| Edition |
First edition. |
| Description |
xvi, 268 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm |
| Contents |
The mantrap -- Bapbomb -- The Chambliss case -- Agent Bill Fleming -- Old files and rabbit trails -- The Chambliss case: beginnings -- The trunk tapes -- Dallas bound -- Bobby Frank Cherry -- Tipping point -- Mitch Burns -- Bobby Birdwell -- Michael Wayne Gowins -- Don Luna, "con of cons" -- William "Bill" Jackson -- Charles Cagle and "Quick Draw" Yarbrough -- Partners -- Wyman S. Lee and Pershing Mayfield -- Willadean Brogdon Cherry -- Sanbomb -- Waylene Vaughn and Gloria LaDow -- Tommy Frank Cherry -- Mary Frances Cunningham -- Federal grand jury -- Police files and state grand jury -- The kitchen tape -- Enhancing the tapes -- Preparing for trial -- The trial of Thomas Blanton -- Blanton trial: prosecution closing arguments -- Blanton trial: defense -- War room -- Darkest hours -- The battle over Cherry's mind -- The trial of Bobby Frank Cherry -- Cherry trial: defense -- Cherry trial: closing arguments. |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 255-258) and index. |
| Summary |
On the morning of September 15, 1963, a bomb exploded outside the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, killing four young girls. Thirty-two years later, stymied by a code of silence and an imperfect and often racist legal system, only one person, Robert "Dynamite Bob" Chambliss had been convicted in the murders, though a wider conspiracy was suspected. With many key witnesses and two suspects already dead, there seemed little hope of bringing anyone else to justice. But in 1995 the FBI and local law enforcement reopened the investigation in secret, led by detective Ben Herren of the Birmingham Police Department and special agent Bill Fleming of the FBI. For over a year, Herren and Fleming analyzed the original FBI files on the bombing and activities of the Ku Klux Klan, then began a search for new evidence. Their first interview--with Klansman Bobby Frank Cherry--broke open the case, but not in the way they expected. -- Jacket. |
| Subject |
Murder -- Investigation -- Alabama -- Birmingham -- History -- Case studies.
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Murder -- Alabama -- Birmingham -- History -- 20th century.
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Bombings -- Alabama -- Birmingham -- History -- 20th century.
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African Americans -- Crimes against -- Alabama -- Birmingham -- History -- 20th century.
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Hate crimes -- Alabama -- Birmingham -- History -- 20th century.
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Birmingham (Ala.) -- Race relations -- History -- 20th century.
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| ISBN |
9781613748640 cloth |
|
1613748647 cloth |
|
