By GUY ASHLEY
Contra Costa Times (California)
OAKLAND, Calif. -- Police said they have identified six men suspected of trashing two Oakland liquor stores last week, but have so far been unable to link the incidents to an arson fire that destroyed one of the stores early Monday.
The fire broke out in the New York Market at 3446 Market St. about 1:20 a.m., gutting most of the interior and burning through the rafters before it was controlled by Oakland firefighters. No one was injured in the blaze, which occurred about two hours after the business closed for the night.
The market and a second West Oakland store, San Pablo Market and Liquor, were targeted late Wednesday by a group of about 10 vandals who rampaged through the stores wielding pipes. Glass cooler doors were smashed at both stores, which are owned by Muslims of Middle Eastern descent, and dozens of liquor bottles were knocked from store shelves, causing an estimated $15,000 damage in each store.
Deputy Police Chief Howard Jordan said police still have not established a link between the fire and the incidents of vandalism. But Jordan said detectives have concluded that the vandals responsible for trashing the two stores were not affiliated with the Nation of Islam, the 75-year-old black religious group led by Minister Louis Farrakhan.
Police and news reports discussed a possible link after Wednesday’s incidents because the vandals wore suits, white shirts and bow ties -- attire commonly associated with the Nation.
Furthermore, employees at the two stores reported that the vandals chastised them for selling alcohol. The Nation of Islam forbids the consumption of alcohol.
But the Muslim group’s West Coast leader came to Oakland over the weekend to denounce the store attacks and to say that the men responsible for trashing the stores were not followers of the Nation of Islam.
Police allowed local Nation of Islam leaders to review minutes of videotape from a surveillance camera that captured the vandalism at the San Pablo Market and Liquor store, which was attacked only minutes before the New York Market was trashed.
Investigators said the tapes led local Muslim leaders to say with certainty that the vandals were not followers of the Farrakhan-led group.
But Jordan said Oakland police are investigating the possibility that people affiliated with another Black Muslim group could be responsible.
One such group prominent in West Oakland is that affiliated with the late Yusuf Bey, founder of the Your Black Muslim Bakery chain. The group’s male followers, including men who sell bean pies and other baked goods on Oakland streets, also wear suits and bow ties.
In 1993, employees of a Bey-owned laundry in North Richmond were implicated in the vandalism of a store in North Richmond, in which food and liquor were knocked off store shelves. One of the laundry employees was arrested in the ransacking, which caused about $1,500 in damage.
In an interview at the time, Bey said his group was angered by gatherings of people outside the North Richmond store who apparently sold drugs. Bey died of colon cancer in 2003.
Problems with loitering and drugs have been associated with liquor stores in Oakland, leading to the shutdown of two stores in the West Oakland areas. But City Councilwoman Nancy Nadel said Monday that the two stores targeted this week were not known as hot spots for loitering and drug activity.
A person who answered the telephone at the Your Black Muslim Bakery headquarters Monday declined comment on the liquor store incidents.