WEBVTT - The A Building: Cointelpro 0:00:04.040 --> 0:00:06.920 Under Hoover's time, You've got this kind of communist scare. 0:00:07.440 --> 0:00:10.319 Bombs are going off, riots in the street. By any 0:00:10.360 --> 0:00:14.160 means necessary, you try to quash that threat. What's going 0:00:14.200 --> 0:00:18.119 on now in college campuses? As a government, we're not 0:00:18.480 --> 0:00:21.720 accepting free speech? Am I a fan of violence? 0:00:21.760 --> 0:00:21.840 No? 0:00:22.120 --> 0:00:27.400 Have I worked cases against Hamas a proven terrorist organization? Absolutely? 0:00:27.440 --> 0:00:30.640 They are cold blooded evil. Have I seen any evidence 0:00:30.960 --> 0:00:33.839 that the people who are being grabbed by masked men 0:00:34.000 --> 0:00:39.080 on campus are Hamas? No? I haven't, so. I worry 0:00:39.159 --> 0:00:42.600 that we're you know, we're going back. We're going back. 0:00:47.520 --> 0:00:50.680 The A building Episode seven, co Intel. 0:00:50.400 --> 0:01:06.680 Pro I want to smoke. Nah, I quit a year ago. 0:01:07.000 --> 0:01:08.080 Yeah, me too. 0:01:09.959 --> 0:01:13.080 You know those things supposedly killed Edward R. 0:01:13.160 --> 0:01:13.520 Morrow. 0:01:14.280 --> 0:01:17.960 Yeah, yeah, he did a bunch of stories about cigarettes 0:01:17.959 --> 0:01:18.440 and cancer. 0:01:20.080 --> 0:01:21.039 He died because he. 0:01:21.040 --> 0:01:25.880 Was a socialist. Okay, Dan, where the hell are we going? 0:01:27.040 --> 0:01:32.040 The work of an FBI agent is surprisingly bureaucratic. Files, names, dates, 0:01:32.280 --> 0:01:35.960 phone numbers, stakeouts. The two agents you just heard are 0:01:36.000 --> 0:01:41.039 delivering warnings, warnings to families. Scenarios like the scenes in 0:01:41.080 --> 0:01:45.200 this episode were commonplace. No one is knocking talks. They 0:01:45.240 --> 0:01:48.760 were a method of intimidation within the FBI in the 0:01:48.840 --> 0:01:52.720 era of Gagar Hoover. He's quoted as saying, it's always 0:01:52.760 --> 0:01:55.600 practical to go after the family. That's where it can 0:01:55.680 --> 0:01:56.280 hurt the most. 0:02:00.520 --> 0:02:02.440 Hello, can I help you? 0:02:02.920 --> 0:02:03.080 Well? 0:02:03.120 --> 0:02:07.880 Hello, my name is and this is my partner. These 0:02:07.920 --> 0:02:11.000 are my credentials. We're sorry to bother you. How are 0:02:11.000 --> 0:02:11.560 you this morning? 0:02:12.240 --> 0:02:12.959 You're with who? 0:02:13.880 --> 0:02:15.320 The Federal Bureau of Investigation. 0:02:15.840 --> 0:02:17.280 We have some news about your son. 0:02:17.800 --> 0:02:19.320 First of all, is this your son? 0:02:19.760 --> 0:02:20.360 Let's show her the. 0:02:20.360 --> 0:02:25.960 Picture any day now, I know, I know? 0:02:26.080 --> 0:02:28.919 Hold it, damn it, Walter Johnson? 0:02:29.120 --> 0:02:29.560 This him? 0:02:30.440 --> 0:02:30.720 Yes? 0:02:31.200 --> 0:02:34.040 What is this? Do you know who h. 0:02:34.120 --> 0:02:37.120 Rap Brown is? Ma'am? Walter has been spending a lot 0:02:37.160 --> 0:02:38.400 of time at his shop in Atlanta. 0:02:39.400 --> 0:02:40.760 I've seen the name in the paper. 0:02:41.160 --> 0:02:45.040 Bad stuff, missus Johnson. These are real radical negroes, the 0:02:45.120 --> 0:02:48.040 worst kind. And we know you don't want this for Walter. 0:02:48.280 --> 0:02:51.440 You're a god fearing woman, a Christian woman, a school teacher. 0:02:52.120 --> 0:02:54.840 You said, Walter to college after losing your husband in Korea? 0:02:55.720 --> 0:02:58.120 And then how does he pay you back by getting 0:02:58.200 --> 0:02:59.160 kicked out of Moorhouse? 0:02:59.480 --> 0:03:00.720 Behind this Milton crop? 0:03:01.600 --> 0:03:03.120 Is that what you want for him? 0:03:03.360 --> 0:03:04.200 Is he in trouble? 