March 24, 2025 • 32 mins
We uncover the shocking story of the 1971 FBI office break-in that exposed COINTELPRO, a secret program that surveilled and disrupted American citizens exercising their constitutional rights.
• Eight ordinary citizens formed the Citizens Commission to Investigate the FBI
• While Muhammad Ali fought Joe Frazier, activists broke into the Media, Pennsylvania FBI office
• More than 1,000 classified documents were stolen, revealing widespread illegal surveillance
• COINTELPRO targeted civil rights leaders, Black nationalists, and anti-war protesters
• Tactics included infiltration, psychological warfare, and even operations that led to deaths
• The FBI actively worked to prevent "the rise of a Black messiah" who could unify communities
• Fred Hampton of the Black Panther Party was assassinated in an FBI-coordinated raid
• Revelations led to the Church Committee investigations and significant intelligence reforms
• The burglars remained anonymous for over 40 years before finally revealing themselves
• Their actions fundamentally changed how Americans view government power and accountability
Join us next time as we continue to explore the hidden stories that shaped our world in ways you never learned in history class.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Ever pulled an all-nighter cramming for a test?
Or maybe you've bent the rulesa little to get something you
really wanted?
We've all been there right.
But what if bending the rulesmeant taking on the most
powerful law enforcement agencyin the country?
Speaker 2 (00:30):
That's exactly what happened in 1971.
Forget your textbook historyfor a second.
We're diving into a storythat's more Ocean's Eleven than
Constitutional Convention, butwith way bigger stakes.
Welcome back to History'sGreatest Crimes.
The show that proves truth isstranger, and often more
thrilling, than fiction.
I'm Michael.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
And I'm Elena Picture this, march 8th 1971.
Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazierare about to go toe-to-toe in
the fight of the century.
The whole world is glued totheir TVs right.
Fight of the century the wholeworld is glued to their TVs,
right.
But while everyone's distractedby this epic showdown, a
handful of ordinary people we'retalking college professors, a
(01:12):
daycare director, even a cabdriver are about to pull off the
heist of the century.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
These weren't your typical criminals.
They called themselves theCitizens Commission to
Investigate the FBI, and theirtarget wasn't a bank vault or a
jewelry store.
It was an FBI field office in asleepy little town called Media
Pennsylvania.
Why?
Because they believed the FBI,under the iron fist of director
J Edgar Hoover, was up tosomething seriously shady.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
And they were right.
See, back then the FBI was seenas untouchable, Hoover was
practically a legend.
But this group of activistswere willing to risk everything
to expose the truth, fueled by asense that something was deeply
wrong in America.
They saw the Vietnam Warprotests and civil right marches
, the crack down by authoritiesand a social society on the
(02:06):
brink of falling apart.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
So while Ali and Frazier were trading blows in
the biggest boxing match indecades, these unlikely burglars
broke into an FBI office andmade off with over a thousand
classified documents.
And what they found in thosefiles?
Pure informational dynamite.
We're talking about a secretprogram called COINTELPRO and,
(02:28):
trust us, the name is the leastweird thing about it.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
COINTELPRO was basically the FBI's secret war
on American citizens.
We're not talking about spiesor terrorists.
We're talking about activists,protesters, anyone who dared to
challenge the status quo.
The FBI was using illegaltactics surveillance,
intimidation, even smearcampaigns to silence dissent,
(02:54):
and it was all happening rightunder our noses.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
So how did a group of everyday citizens manage to
expose one of the most powerfulorganizations in the world?
What did they find in thosestolen files and how did their
actions chase the course ofAmerican history?
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Join us as we unpack this incredible story of courage
, conspiracy and the fight fortruth.
We'll dive into the turbulentworld of the 1970s, explore the
dark side of J Edgar Hoover'sFBI and meet the unlikely heroes
who dared to say enough isenough.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
This is one story you won't find in your average
history book.
Get ready to get your mindblown.
This is history's greatestcrimes.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Before we get to the details of the break-in and
COINTELPRO, we need to fullyunderstand the backdrop of that
night the fight of the centurybetween Muhammad Ali and Joe
Frazier.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Exactly March 8, 1971 wasn't just any night.
The world was captivated by thefight of the century, the
boxing match between MuhammadAli and Joe Frazier.
It was a cultural event thatseemed to symbolize the
political hostilities of acountry divided over the Vietnam
War and race relations.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
That's right.
The fight provided cover forthe activist group the Citizens
Commission to investigate theFBI to successfully pull off a
burglary at an FBI office inMedia Pennsylvania.
The burglars hoped thatsecurity guards would be
distracted by listening to radiocoverage of the fight.
Live video coverage was limitedto closed-circuit ticket
(04:33):
holders.
Those without tickets had torely on radio stations for
updates after each round.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
And one reason the activists chose this particular
night was because Muhammad Alihimself, the lightning rod of
controversy many had felt wastreated unfairly and would later
prove to have been targeted byCOINTELPRO.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Exactly To understand why we need to delve into the
history of COINTELPRO.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
COINTELPRO is short for Counterintelligence Program,
and it was initiated by the FBIin 1956.
While the FBI had used covertoperations against domestic
political groups since itsinception, the official
COINTELPRO label took placebetween 1956 and 1971.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
The program's initial aim was to undermine the
operations of the CommunistParty of the United States.
However, in the 1960s its scopeexpanded to include other
domestic factions that theythought were linked or being
controlled by communistoutsiders.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
So what groups made this list?
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, the Socialist
Workers Party and the BlackPanther Party.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
So why was the Black Panther Party then a target?
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Well, according to FBI documents, one of the
purposes of COINTELPRO was toquote expose, disrupt, misdirect
, discredit or otherwiseneutralize the activities of the
Black nationalists end quote.
The FBI wanted to prevent quotethe rise of a black messiah,
end quote.
And after Martin Luther KingJr's assassination in 1968,
(06:13):
their attention shifted to HueyP Newton, head of the Black
Panthers.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
What kind of tactics did COINTELPRO employ?
Speaker 1 (06:21):
According to attorney Brian Glick, the FBI used five
main methods during COINTELPRO.
First, infiltration Agents andinformers spied on political
activists with the purpose ofdiscrediting and disrupting
action.
Two psychological warfare theFBI planted false media stories
(06:41):
and published bogus leaflets andthe name of targeting groups.
Three harassment via the legalsystem, in the sense that the
FBI and police abuse the legalsystem to harass dissidents and
make them appear to be criminals.
And also a legal force the FBIconspired with local police
(07:02):
departments to threatendissidents and commit illegal
break-ins.
And finally, it just underminedpublic opinion.
