1 00:00:01,760 --> 00:00:04,360 Speaker 1: Rip Current is a production of iHeart podcasts. 2 00:00:04,559 --> 00:00:07,920 Speaker 2: The views and opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those 3 00:00:07,960 --> 00:00:08,800 Speaker 2: of the host. 4 00:00:08,560 --> 00:00:16,080 Speaker 1: Producers or parent company. Listener discretion is it find. Around 5 00:00:16,120 --> 00:00:20,360 Speaker 1: eight pm on May thirtieth, nineteen eighty nine, four people 6 00:00:20,520 --> 00:00:24,560 Speaker 1: entered the Arizona Public Service storage yard on the outskirts 7 00:00:24,640 --> 00:00:29,800 Speaker 1: of Phoenix. They were radical environmentalists. They were monkey wrenters, 8 00:00:30,480 --> 00:00:33,960 Speaker 1: or at least three of them were. To enter the yard, 9 00:00:34,200 --> 00:00:36,280 Speaker 1: they had to cut through a fence, and a man 10 00:00:36,360 --> 00:00:40,560 Speaker 1: named Mike Fain took care of that. With Fain were 11 00:00:40,560 --> 00:00:45,400 Speaker 1: Mark Davis, Peg Millet, and Mark Baker. They had with 12 00:00:45,520 --> 00:00:49,600 Speaker 1: them a blowtorch, but were unarmed. They planned to cut 13 00:00:49,640 --> 00:00:53,360 Speaker 1: through the legs of a series of utility towers. These 14 00:00:53,400 --> 00:00:58,040 Speaker 1: towers held cables conducting electricity from the Palo Verti Nuclear 15 00:00:58,120 --> 00:01:02,160 Speaker 1: generation Station to two pumping stations used by the Central 16 00:01:02,240 --> 00:01:06,600 Speaker 1: Arizona Project, which brought water from the Colorado River to 17 00:01:06,720 --> 00:01:10,679 Speaker 1: populous counties in Arizona. The collapse of the towers would 18 00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:15,000 Speaker 1: snap the wires and temporarily cut power to the pumping stations. 19 00:01:16,080 --> 00:01:19,080 Speaker 1: Mark Davis and Mark Baker wore towels over their feet 20 00:01:19,120 --> 00:01:23,360 Speaker 1: to obscure their footprints, Peg Millet and Mike Faine did not. 21 00:01:24,640 --> 00:01:26,919 Speaker 1: In the early hours of the morning of the thirty first, 22 00:01:27,160 --> 00:01:29,360 Speaker 1: the group began to use the torch on the steel 23 00:01:29,400 --> 00:01:32,559 Speaker 1: leg of a tower. The effort did not last long. 24 00:01:33,720 --> 00:01:37,800 Speaker 1: Flares lit the night sky. An FBI team of forty agents, 25 00:01:38,200 --> 00:01:41,840 Speaker 1: some wearing night vision goggles and toting automatic weapons, and 26 00:01:41,920 --> 00:01:46,680 Speaker 1: over a dozen vehicles, including a helicopter, moved in. Mark 27 00:01:46,760 --> 00:01:50,360 Speaker 1: Davis and Mark Baker, possibly slowed by the towels wrapped 28 00:01:50,400 --> 00:01:54,600 Speaker 1: around their feet, were quickly caught. Peg Millet escaped into 29 00:01:54,600 --> 00:01:58,920 Speaker 1: the desert. When the author Leslie James Pickering asked her 30 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:02,200 Speaker 1: how she was able to escape the scene, she replied. 31 00:02:02,840 --> 00:02:05,480 Speaker 3: The short version is that I didn't have an adversarial 32 00:02:05,520 --> 00:02:08,400 Speaker 3: relationship with the natural world, and all of the people 33 00:02:08,440 --> 00:02:11,639 Speaker 3: who were chasing me did. We were in different dimensions. 34 00:02:11,800 --> 00:02:14,079 Speaker 3: I walked right by them. 35 00:02:14,600 --> 00:02:17,799 Speaker 1: About one hundred miles away in Tucson. Earth First co 36 00:02:17,919 --> 00:02:20,840 Speaker 1: founder Dave Foreman was about to be on the receiving 37 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:24,280 Speaker 1: end of the second prong of the action. He wrote 38 00:02:24,280 --> 00:02:27,960 Speaker 1: about it in the November nineteen eighty nine Earth First journal. 