0:03:05.000 --> 0:03:05.280 No? 0:03:06.040 --> 0:03:06.600 Not yet. 0:03:07.320 --> 0:03:09.880 We just wanted to let you know they get the 0:03:09.919 --> 0:03:14.320 hell off my porch. Jesus Christ. 0:03:15.080 --> 0:03:17.560 You'd think they'd be more grateful, and. 0:03:17.720 --> 0:03:19.400 We just delivered the news. 0:03:19.639 --> 0:03:22.680 They can do with what they please. Well, maybe she 0:03:22.720 --> 0:03:24.440 wants to see Walter through plateglass. 0:03:24.480 --> 0:03:25.239 For twenty years. 0:03:25.800 --> 0:03:29.120 In the early sixties, a new and powerful voice emerged 0:03:29.160 --> 0:03:32.639 and rose quickly in the movement towards racial equality. H 0:03:32.840 --> 0:03:36.200 rapped around, had a big voice, and it was getting bigger, 0:03:36.560 --> 0:03:40.040 and the FBI took notice. 0:03:40.400 --> 0:03:45.080 Lyndon Johnson, you can always raise an argument about law 0:03:45.120 --> 0:03:47.280 and order because he never talks about justice. 0:03:47.400 --> 0:03:48.440 But black people. 0:03:48.240 --> 0:03:50.560 Fall for that same argument, and they go around talking 0:03:50.600 --> 0:03:54.080 about lawbreakers. We did not make the laws in this country. 0:03:54.200 --> 0:03:58.240 We'll neither, Marley not legally confined to those laws, those 0:03:58.320 --> 0:04:00.480 laws that keep them up keep us. 0:04:00.720 --> 0:04:02.480 You got to begin to understand. 0:04:02.080 --> 0:04:05.760 That a new wave of black social justice spread nationwire 0:04:05.800 --> 0:04:11.120 like a firestorm. Leaders like Kaimei terray byb Seal, Angela Davis, 0:04:11.320 --> 0:04:14.600 Huey P Newton, and Tupac's mother of Phoenie. 0:04:14.280 --> 0:04:18.320 Chicour violence is a part of America's culture. It as American, 0:04:18.480 --> 0:04:21.160 as Jerry Pye American taught the. 0:04:21.080 --> 0:04:22.640 Black people to be violent. 0:04:23.320 --> 0:04:26.360 We will use that violin to be it ourselves of oppression. 0:04:26.600 --> 0:04:31.000 If necessary, we will be freed by any means necessary. 0:04:31.320 --> 0:04:34.000 Who is this man? And why did the FBI care 0:04:34.080 --> 0:04:35.080 so much? H? 0:04:35.200 --> 0:04:39.680 Rap Brown born Hubert Gerald Brown on October fourth, nineteen 0:04:39.760 --> 0:04:43.760 forty three, in Baton, Rouge, Louisiana, emerged as a significant 0:04:43.760 --> 0:04:47.160 figure in the American civil rights movement during the nineteen sixties. 0:04:47.480 --> 0:04:51.080 His father, Eddie Charles Senior, worked for ESL Oil, and 0:04:51.120 --> 0:04:54.640 his mother, Thelma Warren Brown, was a domestic worker and 0:04:54.720 --> 0:04:59.240 elementary school teacher. From an early age, Brown showcased exceptional 0:04:59.320 --> 0:05:02.200 verbal skills, earning the nickname Rap. 0:05:02.520 --> 0:05:05.839 Brown's activism began in his teenage years, when he moved 0:05:05.880 --> 0:05:08.599 to Washington, d c. And joined the Non Volid Action 0:05:08.720 --> 0:05:12.919 Group inag a local affiliate of the Student Non Violent 0:05:13.000 --> 0:05:18.480 Coordinating Committee SNICK. By nineteen sixty seven, browse seceated Stokely 0:05:18.520 --> 0:05:22.799 Carmichael as a national chairman of SNICK. As chairman, Brown 0:05:22.960 --> 0:05:26.360 was known for his fireI rhetorican stock advocacy for black power. 0:05:26.960 --> 0:05:30.680 His speeches often attracted national attention and controversy. 0:05:31.480 --> 0:05:34.920 In nineteen sixty seven, following a speech in Cambridge, Maryland, 0:05:35.160 --> 0:05:39.600 Brown was wounded by gunfire from local police officers. Shortly 0:05:39.640 --> 0:05:42.839 after he left the state, a local school building burned down, 0:05:43.279 --> 0:05:47.360 leading to accusations against Brown for inciting rights, though the 0:05:47.400 --> 0:05:49.400 origins of the fire were disputed. 