120: PROOF that the FBI targeted, tracked, and unalived Americans! | The Dark History of COINTELPRO

2024/2/7

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So over like the holiday break, I got really sick. I've already mentioned this. You got it. I got sick and I had like...

A lot of free time. So I was watching movies and I was reading books. And I, for some reason, went down this rabbit hole about Bernie Madoff. Do you know Bernie Madoff? Ponzi scheme? If you don't, Bernie Madoff was a Wall Street criminal who stole something like $65 billion. Completely insane. I was like, how'd he do that? I want to know. So it turns out his sons actually turned him in. He had two sons. And then the daughter-in-law's, they wrote like a tell-all book, you know, their side of the story. And girl, let me tell you, I was like, I had to read it because I was like, what do they have to say?

So while I was reading all about like the FBI investigating Bernie, I got to thinking about other high profile FBI cases. Like, you know, Jonestown, Black Dahlia, ooh, the McMillions case with the Scratchers. Yeah.

And I kept coming across this one major story, FBI story, that I had never heard of before. By the way, those Bernie Madoff books, they were not good. I couldn't, ugh. Anyways, this story was called COINTELPRO. And with each new thing I learned about it, I was like, how the hell did I not learn about this in school for sure? And like, why aren't we talking about this more? There's something here. Are we paying attention? Today, we're taking a deep dive into the dark waters of COINTELPRO.

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Hi friends, I hope you're having a wonderful day today. My name is Bailey Sarian and I'd like to welcome you to my podcast. Hi, it's Dark History. Here, we believe history does not have to be boring. A lot of the times it's tragic, let's be honest. Sometimes it's happy. And a lot of it can be uncomfortable. But either way, it's our Dark History. So all you have to do is sit back, relax, and let's talk about that hot, juicy history goss.

Joan over here is definitely not the FBI. And then we have Paul dressed as an FBI. It's very conflicting. Are you FBI? No, but you are? So our story starts in America in the 1950s, you know, around the time of the white picket fences and leave it to beaver.

That's my favorite porno. But for millions of other Americans, things weren't so neat and pretty. During the 50s, social justice groups were popping up left and right, and they were demanding major change in society. And most importantly, I mean, they were demanding equality. So simple, right? These groups were showing up all across the country in different cities, and this was catching the attention of America's hall monitors.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, aka the FBI. They no likey. For years, the FBI had been secretly keeping tabs on these groups. They're probably thinking like, hey, this whole social justice thing will go away soon, right? But the opposite was happening.

Civil rights movements were taking hold in America, and it wasn't just within communities of color. It was all over the country. People in power started to see the rise of these groups as a threat to their freedom, so there was just a sense of, like, panic in the air. The FBI decided to start a new program called the Counterintelligence Program, a.k.a. COINTELPRO. BOOT!

So COINTELPRO was a top secret undercover operation that was monitoring all of the grassroots movements happening in America. And if they were even a tiny bit suspicious, the FBI would send in agents to like break up those groups because ultimately they believed a tiny movement could end up becoming powerful enough to take down the government.

But even if it seemed like a harmless organization, these COINTELPRO agents would cause chaos and disruption and cause the individual groups to break up. It's drama.

And this was all proven in an FBI document, which stated that the purpose of COINTELPRO was to "expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize the activities of the black nationalists." So I feel like that's pretty straightforward as to what their plan was, you know?

Some of COINTEL's biggest targets were organizations like the Communist Party, any groups led by Black Americans, and also the American Indian Movement. The American Indian Movement was a grassroots movement headed up by indigenous Americans trying to fight back against things like discrimination, poverty, and police brutality.

And when they started to get a little too much attention in the media, COINTELPRO would then step in and take action. Agents would be sent undercover to these groups to stir shit up. They would start rumors about other members to get everyone to turn on each other. And it was just like high school drama. I heard that Jake wants to be in charge of everyone and thinks Michael is a dumbass and a bad leader. And his breath stinks.

Just plant that seed and walk away, you know? And people within the group would fight and be like, "Oh my God, I heard that same shit. That's so weird." And he does have bad breath.