39 00:02:28,960 --> 00:02:31,440 Speaker 3: The Doberman Down the Block starts barking its brains out 40 00:02:31,440 --> 00:02:34,680 Speaker 3: at first light. I put in my ear plugs, roll over, 41 00:02:34,880 --> 00:02:37,720 Speaker 3: and go back to sleep. A couple of hours later, 42 00:02:37,760 --> 00:02:39,720 Speaker 3: I heard the sound of many feet in the hall 43 00:02:39,800 --> 00:02:44,640 Speaker 3: outside my bedroom, an unfamiliar but authoritative voice yelling my name. 44 00:02:45,480 --> 00:02:49,079 Speaker 3: Disoriented from the sudden awakening, unable to hear clearly through 45 00:02:49,120 --> 00:02:51,680 Speaker 3: the ear plugs, I opened my eyes to three men 46 00:02:51,840 --> 00:02:55,080 Speaker 3: around my bed pointing point three point fifty seven magnums 47 00:02:55,080 --> 00:02:55,360 Speaker 3: at me. 48 00:02:57,280 --> 00:03:00,800 Speaker 1: Peg Millett was arrested the next day. And what about 49 00:03:00,840 --> 00:03:02,799 Speaker 1: the fourth person in the group that had entered the 50 00:03:02,840 --> 00:03:07,400 Speaker 1: supply yard, Mike Fain, who had cut the fence. Well, 51 00:03:07,680 --> 00:03:14,440 Speaker 1: Mike Fain was an undercover agent, an FBI provocateur. I'm 52 00:03:14,480 --> 00:03:19,079 Speaker 1: Toby Ball and this is RIP current episode nine co 53 00:03:19,320 --> 00:03:29,560 Speaker 1: Intel pro Almost immediately after the bombing of their car 54 00:03:29,600 --> 00:03:33,760 Speaker 1: in Oakland on May twenty fourth, nineteen ninety, Judy Barry 55 00:03:33,800 --> 00:03:37,240 Speaker 1: and Darryl Turney began positioning the attack as a political 56 00:03:37,360 --> 00:03:41,320 Speaker 1: assassination attempt. As she lay in the hospital in the 57 00:03:41,320 --> 00:03:44,200 Speaker 1: aftermath of the bombing and still in too much pain 58 00:03:44,280 --> 00:03:47,360 Speaker 1: to give a written statement, she told a police officer 59 00:03:47,520 --> 00:03:51,720 Speaker 1: that quote, the timber industry was responsible for bombing her vehicle. 60 00:03:52,680 --> 00:03:55,640 Speaker 1: This would soon be expanded to include the FBI as 61 00:03:55,640 --> 00:03:59,040 Speaker 1: a co conspirator, trying to pin the blame on Judy 62 00:03:59,120 --> 00:04:02,920 Speaker 1: and Daryl. To support this claim, they pointed to the 63 00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:07,000 Speaker 1: FBI's notorious co intel pro efforts of the nineteen sixties. 64 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:11,200 Speaker 1: This was a specific program which sought to undermine what 65 00:04:11,280 --> 00:04:16,720 Speaker 1: it deemed as extremist groups through infiltration, subterfuge, and it 66 00:04:16,760 --> 00:04:21,240 Speaker 1: was alleged violence. The program was officially shut down in 67 00:04:21,320 --> 00:04:24,919 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy one, but the tactics continued to some degree 68 00:04:24,960 --> 00:04:28,600 Speaker 1: long afterwards. They could point to an even more recent 69 00:04:28,640 --> 00:04:32,720 Speaker 1: event in the small group of environmental radicals in Arizona, 70 00:04:33,400 --> 00:04:35,840 Speaker 1: an operation code named therm Con. 71 00:04:37,400 --> 00:04:41,680 Speaker 2: In eighty seven, when earth First got that first ABC 72 00:04:41,800 --> 00:04:45,760 Speaker 2: national news story, the FBI was planning a co intel 73 00:04:45,839 --> 00:04:52,919 Speaker 2: pro against earth First, and they wanted to smear earth 74 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:58,680 Speaker 2: First as saboteurs who were planning to take out three 75 00:04:58,760 --> 00:05:02,760 Speaker 2: nuclear power plants. Therefore, we would be anti human, we'd 76 00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:06,160 Speaker 2: be misanthropes, we'd beat violent terrorists. 