0:05:50.400 --> 0:05:55.000 Brown's legal challenges continued into nineteen seventy when two SNICK 0:05:55.080 --> 0:05:59.359 members died in a car explosion in Maryland under unclear circumstances. 0:06:00.080 --> 0:06:03.320 Brown went into hiding for eighteen months, appearing on the 0:06:03.400 --> 0:06:07.040 FBI's ten most wanted lists before being arrested in New York. 0:06:07.520 --> 0:06:10.680 During his imprisonment, he can ready to Islam and adopted 0:06:10.680 --> 0:06:13.240 the name Jamil Abdullah l Aman. 0:06:15.040 --> 0:06:16.560 Look here it is right here. 0:06:17.640 --> 0:06:18.839 Oh I see it. 0:06:19.080 --> 0:06:23.440 No, I fucking hate Tennessee. Yeah, pulling over there. 0:06:25.279 --> 0:06:26.040 It's amazing. 0:06:26.720 --> 0:06:29.200 It works so hard to make their houses look normal. 0:06:32.200 --> 0:06:36.720 Hello, my name is This is my partner. These are 0:06:36.720 --> 0:06:39.240 my credentials. We're sorry to bother you, ma'am. How are 0:06:39.279 --> 0:06:39.760 you this morning? 0:06:39.920 --> 0:06:43.320 For the FBI, the expulsions at Morehouse were an opportunity 0:06:43.320 --> 0:06:46.839 to curtail this new wave of activism. H Y Brown, 0:06:46.880 --> 0:06:49.560 as he was known at the time, was particularly effective 0:06:49.560 --> 0:06:50.720 at talking to young people. 0:06:51.720 --> 0:06:53.560 Is this your son, Samuel Jackson. 0:06:53.800 --> 0:06:56.159 Oh, I haven't seen him at months. 0:06:56.520 --> 0:06:57.720 Have a good day, gentlemen. 0:07:00.520 --> 0:07:03.200 It wasn't much to him anyway, and it looks like 0:07:03.279 --> 0:07:04.400 he's in deep with a smack. 0:07:04.839 --> 0:07:09.320 Probably won't hear anything from him. 0:07:09.320 --> 0:07:19.040 Oh please, Lord, pick up the phone. Come on, come on, Frankie, Frankie, 0:07:19.880 --> 0:07:20.640 is Sam there? 0:07:21.880 --> 0:07:24.480 Where is he? Okay? 0:07:24.640 --> 0:07:27.040 Tell him, I'm going to be in Atlanta the day 0:07:27.120 --> 0:07:27.960 after tomorrow. 0:07:28.240 --> 0:07:34.640 You understand two days. To understand this, you have to 0:07:34.760 --> 0:07:36.720 understand cointel Pro. 0:07:37.360 --> 0:07:40.800 The FBI started the program in nineteen fifty six. The 0:07:40.920 --> 0:07:44.000 goal was to suffocate interest in the Communist Party of 0:07:44.040 --> 0:07:48.240 the United States. The FBI used long form surveillance. The 0:07:48.320 --> 0:07:52.080 operations would take months or even years. Co Intel Pro 0:07:52.200 --> 0:07:56.280 lacked any due process and often went beyond any jurisdictional standards. 0:07:56.560 --> 0:08:00.480 To understand cointel Pro from the FBI's perspective, spoke with 0:08:00.520 --> 0:08:04.080 Frank for gluesy. Frank joined the FBI in nineteen eighty 0:08:04.120 --> 0:08:07.640 seven and rose to the ranks, eventually being appointed to 0:08:07.720 --> 0:08:11.200 the lofty role of Assistant Director for counter Intelligence in 0:08:11.280 --> 0:08:15.080 twenty eleven by then Director Robert Muller. He's a regular 0:08:15.160 --> 0:08:18.720 expert contributor on NBC and the author of two books, 0:08:19.120 --> 0:08:22.960 The FBI Way Inside the Bureau's Code of Excellence and 0:08:23.080 --> 0:08:26.960 Long Haul Hunting the Highway serial Killers. And as menm 0:08:27.120 --> 0:08:29.360 pointed out, Frank is also a good looking man. 0:08:30.160 --> 0:08:32.760 First of all, though Hans isn't Frank right out of 0:08:32.760 --> 0:08:38.880 central casting. You're a handsome fella. I'm just saying like this, 0:08:39.440 --> 0:08:42.319 if I was casting, you know, we're filmmakers, I would 0:08:42.360 --> 0:08:43.840 cast you as the FBI guy. 0:08:43.960 --> 0:08:46.520 Let me tell you, you'd be in the big office, Frank. 