40 Years After Sniper Mark Essex, Marine Pilot Is Proud He Helped Stop The Carnage - NOLA

40 years after sniper Mark Essex, Marine pilot is proud he helped stop the...
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Retired Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Charles H. "Chuck" Pitman, the branch's former Deputy Chief of Staff for Aviation, was at Veterans Memorial Park in Pensacola, Fla., on January 2, 2013. Forty years ago, on Jan. 7, 1973, Pitman volunteered to pilot a Sea Knight helicopter and helped police stop Mark Essex, the Howard Johnson's sniper in New Orleans, risking his life and his career. (Photo by Michael Spooneybarger, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune contributor)
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Like most other residents of New Orleans, Marine helicopter pilot Charles H. "Chuck" Pitman watched the television in horror on Jan. 7, 1973, as authorities tried to stop a sniper or snipers who had invaded the Downtown Howard Johnson's Motor Lodge that morning and fatally shot seven people, including three police officers (http://topics.nola.com/tag/nopd /index.html). Shots rang out from various spots in the 17-story hotel, making police think there was more than one gunman, but the cops eventually contained the killer or killers to the roof. Though cornered, whoever was on the hotel roof was out of the NOPD's reach. Disturbed, Pitman -- at the time a 37-year-old lieutenant colonel in charge of a Marine air unit stationed in Belle Chasse -- thought, "We've got to do something. Those people need help out there." So Pitman did do something. He flew a Marine helicopter to the hotel on Loyola Avenue and helped police officers, some of them on board the chopper, kill 23-year-old Mark Essex, who investigators determined was the sole sniper (http://www.nola.com/175years /index.ssf/2011/12
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/1973_mark_essex_the_howard_joh.html). In doing so, however, Pitman placed his career with the Marines in jeopardy. Four decades later, many New Orleanians are still thankful for Pitman's actions on the day Essex terrorized the city. "Without that helicopter and without his piloting, it would've been a lot worse," Moon Landrieu, New Orleans' mayor at the time, said recently. "The city owes him a debt of gratitude." Antoine Saacks, a former police officer who boarded Pitman's copter that Sunday, said, "I always say the true heroes were Chuck and his crew, undoubtedly. I have a tremendous amount of respect for the man that's unwavering."
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On the day he resolved to help the cops end the sniper's grip of terror on the city, Pitman ordered one of his subordinates to contact the New Orleans Police Department and offer the Marine air unit's help. An NOPD sergeant called back about 4 p.m. and accepted, asking for a helicopter with a searchlight. Pitman, his co-pilot and two crew members immediately prepared to fly to the scene. However, in the rush to get there, Pitman had not gotten the high-level authorization necessary to undertake such a mission. Though Pitman, along with the Coast Guard, did have standing permission to send helicopters to assist local responders' rescue efforts in case of a high-rise fire, such as the deadly one at the Rault Center on Nov. 29, 1972, six weeks earlier, there were no air rescues required at the hotel. Pitman recalled that on the day of the sniper, the Coast Guard didn't want to dispatch a helicopter to the Howard Johnson's because foggy weather and low visibility made flying dangerous. So when Pitman flew his helicopter to the hotel (http://goo.gl/maps/0oX7B) with his crew, he exposed himself to a court-martial: He had deployed military personnel and resources to quell a civil matter, and he did not have permission to do so before taking off. 'I can't duke it out with heavy weapons or anything'
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Entering the fight on that windy, frigid, rainy Sunday did not frighten Pitman. The combat veteran -- who was born in Chicago, grew up in an orphanage, moved to Wisconsin after being adopted and learned to fly by age 14 -- had joined the Marines in 1952. He flew some 1,200 missions in the Vietnam War. His helicopters were shot down seven times, and he suffered a .50-caliber bullet wound to one of his legs. "I enjoyed the excitement -being in dangerous situations," Pitman said when asked why he volunteered to fly to the Howard Johnson's. "I didn't necessarily like killing anybody, but I liked being a part of the action. ... I was used to the sounds of battle, the fog of war." Because of the poor flying conditions, Pitman could hover only slightly above the ground after departing from Belle Chasse in a CH-46 Sea Knight
most comm
Enlarge (http://photos.nola.com/tpphotos/2011/11/175essex_1.html) The Times-Picayune (http://connect.nola.com /user/nolatp/photos.html)
Braving fire from Mark Essex on a hotel balcony, Times-Picayune photographer G.E. Arnold took this iconic image as officer Phillip Coleman died of a head wound in Duncan Plaza while his partner checks his pulse. Wounded officer Ken Solis lies against a tree while other police and bystanders take cover. The officers were trying to push pedestrians to safety when they were hit. Jan. 8, 1973.
1973: Sniper Mark Essex's campaign of terror in New Orleans (http://photos.nola.com/4500/gallery /1973_sniper_mark_essexs_campaign_of_terror/index.html) gallery (23 photos)
(http://photos.nola.com/tpphotos/2011/11/175essex_22.html)
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Charles H. 'Chuck' Pitman was a Marine lieutenant colonel when Mark Essex invaded the Downtown Howard Johnson's Hotel Motor Lodge on Sept. 7, 1973.
Michael Spooneybarger, NOLA.com | The TimesPicayune contributor
(http://www.history.navy.mil/planes/ch46.htm), a twin rotor transport helicopter. He headed to the Mississippi River, tracked its course to the Crescent City Connection and then turned toward downtown, following the expressway. He landed the helicopter in a parking lot near City Hall and an under-construction stadium now known as the Mercedes-Benz Superdome (http://topics.nola.com /tag/mercedes-benz%20superdome/index.html). To meet with NOPD Superintendent Clarence Giarrusso (http://blog.nola.com /times-picayune/2007/11/clarence_b_giarrusso_police_ch.html) and get his instructions, Pitman had to walk into the Howard Johnson's lobby, where the command post had been set up. Pitman, stunned that the command post was in such a dangerous location, said the only reason he walked toward the hotel entrance was that he figured running might draw sniper fire. Giarrusso asked Pitman if he had brought an armored helicopter. Pitman replied, "I'm not armored. I can't duke it out with heavy weapons or anything." Giarrusso then requested that Pitman use his helicopter to lift a 16,000-pound armored car to the top of the roof. Pitman, whose Sea Knight was unable to carry half that load, said, "I couldn't take that up on the best day of the year." But Pitman agreed to fly a group of well-armed officers -- including Saacks, 26 at the time -- over the hotel to better see where the sniper was hiding. They would try to force the sniper out of his lair.
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Confronting the sniper During events chronicled by writer Chuck Hustmyre in an essay titled, "Under Attack: The New Orleans Police Department and the Howard Johnson's Hotel Sniper," Pitman approached the motor lodge by navigating between downtown high-rise buildings and sweeping in over the roof. Saacks remembers being impressed by Pitman's piloting skills. "His maneuvering of that helicopter was unbelievable," Saacks, a former Marine, said almost 40 years later. "When you have someone like Chuck in the driver's seat, you feel confident in what you're doing. You know he's got your ass -- you're protected." Pitman shone his searchlight on a roof cubicle where it had been reported that the gunman was lurking, but no one could see anything. Saacks and the other officers on board fired volley after volley, figuring that the gunman was hiding just inside the cubicle's metal door, leading to a stairway, or in either of two adjacent alcoves, which had cinderblock walls on three sides. Pitman passed over the roof several times. Each time, Saacks blew holes in the cinderblock with his M-16 rifle. The sniper wasn't hurt, but whenever Pitman pulled the helicopter away to circle back, cops positioned in neighboring buildings said the sniper would run out of the cubicle and shoot at it. From time to time, bullets
Retired Marine Charles H. 'Chuck' Pitman, right, is aboard the USA Nimitz in 1980, before a hostage rescue attempt he participated in.
Pitman family photo
smacked the exterior of the copter. The cops aboard the Sea Knight ran out of ammunition a couple
of times, and Pitman had to land so they could reload. After one of those pit stops, the sniper hit the Sea Knight with gunfire but vanished when the helicopter began to pass over the hotel. Pitman lingered over the roof and focused his searchlight on the cubicle as the cops blasted away. Saacks then realized how the sniper was able to hide so well: Whenever the helicopter approached, the sniper would apparently shimmy up a fire standpipe inside one of the alcoves, leaving him hidden from the officers' view. The police on the helicopter then shot the pipe and split it open. Pitman began pulling away for another pass, taking the searchlight off the cubicle.
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The gunman scrambled out to the roof to squeeze off a few more rounds at the helicopter. Pitman suddenly reversed course, reappearing over the hotel and scanning the roof with the searchlight. Suddenly, the light illuminated the gunman. He was several yards from the cover of the cubicle. The sniper fired once at the helicopter. Pitman observed a flash and a red streak speeding toward him. "When he fired ... at me, the helicopter jumped," Pitman joked, explaining that he instinctively jerked back on his controls. The bullet struck a little bit above the cockpit, hitting the transmission casing. Pitman steadied the helicopter and kept the searchlight on the sniper. Saacks, his colleagues in the helicopter and the officers in surrounding buildings emptied their weapons at the figure on the roof. The sniper collapsed and died. He was struck more than 200 times. It was 9 p.m., about 10 hours after the hotel had come under attack, but it wasn't until the next day that police finally recovered the sniper's body and decided there were no other gunmen in the hotel or on the roof. Though officials concluded that Essex was a lone killer, even today many of those who worked to stop him believe that he had at least one accomplice. Cops, hotel employees, guests were among victims A native of Emporia, Kan., Essex had been discharged from the Navy because of unsuitability of character and behavior disorders. An African-American man, he was enraged about racism he experienced in the Navy. He sympathized with radical Black Panther politics, loathed cops and came to New Orleans to meet up with a like-minded friend. Essex actually committed his first slayings on Dec. 31, 1972, when he shot police cadet Alfred Harrell Jr. at Central Lockup with a .44-caliber Magnum carbine, and later officer Edwin Hosli Sr., who was investigating a warehouse burglary alarm tripped by Essex at the corner of South Gayoso and Euphrosine streets. Harrell, Essex's only black victim, died immediately. Hosli, who was white, died two months later. Essex eluded authorities for a week. Then, on the morning of Jan. 7, wielding his .44 carbine, he shot and wounded a grocer he surmised was helping the police, stole a car at gunpoint and drove to Howard Johnson's. He killed the hotel's general manager, W. Sherwood Collins; the assistant manager, Frank Schneider; and two guests, Dr. Robert Steagall and Betty Steagall, a Virginia couple who had been married just seven months. Essex also killed a pair of NOPD officers, Phil Coleman and Paul Persigo, and the department's deputy superintendent, Louis Sirgo. In all, Essex had killed nine people
