This book was inspired by the wave and spate of black-on-black youth shootings and killings that permeated the small black community of Omaha, Nebraska over the years. As a community organizer I was informed by the community's elders that the local police department had established an elaborate snitch system and was using the young kids to "tell" on each other in exchange for a lighter sentence or some other type of gratuity. This book is titled "Snitch" because when I began looking into it, I found that the city of Omaha is a main site for the government's Witness Protection Program and as a result, is a haven for confidential informants, police tipsters and as alluded to youthful wannabe gangsters who want to either get rid of the competition or who don't want to head off to the prison in Lincoln, Nebraska. At one point these youth had a saying: "There's those who told and those who wish they'd told." They know who they are. In this book I begin with a cursory background and history of the snitch and the traitor. We all know of Judas and the six pieces of silver he accepted to sell out Jesus, but here on American shores I begin with Benedict Arnold, a military officer trusted by none other than President George Washington. There are different types of snitches, of course, and I deal with how a slave insurrection was betrayed, a "woman in red" brought down Dillinger, and the Hollywood communist scare where they were all pointing fingers at who might be a "commie." Did you know that both Ronald Reagan and Walt Disney were FBI informants? There are several examples of organized crime snitches, who are in fact, the majority of the tattle tales. Those who liked "American Gangster" might want to know that both Nikki Barnes and Frank Lucas "sang like canaries" to the government. More recently a minor example of running off at the mouth includes Kobe Bryant pointing the finger at one-time teammate Shaquille O'Neal over paying off women, and Jimmy Henchman, a rapper who snitched on a number of other hip hop performers, including Wyclef Jean. I provide some insights into the Witness Protection Program and some notes on the "Confidential Informant." Then I bring it home to Omaha, a longitudinal analysis that starts in 1938 up to the present. I introduce a number of snitches were who used to engage in mass arrests of young black men, the words of a former chief of police who, while black, paved the way for the scenario to take place, and groups like Mad Dads and "Law Enforcement Sunday" sponsored by a major black church. The oppressed essentially turning on themselves the way organized crime and Sammy "The Bull" Gravano did. Another organized crime snitch, "Whitey" Bulger, was killed in October of 2018 while in prison. Indeed, "Snitches get stitches."
About the Author: Matthew C. Stelly is a doctoral student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee working on a degree in Urban Education and Community Policy. He holds three Master's degrees: Urban Studies (1982), Urban Education (1983) and Political Science (2000). He is working toward his doctorate in Community Policy/Urban Education at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He is the former editor of the Milwaukee Courier newspaper, former director of the Great Plains Black Museum and the Plano (TX) African American Museum, and lead archivist for The Black Academy of Arts and Letters (TBAAL) in Dallas, Texas. Stelly has more than 2,500 articles in print and has won two national essay competitions. He is the founding director of the largest African-American neighborhood group in Nebraska, the Triple One Neighborhood Association and Parents Union. He is publisher and editor of the Triple One News, a two-time nationally recognized newsletter. He is the father of five children - Mandla, Malik, Clariece, Charisse and Shannon -- and remains actively involved in community organizing and neighborhood development in several cities, including Milwaukee and Omaha.