountered were those of well-dressed young men sporting bow ties. These men are the hotel's private security officers, who also happen to be members of the Black Muslim clan believed responsible for the assassination of Oakland Post editor Chauncey Bailey.

Even after Bailey's brazen murder just a few blocks from the hotel on August 2, the Black Muslims remained at the Marriott, roaming its giant lobby and each of its 21 floors. Marriott spokesman Chris Daly said that in addition to providing security for hotel guests and the city's main convention center, the men "even perform bellhop duty if need be."

Over the past decade, more than a hundred thousand visitors have strolled into the Oakland Marriott Hotel and convention center, where among the first faces they encountered were those of well-dressed young men sporting bow ties. These men are the hotel's private security officers, who also happen to be members of the Black Muslim clan believed responsible for the assassination of Oakland Post editor Chauncey Bailey.

Even after Bailey's brazen murder just a few blocks from the hotel on August 2, the Black Muslims remained at the Marriott, roaming its giant lobby and each of its 21 floors. Marriott spokesman Chris Daly said that in addition to providing security for hotel guests and the city's main convention center, the men "even perform bellhop duty if need be."

When asked why an international company with $12.2 billion in sales last year would continue to employ kin of the late Yusuf Bey, disgraced patriarch and founder of Your Black Muslim Bakery, Daly argued that the security firm is entirely separate from the bakery. Nineteen-year-old bakery handyman Devaughndre Broussard has been charged with Bailey's murder, and Broussard's attorney has indicated that bakery CEO Yusuf Bey IV was the likely mastermind.

The Marriott spokesman maintained that the bakery and the security company "share no employees, no board members, and no monies." But a review of public records reveals that the relationship between the two is murky at best, and connections abound.

Daly provided a May 5, 2004 letter signed by then-bakery CEO Antar Bey, informing hotel management that as of April 2004 "Universal Distributors Security is separate and unassociated from Your Black Muslim Bakery Inc." But Alameda County records show that on March 30 of that year Antar Bey, a son of Yusuf Bey, personally filed a county business record naming Your Black Muslim Bakery as the owner of Universal Distributors. In fact, county records show that the bakery has owned the security firm at least since 1997, and owns it to this day.

When told of the county records, Daly changed his story. Sometime after receiving Antar Bey's letter, he said, the Oakland Marriott contracted with a separate company, UD Security Services. State records show that the new firm was formed in November 2002 by John Bey, another family member, who listed UD Security's address as 5832 San Pablo Avenue — the same as the bakery. Meanwhile, records filed with the state show that the chief financial officer of UD Security in 2003 was Waajid Bey, who took command of the bakery that same year after Yusuf Bey died while awaiting trial on charges of raping a teenage girl.

Finally, on April 2, 2004, four weeks prior to Antar Bey's Marriott letter, John Bey filed state business records listing Yusuf Bey IV as a member of UD Security's board of directors. Bey IV, Antar's kid brother, is the current bakery CEO, and is being held on charges that include kidnapping and torture. Last year, however, John Bey filed new paperwork for UD Security in which Yusuf Bey IV was no longer listed as a board member. The company also had a new address in downtown Oakland, around the corner from the Oakland Post.

Waajid Bey also is no longer with the company — he was murdered in 2004, his body buried in a shallow grave in the Oakland Hills. Antar Bey was murdered a year later at a gas station not far from Children's Hospital.

When Full Disclosure contacted UD Security to ask about its current relationship with the bakery, a receptionist directed questions to Hakeem Bey, the company's CFO, who did not return a phone call seeking comment. According to a 2003 Oakland Tribune story, Hakeem also is a son of Yusuf Bey, a known polygamist who allegedly bedded numerous teenage "wives" over several decades and reportedly fathered at least 43 children.

After being told of the various ties between the Marriott's security company and the bakery, which was closed by health authorities after hundreds of cops raided it on August 3, Daly suddenly revealed that the hotel's new managers, who took over in June, have decided to put the security contract out to bid. This, he maintained, had nothing to do with this paper's inquiries or with Bailey's death. He added that the Marriott may continue to use UD Security: "They actually helped apprehend someone who mugged one of our guests recently," he said.

In any case, the new management should do its homework. A phone call will reveal that UD Security's state business license is suspended. The company failed to pay a $400 fine for not filing proper paperwork with the state, according to John Barrett, a spokesman for the California Franchise Tax Board; as a result, Barrett said, UD Security has no legal right to do business in California. State records also show that John Bey's personal security guard license was canceled in November 2005.

If the past is any indication, none of these facts would necessarily deter the Marriott. Universal Distributors, after all, patrolled the hotel for years but never obtained a state license as the law required.

The OPD's Big Score

August 2 was the unluckiest day of Chauncey Bailey's life, but August 3 was a banner one for the Oakland Police Department. Some two hundred cops descended on Your Black Muslim Bakery and three other locations during predawn raids that netted the murder weapon and suspect in Bailey's slaughter. Later the same day, bakery handyman Broussard confessed to the crime.

This made the OPD look incredibly efficient. The murder of a journalist in downtown Oakland was a national news story, and it appeared the police responded swiftly and decisively.

Truth is, the outcome was more a matter of luck than anything else. That's according to two East Bay law enforcement officials familiar with the raids. OPD officials, you see, had planned the raids for at least a month, had search warrants in hand, and had long since scheduled August 3 as D-Day, the sources said. "It was just happenstance that the murder happened when it did," one of the officials said.

That's not surprising. Police had been investigating the bakery and its leader, Yusuf Bey IV, for months, and commanders needed lots of lead time to coordinate the massive show of manpower the raids required. But that doesn't mean the city's finest aren't willing to take some extra credit.