77 00:05:07,720 --> 00:05:10,320 Speaker 1: The news story was a piece on earth First by 78 00:05:10,360 --> 00:05:16,159 Speaker 1: correspondent Ken Kashawahara. It included George Alexander, the milk worker 79 00:05:16,160 --> 00:05:18,920 Speaker 1: who was injured by a tree spike, along with earth 80 00:05:18,960 --> 00:05:22,839 Speaker 1: First leaders Mike Rozell and Dave Foreman, justifying their approach 81 00:05:22,960 --> 00:05:27,080 Speaker 1: to preserving wild places. As we noted when we covered 82 00:05:27,080 --> 00:05:31,320 Speaker 1: the George Alexander case in an earlier episode, Earth First 83 00:05:31,400 --> 00:05:34,960 Speaker 1: was not responsible for the tree spike that nearly killed him. 84 00:05:35,360 --> 00:05:38,640 Speaker 1: The report also included a spokesman from the National Wildlife 85 00:05:38,640 --> 00:05:43,599 Speaker 1: Federation asserting that Earth First activists were terrorists, not environmentalists. 86 00:05:44,520 --> 00:05:48,120 Speaker 1: The report, Caffrey says, sparked the FBI to set its 87 00:05:48,200 --> 00:05:51,160 Speaker 1: sites on Earth First, and so what. 88 00:05:51,120 --> 00:05:53,359 Speaker 2: They did is they rested Dave Foreman. They said that 89 00:05:53,400 --> 00:05:55,479 Speaker 2: they had spent two million dollars to set up this 90 00:05:55,560 --> 00:05:59,520 Speaker 2: campaign in three states. I'm not sure what the three were. 91 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:04,120 Speaker 2: Alifornia was one and Arizona was one, maybe Montana, but 92 00:06:04,200 --> 00:06:06,040 Speaker 2: it could have also been Oregon or Washington. 93 00:06:08,120 --> 00:06:11,520 Speaker 1: One target was the most prominent individual and Earth First, 94 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:16,880 Speaker 1: Dave Foreman. It involved placing a provocateur in Arizona's radical 95 00:06:17,040 --> 00:06:18,200 Speaker 1: environmental community. 96 00:06:19,400 --> 00:06:21,960 Speaker 2: There's a woman named Peg Millett, who is a singer, 97 00:06:22,839 --> 00:06:26,280 Speaker 2: lives in Prescott, Arizona. Tis one of the activists who 98 00:06:26,279 --> 00:06:27,360 Speaker 2: supports monkey wrenching. 99 00:06:28,960 --> 00:06:32,599 Speaker 1: She and two others. Mark Davis said Mark Baker had 100 00:06:32,600 --> 00:06:37,479 Speaker 1: formed the Evan Meachum eco terrorist international conspiracy, also known 101 00:06:37,480 --> 00:06:42,279 Speaker 1: by its acronym emetic, which means a substance that causes vomiting. 102 00:06:43,440 --> 00:06:46,599 Speaker 1: Evan Meacham was a right wing governor of Arizona who 103 00:06:46,640 --> 00:06:50,240 Speaker 1: became known nationally in nineteen eighty seven for canceling Martin 104 00:06:50,360 --> 00:06:53,919 Speaker 1: Luther King Junior Day as a state holiday, telling a 105 00:06:53,920 --> 00:06:57,400 Speaker 1: group of black leaders, you folks don't need another holiday. 106 00:06:57,839 --> 00:06:59,719 Speaker 1: When you folks need are jobs. 107 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:03,560 Speaker 2: That was their little group, and they would go up 108 00:07:03,640 --> 00:07:08,000 Speaker 2: and cut down ski lines in the San Francisco Peaks 109 00:07:08,040 --> 00:07:12,760 Speaker 2: above Phoenix because it was sacred land to the Navajo, 110 00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:18,240 Speaker 2: and they did about four or five notable actions like that. 111 00:07:20,200 --> 00:07:22,880 Speaker 1: The FBI managed to place an undercover agent in this 112 00:07:22,960 --> 00:07:25,720 Speaker 1: tiny group by targeting Peg Millet. 