You know? Look, people within the group would fight and lose sight of the mission and it would just be a whole mess. This usually worked, but let's say if this didn't work, then agents would round up the leaders of the movement and throw them in jail for months at high bail costs so they wouldn't be able to get out. But if that didn't slow them down, COINTELP would play even dirtier. So they would use a tactic called snitch jacketing. I know.

So this was essentially when agents would start rumors that people within a movement are snitches for the FBI. Even if that was totally untrue, which it usually was. All the FBI needed to do was plant the seed of suspicion, you know? People who were snitch jacketed would usually be driven out of the organization or even sometimes killed.

Between all of that, this would cause major damage to the movement by creating chaos in their ranks. Many of these groups never really even got a fair chance to make real change happen. And of course the FBI didn't play by the rules when they were messing with them. I mean they were just taking down these groups by any means necessary. Almost 80% of all of their actions against civil rights groups were targeted at one in particular.

The Black Panther Party. This organization focused on making political moves to help black communities get access to decent housing and education, equal rights in society, and to fight police brutality. In the media, they only seem to focus on how this group seemed to carry weapons. It's like, yeah, of course they wanted to. They wanted to defend themselves. And don't they have a right to bear arms?

The fact that they had these weapons, it seemed to upset a lot of people. So they ended up getting labeled as an extremist group. The FBI believed that black nationalist groups, especially the Black Panthers, were essentially anarchists trying to ruin America. And there was one guy they had their eyes on. A leader capturing the hearts and minds of thousands of people and pushing for radical change in America.

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The FBI's director at the time, his name was J. Edgar Hoover, the same slimeball we covered last episode, remember? Yeah.

He absolutely hated a guy named Martin Luther King Jr. He hated him. Even though MLK was all about peace, it didn't matter. Hoover and COINTELPRO saw him as an uncontrollable threat that needed to be neutralized. And anyone who disagreed with Hoover was freaking out. Sadly, MLK was shot and killed in 1968, and there are many rumors out there that COINTELPRO was actually involved in his death. But nothing has been proven, just like,

All signs point to them. So with that problem, quote unquote problem out of the way, the FBI had their sights set on another leader within the black community, a guy named Fred Hampton. So Fred was born on August 30th, 1948 in Chicago. And even at a young age, many thought of him as like a very natural leader.

He petitioned his school to allow black girls to compete for homecoming queen alongside the white girls. He protested against the lack of black teachers and administrators at the school. And he even rallied for an integrated pool and rec center in his neighborhood. Like, Fred's just amazing, right? At home, Fred would host these free breakfasts on the weekend for kids in the neighborhood who were hungry. I mean, his whole life was about social justice and giving back.

And after he graduated high school, Fred even marched alongside MLK at a peaceful protest. He went on to help negotiate a non-aggression truce between Chicago gangs in the area. It was kind of like, what can't Fred do, you know? Then Fred joined the Black Panthers, and there he naturally rose up the ranks really quick, and he earned an important leadership position within the organization. Around 1969, Fred and his girlfriend Deborah got engaged, and pretty soon after that, Deborah was promoted

was pregnant. So he's got a leadership position, he has a family on the way, like his future is feeling bright. So naturally this is when the FBI is like, "A black man thriving? Not on our watch."

By this time, in the mid-1960s, the FBI was 12 years into their secret COINTELPRO mission. They had spent over a decade secretly attempting to undermine black leaders of the civil rights movement. Simply put, the FBI thought these men had too much power.

So they felt threatened that the fabric of America was about to unravel. It looked a lot like Fred was going to be what Hoover believed was the "black messiah" that he was afraid of. He was about to make it his personal mission to stop Fred from building a movement that would become too big to take down. To the FBI, this up-and-comer from Chicago had the ability to unite not just black Americans, but millions of people from all walks of life.

Fred's political power was growing by the day and he was on the fast track to becoming a major power player in the civil rights movement. So the FBI decided something drastic had to be done. Around this same time across town, there was a troubled young man named William O'Neill.

Now William, he was 18 and he was living in Chicago. And at the age of 18, he had built himself, you know, quite the criminal rap sheet. He had gotten into trouble for things like kidnapping, home invasion, and like torture.

