He was born to Daniel & Ophelia Bolden in East St.Louis,Illinois.He attended Lincoln High School in Jefferson City Missouri.He graduated cum laude from Lincoln University with a B.A. in music composition.Afterwards,he became the first African American detective with the Pinkerton National Detective Agency prior to becoming a highway patrolman with the Illinois State Police.
He married Barbara L.Hardy in 1956 and the couple had three children,Ahvia Maria,Abraham Jr., & Daaim Shabazz.
In October 1960,Abraham became a member of the United States Secret Service.In June 1961,he was transferred from Chicago and given a temporary assignment on the White House detail guarding President John F.Kennedy.With the assignment,part of the Secret Service practice of rotating newer agents onto the detail,Abraham became the first African American to guard the President.He was also reported to have "won two commendations for cracking counterfeiting rings.According to Jet magazine: "In 1962 he ranked second in the nation in solving" counterfeit and check forging cases.According to Abraham,he was assigned to the Secret Service's Presidenttial Protective Division after he met Kennedy on April 28,1961 while working an event at the McCormick Place in Chicago,and that Kennedy there personally invited him to join the White House detail as the first African-American assigned to protect the President.Abraham said that at one time Kennedy introduced him to others as "the Jackie Robinson of the Secret Service," a comment Abraham found so touching he almost broke into tears.
On May 12,Abraham attempted to sell a government file to Joseph Spagnoli Jr.in exchange for $50,000.The file was evidence for a case in which Joseph was named the head of a counterfeiting.
Abraham was arraigned in Chicago on May 20,1964 on federal charges that he had solicited a bribe from the ring that he had helped break.He was accused of seeking $50,000
in exchange for a secret file on the investigation.A federal grand jury returned a three count indictment against Abraham charging him with "seeking a bribe in violation of his official duty "corruptly obstructing the due administration of justice and "conspiring with Frank Jones to commit the crimes defined in these sections.On May 20,Abraham held a news conference at his home on the South Side of Chicago and denied the charges.
In addition,he asserted that he had been framed by the government because he planned to tell the Warren Commission about misconduct on the part of agents assigned to protect Kennedy.Abraham stated that two weeks earlier,prior to leaving for Washington to attend an in-service training,he told another agent that he planned to try to testify before the commission.
He told the media:" I wanted to,and I still intend to,tell the commission about the laxity and non-chalant attitude of secret service agents handling the President.
Abraham charged that agents drank heavily before and after tours of guarding Kennedy in Washington and at his summer home in Hyannis Port,Massachusetts,that they missed their work shifts or reported to their shifts "half drunk," and that
they used official Secret Service cars to transport women companions or to visit bars.He said another agent called him a racial epithet when he complained the issues.Abraham also stated that
he told James J.Rowley,head of the Secret Service,about the drinking but no actions was taken.
Edward Hanrahan,United States for the Northern District of Illinois issued a statement that described Abraham's allegations as "fantastic" and said:"The accuracy of these
charges should be judged by the fact who made them was silent from 1961 until he was arrested...
Newspaper reports indicated that the Warren Commission was made aware of Abraham's allegations and quoted an unnamed member of the Commission as stating:"It would appear that he is trying to get off the hook by making such charges now.
Nevertheless,the charges he makes are serious.He desires to testify and request ought to be approved." According to the Associated Press,a spokesman for the Commission stated they were considering calling Abraham,but made no decision.
On June 18,James addressed Abraham's allegations in testimony provided to the Warren Commission.James explained that Abraham was selected to rotate through the White House detail for 30 days in the summer of 1961 as part of an orientation program,and that Abraham's allegations referred to a 5-day span in Hyannis Port.When James Lee Rankin,general counsel for the Warren Commission asked him when he received Abraham's complaint,James replied: "The fact is he never informed me.He never informed any of his supervisors or anyone on the detail.James Rankin then interrupted his questioning of James Rowley to state:"I think the record should show,Mr. Chairman,that we were never advised that he wanted to testify,nor had we any inquiry or anything about the matter,until after we learned about in the newspaper.And,even then he didn't ask to testify.And we asked the FBI to check into it,and he had counsel and they refused to tell anything about the matter at that time.James later stated that there was "no truth to the charges of misconduct.He added that Abraham had leveled eleven charges and that there was partial truth to one of the charges (that the agents had purchased two or three cases of beer which were available to agents coming off duty),but that his investigation found that there were no violations of Secret Service regulations.in response to James Rankin's questioning,James Rowley answered that Abraham's indictment was the first time he could recall that a criminal complaint was lodged against a Secret Service agent.