113 00:07:26,320 --> 00:07:28,920 Speaker 2: And their intelligence was pretty amazing. They knew a lot. 114 00:07:29,240 --> 00:07:32,560 Speaker 2: They had a whole makeup of PEG's personality, and they 115 00:07:32,640 --> 00:07:35,880 Speaker 2: knew that Peg like country line dancing or something, but 116 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:40,480 Speaker 2: her husband didn't. So Mike Faine came in as a 117 00:07:40,520 --> 00:07:43,480 Speaker 2: shell shock Vietnam VET because they also knew she was 118 00:07:43,600 --> 00:07:46,880 Speaker 2: very mothering, so that this guy was kind of reclusive. 119 00:07:46,960 --> 00:07:49,400 Speaker 2: Whatever she would like, you know, want to boost this 120 00:07:49,480 --> 00:07:51,920 Speaker 2: ego and stuff, and he liked this, this dancing. 121 00:07:53,000 --> 00:07:55,400 Speaker 4: He wasn't really he didn't try to muscle his way, 122 00:07:55,400 --> 00:07:59,440 Speaker 4: and he just waged, you know, untilly. People started to 123 00:07:59,440 --> 00:08:03,960 Speaker 4: take him in and I think they targeted his personality 124 00:08:04,040 --> 00:08:05,560 Speaker 4: to peggies. 125 00:08:06,680 --> 00:08:10,320 Speaker 1: This is Ilsa Asplund, who was not at the Arizona 126 00:08:10,360 --> 00:08:14,240 Speaker 1: Public Service storage yard when Davis, Miller and Baker were arrested, 127 00:08:14,640 --> 00:08:18,680 Speaker 1: but was arrested later on charges of conspiracy and sabotage 128 00:08:18,800 --> 00:08:22,240 Speaker 1: related to that night. She is speaking in an interview 129 00:08:22,440 --> 00:08:30,360 Speaker 1: videotaped by Andy Caffrey. 130 00:08:27,800 --> 00:08:31,360 Speaker 4: As Teggy was close to Dave. I think, as you know, 131 00:08:31,560 --> 00:08:34,480 Speaker 4: creating him in a certain way that he was the 132 00:08:34,559 --> 00:08:37,319 Speaker 4: kind of person meant that she want. 133 00:08:37,160 --> 00:08:39,360 Speaker 5: To take care. 134 00:08:39,800 --> 00:08:41,040 Speaker 4: I think that it would be delivered. 135 00:08:41,280 --> 00:08:43,320 Speaker 5: Is the personality that it came up with. 136 00:08:44,800 --> 00:08:48,200 Speaker 1: In an article about the Arizona arrests, the LA Times 137 00:08:48,240 --> 00:08:50,719 Speaker 1: described Faine and the persona he put on for the 138 00:08:50,800 --> 00:08:53,120 Speaker 1: radical environmentalist community. 139 00:08:54,280 --> 00:08:56,480 Speaker 3: A slender but strong man with a beard and an 140 00:08:56,480 --> 00:08:59,960 Speaker 3: ever present Arizona Feeds baseball cap always pulled down low. 141 00:09:00,600 --> 00:09:02,960 Speaker 3: Fain said that he had moved to Prescott to renovate 142 00:09:03,000 --> 00:09:06,760 Speaker 3: some old houses for his boss, who lived back East. Fain, 143 00:09:06,880 --> 00:09:09,840 Speaker 3: it seems, was a master at plucking everyone's soft strings. 144 00:09:10,280 --> 00:09:13,800 Speaker 3: To Millet, for instance, he portrayed himself as an emotionally bruised, 145 00:09:13,880 --> 00:09:18,040 Speaker 3: ex alcoholic Vietnam vette in need of feminine healing. He 146 00:09:18,080 --> 00:09:19,559 Speaker 3: also said he had dyslexia. 147 00:09:21,440 --> 00:09:23,439 Speaker 1: He also worked on Mark Davis. 148 00:09:25,040 --> 00:09:27,320 Speaker 3: Fain was as adept at playing Davis as he was 149 00:09:27,360 --> 00:09:30,320 Speaker 3: at playing Millet. He'd often drive to Davis's house and 150 00:09:30,360 --> 00:09:32,720 Speaker 3: his pickup at the crack of dawn and the two 151 00:09:32,720 --> 00:09:36,760 Speaker 3: would work out together on Davis's punching bag. Sometimes they'd 152 00:09:36,760 --> 00:09:39,760 Speaker 3: meet for lunch at Nick's Speed Your Face, a sandwich 153 00:09:39,800 --> 00:09:42,240 Speaker 3: stop in town, then head for a seat in town 154 00:09:42,280 --> 00:09:45,480 Speaker 3: square and talk about respective environmental priorities. 