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and wounded 13 others on Dec. 31, 1972, and Jan. 7, 1973. There could have been many more victims had Pitman not gotten involved when he did, according to Moon Landrieu. "The fact that we had a helicopter gave us a tremendous advantage because we didn't know where (Essex) was on the roof. We suspected we would get the upper hand (with the helicopter), and we did," the former mayor said. 'Chuck put everything on the line' Pitman soon learned that his actions could lead to a court-martial. But he said the issue was dropped after his commander sought out longtime U.S. Rep. F. Edward Hebert, a New Orleans Democrat and at the time the powerful chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. It also worked in Pitman's favor that he didn't cause more casualties by, for example, being shot down or crashing the Sea Knight into a building. Saacks -- who later became the NOPD's deputy chief but was fired in 1994 because of allegations involving a private security enterprise he ran on the side -- said he will always admire Pitman for what he did to help the NOPD foil Essex. "Chuck put everything on the line -- not only his life, but his career," Saacks said. Pitman was transferred out of New Orleans in June 1973. Seven years later, he was in charge of the helicopter crews that participated in Operation Eagle Claw, an attempt ordered by President Jimmy Carter to rescue 52 Americans being held hostage in Iran. The mission ended in disaster when a helicopter collided with a transport plane, killing eight American servicemen. Pitman considers Eagle Claw one of the most difficult moments of his career. But better days were ahead for him. He became the Marine Corps' deputy chief of staff for aviation in 1987, and attained the rank of lieutenant general in 1988. Pitman, who has two sons and
Charles H. 'Chuck' Pitman, now 77, retired from the Marines in 1990 as a lieutenant general.
Pitman family
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two daughters, retired from the Marine Corps in 1990. Now 77, he lives in Pensacola Beach, Fla., with his wife. Among other things, he is a consultant for an aircraft maintenance company and advises a special weapons and tactics training group based in Weatherford, Texas. During his nearly four decades in the Marines, he earned numerous honors, among them a Silver Star for valor, four Distinguished Flying Crosses, a Bronze Star with Combat "V," a Purple Heart and 65 air medals. Nonetheless, he says he is perhaps most proud of having served alongside the New Orleans police during their clash with Essex on one of the darkest days in the city's history, for which he was made an honorary NOPD captain on Nov. 8, 1991. "I'm glad I was able to do it," Pitman, who has visited New Orleans countless times to celebrate Mardi Gras (http://www.nola.com/mardigras/), said in Pensacola Beach this month. "It makes you feel good doing something good for the country, good for the city of New Orleans."
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Linda Foreman (http://connect.nola.com/user/linda_foreman /index.html) LTG CHARLES H. PITTMAN IS NOT ONLY A MILITARY HERO BUT MY HERO..A AWESOME FRIEND...ALWAYS. I posted this to my Facebook for all to see, thank you for being wonderful human being Chuck. Linda K. Foreman
(http://nola.com/) Yesterday (http://nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2013/01 /40_years_on_marine_pilot_is_st.html/post/2013-03-01 /1362159989-79-991.html) Reply
TaxesPaid (http://connect.nola.com/user/TaxesPaid /index.html) (http ://co nnect .nola. com /user /Tax About six years after the HOJO sniper, I was answering code 2's in the 6th District. The code 2's were basically black on black crime and we had been brought over to channel 6 to work on the backlog. My partner, in a lull, asked, "Do you want the see the shrine? It's
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nearby." I really didn't know what he meant, but sure enough he went around two corners and we walked to the back of a building. It was a shrine to Mark Essex that was maintained. No one showed themselves as we walked in a looked at the grafitti walls. We made no comments as we walked around that small room. We had to leave. An old black lady had been beaten up by her grandson for the money she had been saving. I looked at my partner, his red hair close cropped and so Marine, as he tenderly helped that poor old lady. I went outside to meet the amulance coming to pick her up. We would follow that amublance to Charity to make the report of this terrible beating of a fragile old woman. Being a police officer is unreal.
(http://nola.com/) Last Month (http://nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2013/01 /40_years_on_marine_pilot_is_st.html/post/2013-01-08 /1357652171-440-294.html) Reply
breadbeard2 (http://connect.nola.com/user/breadbeard2 /index.html) Shame that Saaks was a crook and did time for being involved in corruption.
biloxibob (http://connect.nola.com/user/biloxibob /index.html) (http ://co nnect .nola. com Your glass is half empty, isnt it?
(http://connect.nola.com/user/georgi_kolaroff/index.html)Georgi likes this.
(http://nola.com/)
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/user /bilo
Last Month (http://nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2013/01 /40_years_on_marine_pilot_is_st.html/post/2013-01-07 /1357592998-976-896.html) Reply
Chuck Hustmyre (http://connect.nola.com /user/chuckhustmyre/index.html) A really good article. These heroes deserve to be remembered.
biloxibob (http://connect.nola.com/user/biloxibob /index.html) Good story. Heroic Marine officer! This is good journalism!
krazykjun (http://connect.nola.com/user/krazykjun /index.html) It would make perfect sense that the killer would set the Rault fire just to see how the police and firemen would respond, so he could better plan his massacre later at the HJ ... but without proof, who knows? And was he a lone murderer ... without proof, who knows?
(http://connect.nola.com/user/maria_arroyo/index.html)NOLA born likes this.
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copperhead54 (http://connect.nola.com/user/copperhead54 /index.html) This was a great story on a day of infamy in the local lore. It provides an interesting look back in time, and provides us a way to look forward in a time when mass shootings are again in the headlines. It reminds us that madmen and killers have always been with us, and they have always exacted a heavy toll. This case is an important study in that it teaches us some valuable lessons as this nation rushes headlong into a false cure in the form of gun control. In our panic,we will disrupt the property and constitutional rights of peaceful citizens for a bogus remedy which will do nothing to stop, or stem the murders and mayhem. We are often told that we should not have "assault rifles" because they are "killing machines", and that we should only be allowed to own hunting rifles which will be "protected". Although "assault rifles" were easily available back then, he chose an ordinary simple hunting rifle. The very type gun we hear is OK to own. The Ruger .44 Magnum carbine was the quintessential deer/brush gun. It was small, compact, efficient, and packed a wallop with the 44Mag. This is the cartridge made famous in all the Dirty Harry movies( "feeling lucky, punk?"). The same gun used by Essex, virtually unchanged, is still sold today. Without getting too deeply into physics and ballistics, suffice it to say that it fires a projectile about 4 times the size of the Bushmaster AR 15's 5.56 round, and about twice the size of an AK47's 7.62x39. Ladies and gents, it's a scientific fact that a big bullet makes a big hole, every time. There was no detachable high capacity magazine that we are told makes our modern killings so possible. It was an integral 5 ROUND tube magazine built in the gun. Each round had to be individually loaded in to a maximum of five. Despite all this, this single man(official story) held off the entire NOPD, and a number of alphabet agencies from the state and federal government for many hours exacting a terrible toll in life and limb. Out of respect for the families, I won't detail that carnage, but it was gruesome and ghastly. It didn't come to an end until the Marines landed. As I recall, this wasn't even a scoped weapon. He did it the old fashioned way, iron sights. He made shots that would be difficult with scoped weapon, especially firing into Duncan Plaza where some were killed or mortally wounded. The lesson here is we need to stop uselessly obsessing and focusing
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on the weapon, and focus our attention on the killers. Most often, they are not unknown to LE, and we should be interdicting them before they take up a "hunting rifle", and commit mass murder.
(http://connect.nola.com/user/georgi_kolaroff/index.html)Georgi , (http://connect.nola.com/user/LSUcajun504/index.html)LSUcajun504 , and (http://connect.nola.com/user/maria_arroyo/index.html)NOLA born like this.
(http://connect.nola.com/user/biloxibob/index.html)biloxibob, (http://connect.nola.com/user/DasRheingold/index.html)DasRheingold
View more items tim9lives (http://connect.nola.com/user/tim9lives /index.html) Hmm...thanks for that. I was thinking it was a 5 round detachable magazine.
sacredfire (http://connect.nola.com/user/sacredfire /index.html) (http ://co nnect .nola. com /user /sacr edfir e /inde x.ht No wonder the feds are after you! You nailed it! Your info is 100% correct and reasoning likewise!!!
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ml) copperhead54 (http://connect.nola.com /user/copperhead54/index.html) Thanks for the kind remarks, but lets not go overboard with "the Feds are after you" talk. To my knowledge, all they have done is file a subpoenae for some records held by the TP in an investigation into the USAO. When they realize I have no connection to that office or that scandal, I'm sure it will go away quietly.
(http://connect.nola.com/user/georgi_kolaroff/index.html)Georgi and (http://connect.nola.com/user/maria_arroyo/index.html)NOLA born like this.
(http://nola.com/) Last Month (http://nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2013/01 /40_years_on_marine_pilot_is_st.html/post/2013-01-07 /1357609441-293-63.html)
NOLA born (http://connect.nola.com/user/maria_arroyo /index.html) Ramon, thanks for the great article about an unsung hero of this event. I was in college here and watched the coverage live on tv--will never forget it, especially as it was a few short weeks after the Rault fire. Both horrible memorable events. I always thought Essex was tied to that firebombing too.
damocles100 (http://connect.nola.com/user/damocles100 /index.html) (http ://co nnect .nola. com Essex and his actions can be examined, dissected, justified, vilified etc. He is no different than Lanza, Oswald, or Charles Whitman. No one knows what really goes on in the head of a murderer. The whole thing is just tragic. People going about their day, and then they are gone.
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/user /dam
It is not about gun control or the debilitating effects of generational racism.It is about human beings for whatever reason deciding to kill other human beings. Whether Essex was a Muslim, or Oswald was a patsy for the mob, it really in the end does not matter. I think what matters is that we should face up to the fact that there are people that will kill for no good reason. Period.
(http://connect.nola.com/user/georgi_kolaroff/index.html)Georgi , (http://connect.nola.com/user/sacredfire/index.html)sacredfire an d (http://connect.nola.com/user/maria_arroyo/index.html)NOLA born like this.
omosos (http://connect.nola.com/user/omosos/index.html) I find the rationalization of mass murder, revolting. Some of these comments come from very disturbed people. There is not a corner of this earth where people have not been abused to horrific degrees. That's a human condition. There's always someone on top and someone he's standing on. And those on top and those who are stomped have come from every race and religion. From the slums of London to the slums of India to slums of New York , people of every race have been abused. For class, religious reasons, or physical attributes and infirmities, people have been abused. Most have just endured it. Some have rose to incredible heights in spite of it. It has killed many. And some have become extremely wicked. Essex was extremely wicked. Not a hero, just wicked.
(http://connect.nola.com/user/maria_arroyo/index.html)NOLA born and (http://connect.nola.com/user/sacredfire/index.html)sacredfire like this.
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View more items damocles100 (http://connect.nola.com /user/damocles100/index.html) Amen

