COINTELPRO and the Conspiracy
COINTELPRO
* COINTELPRO, also known as, the Counter-Intelligence Program of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, was started in 1967 by the director of the FBI at the time, J. Edgar Hoover. COINTEL was originally created for the purpose of monitoring Communist activity in the United States quickly came to encompass radical groups like the Black Panther Party (BPP)and its leaders around the country. COINTELPRO was discovered in March of 1971. Secret files were removed from FBI documents and released to the press at which time a major scandal was created. Carl Stern of NBC ultimately filed a Freedom of Information Lawsuit to force the FBI to release accumulated COINTELPRO documents.
* COINTEL used many tactics to secure information for the purposes of destroying radical groups. It was common for the FBI to install wiretaps, use false letters in order to agitate other leaders, infiltrate group meetings and assemblies, and leak information to the press for the purposes of creating opposition among the radical groups. The FBI was known to enlist spies in their operations, raid groups' headquarters, jail and often kill prominent group leaders, especially leaders in the BPP.
THE FBI & THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY
* The FBI fought long and hard in their quest to annihilate the BPP and its leaders. The Bureau used what they called "Black Propaganda" that included fabricated publications targeted at different party members in order to discredit each member publicly and among their peers. Their hope was to instill mistrust among the leaders for the primary purpose of group destruction by internal warring. The FBI also used random infiltrators to provoke illegal activities among the party leaders which would then further the possible arrest of the BPP leaders. There were also many situations where the FBI used strategic assassins to kill off selected leaders and Black revolutionaries. Hoover believed that the leaders and members of the BPP were a tremendous threat to the internal security of the country. He believed that these leaders were trying to warp the minds of college students all over the country and coercing them into overthrowing the government and taking over the country.
THE FBI & FRED HAMPTON
* The FBI saw the young revolutionary, Fred Hampton, chairman of the BPP's Illinois chapter, as a severe threat to the government because of he was a young, dynamic, and effective organizer and leader of the people in his community. At the age of eighteen he led an NAACP fight to desegregate swimming pools in his community. The U.S. Department of Justice saw Hampton as a new "Black Messiah" and one to be feared. COINTELPRO started its file on Fred Hampton in 1967. It grew to a total of more than 4,000 pages.
* In order to further their desire of complete annihilation of all opposing radical groups, namely the BPP, the FBI created a plan of attack on the Chicago BPP headquarters where Hampton resided. They planted an informant, William O'Neal who was Illinois chief of security. O'Neal became Hampton's bodyguard and quickly secured measures in the house to follow through with the FBI plan. He provided the FBI with detailed floor plans of the BPP apartment complex including location of his bed and closet areas and on what side Hampton's wife slept. A wiretap was placed on the phones in the BPP apartment as well as on the phone of Hampton's mother in February of 1968. In May of 1968, Hampton's name was placed on the FBI's "Agitator Index." It was not long until the FBI had enough information on his daily life as well as his travel plans that they were then able to set a "date of execution", December 4, 1969.
COINTEL-PRO info from Afro-Am
Jericho '98- Overview of COINTELPRO
Jericho '98 Home Page
COINTELPRO in the 80s: Excerpt from War At Home by Brian Glick
Armies Of Repression: The FBI, COINTELPRO And Far-Right Vigilante Networks
"Real Audio" COINTELPRO story from Democracy NOW!
COINTELPRO Documents kept on actress Jean Seaburg
Fred Hampton, Jr. Speaking out about COINTELPRO