155 00:09:46,760 --> 00:09:48,640 Speaker 5: Was surprised in him that he had found out so 156 00:09:48,800 --> 00:09:55,480 Speaker 5: much who you'd been so successful and what he was doing, 157 00:09:56,720 --> 00:10:00,840 Speaker 5: and it seemed like he and really have to work 158 00:10:00,960 --> 00:10:04,280 Speaker 5: very hard at you just hung around this sort of 159 00:10:04,360 --> 00:10:06,920 Speaker 5: hung out you know, he like wasn't a real could 160 00:10:06,920 --> 00:10:08,120 Speaker 5: be a real sort of guy. 161 00:10:09,760 --> 00:10:10,120 Speaker 2: At all. 162 00:10:10,600 --> 00:10:13,400 Speaker 5: And he were just quiet kind of young guy that 163 00:10:13,480 --> 00:10:15,520 Speaker 5: was just hung out in a big You've see him 164 00:10:15,520 --> 00:10:18,520 Speaker 5: around a lot, and after a while, you know, he 165 00:10:18,600 --> 00:10:20,600 Speaker 5: kind of thought he must be so and so spring 166 00:10:20,600 --> 00:10:22,280 Speaker 5: because he was so and so and so and so 167 00:10:22,400 --> 00:10:26,119 Speaker 5: thought he was your fring because he was with you, writer. 168 00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:28,600 Speaker 1: And investigator David Halvard. 169 00:10:29,360 --> 00:10:32,559 Speaker 6: And these people clearly had not been through the nineteen sixties. 170 00:10:32,640 --> 00:10:36,280 Speaker 6: I mean, this was like your classic FBI in foremant 171 00:10:36,360 --> 00:10:38,720 Speaker 6: coming to you and they fall in love with the guy, 172 00:10:40,200 --> 00:10:43,079 Speaker 6: and he basically, you know, entraps them into a program 173 00:10:43,120 --> 00:10:46,040 Speaker 6: where they're going to sabotage this nuclear power plant. They 174 00:10:46,160 --> 00:10:50,800 Speaker 6: all arrested, charged, and that was the pattern that it 175 00:10:50,840 --> 00:10:52,880 Speaker 6: began to emerge that it was sort of the classic 176 00:10:53,080 --> 00:10:58,040 Speaker 6: FBI infiltration targeting of radical environmentalists. 177 00:11:00,400 --> 00:11:03,559 Speaker 1: Would later allege that the action at the Central Arizona 178 00:11:03,600 --> 00:11:06,200 Speaker 1: Project using the torch to cut the legs of the 179 00:11:06,280 --> 00:11:09,880 Speaker 1: tower was just a trial run for a larger operation 180 00:11:10,440 --> 00:11:15,319 Speaker 1: which would simultaneously target three nuclear power plants Paula Verdi 181 00:11:15,480 --> 00:11:21,480 Speaker 1: in Arizona, Rocky Flats in Colorado, and Diablo Canyon in California. 182 00:11:22,520 --> 00:11:25,960 Speaker 1: This is Darryl Churney on Democracy Now. On June twelfth, 183 00:11:25,960 --> 00:11:27,120 Speaker 1: two thousand and two. 184 00:11:28,120 --> 00:11:30,920 Speaker 7: The FBI had a plan to blow up three nuclear 185 00:11:30,960 --> 00:11:34,280 Speaker 7: power plants simultaneously. It was their plan. They tried to 186 00:11:34,320 --> 00:11:37,559 Speaker 7: recruit people to do that. They found one Earth firster 187 00:11:37,679 --> 00:11:41,120 Speaker 7: and two nuclear activists who were willing to not engage 188 00:11:41,160 --> 00:11:45,679 Speaker 7: in any explosive activity whatsoever. But they found three people 189 00:11:45,760 --> 00:11:48,080 Speaker 7: naive enough to be willing to take down a power 190 00:11:48,120 --> 00:11:54,079 Speaker 7: line in Arizona using a blow torch, but not explosive. 191 00:11:55,679 --> 00:11:59,680 Speaker 1: Remember this focus on explosives. It will be important later 192 00:11:59,760 --> 00:12:01,600 Speaker 1: in the episode. 