Cold Case Oklahoma tells the true stories of unsolved crimes and slayings. Can you help solve a case?
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Black Muslims
Black Muslims killings compared to Zebra killings
By Ken Raymond
Staff Writer
California connection?
Similarities between the Oklahoma crimes and California's infamous Zebra killings are unmistakable.
In 1973-74, a radical sect of Black Muslims killed at least 15 — some claim as many as 71 — whites in San Francisco. The killers were trying to earn a place in paradise by acquiring "Death Angel wings,” a measure of status within the sect.
"Points ... were given based upon the murder victim,” said Oklahoma City police cold case Inspector Kyle Eastridge. "Children were worth more than women, and women were worth more than men.
"At that same time frame, the local chapter of the Nation of Islam, under the direction of Minister Theodore G. X., was involved in many crimes that bear a striking resemblance to those in San Francisco.”
A direct connection between the local and California crimes has never been established, although Alfred Brooks, the only man convicted in any of the Oklahoma crimes, was arrested in San Diego.