sacredfire (http://connect.nola.com/user/sacredfire /index.html) Yep!

TheWorldMatters (http://connect.nola.com /user/TheWorldMatters/index.html) I'd like to see a few articles about the heroes who died with broken necks at the end of ropes because of the color of their skin in this Deep South backwater. What Essex did cannot be condoned, but it can be understood. For hundreds of years Black men were marginalized in this society, lynched, their wives and daughters raped, denied opportunities to participate in the social and economic fiber of this nation, and targeted for destruction. It is interesting to see some posters try to pretend that nothing was wrong back then. The Black Panthers and Mark Essex types would never have existed but for racist and depraved actions on the part of some individuals. 'Glad that we're in a better time these days. 'Too bad that this nation killed hundreds of thousands before now ... especially people who were fighting for the right to vote and to have available to them what is found in this nation's Constituion - "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness". I grieve for the Essex victims ... as I do for the hundreds of thousands
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who died a the hands of racists and illegitimate government.

(http://connect.nola.com/user/troy_banks/index.html)troy_banks , (http://connect.nola.com/user/thenegativeguy/index.html)yep'datsright and (http://connect.nola.com/user/damocles100/index.html)damocles100 like this.
View more items dinosore (http://connect.nola.com/user/dinosore /index.html) As you grieve for the hundreds of thousands who died by the hands of racists, don't forget the untold millions who died because of the mindset. To include all denominations of Christians, Jews, Muslims, Chinese by the hands of the Japanese, Anglo's be the hands of Japanese. One tribe by the hand of another, Indians by the hands of europeons, etc. Would you like me to add in the middle eastern nations and various religions and ethnic persuasions? Maybe your plans can also include the Afro-American brothers who have apparently declared war on themselves.
(http://connect.nola.com/user/georgi_kolaroff/index.html)Georgi likes this.
Charles de Gaulle (http://connect.nola.com /user/Charles_de_Gaulle/index.html) (http ://co nnect Remember here in New Orleans it was not always African Americans who were swinging from the end of ropes.
(http://connect.nola.com/user/georgi_kolaroff/index.html)Georgi
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.nola. com
and (http://connect.nola.com/user/thenegativeguy/index.html)yep'datsright like this.

tim9lives (http://connect.nola.com /user/tim9lives/index.html) Yep...the Black Hand "Americans had been concerned about the arrival of Black Handor, as they thought, Mafia gangsters since the large influx of immigrants from Southern Italy in the late nineteenth century. National attention was drawn to the situation with the murder of New Orleans police chief David Hennessy in 1892 by Italian gangsters when he sided with one faction against the other. A number of Italians were arrested in the case. Their acquittal at trial outraged the citizenry who went to the jail and lynched 11 Sicilian prisoners being held there." So...since I have Italian heritage....Should I be acting like some immature jackass.....Posting nonsense about something which happened 100 years ago ?
(http://connect.nola.com/user/Charles_de_Gaulle/index.html)Char and (http://connect.nola.com/user/georgi_kolaroff/index.html)Georgi like this.
Patton45 (http://connect.nola.com/user/Bayou26/index.html) (http Great re-count of what happened, Mr. Vargas. Thanks. Everyone needs to be reminded (nationwide) as to what happened that day. However, nowhere do I see it mentioned that he (Essex) was a radical
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://co nnect
Muslim who had converted to Islam much to his parents' dismay. Can the media ever get past being politically correct? Read 'A Terrible Thunder.' Acknowledging this fact has even more relevance today!
(http://connect.nola.com/user/georgi_kolaroff/index.html)Georgi and (http://connect.nola.com/user/boots-n-saddles/index.html)RoyRogers like this.
damocles100 (http://connect.nola.com /user/damocles100/index.html) Does that really matter? Should he have also included that he liked sugar cookies? What relevance does that have to this story? The story is about one of the good guys, not a blow by blow of what led this man to do what he did.
(http://connect.nola.com/user/Charles_de_Gaulle/index.html)Charles de Gau and (http://connect.nola.com/user/CreoleChavez/index.html)Creole C. like this.
bacardilvr31 (http://connect.nola.com /user/bacardilvr31/index.html) (http ://co nnect .nola. com /user /bac ardil vr31 /inde x.ht I read A Terrible Thunder, and I don't remember reading anything about Essex becoming a radical Muslim at all. Page number?
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ml)
graft (http://connect.nola.com/user/corruptpolitician /index.html) If I recall correctly, this happened on a Sunday evening. I was at the Loyola Fieldhouse watching the Harlem Globetrotters that day. Meadowlark Lemon, Curley Neil, etc.... while this maniac was on a rampage. There is NO excuse for murdering innocent people. Some people just can't handle rejection, life, pressure, etc...and they are WEAK and COWARDS. Essex is a COWARD and is DEAD !
(http://connect.nola.com/user/georgi_kolaroff/index.html)Georgi , , (http://connect.nola.com/user/boots-n-saddles/index.html)RoyRogers and (http://connect.nola.com/user/junnyb4it/index.html)marcusaurelius like this.
(http://connect.nola.com/user/bdoster/index.html)bdoster, (http://connect.nola.com/user/maria_arroyo/index.html)NOLA born
tim9lives (http://connect.nola.com/user/tim9lives /index.html) Once again...Great article Ramon. On a rainy Sunday...it stirred my interests in an incident I remember as a child growing up in New Orleans. It's interesting to find out that one of Essex's victims was the man who was working on fixing the race relations of the NOPD...Deputy Superintendent Louis Sirgo. Heres a link about the victims of the NOPD. http://www.bestofneworleans.com/gambit /the-heroes-... (http://www.bestofneworleans.com/gambit /the-heroes-of-howard-johnsons/Content?oid=1241071)
(http://connect.nola.com/user/georgi_kolaroff/index.html)Georgi , (http://connect.nola.com/user/maria_arroyo/index.html)NOLA born , (http://connect.nola.com/user/Charles_de_Gaulle/index.html)Charles de Gaulle and
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(http://connect.nola.com/user/boots-n-saddles/index.html)RoyRogers like this.