193 00:12:01,800 --> 00:12:04,600 Speaker 2: The idea, that's what the FBI said, that there was 194 00:12:04,640 --> 00:12:07,160 Speaker 2: going to be this, these three places that were going 195 00:12:07,200 --> 00:12:11,120 Speaker 2: to be assaulted. And so Mike Faine then wanted to 196 00:12:11,120 --> 00:12:13,840 Speaker 2: get some money from Dave Foreman to buy a blowtorch 197 00:12:14,240 --> 00:12:17,440 Speaker 2: for that action. And so Mike than went into the 198 00:12:17,440 --> 00:12:20,079 Speaker 2: Earth First journal office one day wearing a body wire 199 00:12:21,080 --> 00:12:23,960 Speaker 2: and he wanted to record a conversation with people he's 200 00:12:23,960 --> 00:12:25,200 Speaker 2: supposed to pick up his check. 201 00:12:26,800 --> 00:12:30,720 Speaker 1: He received the check from Earth First organizer Nancy Zierenberg, 202 00:12:31,200 --> 00:12:34,400 Speaker 1: who was a close friend of Millet's. The check was 203 00:12:34,440 --> 00:12:38,439 Speaker 1: for one hundred dollars. Prior to his trial, as part 204 00:12:38,480 --> 00:12:42,319 Speaker 1: of the legal discovery process, Dave Foreman listened to tapes 205 00:12:42,320 --> 00:12:45,240 Speaker 1: made by Faine and the FBI as part of their 206 00:12:45,280 --> 00:12:50,760 Speaker 1: sting operation. He found an astonishing tape Fain had recorded 207 00:12:50,760 --> 00:12:53,640 Speaker 1: the visit to the Earth First Journal office and had 208 00:12:53,679 --> 00:12:56,320 Speaker 1: neglected to turn off the tape after he had left. 209 00:12:57,160 --> 00:13:00,760 Speaker 1: It captured a conversation that he had with their agents 210 00:13:01,240 --> 00:13:05,040 Speaker 1: after he'd received the money. Here he is talking about 211 00:13:05,080 --> 00:13:07,800 Speaker 1: the importance of the money to Millet, Davis and Baker. 212 00:13:08,080 --> 00:13:09,960 Speaker 8: So she just gave us one hundred dollars, which is 213 00:13:09,960 --> 00:13:11,760 Speaker 8: about what they did the first time, about half of 214 00:13:11,840 --> 00:13:13,920 Speaker 8: what they originally or what we had asked for. 215 00:13:16,320 --> 00:13:17,319 Speaker 9: Four five operations. 216 00:13:17,440 --> 00:13:21,240 Speaker 8: Yeah, real s Well, they use everything that they have 217 00:13:21,640 --> 00:13:25,680 Speaker 8: for you know, what they print up, what they write. 218 00:13:26,000 --> 00:13:28,560 Speaker 8: I mean, these people live on nothing and everything. I mean, 219 00:13:28,960 --> 00:13:31,480 Speaker 8: this isn't much, but for them, it's about everything they've got. 220 00:13:33,559 --> 00:13:38,000 Speaker 8: They're short on material assets, but they're long on dedications. 221 00:13:38,760 --> 00:13:41,280 Speaker 1: Fiend said on the tape that Foreman was in the 222 00:13:41,320 --> 00:13:44,720 Speaker 1: office but didn't speak to him or say anything while 223 00:13:44,720 --> 00:13:45,520 Speaker 1: he was there. 224 00:13:46,600 --> 00:13:49,680 Speaker 2: And he needed to get one of them to say 225 00:13:49,679 --> 00:13:52,640 Speaker 2: the word nuclear so that he could say that this 226 00:13:52,840 --> 00:13:55,280 Speaker 2: was for something nuclear. Well, they didn't say anything nuclear 227 00:13:55,320 --> 00:13:58,439 Speaker 2: because they weren't planning any attack on nuclear power plants. 228 00:13:59,320 --> 00:14:00,480 Speaker 8: Do you hear what I said it in there? 229 00:14:00,679 --> 00:14:00,839 Speaker 10: You know? 230 00:14:01,040 --> 00:14:01,400 Speaker 11: Nuclear? 