The FBI challenged thereputations of organizations and
denied them a platform to gainlegitimacy.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
It sounds like a comprehensive effort to suppress
dissent.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
It was, and that brings us back to the break-in
on the night of the Ali-Fraserfight.
It was, and that brings us backto the break-in on the night of
the Ali-Fraser fight.
While they fought in thischarged political and racial
climate, a plan to expose theFBI was taking place in a small
(07:41):
office in Media Pennsylvania.
So we've set the stage rightit's 1971.
The country is obsessed withthis epic showdown between Ali
and Frazier which, as we've seen, was about way more than just
boxing.
It was like this massivecultural fault line, exposing
all the tensions simmeringbeneath the surface of American
society race, the Vietnam War,what it even meant to be
(08:01):
patriotic.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Exactly, and against this backdrop, the fight of the
century.
You've got this growing senseof unease, this feeling that
something isn't quite right.
The Vietnam War is raging on,protests are seemingly
everywhere, and then you havethese shocking events like the
Kent State shootings.
In May of 1970, National Guardtroops open-fired on unarmed
(08:23):
student protesters at Kent StateUniversity, killing four and
wounding nine.
That event sent shockwavesacross the nation.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
And let's not forget the Jackson State killings,
which happened just 10 daysafter Kent State Police opened
fire on a group of blackstudents at Jackson State
College in Mississippi, killingtwo and injuring 12.
It's important to note that theJackson State incident received
significantly less mediaattention than Kent State,
(08:53):
highlighting the racialdisparities that existed and
continue to exist, and howprotests and police violence are
covered.
It becomes pretty clear that ifyou are a person of color or if
you protested the Vietnam War,then you were seen as an enemy
of the state and a target forCOINTELPRO.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Right, this growing distrust of the government,
fueled by politicalassassinations, like you had
mentioned earlier.
I mean the 1960s saw theassassinations of John F Kennedy
, martin Luther King Jr, malcolmX and Robert F Kennedy.
These weren't just politicalfigures, they were symbols of
hope and change for manyAmericans and their deaths left
(09:33):
a deep scar on the nationalpsyche.
For example, martin Luther KingJr's assassination in 1968 led
to riots in over 100 citiesacross the United States, with
nearly 40 deaths nationwide andover 2,500 injuries.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
It's in this atmosphere of fear, unrest and
suspicion that the FBI under JEdgar Hoover was operating.
And, as we mentioned before,this wasn't the FBI we see in TV
shows today.
Hoover was a towering figure,practically untouchable.
The FBI had this squeaky cleanimage, but behind the scenes
(10:11):
they were up to some seriouslyquestionable stuff.
The Citizens Commission toinvestigate the FBI had a hunch
that something was very wrong.
To them, the government wasstarting to look more and more
like a criminal enterprise.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
And it turns out they were right, thanks to their
actions.
We know all about COINTELPRO.
It wasn't just about keepingtabs on people.
We're talking about activedisruption, harassment and even
framing innocent people.
We now know that the FBI hadover 500,000 subversives,
including people of color andanti-war protesters, under
(10:48):
investigation at the time.
They were targeting groupsacross the political spectrum,
from civil rights organizationsto anti-war groups, even the
women's liberation movement.
About 25% of COINTELPRO'soperations were used against
Black nationalist groups.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
One of the things that really gets me is how they
used paranoia as a weapon.
Documents from the time showedthat the FBI was actively trying
to create the sense thateveryone was being watched, that
there was an FBI agent behindevery mailbox Can you imagine
living like that?
And they were specificallytargeting Black communities.
(11:28):
Documents show that FBI agentswere required to have informants
providing information aboutBlack Americans every two weeks,
with a particular focus onquote ghetto areas, with the
goal of gathering intelligenceon 7,500 prominent Black
nationalists across the country.
This was truly blanketsurveillance of African-American
(11:50):
people.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
And this wasn't some rogue organization or operation.
Cointelpro was a systematic,organized effort to suppress
national dissent, and it washappening on a massive scale.
It's a chilling reminder ofwhat can happen when a
government agency operateswithout accountability, without
checks and without balances.
The FBI was actively trying tosilence anyone who was deemed a
(12:14):
threat.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
So on this night, march 8th 1971, everyone's eyes
and ears were glued to the OllieFrazier fight, including the
security at the FBI.
As Frazier won by a unanimousdecision over 15 grueling rounds
, the Citizens Committee tooktheir chance.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
They were ordinary people professors, cab driver, a
daycare director but they weredriven by a powerful belief that
the American people deserve toknow what their government was
doing in their name, and theiractions that night would have
far-reaching consequences,consequences we're still
grappling with today, Next upwe'll dive into the details of
(12:54):
the break-in itself, how theyplanned it, how they pulled it
off and what they found whenthey finally cracked open those
FBI files.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
You won't want to miss it.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Welcome back.
So we've talked about the whyand the social and political
climate that fueled this wholething.
Now let's get into the who, theactual people who dared to
break into an FBI office.
We're not talking about JamesBond or Jason Bourne here.
These were ordinary folks.
They called themselves theCitizens Commission to
investigate the FBI.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Exactly, and leading this unlikely crew was a physics
professor from HaverfordCollege named William Bill
Davidon.
This guy was considered themastermind of the whole
operation.
And then you have Bonnie Raines, a mother of three, and her
husband, john Raines, a religionprofessor at Temple University.
(13:50):
John had experience with thecivil rights movement, even
participated in the FreedomRides, so it's safe to assume
that he was committed to socialjustice.
If you don't know, the FreedomRides were a series of protests
in 1961 during which civilrights activists rode interstate
buses into the segregated Southto challenge the
(14:11):
non-enforcement of Supreme Courtdecisions that had ruled
already that segregated buseswere unconstitutional.
Segregated buses wereunconstitutional.
This resulted in violence fromwhite mobs and hundreds of
arrests, ultimately leading tothe desegregation of interstate
buses.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
And let's not forget Keith Forsyth, the designated
lockpicker.
I mean, of course, every goodheist needs a good lockpicker
right.
It's fascinating how thisdiverse group of people with
different skills and backgroundscame together for this one
common goal.
They believed that the FBI wasabusing its power and that the
government was lying about theVietnam and something had to be
(14:48):
done.
By that point, approximately58,000 American soldiers had
died in the Vietnam War, alongwith an estimated 2 million
Vietnamese civilians and over 1million North Vietnamese and
Viet Cong fighters.
These ordinary citizens feltthat the protests at the time
were not making much of adifference and that the
government was covering up thetruth, even committing crimes
(15:09):
against its own people.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
They weren't in it for money or fame.
They were willing to riskeverything their careers, their
freedom, even their lives toexpose what they saw as a
massive injustice.