rhettswife (http://connect.nola.com/user/rhettswife /index.html) My thanks to Ramon and also to you. Kansan, for the site refernce. How well I remember that horrible day. Ramon, thank you for the site references below. How well, Rhett and I remember that terrifying day. However, after all these years the hatred continues. It is time to make some drastic changes. In unity will come a Nouvelle New Orleans.
(http://connect.nola.com/user/georgi_kolaroff/index.html)Georgi and (http://connect.nola.com/user/maria_arroyo/index.html)NOLA born like this.
Dwayne Scheuermann (http://connect.nola.com /user/Scheuermann140/index.html) @ Troy_Banks: This country was not built on hate but on hope and yes, there was bad mixed in not only in America but across the globe. Trust me, no one race or religion has a corner on the hate market. White men from Europe enslaved black men with the help of other black men in Africa. American Indians regularly attacked and enslaved other red men and let us not fall victim to revisionist history from Mexico as Spaniards slaughtered the native Mexicans and stole their land and wealth. And yes Virginia, people from Northern Africa regularly made murderous conquests into Europe. This nation had and has its share of problems but there is no other land that has allowed it people more freedom and the chance to aspire to greatness. In fact, I am willing to bet you that there is no other
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land where the poor has cable T.V., cars and smart phones. I challenge you to point to one country on the face of the earth that has allowed it people so much freedom. If you can name one, please go. It is your right to knock this great country and it is my right to realize what a complete fool you are. God Bless America.
(http://connect.nola.com/user/Charles_de_Gaulle/index.html)Charles de Gaulle , (http://connect.nola.com/user/georgi_kolaroff/index.html)Georgi , (http://connect.nola.com/user/maria_arroyo/index.html)NOLA born , (http://connect.nola.com/user/thenegativeguy/index.html)yep'datsright , (http://connect.nola.com/user/StSilaicos/index.html)StSilaicos an d 3 more like this.
View more items DasRheingold (http://connect.nola.com /user/DasRheingold/index.html) Dwayne, You omitted Asia http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/01 /sesquicente... (http://www.americanthinker.com /2013/01 /sesquicentennial_comparisons_black_slavery_in_am erica_and_ottoman_turkey.html)
Johnny L. Stalbert (http://connect.nola.com /user/johnny_l._stalbert/index.html)
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(http ://co
Hey ( Dwayne ); it, sounds, good, to hear, that, you're, in the right, frame of mind, after, what, you, not, long, ago, went, through. Oh, I was, there, everyday. View, my image, carefully, then, you'll, realize, as, to who, one, is. By the way, I still, have, your, business - card, in my wallet.
Johnny L. Stalbert (http://connect.nola.com /user/johnny_l._stalbert/index.html) Hey ( Y'all ); somewhere, in the photos, that, was, published, through, nola. com; I seen, a photo of a ( Crash - Truck ). ( E M S ) services, became, in existance, a few, years, later, y'all. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
Johnny L. Stalbert (http://connect.nola.com /user/johnny_l._stalbert/index.html) Hey ( Y'all ); I've, always, been, curious. Did, the ( Medical - Examiner ) find, any, illegal - drugs, his, system? Drugs, was, really, around, back, then, y'all. Okay, if, no drugs, were, found, why, is ( Law Enforcement ) so, against, narcotics? Oh, so, many of them, too, own, varies, businesses and therefore, they're, concerned, about, this, nation's ( G N P ).
(http://connect.nola.com/user/thenegativeguy/index.html)yep'datsright likes this.
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milwriter (http://connect.nola.com/user/milwriter /index.html) Mr. Vargas, a well written article, thanks. LtGen Pittman - thanks for your service and efforts in this tragedy. And for those who want to continue to relive the military's past - hint, hint, the Marine Corps and the other services have thankfully moved on in terms of racial harmony. The Marines talk about one color desert cammies, or whatever the uniform of the day is, for their men and women. Time for some of you to visit your local Marine Corps base.
(http://connect.nola.com/user/georgi_kolaroff/index.html)Georgi , (http://connect.nola.com/user/maria_arroyo/index.html)NOLA born and (http://connect.nola.com/user/boots-n-saddles/index.html)RoyRogers like this.
Creole C. (http://connect.nola.com /user/CreoleChavez/index.html) Marines don't have bases do they? They have Camps and Air Stations and such but we ground pounders and the flyboys are the only ones that still claim the term 'base' anymore, no? Thanks, CC
Bold Fenian (http://connect.nola.com /user/Bold_Fenian/index.html) I think we combine them. See, e.g., Marine Corps
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(http ://co
Base Camp Lejeune,

tim9lives (http://connect.nola.com/user/tim9lives /index.html) I just want to add that back when this happened, police forces were woefully poorly armed. I remember that many of the officers ran home to get their hunting rifles. All they had were 6 shot service revolvers and Essex had a 5 shot Ruger 44 caliper...it's a version of the Mini-14. No high capacity magazines, and yet look what he did with a 5 shot semi auto rifle. That's why the weapons ban legislation is useless. It gets back to mental health. Until the chopper showed up.......Essex had the upper hand. There were no Swat Teams back then...not in any police force, not just the NOPD.
(http://connect.nola.com/user/georgi_kolaroff/index.html)Georgi , (http://connect.nola.com/user/maria_arroyo/index.html)NOLA born , (http://connect.nola.com/user/damocles100/index.html)damocles100 and (http://connect.nola.com/user/TaxesPaid/index.html)TaxesPaid like this.
TaxesPaid (http://connect.nola.com/user/TaxesPaid /index.html) (http ://co nnect .nola. com /user /Tax At the time LT General Pittman was entering the fight, no one knew the race of the sniper. Race should not be the issue here in this story. Thank you General Pittman for your many heroic deeds.
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esPai d
I was 15 and in high school watching you in the auditorium of O Perry Walker. We could hear the gunfire when the wind was right. It was very scary. Back then New Orleans wasn't a killing field. We were shocked by JFK and MLK, the Vietnam war, and never dreamed of what the city would evolve into. Pardon, General, the peculiar perspective of Creole And Dickie. When they see a Van Gogh, I am sure they miss the magnifiicent painting as they focus on his lost ear and the tragedy of 19th century mental health. For those of us who appreciate what is, and what it takes to have courage beyond the keyboard, we thank you. You are a rare man.
(http://connect.nola.com/user/georgi_kolaroff/index.html)Georgi , (http://connect.nola.com/user/boots-n-saddles/index.html)RoyRogers , (http://connect.nola.com/user/DasRheingold/index.html)DasRheingold and this.
(http://connect.nola.com/user/Vamps/index.html)Vamps like
StSilaicos (http://connect.nola.com/user/StSilaicos /index.html) Race is the focal point of the story because Mr. Essex was a racist and his goal was to kill white people which is what he did. To ignore this fact and Mr. Essex's motivation is to also ignore the victims and their families.
(http://connect.nola.com/user/troy_banks/index.html)troy_banks likes this.
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NOLA born (http://connect.nola.com /user/maria_arroyo/index.html) Actually I was in school here at the time and recall watching the whole thing on tv. It was apparent and obvious during the shooting that the sniper was only shooting white people---to the extent that black police officers bravely pulled people to safety and the sniper would not shoot at them.
Vamps (http://connect.nola.com/user/Vamps/index.html) The author of many books on " The Monkey Virus " Mr. Haslam describes a fire at the Rault Center in New Orleans. He had worked there in the summer of 1968 and he describes how the building was owned by Joseph M. Rault, Jr., an independent oil man and real estate entrepreneur. Rault was also close to Senator Russell Long and New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison. In fact, Rault was one of the members of "Truth or Consequences," a private group set up to raise funds for Garrison's investigation. Haslam describes how he went to the scene of the fire at the Rault Center, caused by a firebomb. The scene foreshadowed the 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York, but on a much smaller scale. In the New Orleans fire, people jumped to their deaths to avoid being burned to death. Haslam asked , "Was the Rault Center firebombing the result of Rault's financing of Garrison's JFK investigation?"
Johnny L. Stalbert (http://connect.nola.com /user/johnny_l._stalbert/index.html) (http ://co nnect .nola. Hey ( Vamps ); my friend, you're, way, out, in left, field. Those, people, aren't, discussing, no ( Rault Center ), fire. And you, got, the nerve, to always, reply, under, my blog, with, a complaint of my usage of standard - diction. When,
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com /user
your, head, becomes, much, lighter, I want, an apology, from, you.

bacardilvr31 (http://connect.nola.com /user/bacardilvr31/index.html) A firebomb? What proof does Haslam give of this?
Robert_C. Millette_128 (http://connect.nola.com /user/robert_millette/index.html) I am sharing a link to this story. It is from a 1982 documentary called "The Killing of America" At 35 minutes:32 seconds into the documentary, you can see the drama unfold.....
[youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lH-knbqmXn0)]
(http://www.youtube.com/v/lH-knbqmXn0&hl=en_US& fs=1&?iframe=true&width=500&height=400)
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Vamps (http://connect.nola.com/user/Vamps /index.html) 3 snipers !