231 00:14:01,480 --> 00:14:05,680 Speaker 8: She goes, well, sometimes I make mistakes he goes, yeah, 232 00:14:05,679 --> 00:14:10,680 Speaker 8: you're gonna watch that student, Like I said, she won't 233 00:14:10,720 --> 00:14:12,720 Speaker 8: say anything. Yeah, I don't figure we'd even get that 234 00:14:12,840 --> 00:14:14,040 Speaker 8: much out over so much. 235 00:14:15,600 --> 00:14:20,040 Speaker 2: So, he didn't turn off his body wire when he 236 00:14:20,120 --> 00:14:22,640 Speaker 2: went to Burger King to report to his supervisor, and 237 00:14:22,800 --> 00:14:26,800 Speaker 2: he recorded the conversation that he had with his supervisor 238 00:14:27,640 --> 00:14:30,200 Speaker 2: in which he said that Dave Foreman was not the 239 00:14:30,280 --> 00:14:32,600 Speaker 2: guy who was doing this stuff, but we have to 240 00:14:32,680 --> 00:14:35,680 Speaker 2: get him to send the message, and that's all we're 241 00:14:35,680 --> 00:14:36,440 Speaker 2: really doing here. 242 00:14:38,280 --> 00:14:40,600 Speaker 1: This is the part of the tape that Andy just 243 00:14:40,680 --> 00:14:41,280 Speaker 1: talked about. 244 00:14:42,360 --> 00:14:44,760 Speaker 8: It is what it is, see and so what because 245 00:14:44,800 --> 00:14:47,040 Speaker 8: this relates to the guy we need to pop. I 246 00:14:47,120 --> 00:14:49,920 Speaker 8: mean in terms of actual perpetrators, but this is the 247 00:14:49,960 --> 00:14:52,720 Speaker 8: guy we need to pop and send a message, and 248 00:14:52,880 --> 00:14:53,880 Speaker 8: that's all we're really doing. 249 00:14:55,560 --> 00:14:57,840 Speaker 1: To be clear, he's saying that they aren't going to 250 00:14:57,920 --> 00:15:01,400 Speaker 1: go after Foreman because he's actually committed a serious crime. 251 00:15:02,080 --> 00:15:04,400 Speaker 1: They need to go after him to send a message 252 00:15:04,480 --> 00:15:07,960 Speaker 1: to the radical environmental community, to intimidate. 253 00:15:08,960 --> 00:15:10,800 Speaker 2: And so basically they wanted to take out, you know, 254 00:15:10,880 --> 00:15:12,400 Speaker 2: cut off the head of the snake. They thought that 255 00:15:12,440 --> 00:15:15,400 Speaker 2: if he took out Dave Foreman as a terrorist, that 256 00:15:15,480 --> 00:15:19,040 Speaker 2: all these people would flee, so they went the group, 257 00:15:19,480 --> 00:15:22,360 Speaker 2: not Foreman. Foreman was never involved in any of these actions. 258 00:15:22,520 --> 00:15:25,760 Speaker 2: His only involvement was that check to buy the blow towards. 259 00:15:27,320 --> 00:15:30,160 Speaker 1: The tape ended less than a minute later with Fain 260 00:15:30,400 --> 00:15:30,920 Speaker 1: saying this. 261 00:15:32,400 --> 00:15:34,520 Speaker 10: I don't name that on a dape. Oh boy. 262 00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:39,240 Speaker 1: It became clear that the push to go after the 263 00:15:39,360 --> 00:15:43,600 Speaker 1: three nuclear power plants had in fact come from Mike Faane, 264 00:15:43,880 --> 00:15:47,280 Speaker 1: the FBI, and Foremant, and not from any of the activists. 265 00:15:48,280 --> 00:15:51,720 Speaker 1: In fact, the plan seemed too ambitious, and it was 266 00:15:51,840 --> 00:15:56,080 Speaker 1: Fain who kept it going. A medic activist, Mark Davis 267 00:15:56,320 --> 00:15:59,760 Speaker 1: wrote this in the Earth First Journal in nineteen ninety three. 268 00:16:01,040 --> 00:16:03,120 Speaker 3: It is quite clear from the record that I was 269 00:16:03,160 --> 00:16:07,120 Speaker 3: an enthusiastic participant and took active steps to keep things moving. 270 00:16:07,640 --> 00:16:09,960 Speaker 3: But it is also obvious that the only reason the 271 00:16:10,040 --> 00:16:13,760 Speaker 3: whole creaky scheme wasn't dropped was the FBI's determination to 272 00:16:13,840 --> 00:16:18,080 Speaker 3: keep it alive. This is significant information and hardly a secret. 