It was about principle, aboutholding the powerful accountable
, as they said themselves.
They were prepared to quotesacrifice their careers and risk
criminal prosecution andimprisonment.
(15:32):
I personally can't even imaginethe pressure they were under.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
And their plan was, frankly, brilliant.
They spent months casing theFBI office in Media Pennsylvania
.
Bonnie Raines even posed as acollege student doing a project
to get inside and scope out theplace and get this.
She actually discovered thatthe office was surprisingly low
security, no alarms, unlockedfile cabinets.
(15:57):
It was almost too easy unlockedfile cabinets.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
It was almost too easy.
They were meticulous, though.
They studied the patterns ofpolice patrols, the layout of
the building, everything.
And they chose the night of theOllie Frazier fight for a
reason they figured everyone,including the security guards,
would be glued to their TVs orradios.
It was a gamble, but it was acalculated one.
It shows how important thatfight was to the nation.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
And boy did it pay off.
On March 8th 1971, while theworld was watching the Ali and
Frazier duke it out in the ring,these activists slipped into
the FBI office and tookeverything Over 1,000 documents.
They cleaned out the place,leaving barely anything for the
FBI to salvage.
Cleaned out the place, leavingbarely anything for the FBI to
(16:42):
salvage.
It was a bold move.
It was very risky.
So the FBI eventuallyinvestigates what they called
the so-called Media 28, the namethey originally gave to the
burglary, but later suspectedthat the Citizens Commission
might have been the same peopleinvolved in the Camden 28 case.
The Camden 28 was a group ofanti-war activists who were
arrested in 1971 for attemptingto destroy draft records in
(17:04):
Camden, new Jersey.
Their trial became a majorevent in the anti-war movement.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
But they weren't just grabbing files randomly.
They had a clear purpose.
They wanted to find evidence ofthe FBI's illegal activities.
And boy did they find itSurveillance, harassment.
The whole COINTELPRO operationwas operating, it seems, outside
the law and without guardrails.
They found that the FBI wasmore interested in going after
(17:31):
protesters and activists than intackling real crime like war,
profiteering or organized crime.
They set out to prove that theFBI was abusing its power by
leaking the information thatthey stole from that office in
Pennsylvania.
In a statement sent to ajournalist, the committee made
it clear that they wanted toexpose the FBI's use of
(17:52):
eavesdropping, entrapment andthe use of provocateurs.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
These people were incredibly brave.
They knew they were taking ahuge risk, but they believed in
what they were doing.
They believed that this truthwas more important than their
own safety.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
And they were right to believe it, because what they
found in those files wouldshock the nation and change the
way we think about governmentsurveillance forever.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Next up, we'll unpack the contents of those stolen
documents, the secrets ofCOINTELPRO and the explosive
impact they had on Americansociety.
Stay tuned.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
So the Citizens Commission gets away with these
files right, and inside theyfind this treasure trove of
documents.
And it's not just boringpaperwork.
We're talking about proof thatthe FBI was basically waging a
secret war on American citizens.
These files were like a roadmapto COINTELPRO.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Exactly.
Cointelpro, which, remember,stands for Counter Intelligence
Program, was designed toneutralize any group the FBI
considered subversive, and bysubversive they basically meant
anyone who challenged thegovernment, especially on issues
like civil rights or theVietnam War.
The program was establishedagain in 1956 under the guise of
(19:11):
protecting national security,but it quickly devolved into a
tool for political repression.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
And the tactics they used Absolutely chilling.
We're talking about widespreadsurveillance, wiretapping,
planting informants the wholenine yards.
They would infiltrateorganizations not just to spy,
but to actively sabotage themfrom the inside, creating
distrust and paranoia.
The FBI had an estimated 1,500paid informants, in addition to
(19:41):
undercover agents, targetingthese groups.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
And it gets even darker.
They used dirty tricks likespreading disinformation,
forging documents, sendinganonymous letters to try to
break up marriages andfriendships.
They even set up fake activistgroups to lure people in and
discredit the real movementactivist groups to lure people
in and discredit the realmovement.
They fabricated derogatorycartoons and false articles
about activists and sentthreatening letters to
(20:05):
individuals, sometimes signedwith fake names or simply a
concerned friend.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
They did it all to create chaos and make these
groups look bad or fall apart.
One of their main goals was toprevent any effective Black
leadership from emerging.
It's clear they saw the civilrights movement, and
particularly the Black Powermovement, as a major threat.
The Black Panther Party, forexample, was a primary target.
Of the 295 documented actionstaken by COINTELPRO to disrupt
(20:35):
Black groups, 233 were directedagainst the Black Panther Party.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
The Black Panther Party was a revolutionary Black
rights group, initially foundedin Oakland, california, in
October of 1966 by Huey P Newtonand Bobby Seale.
The party was originally namedthe Black Panther Party for
self-defense.
The initial impetus for theparty formation was to confront
rampant police brutality inOakland, which led them to arm
(21:02):
themselves publicly.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
But beyond their militant stance and demands, the
Black Panther Party alsoimplemented community
development projects such as thefree breakfast program,
liberation schools and medicalclinics.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
The FBI considered Black nationalist groups,
especially the Black PantherParty, as a major threat to
domestic order.
A 1970 report described thePanthers as quote the most
active and dangerous Blackextremist group in the United
States.
End quote, noting theirpotential influence within the
Black community, particularlyamong young Black people.
(21:37):
Particularly among young Blackpeople, this perception led to
quote imaginative andhard-hitting counterintelligence
measures aimed at crippling theBlack Panther Party.
End quote.
And that brings us to one ofthe most tragic examples of
COINTELPRO's deadly impact theassassination of Fred Hampton.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
Fred Hampton was a rising star in the Black Panther
Party, a charismatic leader whowas building bridges between
different minority communitiesin Chicago.
He was only 21 years old andyet was a charismatic speaker
and a skilled planner.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Through Hampton's leadership, he was able to bring
similarly poor anddisadvantaged groups together
under what they named a RainbowCoalition.
The Rainbow Coalition was agroup of alliances, a
multiracial, anti-racistorganization to challenge
Chicago's police brutality,unfair housing practices and to
set up mutual protection.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Right.
As such, the FBI saw Hampton asa serious threat and they
worked with the Chicago policeto raid his apartment in 1969.
With the Chicago police to raidhis apartment in 1969.
In the early morning hours ofDecember 4, 1969, chicago police
(22:50):
, armed with a search warrant,raided Hampton's apartment.
They fired over 90 shots, whileonly one shot was confirmed to
have come from inside theapartment.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Hampton was shot and killed while he was drugged and
sleeping in his bed along withanother Panther named Mark Clark
.