Vamps (http://connect.nola.com/user/Vamps /index.html) And 3000 cops and 5000 armed solders with rocket launchers assaulted the building bring down the gang of 12 mercenary's located on 5 buildings just in that area.
yep'datsright (http://connect.nola.com /user/thenegativeguy/index.html) Some of the info is wrong on this documentary, and we must keep in mind all documentary try to push an agenda.
nscrazi (http://connect.nola.com/user/nscrazi/index.html) (http ://co nnect .nola. com /user I remember those days well. It was a totally different New Orleans. After the Howard-Johnson incident, we were a less naive city.
(http://nola.com/) Last Month (http://nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2013/01 /40_years_on_marine_pilot_is_st.html/post/2013-01-06
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/nscr azi
/1357496928-758-22.html) Reply
josiearlington (http://connect.nola.com/user/josiearlington /index.html) Mr. Antonio Vargas, is this the same Antoine Saacks that a simple google search would show to be totally corrupt. Is this the upper level NOPD man who travelled with a mafia boss to Las Vegas?
Vamps (http://connect.nola.com/user/Vamps /index.html) At that time Carlos was the chief of NOPD.
(http://connect.nola.com/user/moelarrycurley/index.html)moelarrycurley likes this.
onefreeman (http://connect.nola.com/user/onefreeman /index.html) The citizens of New Orleans need to learn the lesson of something and move on. This article reaches back into the history of a great city to dig up a violent episode that does nothing but further divide the citizens. Just read the comments and you quickly see the division. Focus on the building a brighter future. The lesson of Forgiveness is very much needed for some people and I am one of them. New Orleanians let 2013 be a year of forgiveness. Peace!
(http://connect.nola.com/user/georgi_kolaroff/index.html)Georgi and (http://connect.nola.com/user/gail_wyre/index.html)lady...72 like
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this.
dinosore (http://connect.nola.com/user/dinosore /index.html) Stirring up the division was not an issue until Essex 73 forgot to flush the toilet, making Mark out to be a hero.
(http://connect.nola.com/user/georgi_kolaroff/index.html)Georgi and (http://connect.nola.com/user/me1214/index.html)me1214 like this.
piggfromsp (http://connect.nola.com/user/piggfromsp /index.html) Very nice article. I am not old enough to remember the rampage (was born in the 80s) but my dad has told me the story over the years. I had a chance to work in the building a year ago as part of a renovation crew and became relatively familiar with the roof and staircase leading to it. Very eerie feeling knowing that you're standing in a spot in which so much hatred was meted out by a disturbed man. This is probably the most detailed account of what happened that i've read yet, thank you for posting this.
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Ramon Antonio Vargas, NOLA.com | The TimesPicayune (http://connect.nola.com/user/rvargas /index.html) I appreciate the kind words about the piece; but if you really want to understand the incident, be sure to read retrospective accounts, like "A Terrible Thunder: The Story of the New Orleans Sniper," Chuck Hustmyre's essay on Mark Essex (here: http://www.trutv.com/library /crime/notorious_murde... (http://www.trutv.com /library/crime/notorious_murders /mass/mark_essex/index.html),) as well as stories in the T.P. in years past by Michael Perlstein and Dennis Persica.
Ramon Antonio Vargas, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune (http://connect.nola.com /user/rvargas/index.html) I meant to say "be sure to read other in-depth retrospective accounts."
(http://nola.com/) Last Month (http://nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2013/01 /40_years_on_marine_pilot_is_st.html /post/2013-01-06/1357495425-692-565.html)
Vamps (http://connect.nola.com/user/Vamps /index.html) (http ://co nnect .nola. com /user /Va mps /inde x.ht Although the paper claims it lasted for 10 hours in reality it tied up the area for 2 days.
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ml)
StSilaicos (http://connect.nola.com/user/StSilaicos /index.html) A well written article except why give such a detailed account and not only leave out that Essex was a racist, hated whites, planned the attack for months to kill as many white people as possible to imply he was a victim? What would motivate a reporter to do such a thing? Having watched on TV someone I knew who volunteered to help and was wounded in the process I am repulsed by your "revisionists history". "An African-American man, he was enraged about racism he experienced in the Navy."
(http://connect.nola.com/user/Vamps/index.html)Vamps, (http://connect.nola.com/user/thenegativeguy/index.html)yep'datsright and (http://connect.nola.com/user/junnyb4it/index.html)marcusaurelius like this.
View more items Ramon Antonio Vargas, NOLA.com | The TimesPicayune (http://connect.nola.com/user/rvargas /index.html) StSilaicos: Thank you for taking the time to read this piece. Much has been written about Mark Essex -- I opted to use my limited space to re-examine something fewer people know about: precisely how Lt. Gen. Chuck Pitman helped NOPD stop Essex; what he risked in doing so; how, in a career of almost four decades in the career, he was perhaps most proud of helping to stop Essex's rampage; and how people like Moon Landrieu and Antoine Saacks haven't forgotten him. The material you allude to is covered very well in a lot of great writing done on the Essex incident -- among them "A Terrible Thunder: The Story of the New Orleans Sniper,"
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Chuck Hustmyre's essay, and numerous stories done in The T-P and the States-Item by great journalists that have preceded me.
(http://connect.nola.com/user/ralexander/index.html)Rebecca Alexander, NO and (http://connect.nola.com/user/maria_arroyo/index.html)NOLA born like this.
copperhead54 (http://connect.nola.com /user/copperhead54/index.html) It's always interesting to read a book on something you lived through. Many years ago, I did read A TERRIBLE THUNDER. It was a fast read, and a fascinating look at the nightmare that this incident was. Among the fascinating details that have stuck with me all these years was the harrowing account of how they got the sniper, as recounted here by Ramon. The first shooter to hit him, got him with a full 20 round magazine on full auto from the thigh to the neck. Long after he was down, they poured rounds into him. Even the snipers in the surrounding buildings took a crack. Essex was hated and reviled by LE, and their anger and hatred were palpable. He was not only shot over 200 times, but every major organ in his body was destroyed except for his gall bladder. His tongue was found on the other side of the roof, and put in a Baggie. Among the other interesting facts was the command center was amazingly in the lobby like it was reported here. That's how those who believe there was more than shooter think he got away. It was chaos and pandemonium on the ground floor. Nothing resembling a perimeter, or secure area. Security was so lax, people were freely walking in and out. Many cops were off duty and rushed to the scene. Many wearing only a part to a uniform. A hat, shirt, jacket could have easily been stolen
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from a dead officer, or a live distracted one, and then he could have just walked out of the building unchallenged. Police Chief Giarusso was huddled around blueprints and artist's sketches of the roof area for hours trying to conceptualize it, and amazingly unaware that we were all watching it live on TV. It is astounding that no one told him for hours. We had more intel then he did. Of course, who can forget the iconic Alec Gifford repeatedly calling for armed citizens to bring their high powered rifles to help the police who were armed only with shotguns, and .38 caliber service revolvers. Many did come, but the one who stood out the most was that old WW I vet who shows up wearing his "doughboy" hemet, and carrying his trusty M 1903 Springfield Rifle, or P 17 Enfield Rifle. I don't remember which, but I remember him standing in the street firing at the roof. Then, there was the sweep of the building the next day in daylight where officers approached an entry to an elevator shaft on the roof. Someone thought they heard a noise. Suddenly, a sizable amount of cops who stood in a semi circle in front of that large, heavy steel door and opened fire with M1 carbines. Immediately cops started falling to the ground wounded or ducking for cover. Fear rose as people thought there was a new sniper. It turned out the casualties were caused by their own ricochets, and positioning. It was a wild 48 hours in NOLA. There has been nothing like it since.