0:08:47.160 --> 0:08:51.360 Lighting and makeup, lighting and mega. So what was co 0:08:51.440 --> 0:08:54.120 intel pro It stands it's an acronym. It's a code 0:08:54.160 --> 0:08:58.480 word that stands for counterintelligence program. That got my attention 0:08:58.559 --> 0:09:00.760 because I was the head of counter Intelligen just at 0:09:00.760 --> 0:09:03.880 the end of my career. It was a secret program 0:09:04.000 --> 0:09:10.800 to counter all of this so called sedition, instability, protest movement, 0:09:11.360 --> 0:09:14.000 even the violent, especially the violent side of things. And 0:09:14.040 --> 0:09:18.240 what did it consist of? Undercover agents, which, by the way, 0:09:18.280 --> 0:09:22.400 the FBI sucked at in the sixties and early seventies. 0:09:22.679 --> 0:09:26.079 It was a new concept that guys, white guys in 0:09:26.800 --> 0:09:30.120 suits and ties and wingtip shoes were somehow good at 0:09:30.120 --> 0:09:36.760 going undercover in protest movements and developing sources on campus. 0:09:37.880 --> 0:09:38.760 Not good. 0:09:39.160 --> 0:09:41.640 Do you think there's anything in the history of the 0:09:41.720 --> 0:09:45.320 FBI that had like a seed of this notion of 0:09:45.360 --> 0:09:50.160 the politicization of the FBI, like certain communities being suspicious 0:09:50.160 --> 0:09:50.760 of the FBI. 0:09:51.040 --> 0:09:53.760 Oh for sure. Look, as they said during Jay Edgar 0:09:53.800 --> 0:09:57.160 Hoover's reign, and I'll say rain in the FBI because 0:09:57.160 --> 0:10:00.240 he was there for over forty years. They he used 0:10:00.280 --> 0:10:02.680 to joke in Washington, if you've seen one FBI director, 0:10:02.679 --> 0:10:04.600 you've seen them all because he was it. 0:10:05.360 --> 0:10:05.840 He was it. 0:10:06.080 --> 0:10:09.800 And what does that mean? When you've got that much power, 0:10:09.840 --> 0:10:14.040 you can become politically powerful. And Hoover knew that, and 0:10:14.120 --> 0:10:17.480 he knew that the secret of staying in power was 0:10:17.880 --> 0:10:21.719 behind the scenes to gain political influence. And how did 0:10:21.720 --> 0:10:24.880 he do that. He kept files on people, kept files 0:10:24.880 --> 0:10:29.400 on members of Congress, and they feared him. People came 0:10:29.440 --> 0:10:34.400 to fear Hoover in the black community, minority community. Generally, 0:10:34.679 --> 0:10:37.880 when people wield power and rule by fear, you can 0:10:37.960 --> 0:10:42.200 literally terrorize parts of the population. History repeats itself and 0:10:42.880 --> 0:10:46.520 the lessons of the past are sometimes forgotten. If you're 0:10:46.559 --> 0:10:49.040 an evidence based agency like the FBI is right, just 0:10:49.080 --> 0:10:52.200 the facts, man, facts and evidence in law. The agency 0:10:52.240 --> 0:10:54.760 has every opportunity to flush out the so called communist 0:10:54.840 --> 0:10:58.960 threat to America, and you can't find it, or it's 0:10:59.040 --> 0:11:01.240 far less than you. And that was the case, by 0:11:01.280 --> 0:11:03.280 the way, for Hoover, and it was particularly the case 0:11:03.480 --> 0:11:08.200 with MLK, who was viewed by Hoover as a threat. 0:11:09.120 --> 0:11:11.160 And we can talk for hours about trying to get 0:11:11.160 --> 0:11:15.040 inside Hoover's had whether this was largely race racially motivated. 0:11:15.120 --> 0:11:17.840 I think that was a huge part of it. Whether 0:11:18.000 --> 0:11:21.920 or not he truly had the goods on MLK being 0:11:21.960 --> 0:11:25.880 too affiliated with communism, The records we have now available 0:11:25.880 --> 0:11:29.720 to us today show that he couldn't prove it. The 0:11:29.760 --> 0:11:33.160 evidence was not there. Did MLK have associates who were 0:11:33.520 --> 0:11:37.000 present or former Communist Party members? Yes, he had one 0:11:37.040 --> 0:11:42.000 particularly close associate who was a former Communist member that 0:11:42.240 --> 0:11:48.160 sent Hoover into orbit and was used to justify all 0:11:48.240 --> 0:11:51.319 other means. You know, the phrase by any means necessary, 0:11:51.360 --> 0:11:54.400 We align closely with Malcolm X in some of his species. 