So small stuff. And most recently, he had driven a stolen car across state lines and he got into a car accident and fled the scene. And that was kind of the cherry on top for the shit Sunday for young William. Because he crossed state lines, the FBI gets involved. So an FBI agent working under Hoover comes to William with an offer. The agent told William that every single one of his charges, not just the car theft, all of them, would poof.

magically go away. And it would go away if he did a couple of favors for the FBI. Just like a few small little things, some errands. So they tell William, "Here's what you gotta do. You gotta go to Chicago. You gotta join the Black Panther Party, okay? Become friends with everybody. Get close with a man named Fred Hampton. Then you're gonna report it all back to us

and everything will be A-OK for you, William. So naturally, I mean, hello, William has two choices in his mind. He's like, OK, behind door number one, don't take the deal and spend probably forever in prison. Or two, become a spy for the FBI and get a fresh start in life. Hmm.

William chose door number. You know that one good tank top that you wear like all year round? I mean, it fits you just right. So you wear it all the time, but maybe now it's getting a little old. Shifting my wardrobe from summer to fall is always a challenge. Luckily, Quince offers timeless and high quality items that I

love so I can make sure my wardrobe stays fresh and I don't blow my budget. They've got cashmere sweaters from $50, pants for every occasion, washable silk tops. And my favorite part, all Quince items are priced 50 to 80% less than similar brands. By partnering directly with top factories, Quince cuts out the cost of the middleman and

R.I.P. Make switching seasons a breeze with Quince's high quality closet essentials. Go to quince.com slash dark history for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. That's quince, Q-U-I-N-C-E dot com slash dark history to get free shipping and 365 day returns. quince.com slash dark history.

So over the next year, William joined the Black Panthers and rose up the ranks. He became not just like a reliable member of the organization, but also a trusted friend of Fred. Oh yeah. So William was given keys to several Black Panther headquarters and safe houses. And not only that, William became Fred's bodyguard and head of security.

Meanwhile, William was reporting back to the FBI, secretly giving all the info on Fred and the group. During this time, the Chicago police were also randomly conducting raids on Panther offices. They were rounding up members of the organization and like arresting them on

whatever charges they could think of. For example, like, Panthers would get arrested on reports that they were stealing cars. And if, like, the police looked into it, turned out they were not stealing cars. They were actually driving their own cars. So, yeah.

Police would like show up maybe where the Panthers were meeting, claiming that there was reports of a stabbing. And then that would turn out to be false. Panthers even got arrested on charges of assaulting officers when an assault never took place. It was just coming from all sides. The police even burned down the building where the Panther offices were.

But that didn't stop Fred or the Panthers. In fact, it only motivated them to work harder. And to them, it proved exactly what they were fighting against, police brutality and corruption.

So the Chicago police and the FBI are talking. They're like, this obviously isn't working. We tried arresting people, nothing happened. We even tried blowing everything up and like it didn't work. So the FBI decided they had to ramp things up. They felt that if they wanted to kill the snake, they needed to cut off the head. The FBI told William, their informant, that he needed to get a detailed floor plan of Fred's apartment.

apartment. And on that floor plan, they wanted to know which specific bed Fred slept in. Which is like, hmm, why would you want to know that? That's kind of weird. William wasn't in a position to ask questions, you know, he didn't want to go to prison. So he just did what he was told. He ended up getting this floor plan and he handed it right over. And then you'll never believe what the FBI ended up doing with that information. Ugh.

On the evening of December 3rd, 1969, Fred taught a political education class at a nearby church where William was in charge of security.

After that, Fred invited in some members of the Panthers over for a little dinner at his apartment, which was located on the west side of Chicago. William steps up and volunteers to cook the meal for all of the guys, and everyone's like, oh my god, what a nice guy, you know? Great! While he was doing all that, William slips something called secobarbital into one of Fred's drinks. This is a fast-acting sedative.

So, it would knock you right out. He was literally going to aqua-ta-fauna someone. Fred. And people, like literally people have been doing this for years, right? William did this because the FBI told him that the Chicago police were going to raid Fred's home that very night. They wanted to make sure that Fred wouldn't be awake during the raid. Eventually, the dinner party ends and William leaves and Fred winds down for the night. He calls his mom to check in. Not sure what they talked about, doesn't matter.