nobleman (http://connect.nola.com /user/dynamite7777/index.html) (http Mark Essex was a victim of a vicious,racist, beatdown,at the
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hands of the NOPD days before the Howard Johnson incident. He was falsely arrested,and taken to the 5th district police station,where they beat the hell out of him for being a smart a$$. Back then NOPD was mostly white, the few Blacks on the force had to go alone to get alone. I compare Mark Essex to Nat Turner they both were pushed over that line that seperate's the sane from the insane.
View more items tim9lives (http://connect.nola.com /user/tim9lives/index.html) That's an outright lie Nobleman. Fantasy BS
troy_banks (http://connect.nola.com /user/troy_banks/index.html) @nobleman check out Robert C harles http://en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Robert_Charles_Riots (http://en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Robert_Charles_Riots)
toocynical (http://connect.nola.com/user/tooocynical /index.html) (http ://co nnect .nola. Hats off to Mr Vargas. That was a great story. Remember seeing it unfolding from the upper floors at school. I did not realize until today the story of the helicopter
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com /user
pilot. Fascinating.
Ramon Antonio Vargas, NOLA.com | The TimesPicayune (http://connect.nola.com/user/rvargas /index.html) Thank you for your comment. I really enjoyed writing it.
Ramon Antonio Vargas, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune (http://connect.nola.com /user/rvargas/index.html) I should say I really enjoyed meeting, interviewing and writing about Lt. Gen. Pitman. Though I was not born when this incident occurred, I did not have to be around to know that Mark Essex's victims died senselessly. May Alfred Harrell, Ed Hosli, Phil Coleman, Paul Persigo, Louis Sirgo, Robert Steagall, Betty Steagall, W. Sherwood Collins and Frank Schneider rest in peace.
(http://connect.nola.com/user/maria_arroyo/index.html)NOLA bor likes this.
(http://nola.com/) Last Month (http://nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2013/01 /40_years_on_marine_pilot_is_st.html /post/2013-01-06/1357488861-663-719.html)
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agrarian199 (http://connect.nola.com/user/agrarian199 /index.html) This is a fascinating story on so many levels. Is this Hosli related to the Ed Hosli presently on the force? Were race relations really that bad at the time of this shooting? The picture of City Hall without the Hyatt and the Entergy building is really something to see. The city looked so different back then.
Ramon Antonio Vargas, NOLA.com | The TimesPicayune (http://connect.nola.com/user/rvargas /index.html) Ed Hosli Sr. was the father of the Ed Hosli presently on the force.
agrarian199 (http://connect.nola.com /user/agrarian199/index.html) Wow. That puts a whole new spin on things. For months, I have been absolutely furious with Serpas over the way he gave Hosli a free pass for his misdeeds. I am not saying that this excuses that, but it really changes my perspective on things. Again, wow.
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tim9lives (http://connect.nola.com/user/tim9lives /index.html) Great article and it's was good to learn about Chuck Pitman. I remember the Howard Johnson sniper incident, but was only @ 13 years old. The interesting thing I am always left with is that both the Rault Center fire and Howard Johnsons fire and sniper incident were so close together.....6 weeks within each other. I am not sure if the Rault fire was ever solved.....but have always been left with the feeling that Mark Essex very well may have been practicing with the Rault Center fire....maybe he started the fire and was taking notes...planning his Howard Johnson sniper attack.
(http://connect.nola.com/user/maria_arroyo/index.html)NOLA born and (http://connect.nola.com/user/iluvmyiphone2/index.html)neverland911 like this.
Ramon Antonio Vargas, NOLA.com | The TimesPicayune (http://connect.nola.com/user/rvargas /index.html) Indeed, the cause of the Rault Center fire was never determined, so nothing conclusively or officially links Essex to that incident. However, the month after Essex was killed, the Rault's owner did tell the States-Item that a Rault employee saw a man in the building on the morning of the high-rise fire who "might have fit" the physical description of Essex. Take that for what it's worth.
tim9lives (http://connect.nola.com /user/tim9lives/index.html) (http Thanks Ramon. Essex was no dummy. He may
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://co nnect
have been a mad man....But he wasn't lacking in intelligence. I will always believe he started the Rault fire as a trial run for his eventual murder rampage. The Howard Johnson fire appeared to be a well planned attack. Not much different than some of the horrific shootings we read about today....such as Aurora Colorado. He had started multiple fires and tied firecrackers to the window curtains in order to throw the cops off track.
Nick Varrecchio (http://connect.nola.com /user/nick_varrecchio/index.html) tim9lives, I too remember both incidents as if they had occurred last week. I had just turned 12 years old and I remember watching with classmates from our 3rd floor classroom windows at Colton Jr. High. All day we watched the circling helicopters and the NOPD and military deployed on the roof of the burned out Rault Center attempting to top the sniper.
Both events have always been connected in my mind, not that I believe that Essex had anything to do with the Rault Center fire, but because of the closeness of the horrible events in both time and street proximity. Another connection that has always remained with me was that bothevents occurred on very bleak, sunless days - both on the day of the Rault fire and the day that we watched the police from Colton's windows. The days were both the most bleak and dreary days that I could remember up to that time in my life - very uncharacteristic of New Orleans, and to this day whenever the weather is similar to that, I am immediately reminded of those victims of the Rault fire and the horrible days of the Howard Johnson murders.
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I am truly thankful for those TV stations that on the 40th anniversary of the Rault tragedy that did not showtheir file footage of the Rault Center victims that jumped from the building - those images have haunted New Orleanians for decades, and would have opened old wounds and injuries. For a 12 yr old already having lived through a tough 3-4 years of the often horrible realities of public school racial integration tensions, the reactions to and realities of Mark Essex's murders were shocking still. It is certainly a period and chapter that hurts many of us. Both incidents were incredibly haunting and life changing. One expects that a great many the hundreds of thousands that lived through them still feel the same ....
(http://connect.nola.com/user/me1214/index.html)me1214 likes this.
Johnny L. Stalbert (http://connect.nola.com /user/johnny_l._stalbert/index.html) Hey ( Nick ); I was, delighted, to know, that, you, to; comes, from ( Charles J Colton, Jr High ). I'm, curious, where'd, you, went, for ( High School ); ( F T Nichols ) , maybe?
Johnny L. Stalbert (http://connect.nola.com /user/johnny_l._stalbert/index.html) (http ://co nnect .nola. com /user Hey ( Y'all ); yeah, its, me again. This, nightmarish, stuff, occurred, shortly, after, my releasal, from ( L T I - Monroe, La ). I remember, watching, it, all unfold, on the ( T V ) in, which, the coverage, was, provided, by ( T V / Station, WVUE ) which, at that, time; was, located, in only, a few, blocks, away, from, the ( Downtown, Howard Johnson Hotel ). Yeah, old ( Newscene, 8 ) with ( Alec Gifford ) as, the news -
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/joh nny_l
anchor. After, this, incident, was, distinguished, New Orleans, was, tense and you, can, feel, it, in, the air. Our ( Police - Department ) back, then, was, considerred, by many, as, very, racist. The Black Cummunity, were, really, on their ( P's & Q's ). Hell, at best, back, then ( The Police - Department ) only, had, a handful of black Officers. Yeah, yeah; one, was, only ( 13, yrs old ) in ( January, 1973 ), na.
damocles100 (http://connect.nola.com /user/damocles100/index.html) Man, please get back on your meds.

