SUMMARYSteve Cokely, the full dossier (agent report, Nov 7, 2026; follows P771, P828). Full timeline and claims tables: agent-reports/cokely-dossier.md. The Chicago Tribune, LA Times, NYT and Washington Post pages were blocked, so the 1988 story comes via JTA, a Tribune reprint, a 1992 ADL report quoting the 1988 papers, and Wikipedia's citations. LIFE, Record (secondary sources): born June 17, 1952; at Northern Illinois University in the early 1970s; he said in a 1992 NIU talk that he was sent to a psychiatric ward in 1975 after a dispute with the university president (Northern Star, Oct 27, 1992; on record that he said it). Aide to Alderman Eugene Sawyer and to the City Council rules committee under Harold Washington; Mayor Sawyer's $35,000-a-year special projects aide from December 1987. THE FIRING, Record: the tapes were his 1985–87 lectures at the Nation of Islam's Final Call building, sold in its bookstore (one title: "Compulsory Education is Mandatory Strangulation"). The ADL's Chicago director, Michael Kotzin, raised them with Sawyer on April 5, 1988; the Tribune printed excerpts around May 1; Sawyer fired him May 5, 1988. Robert Lucas and Aldermen Evans, Tillman and Davis called for the firing; Farrakhan and hundreds of WVON radio callers defended him; the mayor's office logged 156 calls to fire him and 3 against. THE AIDS CLAIM: on record that he said it; he named no doctor, hospital or document, so it is unsupported and is never repeated here as fact. It stays separate from the documented harms, the Tuskegee study and the Soviet/East German Operation INFEKTION disinformation campaign (CIA historian Boghardt, 2009). THE BOULÉ, Record: Sigma Pi Phi founded May 15, 1904 in Philadelphia by six men led by Henry McKee Minton; over 5,000 members; its own history says it was secretive until 1982. His "built against Garvey" claim is Disputed by dates (Garvey's US movement came about 1916–17, after 1904); "modeled on Skull and Bones" is Open (check Wesley's 1954 history and the Alpha Boulé records at Temple's Blockson Collection). HAROLD WASHINGTON: Cokely said he was murdered or poisoned. Disputed by named tests: the autopsy found a heart attack with only lidocaine from resuscitation; drug tests were negative (P828). MLK AND JESSE JACKSON: on record that he said the CIA killed King with an insider, and that he named Jackson. Disputed: the 1999 Memphis civil jury found a conspiracy, but the Justice Department's 2000 review rejected its evidence. Record: other King aides disputed Jackson's 1968 account (NYT Magazine, 1987). Jackson taking part is Open, with nothing documenting it. Jackson died February 17, 2026, at 84. MASONS, PRINCE HALL, BONES/BUSH: claims on record, untested, Open (no dated lecture found for the Prince Hall and Bush claims). FINAL ILLNESS: the only procedure report is blog/podcast-only, from Matt Kazee (posted April 12, 2012): he said Cokely went to a hospital around April 9 to have fluid drained from his stomach and expected to be out in hours. No surgery, hospital or diagnosis named; Open. LECTURES: about 15 dated, from 1985 to 2011 (Michigan 1990, NIU 1992, Los Angeles 1993, C-SPAN 1994, the cancelled Warner Music talk in 1996, YouTube 2010–11); no book found. LEGACY: carried by Kazee, his son Steve Cokely Jr., the New Black Panther Party's education series and YouTube re-uploads; critics include the ADL (1992), the Michigan Daily (1990) and Moguldom; scholarly mentions in Kimbrough's Black Greek 101 (2003), Whitfield (1994) and Heller (2015)
NEXTthe Tribune 1988 archive, the Defender obituary, the death certificate, Wesley 1954, the Blockson records.