The Assassination of Fred Hampton: How the FBI and the Chicago Police Murdered a Black Panther

In an era of mounting law enforcement abuse and rising public defiance, The Assassination of Fred Hampton is more relevant than ever. Read the story of Black Panther activist Hampton’s murder by Chicago police and attorney Jeff Haas’s fight to bring the assassins to justice.

On December 4, 1969, attorney Jeff Haas was in a police lockup in Chicago, interviewing Fred Hampton’s fiancée. Deborah Johnson described how the police pulled her from the room as Fred lay unconscious on their bed. She heard one officer say, “He’s still alive.” She then heard two shots. A second officer said, “He’s good and dead now.”

She looked at Jeff and asked, “What can you do?” The Assassination of Fred Hampton remains Haas’s personal account of how he and People’s Law Office partner Flint Taylor pursued Hampton’s assassins, ultimately prevailing over FBI stonewalling and unlimited government resources bent on hiding the conspiracy that led to Hampton’s death. Half a century later, Haas writes that there is still an urgent need for the revolutionary systemic changes Hampton was organizing to accomplish.

Not only a story of justice delivered, this book spotlights Hampton as a dynamic community leader and an inspiration for those still fighting against injustice and the brutality of law enforcement.