The official story was that itwas a shootout, but evidence
later emerged suggesting that itwas indeed an assassination and
that the FBI played a role init.
A federal grand jury laterdetermined that the police had
fired somewhere between 82 and99 shots, while only one shot
(23:17):
could be contributed to thePanthers.
It was also revealed that FBIinformant William O'Neill had
provided the police with adetailed floor plan ahead of
time of the apartment, includingthe location of Hampton's bed.
He also was likely the one whodrugged Hampton.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
It's a horrifying example of how far COINTELPRO
was willing to go to silencedissent.
They weren't just disruptingprotests, they were involved in
operations that led to people'sdeaths, and remember, hampton
was just one of many.
Cointelpro targeted all kindsof groups anti-war activists,
feminists, even the AmericanIndian movement and the Young
(23:57):
Lords, which was a Puerto Ricannationalist group.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
The FBI, under Hoover's direction, decided
unilaterally which groups weredangerous and needed to be
neutralized.
They violated theconstitutional rights of
countless Americans, all in thename of national security, and
they did it all in secret, withzero accountability, until the
Citizens Commission exposed them.
Cointelpro also targeted groupslike the Ku Klux Klan and other
(24:22):
white supremacist groups, butthese operations were
significantly fewer and lessaggressive than those directed
against black nationalistorganizations.
While the FBI did target whitehate groups under COINTELPRO,
the evidence in the sourcessuggests that black groups face
more extensive, intensive andideological-driven campaigns of
(24:43):
surveillance, disruption andneutralization.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
It's important to remember the scale of this.
We're not talking about a fewrogue agents.
This was a systematic,nationwide program aimed at
crushing any form of dissent.
It's a dark chapter in Americanhistory, and one that we're
still coming to terms with today.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
The actions of the Citizens Commission were
incredibly brave.
They risked everything to bringthis information to light and
because of them, the publicfinally learned the truth about
COINTELPRO.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
And the fallout.
That's what we'll get into nextthe church committee, the
investigations, the reforms itall started with those stolen
files.
Stay with us.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
So the Citizens Commission doesn't just sit on
these explosive documents.
They knew they had to get thisinformation out there to the
public where it could actuallymake a difference.
So they started anonymouslysending copies of the files to
various news outlets and evensome members of Congress.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
Right, but most of them were too scared to touch it
.
I mean, this was taking on theFBI, the most powerful law
enforcement agency in thecountry during the time of J
Edgar Hoover.
But Betty Metzger, then at theWashington Post, decided to take
on the story.
She was the first journalist toreceive the documents and,
after a lot of verification andprobably a lot of soul-searching
(26:10):
, she published a front-pagestory on March 24, 1971.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
And that story was like a bomb going off.
Suddenly the whole country wastalking about COINTELPRO, this
secret program that the FBI hadbeen running to spy on and
disrupt American citizens.
The public was outraged.
People couldn't believe theirown government was doing this
kind of thing.
Senator George McGovernreceived four of the stolen FBI
(26:35):
files from the CitizensCommission.
Initially he expressed sympathyfor the burglars' motives, but
returned the documents to theFBI, urging an investigation
into the Bureau's activities.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
And while that may not have been exactly what the
Commission wanted, therevelations led to these huge
investigations, most notably theChurch Committee in the
revelations led to these hugeinvestigations, most notably the
Church Committee in the Senate.
The Church Committee,officially known as the United
States Senate Select Committeeto Study Governmental Operations
with Respect to IntelligenceActivities, was formed in 1975.
(27:09):
It was chaired by Senator FrankChurch of Idaho.
They uncovered all sorts ofshocking stuff, not just about
the FBI, but also about the CIAand other intelligence agencies.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
And because of all this, there were actually some
reforms.
Cointelpro was officially shutdown although, let's be honest,
some of those tactics areprobably still continued under
different names and eventuallywe got the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act, or FISA, whichwas supposed to put more checks
and balances on governmentsurveillance.
The FISA Act was passed in 1978.
(27:44):
It established procedures forrequesting judicial
authorization for electronicsurveillance in physical
searches of persons engaged inespionage or international
terrorism against the UnitedStates on behalf of a foreign
power.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
But for decades nobody knew who the burglars
were.
The FBI tried to find them, ofcourse, but they came up empty.
It wasn't until 2014, over 40years later, that some members
of the Citizens Commissionfinally came forward.
40 years later that somemembers of the Citizens
Commission finally came forward,after the statute of
limitations had expired, makingit impossible to be prosecuted.
(28:20):
They did it to coincide withthe publication of Betty
Medzger's book the Burglary,which tells the whole story of
the break in it's amazing, isn'tit?
Speaker 2 (28:30):
This small group of ordinary citizens managed to
pull off this incredible featand they got away with it.
Their actions led to the firstmajor overhaul of the FBI since
J Edgar Hoover took over in 1924.
And it was a turning point.
And just a few months after theFBI story broke, the Pentagon
Papers the story we covered in aprevious episode were leaked,
(28:52):
which exposed even moregovernment deception, this time
about the Vietnam War.
The Pentagon Papers were atop-secret Department of Defense
study of US political andmilitary involvement in Vietnam
about the years 1945 to 1967.
And they were leaked by DanielEllsberg, a former military
analyst, and published by theNew York Times in June of 1971.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
It felt like this moment where the truth was
finally starting to come out andpeople were realizing that they
couldn't always trust whattheir government was telling
them.
But the legacy of COINTELPRO isstill with us today.
We're still having debatesabout government surveillance,
about the balance betweennational security and civil
liberties.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
And the impact on activist groups is still felt
too.
Cointelpro created this climateof fear and paranoia that made
it much harder for people toorganize and fight for change.
It's a cautionary tale of whatcan happen when a government
agency operates without realoversight or accountability.
Government agency operateswithout real oversight or
(29:57):
accountability.
The FBI was actively trying todestroy these groups and ruin
people's lives, and they did sofor many years.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
But the Citizens Commission to investigate the
FBI showed us that even ordinarypeople can make a difference.
They showed us that it'spossible to hold powerful
institutions accountable evenwhen it seems impossible.
Their actions technicallycrimes were a powerful reminder
that we all have a role to playin protecting our democracy.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
Right, and the story of the media break-in is a
reminder that these issues havealways been with us.
It's a powerful reminder of howordinary citizens can hold
their government accountable.
It's a lesson in the importanceof whistleblowing, of speaking
truth to power, even when it'srisky.
Many people compare the actionsof the Citizens Commission to
those of Edward Snowden, wholeaked classified documents
(30:42):
about the National SecurityAgency's surveillance program in
2013.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
Absolutely, and it's a reminder that democracy
requires vigilance.