0:11:54.400 --> 0:11:58.800 By Eddie means necessary, Well, guess what, Jaeger Hoover also 0:11:58.840 --> 0:12:02.480 adopted that, and it did it in a largely unlawful way, 0:12:03.320 --> 0:12:06.600 there's a great scene and this is like in FBI data. 0:12:06.840 --> 0:12:09.480 There's a great scene in Malcolm X where this the 0:12:09.559 --> 0:12:12.440 night before Malcolm is killed and these two FBI agents 0:12:12.440 --> 0:12:15.199 are listening to him talk and he's just sitting in 0:12:15.200 --> 0:12:16.640 his hotel calling his wife. 0:12:17.160 --> 0:12:19.679 Ask them why they had new concre Do you want 0:12:19.720 --> 0:12:20.400 some furniture? 0:12:20.400 --> 0:12:21.720 Do you want some cars? We have? 0:12:22.920 --> 0:12:25.319 What if we have? Meanwhile? 0:12:25.480 --> 0:12:28.840 King was you know, he like he liked the ladies, right, 0:12:29.240 --> 0:12:31.560 And these FBI guys are listening and he says to 0:12:31.600 --> 0:12:35.319 one guy, compared to King, this guy's a monk. 0:12:36.080 --> 0:12:38.199 Right, he didn't do anything right. 0:12:38.200 --> 0:12:41.360 He was He was boring. He offered none of the 0:12:41.520 --> 0:12:46.800 salacious details and life that doctor King did. So in 0:12:46.800 --> 0:12:50.480 some ways he was a disappointment in terms of what 0:12:50.520 --> 0:12:53.760 they could get on him. You know, the FBI considered 0:12:53.840 --> 0:12:57.240 Malcolm XX a massive threat. His file was open in 0:12:57.320 --> 0:13:01.800 nineteen fifty six when the Stars characterized Nation of Islam. 0:13:02.000 --> 0:13:06.160 As his profile grew nationally, so did his surveillance. His 0:13:06.200 --> 0:13:09.439 file would include more than thirty six hundred pays of information. 0:13:10.040 --> 0:13:13.599 They would either follow him overseas. The extent of the 0:13:13.640 --> 0:13:17.079 surveillance as far beyond would have documented or published. The 0:13:17.160 --> 0:13:20.160 scope of this and the relation to his assassination may 0:13:20.240 --> 0:13:21.120 never be uncovered. 0:13:22.240 --> 0:13:25.960 Kennedy was briefed by Hoover on what he was doing 0:13:26.040 --> 0:13:30.120 with Martin Luther King. Richard Nixon had been briefed on 0:13:30.320 --> 0:13:33.280 what the plan was for the Black Panthers. You know, 0:13:33.400 --> 0:13:37.000 we can't pretend that this was all about a rogue 0:13:37.120 --> 0:13:37.840 FBI director. 0:13:37.920 --> 0:13:38.280 It was not. 0:13:39.120 --> 0:13:43.040 It was an administration that was held bent on keeping 0:13:43.080 --> 0:13:43.840 people quiet. 0:13:44.480 --> 0:13:46.800 That's amazing because I feel like when I was in college, 0:13:48.280 --> 0:13:51.640 I would hear people talk about Hotel pro and it 0:13:51.760 --> 0:13:54.679 sounded like a conspiracy theory against the government. Like it 0:13:54.760 --> 0:13:58.760 sounded like that's what you know, your high uncle would. 0:13:58.559 --> 0:14:01.800 Say, yeah, or some he had a barbershop or something. 0:14:01.720 --> 0:14:04.319 Or someone had a barbershop. And it wasn't until much 0:14:04.480 --> 0:14:06.920 later that I realized that co Intel Probe was real 0:14:07.000 --> 0:14:10.240 in it and it actually existed. And I always feel like, 0:14:11.160 --> 0:14:13.360 even even doing this podcast, and some of the older 0:14:13.400 --> 0:14:18.439 black folks are a little bit hesitant to even to 0:14:18.640 --> 0:14:21.600 just fully talk because there's there seems to be this 0:14:21.760 --> 0:14:27.240 still this through line of the poyancy and paranoia about 0:14:27.320 --> 0:14:27.920 this program. 