And at about 1:30 a.m., Fred falls asleep while he's on the phone with his mom. From 1:30 a.m. to about 4:44 a.m., Fred is sleeping peacefully in his bed next to his pregnant fiance, Debra. There were also a few other Panthers sleeping over as well, but then 4:45 a.m. rolls around and all hell breaks loose.

The front door of Fred's apartment is kicked in. 14 Chicago police officers in street clothes storm his place. And right away, it was clear that this was not a normal raid. These guys were armed with pistols, shotguns, machine guns, and knew every square inch of Fred's place, thanks to William's floor plan. They first encountered a panther who was on guard that night.

His name was Mark. Mark was armed, and as soon as the cops saw him, they shot him right in the heart. It was said that Mark did shoot back, but it's unclear if his gun went off after he was killed, because maybe like when he fell, like the gun went off, or maybe like his arm or body spasmed, and that's because of, and then that's why the gun went off. Do you know what I'm saying? You get it. But the bullet from Mark's gun shot upward into the ceiling.

The cops marched through the apartment firing their weapons the whole time despite the Panthers pleading with them to stop. Like, it was not necessary. Reports say they fired about 90 bullets, wounding several Panthers as they made their way to Fred's bedroom. A fellow Panther hurried into like Fred's bedroom trying to wake him up saying like, chairman, chairman, like,

"Wake up, pigs are vamping." But again, Fred was drugged and he really couldn't wake up even if he wanted to. The details of what happens next comes from Fred's fiance, Deborah, who witnessed all of this firsthand. Deborah said the cops stormed the entrance to the bedroom and would not stop shooting. She said it felt like forever, but it only had lasted 10 minutes. But still, 10 minutes feels like forever. Plaster was flying off the walls and so many bullets were shot into the mattress that Deborah said it was vibrating.

The man who tried to wake Fred up screamed, "Stop shooting! Stop shooting! We all, we got a pregnant sister here!" Somehow, Fred and Deborah survived this barrage of bullets. Eventually, the cops did stop shooting once they broke into the bedroom. Even though Deborah was visibly pregnant, they dragged her into the kitchen and the horror continued.

Deborah heard one of the cops say like, is he still alive? And then moments later, two more gunshots ring out. And then she said she heard another cop say like, he's good and dead now. It's fucked up.

Fred was never fully conscious, never left his bed and was executed at close range with two shots to his head. So when information started to come to light about what happened that night, I mean, people were shocked. Fred was killed, Mark Clark, the security guard was killed and four others were injured.

The authorities who raided the home shot over 90 bullets in just a few minutes, and it was reported that the Black Panthers only shot a single bullet. But still, the authorities had the upper hand when it came to the media.

The police knew it would be more, it would be like a he said, she said. Now the police, they're just fucking assholes. And they went to the media and they told everyone, hey, it was a shootout. You know, what were we supposed to do? They were shooting us. So we, we, bing, bing, shot back. Like we saved you guys. You should be thanking us. The police, Chicago police decided to get ahead of the news and release their own public statement. They praised their officers for having quote, the professional discipline in not killing people.

the Panthers present, end quote. Yeah, they were praising each other for not killing all of them. I guess that's pretty bad on itself. No further comment needed. They explained to the public that the Panthers started firing at them through the apartment door before they even entered the space. The Chicago police even went out of their way to film. They literally took

part of their budget, right, Chicago police budget to film like a reenactment video. They invested in one of these, it's all cheesy, showing how the raid went down, you know, like they were shooting at us and we were just being police officers.

And the public was just like, oh my God, that's crazy. I'm glad the police were okay. They saved the day. At the same time, the Black Panthers are figuring out how to deal with all the bad press. They were seen as the bad guys here, right? Very aggressive, shooting at the police. On top of all that, they had lost their beloved leader and one of their members. A group knew from the surviving witnesses what actually went down, and they were understandably

upset that the story being put out in the media was complete bullshit. They decided the only way forward was to let the truth speak for itself. So the Black Panthers opened up the crime scene, aka Fred's apartment, to journalists. They're like, come on in.