Abraham peformed a series of piano recitals throughout Chicago in order to raise money for his legal defense fund.
The government's case included the testimony that Abraham of two men,Frank W.Jones & Joseph Spagnoli,both facing felony charges originating from the same Secret Service office that Abraham was employed and who were facing upcoming trials before the same Chicago court.The case against Frank was dismissed after Abraham conviction.The copy of the secret government file on Joseph counterfeiting operation that Abraham allegedly put up for sale was never recovered,last being seen in the Chicago offices of the Secret Service,
disappearing before charges were brought against Abraham.Abraham was accused of receiving or was he ever found to be in possession of any illict funds from the accused felons who testified against him.
On 7,the prosecution's chief witness,Frank W.Jones,testified that Abraham attempted to sell him government information for $50.000.He said that Abraham had driven him to
a park where he showed him parts of a Secret Service file.During his testimomy on July 9,Abraham denied all charges against him.He also denied that he had offerd Richard Walter,
an informant,$500 to kill Frank and said that he had only told Richard to stay away from Frank.
Abraham's first jury deadlocked 11-1 in favor of conviction,at which time,presiding judge
Joseph Sam Perry issued an Allen Charge in which he expressed his belief that Abraham was guilty but that the jury was free to disregard his opnion.The jury remained deadlocked,and Joseph declared a mistrial on July 11,1964.He set August 3,as the date for a new trial.
Abraham was re-tried.On August 12,1964,the jury found Abraham guilty of the charges and Judge Perry sentenced him to six years in prison.Judge Perry had the option to sentence him to 25 years and $165,000 plus three times the amount of the bribe).Abraham was reported tearfully to the verdict:"If at the time of my arrest i ever embrassed any agency of the United States,it was because at the time i through my statements were true.I did not mean to embarrass anybody.I ask you,please have mercy.
In God's name,please have mercy! Acknowledging Abraham's apology Ted Hanrarahan told the media:"The verdict completely rejects the outrageous charges made by the defendant and confirms
the public's belief in the absolute integrity of the U.S.Secret Service.
Abraham was fired by the service in August 1964.While his appeal was pending,he was employed in Chicago by the Ingersoll Products Division of the Borg-Warner Corporation as an assembly line inspector of government ordered helments and cameras.At Ingersoll,he was credited with starting a collection among fellow employees that raised enough money to send 75,000 cigarettes to American military forces in South Vietnam.During that time,he was also an official for a local union of the United Automobile Workers.
In January 1965,five months after Abraham's trial and sentencing,Joseph Spagnoli was found guilty on counterfeiting charges and sentenced to fifteen years.At his trial,Joseph said his livelihood was gambling,that he had falsely in Abraham's trial his mother supported him,and that this false testimony was subomed by the government counsel in order to improve the jury's opinion of him.On the basis of this information,Abraham appealed his conviction as well as the denial of a motion for a retrial to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.In addition,he claimed that Judge Perry's Allen Charge in the first trial was evidence that Judge Perry was not impartial and that his failure to rescue himself denied.
Abraham a fair trial.
In a decision issued December 29,1965,Judges John Simpson Hastings,Winfred George Knoch,and Luther Merritt Swygert for the Seventh Circuit Court upheld Abraham's conviction
and denied a retrial.The Court wrote that they found no merit to his claim that he had not received an impartrial trial under Judge Perry.Regarding Joseph's testimony,at Abraham's trial,the Court said his testimony was "merely cumulative"and rejected Abraham's "central contention"that Joseph was an essential witness for the prosecution whose testimony could only be corroborated by the testimony of Frank.Addressing the issue of perjury that was the core of Abraham's appeal,the Seventh Circuit Court noted that Joseph had testified at both trials and said that he had not actually perjured himself about his source of income.The Court noted that Joseph's "livelihood" was clearly a collateral matter bearing upon his
credibility" and they did not believe "the jury's overall appraisal of this witness would have been substantially affected by the knowledge that he was being less than forthright
concerning his source of income.
Abraham was ordered to begin serving his sentence in June 1966.He served thirty-nine months in prison and was release on two and a half years probation.
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