0:14:28.960 --> 0:14:31.280 Yeah, a lot of good came out of the exposure 0:14:31.600 --> 0:14:34.960 of this program in terms of setting out attorney general guidelines, 0:14:35.000 --> 0:14:38.520 there was a huge congressional inquiry called the Church Committee. 0:14:38.680 --> 0:14:42.080 Because the congress members started it was Frank Church, and 0:14:42.880 --> 0:14:45.840 they were blown away. They they thought, you know, from 0:14:45.880 --> 0:14:47.840 the media reporting, they thought they had pretty much the 0:14:47.920 --> 0:14:50.400 four corners of the co intel program figured out. And 0:14:50.480 --> 0:14:53.920 then here here comes this parade of witnesses that starts 0:14:54.000 --> 0:14:58.800 talking about illegal wire taps, breaking into people's homes without warrants, 0:14:58.880 --> 0:15:04.160 planting evidence, take King evidence, bugging phones, planting microphones. And 0:15:04.280 --> 0:15:06.520 they were like, you had got to be kidding me. 0:15:07.040 --> 0:15:11.000 So and by the way, this this certainly extended to 0:15:11.440 --> 0:15:14.720 to Martin Luther King personally in terms of bugging him 0:15:15.040 --> 0:15:17.360 without without legal process. 0:15:18.240 --> 0:15:18.360 Uh. 0:15:18.480 --> 0:15:21.200 And they were blown away. And so a lot of 0:15:21.320 --> 0:15:24.920 guidelines and laws and rules came into place. And now 0:15:25.240 --> 0:15:27.560 I truly fear and least by the way we're drilled 0:15:27.600 --> 0:15:30.240 into our heads, uh in the FBI. I mean, the 0:15:30.440 --> 0:15:33.920 notion that some supervisor would tell you to do an 0:15:33.920 --> 0:15:37.720 illegal wiretap or something. You know, it just simply isn't 0:15:37.760 --> 0:15:40.280 going to happen. But I have to tell you we 0:15:40.440 --> 0:15:44.360 may have come full circle because this this concept of 0:15:45.120 --> 0:15:48.160 you know, going after your your political enemies, going after 0:15:48.320 --> 0:15:52.280 perceived threats, I think is taking on a new life. 0:15:59.360 --> 0:16:02.480 He is more from our conversation with Frank Faguzzi, former 0:16:02.600 --> 0:16:04.280 de he director of the FBI. 0:16:04.720 --> 0:16:07.000 So Malcolm and Dice Furst and not the king assassinated 0:16:07.240 --> 0:16:10.840 in that period in the early seventies, what were some 0:16:10.960 --> 0:16:13.880 of the biggest concerns for the FBI. 0:16:14.600 --> 0:16:17.800 The biggest concern while Hoover was nearing the end and 0:16:17.880 --> 0:16:20.880 even after his demise, was we're going to get caught 0:16:21.120 --> 0:16:23.600 at this. We were in trouble. And when does Hoover 0:16:23.960 --> 0:16:27.520 when is his raigning nine seventy two he poss I believe. 0:16:27.960 --> 0:16:31.720 And now people are panicked at FBI headquarters and even 0:16:31.760 --> 0:16:36.040 in certain field offices because they know there's there's accountability coming. 0:16:36.600 --> 0:16:41.000 And in fact, there were moves to indict even with 0:16:41.160 --> 0:16:44.440 regard to a Watergate cover up. L Patrick Gray, who 0:16:44.760 --> 0:16:49.640 had been named acting FBI director after Hoover, he was 0:16:49.880 --> 0:16:52.200 they were moving him toward indictment with all these what 0:16:52.280 --> 0:16:55.040 they call black bag jobs, that's what they were called, 0:16:55.360 --> 0:16:57.640 where you would go into someone's home without a warrant 0:16:59.080 --> 0:17:02.560 and do a search, planting mics or taking evidence or 0:17:02.600 --> 0:17:07.040 planting evidence. This stuff was illegal and in many cases, 0:17:07.640 --> 0:17:09.159 and they were afraid they were going to prison, and 0:17:09.240 --> 0:17:12.400 there was a movement afoot to actually put FBI executives 0:17:12.440 --> 0:17:16.120 in prison. So that was their first concern, getting caught 0:17:16.440 --> 0:17:18.400 and then covering