Look at the evidence. And pretty much right when they stepped onto the scene, they knew something was off. Now, originally, the cops alleged that there were bullet holes all over the door of the bedroom. But when the journalists took a gander, it was clear to them that the only thing on the door

were nails to hold up like a few posters. There were no bullet holes to be found. On top of that, there was a bunch of empty shells and bullets on the ground, but they only matched police weapons. So the journalists published what they saw, but still nothing was done about it. You know, like what are they gonna do? Because the Black Panthers had already at this point been like,

dragged through the mud and painted as like these violent enemies of America, there's like, nobody really cared. So the death of Fred Hampton was just ruled a justifiable homicide. The Black Panthers, for a great reason, were outraged and the whole country descended deeper into chaos. And like this set into motion a chain of events that would eventually expose Hoover

the FBI and their super secret COINTELPRO scheme. You know that one good tank top that you wear like all year round? I mean, it fits you just right. So you wear it all the time, but maybe now it's getting a little old. Shifting my wardrobe from summer to fall is always a challenge. Luckily, Quince offers timeless and high quality items that I

So just like your favorite podcast, Progressive will be with you 24-7, 365 days a year, so you're protected no matter what. Multitask right now. Quote your car insurance at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. National average 12-month savings of $744 by new customer survey who saved with Progressive between June 2022 and May 2023. Potential savings will vary. Discounts not available in all states and situations.

By this point in 1970, both Martin Luther King Jr. and Fred Hampton were dead. Rumors and conspiracy theories of the FBI destroying civil rights groups were on the lips of everyone across the country. But the problem was no one had any hard evidence.

until one day, a physics professor decided to go and like figure this shit out. He's like, "I'll do it." William was a physics professor at a college and he was like on a mission to prove that the FBI was trying to shut up anyone who questioned the government.

So he put together another underground group of seven other activists and they called themselves the Citizens Committee to Investigate the FBI. Pretty much right away, they knew the only way they could get the information they needed was to break into the FBI's office, which was in Pennsylvania. One of the activists was a woman named Bonnie.

And in 1971, Bonnie disguised herself as a college student and went undercover inside the FBI. She told everyone she was conducting research on work opportunities for women and people totally bought it. She's like, "Yeah, it's cool." While she was in there, she took notes on everything.

The number of guards, the location of filing cabinets, the entrances, the exits. You know, so I like going through people's desks. Sometimes they always have like snacks stuffed in their drawers. So I'm sure she did some of that too. She was trying to create like a perfect plan for the committee to easily slip in and out of the building to get the information they needed. After Bonnie's undercover work, the group picked a day to break in when they knew everyone's attention would be somewhere else.

Like even the FBI's attention. And I was thinking, well, how the hell are they going to distract? How do you distract the FBI? Well, March 8th, 1971, an iconic boxer named Muhammad Ali was facing off against Joe Frazier. And it's like the fight of the century. I'm sure you know about it because it was the fight of the century.

Frazier was the world heavyweight champ at the time and Ali was fighting him to get a title back. So everyone was all pumped up for this. Like, this was a huge event and anyone who had a TV or whatever was tuning in, okay? If you were alive and breathing, most likely you were tuning in. It was estimated that more than 300 million people were watching this fight. So they knew that the good people at the FBI would most likely be tuning in as well. Which is like really smart, huh? I wouldn't have thought of that.

After the fight began, all eight members of the Citizens Committee waited until the FBI building was locked up for the night. Once everyone's gone, that's when they go up to the building and they try and like open up the door. And they find out that the door recently had been like the lock had been replaced with a new one. And I'm like, oh, fuck, that sucks. It's unpickable. So they had to pivot.

and push their way through another door by just using sheer force. Luckily, they had some tools. They had a crowbar, so they used that crowbar to wedge open a side entrance door, and one by one, they just like slid into the building. So once they got in, their plan couldn't have been more perfect.

They found an empty building with zero guards, unlocked filing cabinets, and a treasure trove of confidential files ready to be snatched up. So the group, they're just grabbing whatever the hell they could and they quickly just got the hell out of there. Once they were safe back at their home base, they realized they managed to take around 1,000 FBI files. Oh shit yeah.

They sat down, they got to work trying to like find evidence that Americans were being spied on. But then they ended up reading the documents and what they found was way more juicier. They're like, "Oh shit." The committee knew if they had released the information themselves, most likely they'd get in trouble and nobody would believe them. So they went over probably to like a library or something, maybe, remember Kinkos? Kinkos? Anyways, they went and made a bunch of copy machine copies of these documents.