We can't just take it forgranted that our government is
always going to act in our bestinterest.
We have to be willing toquestion authority, to demand
transparency and to fight forour rights.
The fight for freedom andjustice never truly ends.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
That's all for this episode of History's Greatest
Crimes.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
We hope this story has inspired you to think more
critically about the worldaround you and the power that
each of us has to make adifference.
I'm Alina.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
And I'm Michael.
Until next time, keepquestioning.
Bye.
Ever pulled an all-nighter cramming for a test?
Or maybe you've bent the rulesa little to get something you
really wanted?
We've all been there right.
But what if bending the rulesmeant taking on the most
powerful law enforcement agencyin the country?
Speaker 2 (00:30):
That's exactly what happened in 1971.
Forget your textbook historyfor a second.
We're diving into a storythat's more Ocean's Eleven than
Constitutional Convention, butwith way bigger stakes.
Welcome back to History'sGreatest Crimes.
The show that proves truth isstranger, and often more
thrilling, than fiction.
I'm Michael.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
And I'm Elena Picture this, march 8th 1971.
Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazierare about to go toe-to-toe in
the fight of the century.
The whole world is glued totheir TVs right.
Fight of the century the wholeworld is glued to their TVs,
right.
But while everyone's distractedby this epic showdown, a
handful of ordinary people we'retalking college professors, a
(01:12):
daycare director, even a cabdriver are about to pull off the
heist of the century.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
These weren't your typical criminals.
They called themselves theCitizens Commission to
Investigate the FBI, and theirtarget wasn't a bank vault or a
jewelry store.
It was an FBI field office in asleepy little town called Media
Pennsylvania.
Why?
Because they believed the FBI,under the iron fist of director
J Edgar Hoover, was up tosomething seriously shady.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
And they were right.
See, back then the FBI was seenas untouchable, Hoover was
practically a legend.
But this group of activistswere willing to risk everything
to expose the truth, fueled by asense that something was deeply
wrong in America.
They saw the Vietnam Warprotests and civil right marches
, the crack down by authoritiesand a social society on the
(02:06):
brink of falling apart.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
So while Ali and Frazier were trading blows in
the biggest boxing match indecades, these unlikely burglars
broke into an FBI office andmade off with over a thousand
classified documents.
And what they found in thosefiles?
Pure informational dynamite.
We're talking about a secretprogram called COINTELPRO and,
(02:28):
trust us, the name is the leastweird thing about it.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
COINTELPRO was basically the FBI's secret war
on American citizens.
We're not talking about spiesor terrorists.
We're talking about activists,protesters, anyone who dared to
challenge the status quo.
The FBI was using illegaltactics surveillance,
intimidation, even smearcampaigns to silence dissent,
(02:54):
and it was all happening rightunder our noses.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
So how did a group of everyday citizens manage to
expose one of the most powerfulorganizations in the world?
What did they find in thosestolen files and how did their
actions chase the course ofAmerican history?
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Join us as we unpack this incredible story of courage
, conspiracy and the fight fortruth.
We'll dive into the turbulentworld of the 1970s, explore the
dark side of J Edgar Hoover'sFBI and meet the unlikely heroes
who dared to say enough isenough.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
This is one story you won't find in your average
history book.
Get ready to get your mindblown.
This is history's greatestcrimes.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Before we get to the details of the break-in and
COINTELPRO, we need to fullyunderstand the backdrop of that
night the fight of the centurybetween Muhammad Ali and Joe
Frazier.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Exactly March 8, 1971 wasn't just any night.
The world was captivated by thefight of the century, the
boxing match between MuhammadAli and Joe Frazier.
It was a cultural event thatseemed to symbolize the
political hostilities of acountry divided over the Vietnam
War and race relations.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
That's right.
The fight provided cover forthe activist group the Citizens
Commission to investigate theFBI to successfully pull off a
burglary at an FBI office inMedia Pennsylvania.
The burglars hoped thatsecurity guards would be
distracted by listening to radiocoverage of the fight.
Live video coverage was limitedto closed-circuit ticket
(04:33):
holders.
Those without tickets had torely on radio stations for
updates after each round.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
And one reason the activists chose this particular
night was because Muhammad Alihimself, the lightning rod of
controversy many had felt wastreated unfairly and would later
prove to have been targeted byCOINTELPRO.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Exactly To understand why we need to delve into the
history of COINTELPRO.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
COINTELPRO is short for Counterintelligence Program,
and it was initiated by the FBIin 1956.
While the FBI had used covertoperations against domestic
political groups since itsinception, the official
COINTELPRO label took placebetween 1956 and 1971.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
The program's initial aim was to undermine the
operations of the CommunistParty of the United States.
However, in the 1960s its scopeexpanded to include other
domestic factions that theythought were linked or being
controlled by communistoutsiders.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
So what groups made this list?
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, the Socialist
Workers Party and the BlackPanther Party.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
So why was the Black Panther Party then a target?
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Well, according to FBI documents, one of the
purposes of COINTELPRO was toquote expose, disrupt, misdirect
, discredit or otherwiseneutralize the activities of the
Black nationalists end quote.
The FBI wanted to prevent quotethe rise of a black messiah,
end quote.
And after Martin Luther KingJr's assassination in 1968,
(06:13):
their attention shifted to HueyP Newton, head of the Black
Panthers.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
What kind of tactics did COINTELPRO employ?
Speaker 1 (06:21):
According to attorney Brian Glick, the FBI used five
main methods during COINTELPRO.
First, infiltration Agents andinformers spied on political
activists with the purpose ofdiscrediting and disrupting
action.
Two psychological warfare theFBI planted false media stories
(06:41):
and published bogus leaflets andthe name of targeting groups.
Three harassment via the legalsystem, in the sense that the
FBI and police abuse the legalsystem to harass dissidents and
make them appear to be criminals.
And also a legal force the FBIconspired with local police
(07:02):
departments to threatendissidents and commit illegal
break-ins.
And finally, it just underminedpublic opinion.
The FBI challenged thereputations of organizations and
denied them a platform to gainlegitimacy.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
It sounds like a comprehensive effort to suppress
dissent.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
It was, and that brings us back to the break-in
on the night of the Ali-Fraserfight.
It was, and that brings us backto the break-in on the night of
the Ali-Fraser fight.
While they fought in thischarged political and racial
climate, a plan to expose theFBI was taking place in a small
(07:41):
office in Media Pennsylvania.
So we've set the stage rightit's 1971.
The country is obsessed withthis epic showdown between Ali
and Frazier which, as we've seen, was about way more than just
boxing.
