Los Siete de la Raza

Today's podcast: Los Siete de la Raza ("The Seven of the People") is the story of seven Hispanic youths accused of murdering a San Francisco police officer, recounted by Richard Hodge, who defended accused Gary Lescallett during the trial.

The murder of police officer Joe Brodnik, allegedly by a gang of Hispanic youths, seemed like an open-and-shut case. Brodnik's partner, officer Paul McGoran, gave clear and damning testimony against the youths. But when the defense team questioned the actual witnesses, a completely different story came out, one of lies, police brutality, racism, corruption, and a massive cover-up.

Immediately after Brodnick's murder, the accused youths were damned by newspapers using headlines like, “Hispanic Youth Murder Police Officer.” The case seemed clear: Brodnik’s partner, Paul McGoran claimed that while questioning a group of Hispanic youths about a robbery, a fight broke out, McGoran’s gun was taken by Gary Lescallett, who then murdered officer Brodnik.

But when the defense team started investigating, they learned that officer McGoran was well known to the Hispanic community as a racist, corrupt cop, one who bragged about lying to juries, and who was known for manufacturing evidence and brutalizing innocents. And the stories told by actual eyewitnesses to the murder was a dramatically different than what Brodnik claimed.

“Los Siete de la Raza” were Gary Lescallett, Rodolfo Antonio "Tony" Martinez, Mario Martinez, Jose Rios, Nelson Rodriguez, Danilo Melendez, and George Lopez (Lopez was never caught, so only six went on trial for the murder). Prominent attorney Charles Garry brought in Richard Hodge (whom he’d worked with on the Oakland Seven case), Michael Kennedy (who’d represented Huey Newton and Timothy Leary), and R. Jay Engel.

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The 1969 Trial that shocked San Francisco: Los siete de la Raza

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