Zebra Murders - Arrest and Conviction

Arrest and Conviction

With the offer of a $30,000 reward came a break in the Zebra case. Anthony Harris, an employee at the Black Self-Help Moving and Storage, called police and subsequently agreed to meet with Zebra case detectives at a bank parking lot in Oakland. Harris claimed to be one of the persons featured in the police sketches, and also provided specific details regarding several of the attacks that the cops never had released to the public. Harris denied that he had committed any killings, but said that he had been present at many of them.

Harris revealed the existence of the group to the police, and told them of a homicide which did not make the papers; it was that of a homeless man whom they had kidnapped from Ghirardelli Square. They had brought the man to Black Self-Help Moving's warehouse, gagged and tied him up, and while he was still conscious, took turns hacking away his limbs. Harris told the detectives that they had dumped the body into the bay. He told his story in such detail that the police were convinced of its veracity, especially since the police had, on the previous December 24, recovered the bound and badly butchered torso of a male, missing its hands, feet and head, that had washed up in the city's Ocean Beach district at the foot of Pacheco Street.

Harris provided the police with names, dates, addresses and details - enough information to issue arrest warrants against the suspects. Harris subsequently sought, and received, immunity for his help in breaking the Zebra case, as well as new identities for himself, his girlfriend, and her child.

On May 1, simultaneous raids during the pre-dawn hours were made, resulting in the arrests of Larry Craig Green and J.C.X. Simon in an apartment building at 844 Grove Street. More suspects were arrested at Black Self-Help Moving & Storage's facility. No one offered resistance when arrested.

Of the seven arrested that day, four had to be released for lack of evidence.

Mayor Alioto announced the news of the raids and announced that the killings were perpetrated by the Death Angels. Black Muslim leader John Muhammad, the minister of Mosque #26 in San Francisco, denied the allegations of a Black Muslim conspiracy to kill whites. The Nation of Islam paid for attorneys for all of the perpetrators convicted, bar Jessie Lee Cooks, who admitted his crimes and pled guilty.

However, there was enough evidence to prove the case against the "Death Angels." The trial started on March 3, 1975. Efforts by the defense to discredit Harris were to no avail, as he spilled all of the grisly details over 12 days of testimony. In addition, the Zebra team presented evidence of a .32 caliber Beretta automatic pistol that was recovered from the backyard of a home near the scene of the last murder. They were able to demonstrate the chain of ownership of the gun to one of the workers at Black Self-Help. They also showed that it was used in many of the murders.

Based on the testimony of 108 witnesses (including Harris), 8,000 pages totaling 3.5 million words worth of transcripts, and culminating in what was then the longest criminal trial in California history, Larry Green, J.C.X. Simon, Manuel Moore and Jessie Lee Cooks were convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder after an 18-hour deliberation by the jury in 1976. Each was sentenced to life imprisonment.