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The story of 'Flip' Williams
By JOE GORMAN
jgorman@vindy.com
YOUNGSTOWN
The Vindicator ( Youngstown)
Photo
ROBERT K. YOSAY | THE VINDICATOR...Jamele Scott,Jameka Williams- both children of willie flip williams pose with the manuscript Flip wrote
Some have said the criminal exploits of the late Willie “Flip” Williams would make an excellent book.
Apparently Flip thought so, too, because he wrote it all down, and now his family is trying to get his memoir published.
One of his daughters, Jameka Williams of Columbus, said her father also wrote fiction and history, all about Youngstown and all based on his life experiences.
“It’s deep,” she said of his writing.
Now, she is trying to get her father’s story published — as well as her own, “The Mindset Of A Murderer’s Child,” about coming to grips with being the child of one of the most notorious criminals in Youngstown history.
That was a process that took several years, she said.
She is still working on the book, she said.
“I was going back and forth on doing it and not doing it, and now I am ready to face any questions that will come up, both negative and positive,” she said.
Flip Williams was executed in October 2005 at age 48 for the murders of four people inside a house on the East Side in 1991, known as the “Labor Day Massacre.” Police say he had recently returned from California, where he had served time in prison, and wanted to eliminate all of his rivals in the drug trade. So, he invited them to the home and then killed them.
One of the victims was not involved in crime at all, just a man home from leave from the military who went to the house with a friend .
Surreal saga
After that, the saga turned almost surreal. Williams was arrested, then broke out of the old Mahoning County jail next to the courthouse on Boardman Street.
He was arrested again after breaking into the county juvenile justice center on Scott Street in order to get to some juvenile witnesses in the quadruple homicide who were being held there. Williams had an accomplice dress in a police uniform and pretend to escort Williams in as a prisoner when they got inside. He was talked out by his mother and no one was harmed.
His trial was moved to Summit County after bomb threats at the Mahoning County Courthouse.
But even before the Labor Day 1991 killings, Williams was a well-known figure to law enforcement. He had been in and out of jail several times and was rumored to have been involved in several other murders.
In spite of that, he acquired an almost grudging respect from some investigators, because of what they termed his off-the-charts intelligence and his kind, respectful demeanor whenever he dealt with police. But that respect also came with a caveat; you did not want to cross him or get in his way.
Jameka was one of four children of her father and said he was involved in her life, although she was sheltered a lot by relatives about his criminal lifestyle. She said she visited him regularly when he was in prison. When he was not in jail, he would take her shopping or for drives, and trips to Dairy Queen were also frequent, she said.
Her brother, Jamele Scott, who was just 2 when his father was arrested for the 1991 murders, said he only knew his father from visits to prison, but he said his father was always honest about what he did and never ducked any questions.
“He told me to ask him anything,” Scott said. “He was a cool, easy person to talk to.”
Jameka said it is hard to fathom what some termed the ruthlessness of her father because that is a side of him she never saw.
“My dad was gentle. As a little girl, I felt I had him wrapped around my finger,” she said. Scott said the same thing.
“It wasn’t the impression most people had,” Scott said. “You could talk to him about everything.”
Backlash
Both Scott and his sister said they are prepared for the backlash from people who would be upset about seeing a book that their father wrote.
He wrote the books during his stints in jail, Jameka said. She said some were typed on old, portable typewriters, and some were handwritten. She was given them after her father died. She said her first thought after reading them was: “Wow, my dad wrote this. This is my dad.”
She said her father probably felt the need to write because he had so much in his head when he was in prison and had to find a way to get those thoughts out.
“He needed to do it,” she said. “His mind was always going. Why not put it on paper?”
Jameka said her father made no effort to sugarcoat his life in his writings, although he does dispute the telling of some events.
“He doesn’t portray himself as innocent,” she said. “There are some things people will say, ‘Yes, it did happen.’ He’s not saying he’s a perfect person. He’s not saying he’s an innocent person. He doesn’t glamorize his life,” she added.
In fact, Jameka said Flip told her son to stay out of trouble. “He told my son, ‘Never grow up and be like me,’” she said.
In excerpts of his memoir provided to The Vindicator, Williams writes of what it was like growing up on the East Side, about the killing of President Kennedy in 1963 while he was in school, the death of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 and efforts by the Black Panthers to recruit students at East High School in 1973, as well as his early trips to jail.
Although Jameka was shielded as much as she could be from her father’s lifestyle, the killings in 1991 made that effort for naught, she said.
“There were people trying to kill me because of this case,” she said.
Jameka said that’s one of the reasons she still lives in Columbus, where she is a nurse and also attends classes at Ohio State University.
During the time of the 1991 case, Jameka said the family received several offers for people to tell their story and her father’s, but all were turned down. She said her own two children did not know until last year what their grandfather did and why he died. Jameka was also with him when he was executed.
She still has mixed emotions about the things her father did, but she added that now, as time has gone on, she is ready to deal with those emotions.
“The way I am dealing with my life, it is easier,” she said.