it up, and then getting caught about 0:17:18.400 --> 0:17:22.520 the cover up, and then you know, there was much 0:17:22.640 --> 0:17:27.680 discussion about how to whether or not to destroy files, 0:17:28.160 --> 0:17:34.760 particularly about MLK. So, for example, Hoover's famous secretary had 0:17:34.880 --> 0:17:38.720 control of a safety that had what were called the 0:17:38.800 --> 0:17:41.520 obscene files or yeah, I think they were known as 0:17:41.520 --> 0:17:45.040 the obscene files, and they included files on congressmen and 0:17:45.080 --> 0:17:50.920 it's about seventeen congressmen allegedly and MLK. And these included 0:17:51.520 --> 0:17:55.160 wire taps or bugs placed in his hotel rooms when 0:17:55.160 --> 0:17:58.959 he traveled. He traveled a lot, and they, yeah, they 0:17:59.160 --> 0:18:04.840 allegedly can tained evidence of extramarital affairs the WIRESAFS led 0:18:04.920 --> 0:18:07.359 to a last ditch effort. And this is how we 0:18:07.440 --> 0:18:09.840 need to perceive this. By the way, you have the 0:18:09.880 --> 0:18:13.000 premier law enforcement agency in the country. They have tried 0:18:13.119 --> 0:18:16.359 every which way to flesh out this communist threat with 0:18:16.520 --> 0:18:21.920 around MLK and the Black movement. They've been unsuccessful. I 0:18:22.040 --> 0:18:25.720 mean even to the point where there's there's a memo 0:18:25.840 --> 0:18:28.120 I've seen from the head of the San Francisco Field 0:18:28.160 --> 0:18:31.080 office regarding the Black Panthers. Hoover had put out the word, 0:18:31.160 --> 0:18:33.240 we've got to smash the Black Panthers. They got to go, 0:18:34.359 --> 0:18:36.480 and he again he saw them as a threat. And 0:18:36.600 --> 0:18:39.520 the head of the San Francisco says, Boss, We've taken 0:18:39.520 --> 0:18:41.560 a hard look at this, and the worst thing we've 0:18:41.600 --> 0:18:44.520 caught the panthers doing here in our city is feeding 0:18:44.600 --> 0:18:48.680 breakfast to inner city kits. That's what we've got. And 0:18:48.760 --> 0:18:51.920 he was pissed by that response. And by the way, 0:18:52.080 --> 0:18:55.680 when did the real emphasis in the FBI of going 0:18:55.720 --> 0:18:59.720 after King really kick in? He had his eye have 0:19:00.200 --> 0:19:02.600 I have a dream speech on the National Mall. 0:19:03.240 --> 0:19:04.359 I have a dream. 0:19:05.640 --> 0:19:06.480 That one day. 0:19:08.320 --> 0:19:13.359 This nation will rise up, live out the true meaning 0:19:13.440 --> 0:19:18.080 of its creeds. We hold these choos to be self evident, 0:19:18.840 --> 0:19:20.960 that all men are created. 0:19:24.920 --> 0:19:29.119 This nineteen sixty three, sixty three thank you. That is 0:19:29.200 --> 0:19:32.400 when literally William Sullivan, who was that then the deputy 0:19:32.480 --> 0:19:37.639 director of the FBI, says to Hoover, that's enough. This 0:19:37.800 --> 0:19:41.400 guy has too much power and influence, and oh yeah, 0:19:41.400 --> 0:19:44.680 he's black. We've got to pull out the stops. That 0:19:44.960 --> 0:19:47.000 really got the FBI's attention was that I have a 0:19:47.080 --> 0:19:49.640 dream speech that he could pour people into the National Mall. 0:19:49.920 --> 0:19:54.080 So then the excerpt of the of the Bug transcript 0:19:54.160 --> 0:19:56.720 doesn't work. So they decide they're going to write a letter, 0:19:56.800 --> 0:19:59.320 and by all accounts it's trafted by this guy, William 0:19:59.359 --> 0:20:03.159 Sullivan FBI. A course, there's no way in terms of 0:20:03.200 --> 0:20:05.560 way the FBI works, that that kind of letter would 0:20:05.560 --> 0:20:10.240 be drafted and sent without Jay Garhoover's approval. Just there's 0:20:10.320 --> 0:20:16.119 just no way. So it's sent and essentially, and I paraphrase, 0:20:16.840 --> 0:20:20.800 you are reprehensible, Immral. We're going to expose you and 0:20:20.960 --> 0:20:26.000 your your deviance and you know something like the best 0:20:26.160 --> 0:20:28.760 you know, the best solution for you is to go. 0:20:29.520 --> 0:20:31.720 Here are some direct quotes from that letter. 