And they made sure to make copies of the documents that had like the most damning evidence on them. And then they sent them to different news outlets and different journalists and even to two senators across the country. Personally, this is a dream job. I love secrets. I love confidential document. Like I would love to do this. Not that I'm going to FBI, don't put me on your list. I'm not going to, okay. I'm not able to climb fences or anything like that.

Anyways, most news organizations didn't want to publish any of this information right away. I mean, it was really scary shit. And it was the government. But there was one journalist who was like, nah, fuck you guys. I'm gonna do it. A woman named Betty Metzger at the Washington Post. You go, Betty. She was ready to play dirty and I love it. Betty was sent copies of 14 stolen FBI documents that exposed the truth that there were two FBIs, the public one and the secret one.

The findings were published on the front page of the Washington Post in the article called Stolen Documents Describe FBI Surveillance Activities. And girl, of course, this grabbed the attention of the American people. The secret FBI embeds words, quote, use deceptions, disinformation, and violence as tools to harass, damage, and silence people whose political opinions J. Edgar Hoover opposed, end quote.

I think that says a lot, right? You don't even need to add commentary to that. But people are reading this and they're like, "Wait a minute. We thought the FBI were the good guys." You know? So they're starting to like question. And then word got back to J. Edgar Hoover about this article and he was, girl, he was pissed. When this first started, the FBI was seen as like American heroes taking care of business, keeping everyone safe. And then suddenly there were like cracks showing in that perfect image that the FBI had.

Betty said, quote, "The overall impression in directives written by Hoover was that the FBI thought of black Americans as falling into two categories: black people who should be spied on and black people who should spy on other black people for the FBI." End quote. Jeez Louise, right? And in this document dumped, the American people learned

Another thing, one of the memos in the stolen files had something written on the heading, COINTELPRO. Now this was the very first time America, Americans had even heard that word before. And Hoover, this freaked him out. He was freaking the freak out. He was like, how did they hear about my secret club? Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God.

So the media started covering this and it essentially led to the FBI becoming the bad guy. Their reputation, down the toilet.

And in response to all this, Hoover closed 103 of the FBI's field offices and he launched an operation called MedBurk or media burglary. Yeah, he wanted to investigate how in the hell this break-in happened in the first place. He's still stuck on that. So Hoover had transferred 200 of his FBI agents to Philly to investigate, but they were never able to get to the bottom of it.

In the end, the FBI had to pull the plug on COINTELPRO on April 28th, 1971.

Over the next few years, batches of the FBI's files from the media office continued to be released and with each new document dump, the public was getting more and more angry. Document dump sounds so dirty, right? It sounds like I'm wearing a diaper and like I'm just like shitting documents. That's where my mind goes. Let me know what you think. Their mind was completely blown, right? Because they're realizing that the FBI is probably bugging their homes. They're like, what's

They're wiretapping? Hello, freedom, where? People were being sent to die. The Vietnam War at this time was going on, so people are upset about that. People are feeling betrayed, violated, wanting change, and instead getting met with violent attacks. People were just pissed off.

Like when was anyone going to face any damn consequences? Around the same time, public uproar pushed the Senate to do something. They put together the Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities. I know, really just rolls off the tongue, super catchy. But for sure it became known as the Church Committee. Why not just name it that, huh?

Well, it became the Church Committee because the senator running it, his name was Frank Church. Anyway, the Church Committee did some investigating and held some hearings that exposed even more illegal operations of the FBI. And this is important because it brings us back to the story of Fred Hampton. Back when Fred was murdered in his own bed in those early morning hours, the Black Panthers publicly declared the FBI were responsible for Fred's death.

But at that point, they had no hard evidence linking Fred's death to the FBI. That is until a breakthrough happened in 1973. The Chicago Tribune somehow found out about William. Remember the informant? They published a big old story about it. The minute those papers hit newsstands,

William's life was now in jeopardy, right? So he was placed in witness protection and whisked away to California. But with this link between William and the FBI now exposed, lawyers at the People's Law Office in Chicago filed a lawsuit on behalf of Frank Hampton's family and the other Panthers that were impacted by the raid.