It was like this massivecultural fault line, exposing
all the tensions simmeringbeneath the surface of American
society race, the Vietnam War,what it even meant to be
(08:01):
patriotic.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Exactly, and against this backdrop, the fight of the
century.
You've got this growing senseof unease, this feeling that
something isn't quite right.
The Vietnam War is raging on,protests are seemingly
everywhere, and then you havethese shocking events like the
Kent State shootings.
In May of 1970, National Guardtroops open-fired on unarmed
(08:23):
student protesters at Kent StateUniversity, killing four and
wounding nine.
That event sent shockwavesacross the nation.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
And let's not forget the Jackson State killings,
which happened just 10 daysafter Kent State Police opened
fire on a group of blackstudents at Jackson State
College in Mississippi, killingtwo and injuring 12.
It's important to note that theJackson State incident received
significantly less mediaattention than Kent State,
(08:53):
highlighting the racialdisparities that existed and
continue to exist, and howprotests and police violence are
covered.
It becomes pretty clear that ifyou are a person of color or if
you protested the Vietnam War,then you were seen as an enemy
of the state and a target forCOINTELPRO.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Right, this growing distrust of the government,
fueled by politicalassassinations, like you had
mentioned earlier.
I mean the 1960s saw theassassinations of John F Kennedy
, martin Luther King Jr, malcolmX and Robert F Kennedy.
These weren't just politicalfigures, they were symbols of
hope and change for manyAmericans and their deaths left
(09:33):
a deep scar on the nationalpsyche.
For example, martin Luther KingJr's assassination in 1968 led
to riots in over 100 citiesacross the United States, with
nearly 40 deaths nationwide andover 2,500 injuries.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
It's in this atmosphere of fear, unrest and
suspicion that the FBI under JEdgar Hoover was operating.
And, as we mentioned before,this wasn't the FBI we see in TV
shows today.
Hoover was a towering figure,practically untouchable.
The FBI had this squeaky cleanimage, but behind the scenes
(10:11):
they were up to some seriouslyquestionable stuff.
The Citizens Commission toinvestigate the FBI had a hunch
that something was very wrong.
To them, the government wasstarting to look more and more
like a criminal enterprise.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
And it turns out they were right, thanks to their
actions.
We know all about COINTELPRO.
It wasn't just about keepingtabs on people.
We're talking about activedisruption, harassment and even
framing innocent people.
We now know that the FBI hadover 500,000 subversives,
including people of color andanti-war protesters, under
(10:48):
investigation at the time.
They were targeting groupsacross the political spectrum,
from civil rights organizationsto anti-war groups, even the
women's liberation movement.
About 25% of COINTELPRO'soperations were used against
Black nationalist groups.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
One of the things that really gets me is how they
used paranoia as a weapon.
Documents from the time showedthat the FBI was actively trying
to create the sense thateveryone was being watched, that
there was an FBI agent behindevery mailbox Can you imagine
living like that?
And they were specificallytargeting Black communities.
(11:28):
Documents show that FBI agentswere required to have informants
providing information aboutBlack Americans every two weeks,
with a particular focus onquote ghetto areas, with the
goal of gathering intelligenceon 7,500 prominent Black
nationalists across the country.
This was truly blanketsurveillance of African-American
(11:50):
people.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
And this wasn't some rogue organization or operation.
Cointelpro was a systematic,organized effort to suppress
national dissent, and it washappening on a massive scale.
It's a chilling reminder ofwhat can happen when a
government agency operateswithout accountability, without
checks and without balances.
The FBI was actively trying tosilence anyone who was deemed a
(12:14):
threat.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
So on this night, march 8th 1971, everyone's eyes
and ears were glued to the OllieFrazier fight, including the
security at the FBI.
As Frazier won by a unanimousdecision over 15 grueling rounds
, the Citizens Committee tooktheir chance.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
They were ordinary people professors, cab driver, a
daycare director but they weredriven by a powerful belief that
the American people deserve toknow what their government was
doing in their name, and theiractions that night would have
far-reaching consequences,consequences we're still
grappling with today, Next upwe'll dive into the details of
(12:54):
the break-in itself, how theyplanned it, how they pulled it
off and what they found whenthey finally cracked open those
FBI files.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
You won't want to miss it.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Welcome back.
So we've talked about the whyand the social and political
climate that fueled this wholething.
Now let's get into the who, theactual people who dared to
break into an FBI office.
We're not talking about JamesBond or Jason Bourne here.
These were ordinary folks.
They called themselves theCitizens Commission to
investigate the FBI.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Exactly, and leading this unlikely crew was a physics
professor from HaverfordCollege named William Bill
Davidon.
This guy was considered themastermind of the whole
operation.
And then you have Bonnie Raines, a mother of three, and her
husband, john Raines, a religionprofessor at Temple University.
(13:50):
John had experience with thecivil rights movement, even
participated in the FreedomRides, so it's safe to assume
that he was committed to socialjustice.
If you don't know, the FreedomRides were a series of protests
in 1961 during which civilrights activists rode interstate
buses into the segregated Southto challenge the
(14:11):
non-enforcement of Supreme Courtdecisions that had ruled
already that segregated buseswere unconstitutional.
Segregated buses wereunconstitutional.
This resulted in violence fromwhite mobs and hundreds of
arrests, ultimately leading tothe desegregation of interstate
buses.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
And let's not forget Keith Forsyth, the designated
lockpicker.
I mean, of course, every goodheist needs a good lockpicker
right.
It's fascinating how thisdiverse group of people with
different skills and backgroundscame together for this one
common goal.
They believed that the FBI wasabusing its power and that the
government was lying about theVietnam and something had to be
(14:48):
done.
By that point, approximately58,000 American soldiers had
died in the Vietnam War, alongwith an estimated 2 million
Vietnamese civilians and over 1million North Vietnamese and
Viet Cong fighters.
These ordinary citizens feltthat the protests at the time
were not making much of adifference and that the
government was covering up thetruth, even committing crimes
(15:09):
against its own people.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
They weren't in it for money or fame.
They were willing to riskeverything their careers, their
freedom, even their lives toexpose what they saw as a
massive injustice.
It was about principle, aboutholding the powerful accountable
, as they said themselves.
They were prepared to quotesacrifice their careers and risk
criminal prosecution andimprisonment.
(15:32):
I personally can't even imaginethe pressure they were under.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
And their plan was, frankly, brilliant.
They spent months casing theFBI office in Media Pennsylvania
.
Bonnie Raines even posed as acollege student doing a project
to get inside and scope out theplace and get this.
She actually discovered thatthe office was surprisingly low
security, no alarms, unlockedfile cabinets.