0:20:32.320 --> 0:20:36.320 In view of your low grade abnormal personal behavior. I 0:20:36.440 --> 0:20:39.920 will not dignify your name with either a mister or 0:20:40.040 --> 0:20:43.480 a reverend or a doctor, and your last name calls 0:20:43.520 --> 0:20:45.919 to mind only the type of king such as King 0:20:46.000 --> 0:20:49.359 Henry the eighth and his countless acts of adultery and 0:20:49.440 --> 0:20:53.400 a moral conduct lower than that of a beast king. 0:20:54.119 --> 0:20:56.840 Look into your heart. You know you are a complete 0:20:56.920 --> 0:20:59.840 fraud and a great liability to all of us. Negro 0:21:00.880 --> 0:21:03.480 white people in this country have enough frauds of their own, 0:21:03.840 --> 0:21:06.280 but I am sure that they don't have one at 0:21:06.320 --> 0:21:09.119 this time that is anywhere near your equal. You are 0:21:09.240 --> 0:21:12.679 no clergyman, and you know it. I repeat, you are 0:21:12.720 --> 0:21:15.760 a colossal fraud, and an evil, vicious one at that. 0:21:16.480 --> 0:21:18.680 You cannot believe in God and act as you do. 0:21:19.440 --> 0:21:24.160 Clearly you don't believe in any personal moral principles. King, 0:21:24.680 --> 0:21:28.600 Like all frauds, your end is approaching. Your honorary degrees, 0:21:28.960 --> 0:21:32.720 your nobel prize, what a grim farce, and other rewards 0:21:32.800 --> 0:21:35.880 will not save you. King, I repeat, you are done. 0:21:36.440 --> 0:21:39.600 No person can overcome facts, not even a fraud like yourself. 0:21:40.520 --> 0:21:43.840 Lend your sexually psychotic ear to the enclosure. It is 0:21:43.920 --> 0:21:47.600 all there on the record, your sexual orgies. Listen to yourself, 0:21:47.680 --> 0:21:51.320 you filthy, abnormal animal. You are all the record. You 0:21:51.440 --> 0:21:54.159 have been on the record, all your adulterous acts, your 0:21:54.200 --> 0:21:57.639 sexual orgies, extending far into the past. This one is 0:21:57.720 --> 0:22:01.399 but a tiny sample. The American public. The church organizations 0:22:01.440 --> 0:22:04.960 that have been helping Protestant, Catholic and Jews will know 0:22:05.080 --> 0:22:08.480 you for what you are, an evil, abnormal beast. 0:22:08.920 --> 0:22:10.560 You are done, King. 0:22:10.880 --> 0:22:12.560 There is only one thing left. 0:22:12.440 --> 0:22:12.960 For you to do. 0:22:13.400 --> 0:22:14.200 You know what it is. 0:22:14.760 --> 0:22:16.879 You have just thirty four days in which to do this. 0:22:17.480 --> 0:22:20.560 This exact number has been selected for a specific reason. 0:22:21.119 --> 0:22:23.480 It has definite practical significance. 0:22:24.040 --> 0:22:24.760 You are done. 0:22:25.400 --> 0:22:27.960 There is but one way out for you. You better 0:22:28.000 --> 0:22:32.120 take it before your filthy, abnormal, fraudulent self is bare 0:22:32.240 --> 0:22:34.960 to the nation, and the implication. 0:22:34.560 --> 0:22:38.119 Cleary that it's time to commit suicide. That's about one 0:22:38.119 --> 0:22:40.720 of the more horrific things I think in FBI history, 0:22:40.800 --> 0:22:41.440 quite honestly. 0:22:42.400 --> 0:22:45.439 In addition to this letter, the FBI sent audio tapes 0:22:45.440 --> 0:22:48.400 to doctor King and his wife Coretta. This will literally 0:22:48.400 --> 0:22:52.159 be known as the blackmail package. The direct undertone of 0:22:52.200 --> 0:22:55.040 the letter seems to suggest that doctor King should kill 0:22:55.119 --> 0:23:00.800 himself before receiving the historic Mobil Peace Prize. Pro wanted 0:23:00.840 --> 0:23:05.080