After the court granted them access to FBI files, the People's Law Office sifted through mountains of documents that were once top secret. And with a little help from that church committee over in Washington, DC, they were able to discover everything they needed for their case. The first thing was that the FBI planned to use violence against Fred from the jump. And the second thing, which turned out to be their smoking gun,

was that the horrible raid in those early morning hours was very much a part of COINTELPRO. I mean, that should be an airtight case, right? Well, I guess not so fast. In January of 1976, the trial of the Fred Hampton civil case began in federal court.

and the case completely took over the media. During it, the FBI accidentally, whoopsie, revealed that they hadn't released all of its own files on Fred, William O'Neill, and the Black Panther Party. Sorry about that, you guys. So the judge ordered them to release every single page, and it was just like, ugh, way more paper than anyone was expecting. So the next day, you know, some guys are wheeling some shopping carts that are filled with, like,

200 like big ass binders that are filled with just documents. So imagine being the lawyers who had to go through all that, you know, you're like, oh fuck. The file showed that the FBI specifically targeted Fred Hampton, that they used William O'Neill to get to him. And there were also massive illegal wiretaps that included conversations between Black Panthers and their attorneys. And then...

Another smoking gun came out of these files. There were memos to and from the FBI headquarters and the Chicago office requesting $300.

It's like, what's this for? This money was a bonus for William providing information, a.k.a. the floor plan, that was of, quote, tremendous value, which made the raid that killed Fred Hampton a, quote, success. So evidence, it's all there, right? It's totally obvious that this whole thing is corrupt. But even so, the judge seemed to be on the FBI side. The judge, like, loved Fred.

The FBI, number one fangirl. So this judge ends up clearing the FBI of any wrongdoing when it came to like hiding those documents. They were like, they accidentally forgot. And the judge was like, yeah, I totally get it. You're fine. But the people's law office kept fighting and appealed the ruling. I mean, they were not gonna let them get away with like any of this. So on April 23rd, 1979, the court found that the FBI obstructed justice by keeping all those documents about Fred to themselves.

They also found evidence that the FBI tried to get rid of the entire Black Panther Party with the raid and then tried to hide it in court. Death to all of them.

Not Black Panthers, I mean the FBI. They need to go. The case went all the way to Supreme Court, who upheld the decision that said, yeah, the FBI fucked up. And it's like, oh, thank God, right? Ugh. Someone willing to stand up to these shitheads. It would all come to light that the FBI and Chicago police worked together to drug and kill Fred Hampton to stop the Black Panther Party.

Documents showed that they passed memos back and forth containing all sorts of info, instructions, and directions on how to do it. It's a very shocking cover-up. Even to this day, you can go read the documents that were released. It's very wild and very real. Fred Hampton was just one example of the FBI's criminal actions during the COINTELPRO saga. The FBI also had its hooks in the American Indian movement, which I mentioned earlier.

And they went to crazy lengths to fuck with Martin Luther King Jr. I'm talking, they had secret recordings, wiretaps, and blackmail threatening to ruin him. But they didn't kill him.

Apparently the FBI had all sorts of memo, audio tapes, photographs, and film footage of Dr. King from back in the day. In 1977, a judge ruled that the tapes were to be kept under lock and key until 2027. So when 2027 comes around, just you wait 'cause that Freedom of Information Act request becomes available and we will be looking.

Right? It's just crazy to think that all this happened because the FBI was running around unchecked for decades. I mean, who's gonna check the FBI? That's a good question. I don't know. I mean, they probably have dirt on you, you know? I think this final report of the church committee says it best. They said, quote, "Too many people have been spied upon by too many government agencies and too much information has been illegally collected. Groups and individuals have been assaulted."

"oppressed, harassed, and disrupted "because of their political views, social beliefs, "and their lifestyles." End quote. I know, I'm over here wondering like, damn, has anything really changed, you know?

I guess the takeaway here is like that the FBI is really fucked up, huh? Like whenever you see something in the news over and over again, something that's being hyped up, it's like you always need to ask yourself like who does this really benefit? I think that alone is a good question to ask because usually it's pretty revealing. And if the FBI has done this in the past, they're definitely capable of doing it again, right? So it's like what are they up to now? Are there any groups today that they're infiltrating?