(15:57):
It was almost too easy unlockedfile cabinets.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
It was almost too easy.
They were meticulous, though.
They studied the patterns ofpolice patrols, the layout of
the building, everything.
And they chose the night of theOllie Frazier fight for a
reason they figured everyone,including the security guards,
would be glued to their TVs orradios.
It was a gamble, but it was acalculated one.
It shows how important thatfight was to the nation.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
And boy did it pay off.
On March 8th 1971, while theworld was watching the Ali and
Frazier duke it out in the ring,these activists slipped into
the FBI office and tookeverything Over 1,000 documents.
They cleaned out the place,leaving barely anything for the
FBI to salvage.
Cleaned out the place, leavingbarely anything for the FBI to
(16:42):
salvage.
It was a bold move.
It was very risky.
So the FBI eventuallyinvestigates what they called
the so-called Media 28, the namethey originally gave to the
burglary, but later suspectedthat the Citizens Commission
might have been the same peopleinvolved in the Camden 28 case.
The Camden 28 was a group ofanti-war activists who were
arrested in 1971 for attemptingto destroy draft records in
(17:04):
Camden, new Jersey.
Their trial became a majorevent in the anti-war movement.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
But they weren't just grabbing files randomly.
They had a clear purpose.
They wanted to find evidence ofthe FBI's illegal activities.
And boy did they find itSurveillance, harassment.
The whole COINTELPRO operationwas operating, it seems, outside
the law and without guardrails.
They found that the FBI wasmore interested in going after
(17:31):
protesters and activists than intackling real crime like war,
profiteering or organized crime.
They set out to prove that theFBI was abusing its power by
leaking the information thatthey stole from that office in
Pennsylvania.
In a statement sent to ajournalist, the committee made
it clear that they wanted toexpose the FBI's use of
(17:52):
eavesdropping, entrapment andthe use of provocateurs.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
These people were incredibly brave.
They knew they were taking ahuge risk, but they believed in
what they were doing.
They believed that this truthwas more important than their
own safety.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
And they were right to believe it, because what they
found in those files wouldshock the nation and change the
way we think about governmentsurveillance forever.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Next up, we'll unpack the contents of those stolen
documents, the secrets ofCOINTELPRO and the explosive
impact they had on Americansociety.
Stay tuned.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
So the Citizens Commission gets away with these
files right, and inside theyfind this treasure trove of
documents.
And it's not just boringpaperwork.
We're talking about proof thatthe FBI was basically waging a
secret war on American citizens.
These files were like a roadmapto COINTELPRO.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Exactly.
Cointelpro, which, remember,stands for Counter Intelligence
Program, was designed toneutralize any group the FBI
considered subversive, and bysubversive they basically meant
anyone who challenged thegovernment, especially on issues
like civil rights or theVietnam War.
The program was establishedagain in 1956 under the guise of
(19:11):
protecting national security,but it quickly devolved into a
tool for political repression.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
And the tactics they used Absolutely chilling.
We're talking about widespreadsurveillance, wiretapping,
planting informants the wholenine yards.
They would infiltrateorganizations not just to spy,
but to actively sabotage themfrom the inside, creating
distrust and paranoia.
The FBI had an estimated 1,500paid informants, in addition to
(19:41):
undercover agents, targetingthese groups.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
And it gets even darker.
They used dirty tricks likespreading disinformation,
forging documents, sendinganonymous letters to try to
break up marriages andfriendships.
They even set up fake activistgroups to lure people in and
discredit the real movementactivist groups to lure people
in and discredit the realmovement.
They fabricated derogatorycartoons and false articles
about activists and sentthreatening letters to
(20:05):
individuals, sometimes signedwith fake names or simply a
concerned friend.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
They did it all to create chaos and make these
groups look bad or fall apart.
One of their main goals was toprevent any effective Black
leadership from emerging.
It's clear they saw the civilrights movement, and
particularly the Black Powermovement, as a major threat.
The Black Panther Party, forexample, was a primary target.
Of the 295 documented actionstaken by COINTELPRO to disrupt
(20:35):
Black groups, 233 were directedagainst the Black Panther Party.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
The Black Panther Party was a revolutionary Black
rights group, initially foundedin Oakland, california, in
October of 1966 by Huey P Newtonand Bobby Seale.
The party was originally namedthe Black Panther Party for
self-defense.
The initial impetus for theparty formation was to confront
rampant police brutality inOakland, which led them to arm
(21:02):
themselves publicly.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
But beyond their militant stance and demands, the
Black Panther Party alsoimplemented community
development projects such as thefree breakfast program,
liberation schools and medicalclinics.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
The FBI considered Black nationalist groups,
especially the Black PantherParty, as a major threat to
domestic order.
A 1970 report described thePanthers as quote the most
active and dangerous Blackextremist group in the United
States.
End quote, noting theirpotential influence within the
Black community, particularlyamong young Black people.
(21:37):
Particularly among young Blackpeople, this perception led to
quote imaginative andhard-hitting counterintelligence
measures aimed at crippling theBlack Panther Party.
End quote.
And that brings us to one ofthe most tragic examples of
COINTELPRO's deadly impact theassassination of Fred Hampton.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
Fred Hampton was a rising star in the Black Panther
Party, a charismatic leader whowas building bridges between
different minority communitiesin Chicago.
He was only 21 years old andyet was a charismatic speaker
and a skilled planner.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Through Hampton's leadership, he was able to bring
similarly poor anddisadvantaged groups together
under what they named a RainbowCoalition.
The Rainbow Coalition was agroup of alliances, a
multiracial, anti-racistorganization to challenge
Chicago's police brutality,unfair housing practices and to
set up mutual protection.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Right.
As such, the FBI saw Hampton asa serious threat and they
worked with the Chicago policeto raid his apartment in 1969.
With the Chicago police to raidhis apartment in 1969.
In the early morning hours ofDecember 4, 1969, chicago police
(22:50):
, armed with a search warrant,raided Hampton's apartment.
They fired over 90 shots, whileonly one shot was confirmed to
have come from inside theapartment.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Hampton was shot and killed while he was drugged and
sleeping in his bed along withanother Panther named Mark Clark
.
The official story was that itwas a shootout, but evidence
later emerged suggesting that itwas indeed an assassination and
that the FBI played a role init.
A federal grand jury laterdetermined that the police had
fired somewhere between 82 and99 shots, while only one shot
(23:17):
could be contributed to thePanthers.
It was also revealed that FBIinformant William O'Neill had
provided the police with adetailed floor plan ahead of
time of the apartment, includingthe location of Hampton's bed.