(http://connect.nola.com/user/thenegativeguy/index.html)yep'datsright likes this.
View more items damocles100 (http://connect.nola.com /user/damocles100/index.html) I used to wonder about you, but I realized that you are either playing a game or mentally off balance.
Bold Fenian (http://connect.nola.com /user/Bold_Fenian/index.html) (http Why ( does) , he , do( that)? It's (irritating).
(http://connect.nola.com/user/thenegativeguy/index.html)yep'dats
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likes this.
NOLA born (http://connect.nola.com /user/maria_arroyo/index.html) Johnny, I actually understood and enjoyed this comment.
dinosore (http://connect.nola.com/user/dinosore/index.html) Our government in Washington has made great strides since LBJ in curing the ills which caused Essex to supposedly go over the cliff. Only the fool hardy would bite the hand who signs the check on the first of each month. And when things begin to get a little dicey the feds know just how to handle it. Another free trinket. Yesterday it was a free cellphone. Tomorrow is will be the earpiece.
Creole C. (http://connect.nola.com/user/CreoleChavez /index.html) (http ://co nnect .nola. com /user /Cre What Pittman did that day with his helicopter was heroic, but there was one that topped that one. Helicopter intervention [at My Lai] Warrant Officer One Hugh Thompson, Jr., a helicopter pilot from an aero-scout team, saw a large number of dead and dying civilians as he began flying over the villageall of them infants, children, women, and old men, with no signs of draft-age men or weapons anywhere. Thompson and his crew witnessed an unarmed passive woman being
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oleCh avez
kicked and shot at point-blank range by Captain Medina (Medina later claimed that he thought she had a grenade).[17] The crew made several attempts to radio for help for the wounded. They landed their helicopter by a ditch, which they noted was full of bodies and in which there was movement. Thompson asked a sergeant he encountered there (David Mitchell of the 1st Platoon) if he could help get the people out of the ditch, and the sergeant replied that he would "help them out of their misery". Thompson, shocked and confused, then spoke with Second Lieutenant Calley, who claimed to be "just following orders". As the helicopter took off, they saw Mitchell firing into the ditch. Thompson then saw a group of civilians (again consisting of children, women and old men) at a bunker being approached by ground personnel. Thompson landed and told his crew that if the soldiers shot at the Vietnamese while he was trying to get them out of the bunker that they were to open fire at these soldiers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Lai_Massacre (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Lai_Massacre) Instead of being tried for treason, WO Thompson was awarded the DSC that day for his actions. WO Thompson never accepted his DSC. Thanks, CC
(http://connect.nola.com/user/georgi_kolaroff/index.html)Georgi , , (http://connect.nola.com/user/me1214/index.html)me1214, (http://connect.nola.com/user/maria_arroyo/index.html)NOLA born (http://connect.nola.com/user/Vamps/index.html)Vamps, (http://connect.nola.com/user/rvargas/index.html)Ramon Antonio Vargas, NOLA.com | T and 1 more like this.
Creole C. (http://connect.nola.com /user/CreoleChavez/index.html) (http ://co nnect .nola. com /user /Cre ...was later awarded the DSC for his actions that day... Thanks, CC
(http://nola.com/) Last Month (http://nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2013/01 /40_years_on_marine_pilot_is_st.html/post/2013-01-06
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oleCh avez
/1357474807-164-586.html) Reply
dickey3 (http://connect.nola.com /user/dickey3/index.html) Another incredible fact is that there were some including a US congressman who wanted Thompson court-martialed for his actions, from Wiki." Chairman Mendel Rivers (D-S.C.), who were anxious to play down allegations of a massacre by American troops.[17] Rivers publicly stated that he felt Thompson was the only soldier at My Lai who should be punished (for turning his weapons on fellow American troops) and unsuccessfully attempted to have him court-martialedAs word of his actions became publicly known, Thompson started receiving hate mail, death threats and mutilated animals on his doorstep.
(http://connect.nola.com/user/Vamps/index.html)Vamps likes this.
Bold Fenian (http://connect.nola.com /user/Bold_Fenian/index.html) Wasn't Thompson from here?