Probably. I guess we'll have to wait and see, which is like fucked up. This place sucks. And if something big does come out, how the F do we Americans keep the FBI in check anyways? You know, some days we feel so powerless because like what really can we do as just a human? I mean, if they were doing this back in the 1950s, imagine what they're doing now. They didn't even have internet back then. They were solving mysteries with paper.

Wild. I don't know. I just think this is all fucked up and it's like, it sucks. And like, it makes me feel hopeless. And that's how I'm gonna end it.

Thanks. I would love to hear what you guys think about all this. So let me know in the comments down below. I mean, what do we do as humans, as people? I don't have answers for everything, obviously. I found this story to be incredibly sad and awful. Not that I fully like ever trusted the FBI, you know? But it's like, there's literally no one to trust. And it's like, they always have some nasty ass agenda trying to wipe people out for what? So white people could stay happy? What is going on? I hate this place.

Anyways, next week we'll be talking about a holiday that is controversial to say the least. I mean it's a holiday that is happy for most I think and deeply depressing for others.

Many people get pregnant this day. Some say it's a bullshit capitalist grab for money, but some say it's an important expression of love. I say I was not expecting it to be so weird. Next week, I'm talking about public orgies, bloody animal sacrifices,

And human raffles. Check out next week's episode on Valentine's Day. Don't forget to join me over on my YouTube where you can watch these episodes on Thursday after the podcast airs. And while you're there, you can also catch my murder mystery and makeup. I'd love to hear your guys' reactions to today's story. So make sure to use the hashtag dark history over on social media so I can follow along. Now let's read a couple of comments you guys left me.

Tell us. That's a good question. You know what? Okay, here it is.

My bidet. I have a bidet. Cleans my ass. I know, and it's not a luxury to most of you who live in like Europe and stuff because it's normal to you guys. But in America, it's like kind of weird and like not like it's a little intimidating. But I got one. And let me tell you, that is a luxury I will never live without again. I mean, I prefer not to live without it again. It cleans my ass like you wouldn't believe. 10 stars.

Eviza Amoral confessed something to me saying, "I have a confession. I'm only here for Joan. Not you, Bailey. Just Joan. Love you, bae." Well, alright then. Jasmine Collins left us an episode suggestion.

I'm interested. I've never heard of this. And the fact that it's called Love Canal is kind of creepy, right? But it's toxic.

Okay, thanks for that hot tip. I will be Googling as soon as I get home. Oh, I am home, I forgot. As soon as I'm done, I'm gonna start Googling. I love you for watching and I hope you have a good rest of your day. I love you for engaging and commenting and saying hi and hanging out with me. You make good choices and I'll be talking to you guys later.

Dark History is an Audioboom original. This podcast is executive produced by Bailey Sarian, Junya McNeely from 3Arts, Kevin Grush, and Matt Enloe from Maiden Network. We're

Writers, Joey Scavuzzo, Katie Burris, Allison Filobos, and me, Bailey Sarian. Production lead, Brian Jaggers. Research provided by Xander Elmore. Special thank you to our expert, Dr. Yohuru Williams. And I'm your host, Bailey Sarian. ♪♪

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120: PROOF that the FBI targeted, tracked, and unalived Americans! | The Dark History of COINTELPRO

Dark History

Chapters

What is COINTELPRO and how did it target civil rights groups?

How did COINTELPRO specifically target the Black Panther Party?

The FBI's role in the death of Fred Hampton

The exposure of COINTELPRO and its aftermath

Reflections on COINTELPRO and its implications for today

Shownotes Transcript

PodQuest PodQuest Podcast Discovery Engine

120: PROOF that the FBI targeted, tracked, and unalived Americans! | The Dark History of COINTELPRO 40:43 Share

Dark History

Chapters

What is COINTELPRO and how did it target civil rights groups?

How did COINTELPRO specifically target the Black Panther Party?

The FBI's role in the death of Fred Hampton

The exposure of COINTELPRO and its aftermath

Reflections on COINTELPRO and its implications for today

Shownotes Transcript

PodQuest PodQuest Podcast Discovery Engine

120: PROOF that the FBI targeted, tracked, and unalived Americans! | The Dark History of COINTELPRO