He also was likely the one whodrugged Hampton.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
It's a horrifying example of how far COINTELPRO
was willing to go to silencedissent.
They weren't just disruptingprotests, they were involved in
operations that led to people'sdeaths, and remember, hampton
was just one of many.
Cointelpro targeted all kindsof groups anti-war activists,
feminists, even the AmericanIndian movement and the Young
(23:57):
Lords, which was a Puerto Ricannationalist group.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
The FBI, under Hoover's direction, decided
unilaterally which groups weredangerous and needed to be
neutralized.
They violated theconstitutional rights of
countless Americans, all in thename of national security, and
they did it all in secret, withzero accountability, until the
Citizens Commission exposed them.
Cointelpro also targeted groupslike the Ku Klux Klan and other
(24:22):
white supremacist groups, butthese operations were
significantly fewer and lessaggressive than those directed
against black nationalistorganizations.
While the FBI did target whitehate groups under COINTELPRO,
the evidence in the sourcessuggests that black groups face
more extensive, intensive andideological-driven campaigns of
(24:43):
surveillance, disruption andneutralization.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
It's important to remember the scale of this.
We're not talking about a fewrogue agents.
This was a systematic,nationwide program aimed at
crushing any form of dissent.
It's a dark chapter in Americanhistory, and one that we're
still coming to terms with today.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
The actions of the Citizens Commission were
incredibly brave.
They risked everything to bringthis information to light and
because of them, the publicfinally learned the truth about
COINTELPRO.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
And the fallout.
That's what we'll get into nextthe church committee, the
investigations, the reforms itall started with those stolen
files.
Stay with us.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
So the Citizens Commission doesn't just sit on
these explosive documents.
They knew they had to get thisinformation out there to the
public where it could actuallymake a difference.
So they started anonymouslysending copies of the files to
various news outlets and evensome members of Congress.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
Right, but most of them were too scared to touch it
.
I mean, this was taking on theFBI, the most powerful law
enforcement agency in thecountry during the time of J
Edgar Hoover.
But Betty Metzger, then at theWashington Post, decided to take
on the story.
She was the first journalist toreceive the documents and,
after a lot of verification andprobably a lot of soul-searching
(26:10):
, she published a front-pagestory on March 24, 1971.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
And that story was like a bomb going off.
Suddenly the whole country wastalking about COINTELPRO, this
secret program that the FBI hadbeen running to spy on and
disrupt American citizens.
The public was outraged.
People couldn't believe theirown government was doing this
kind of thing.
Senator George McGovernreceived four of the stolen FBI
(26:35):
files from the CitizensCommission.
Initially he expressed sympathyfor the burglars' motives, but
returned the documents to theFBI, urging an investigation
into the Bureau's activities.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
And while that may not have been exactly what the
Commission wanted, therevelations led to these huge
investigations, most notably theChurch Committee in the
revelations led to these hugeinvestigations, most notably the
Church Committee in the Senate.
The Church Committee,officially known as the United
States Senate Select Committeeto Study Governmental Operations
with Respect to IntelligenceActivities, was formed in 1975.
(27:09):
It was chaired by Senator FrankChurch of Idaho.
They uncovered all sorts ofshocking stuff, not just about
the FBI, but also about the CIAand other intelligence agencies.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
And because of all this, there were actually some
reforms.
Cointelpro was officially shutdown although, let's be honest,
some of those tactics areprobably still continued under
different names and eventuallywe got the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act, or FISA, whichwas supposed to put more checks
and balances on governmentsurveillance.
The FISA Act was passed in 1978.
(27:44):
It established procedures forrequesting judicial
authorization for electronicsurveillance in physical
searches of persons engaged inespionage or international
terrorism against the UnitedStates on behalf of a foreign
power.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
But for decades nobody knew who the burglars
were.
The FBI tried to find them, ofcourse, but they came up empty.
It wasn't until 2014, over 40years later, that some members
of the Citizens Commissionfinally came forward.
40 years later that somemembers of the Citizens
Commission finally came forward,after the statute of
limitations had expired, makingit impossible to be prosecuted.
(28:20):
They did it to coincide withthe publication of Betty
Medzger's book the Burglary,which tells the whole story of
the break in it's amazing, isn'tit?
Speaker 2 (28:30):
This small group of ordinary citizens managed to
pull off this incredible featand they got away with it.
Their actions led to the firstmajor overhaul of the FBI since
J Edgar Hoover took over in 1924.
And it was a turning point.
And just a few months after theFBI story broke, the Pentagon
Papers the story we covered in aprevious episode were leaked,
(28:52):
which exposed even moregovernment deception, this time
about the Vietnam War.
The Pentagon Papers were atop-secret Department of Defense
study of US political andmilitary involvement in Vietnam
about the years 1945 to 1967.
And they were leaked by DanielEllsberg, a former military
analyst, and published by theNew York Times in June of 1971.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
It felt like this moment where the truth was
finally starting to come out andpeople were realizing that they
couldn't always trust whattheir government was telling
them.
But the legacy of COINTELPRO isstill with us today.
We're still having debatesabout government surveillance,
about the balance betweennational security and civil
liberties.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
And the impact on activist groups is still felt
too.
Cointelpro created this climateof fear and paranoia that made
it much harder for people toorganize and fight for change.
It's a cautionary tale of whatcan happen when a government
agency operates without realoversight or accountability.
Government agency operateswithout real oversight or
(29:57):
accountability.
The FBI was actively trying todestroy these groups and ruin
people's lives, and they did sofor many years.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
But the Citizens Commission to investigate the
FBI showed us that even ordinarypeople can make a difference.
They showed us that it'spossible to hold powerful
institutions accountable evenwhen it seems impossible.
Their actions technicallycrimes were a powerful reminder
that we all have a role to playin protecting our democracy.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
Right, and the story of the media break-in is a
reminder that these issues havealways been with us.
It's a powerful reminder of howordinary citizens can hold
their government accountable.
It's a lesson in the importanceof whistleblowing, of speaking
truth to power, even when it'srisky.
Many people compare the actionsof the Citizens Commission to
those of Edward Snowden, wholeaked classified documents
(30:42):
about the National SecurityAgency's surveillance program in
2013.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
Absolutely, and it's a reminder that democracy
requires vigilance.
We can't just take it forgranted that our government is
always going to act in our bestinterest.
We have to be willing toquestion authority, to demand
transparency and to fight forour rights.
The fight for freedom andjustice never truly ends.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
That's all for this episode of History's Greatest
Crimes.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
We hope this story has inspired you to think more
critically about the worldaround you and the power that
each of us has to make adifference.
I'm Alina.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
And I'm Michael.
Until next time, keepquestioning.
Bye.
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