weatherSTRAIN (http://connect.nola.com /user/weatherSTRAIN/index.html) (http ://co nnect .nola. com /user There were many in the streets who cheered the sniper and were sad when he was defeated. Many in the city today still regard him as a sort of folk hero for killing white people and especially for targeting white police. Just a few short years earlier many people cheered for the Black Panthers when there was a shootout with police and a standoff with the SWAT team. Rather than focus on the "heroes" of the Mark
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/wea therS
Essex shooting, perhaps the Times Picayune should invest some energy on reporting on the attitudes of the citizenry who were clearly NOT on the side of law enforcement or the men saving lives that day, but silently or vocally cheering for the one taking them.
View more items Vamps (http://connect.nola.com/user/Vamps /index.html) I was there, people may have cheered in the streets but not in those streets........
Georgi (http://connect.nola.com /user/georgi_kolaroff/index.html) I was badly bullied by black kids growing up. I didn't grow up to hate blacks, nor would I ever think of doing harm to anyone on account of race. Sympathizers of this weak man make me sick.
l m (http://connect.nola.com/user/lisamlisa/index.html) (http Why doesn't the title of this article have the heroes name in it? Let's quit giving the murderers their minute of fame and instead remember
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://co nnect
and praise those individuals who did something right and good.
(http://connect.nola.com/user/georgi_kolaroff/index.html)Georgi , (http://connect.nola.com/user/maria_arroyo/index.html)NOLA born and like this.
(http://connect.nola.com/user/kapitan/index.html)kapitan
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40 Years After Sniper Mark Essex, Marine Pilot Is Proud He Helped Stop The Carnage - NOLA

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40 Years After Sniper Mark Essex, Marine Pilot Is Proud He Helped Stop The Carnage - NOLA

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40 years after sniper Mark Essex, Marine pilot is proud he helped stop the...

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Last Month (http://nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2013/01 /40_years_on_marine_pilot_is_st.html/post/2013-01-07 /1357592998-976-896.html) Reply

View more items damocles100 (http://connect.nola.com /user/damocles100/index.html) Amen

sacredfire (http://connect.nola.com/user/sacredfire /index.html) Yep!

who died a the hands of racists and illegitimate government.

and (http://connect.nola.com/user/thenegativeguy/index.html)yep'datsright like this.

(http://connect.nola.com/user/bdoster/index.html)bdoster, (http://connect.nola.com/user/maria_arroyo/index.html)NOLA born

(http://connect.nola.com/user/boots-n-saddles/index.html)RoyRogers like this.

Johnny L. Stalbert (http://connect.nola.com /user/johnny_l._stalbert/index.html)

Base Camp Lejeune,

your, head, becomes, much, lighter, I want, an apology, from, you.

Vamps (http://connect.nola.com/user/Vamps /index.html) 3 snipers !

damocles100 (http://connect.nola.com /user/damocles100/index.html) Man, please get back on your meds.

Bold Fenian (http://connect.nola.com /user/Bold_Fenian/index.html) Wasn't Thompson from here?

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