273 00:16:19,960 --> 00:16:22,920 Speaker 1: In the end, the Arizona Five chose to accept plea 274 00:16:23,000 --> 00:16:27,960 Speaker 1: deals in exchange for guilty please. The FBI operation in 275 00:16:28,080 --> 00:16:32,000 Speaker 1: Arizona had been called therm con, which stood for Thermite 276 00:16:32,120 --> 00:16:37,720 Speaker 1: Conspiracy thermite is an explosive, and Fain had pressed Davis 277 00:16:37,800 --> 00:16:41,160 Speaker 1: in particular to use explosives and had said that he 278 00:16:41,200 --> 00:16:45,120 Speaker 1: would provide the thermite. Davis and the others had declined, 279 00:16:45,600 --> 00:16:47,840 Speaker 1: and that was why they had used a blow torch 280 00:16:47,960 --> 00:16:51,600 Speaker 1: on the tower. But the focus on explosives would not 281 00:16:51,720 --> 00:16:55,440 Speaker 1: be lost on Judy Barry, Darryl Turney and their allies 282 00:16:55,520 --> 00:17:01,240 Speaker 1: in Ecotopia. Explosives had the width of terrorism. The FBI 283 00:17:01,400 --> 00:17:05,680 Speaker 1: had tried to associate Earth First with explosives once, would 284 00:17:05,720 --> 00:17:17,159 Speaker 1: they try again after the break. On March eighth, nineteen 285 00:17:17,200 --> 00:17:21,600 Speaker 1: seventy one, arguably the most anticipated sporting event in history, 286 00:17:21,800 --> 00:17:26,600 Speaker 1: took place in Madison Square Garden. Joe Frazier, the undefeated 287 00:17:26,680 --> 00:17:31,280 Speaker 1: heavyweight boxing champion of the World, Fati also undefeated. Muhammad Ali. 288 00:17:32,280 --> 00:17:34,960 Speaker 1: Ali had been the world champion, but was stripped of 289 00:17:35,040 --> 00:17:37,680 Speaker 1: his title when he refused to fight in the Vietnam 290 00:17:37,760 --> 00:17:41,440 Speaker 1: War after being drafted. It was not only a fight 291 00:17:41,640 --> 00:17:44,600 Speaker 1: between the two top heavyweight boxers in an era when 292 00:17:44,640 --> 00:17:47,800 Speaker 1: the champion was a major figure in sports. It was 293 00:17:47,880 --> 00:17:53,119 Speaker 1: also a cultural touchstone, with the draft resister Ali against Foreman, 294 00:17:53,280 --> 00:17:56,800 Speaker 1: who supported the war as never before, the eyes of 295 00:17:56,840 --> 00:18:01,040 Speaker 1: the nation were on a single sporting event. Taking advantage 296 00:18:01,040 --> 00:18:04,800 Speaker 1: of this national distraction and the distraction of the guards 297 00:18:04,840 --> 00:18:07,520 Speaker 1: who are listening to the fight on the radio, a 298 00:18:07,600 --> 00:18:11,800 Speaker 1: group calling itself the Citizens Commission to Investigate the FBI 299 00:18:12,600 --> 00:18:17,080 Speaker 1: broke into the FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania and stole documents. 300 00:18:18,080 --> 00:18:21,399 Speaker 1: Included in our hall were files which exposed the co 301 00:18:21,600 --> 00:18:26,240 Speaker 1: intel program. This is Judy Berry on the program Radio 302 00:18:26,400 --> 00:18:28,400 Speaker 1: Curious in nineteen ninety three. 303 00:18:29,680 --> 00:18:32,320 Speaker 12: But also the FBI had a campaign going against Earth 304 00:18:32,440 --> 00:18:36,920 Speaker 12: First and their campaign I can only described as co 305 00:18:37,160 --> 00:18:37,600 Speaker 12: intel Pro. 306 00:18:37,960 --> 00:18:42,040 Speaker 10: Co Intel Pro was j Edgar Hoover's nefarious program to 307 00:18:42,200 --> 00:18:50,200 Speaker 10: sabotage political groups by a misdirect and disrupt, misdirect and neutralize. 308 00:18:50,359 --> 00:18:53,520 Speaker 12: And you know this was used against the Civil Rights Movement, 309 00:18:53,640 --> 00:18:57,920 Speaker 12: to Black Panther Party, the American Indian Movement, and techniques 310 00:18:57,960 --> 00:19:01,720 Speaker 12: such as assassinations of political leaders and framings of political 311 00:19:01,840 --> 00:19:04,680 Speaker 12: leaders are part of this co intel Pro campaign. 312 00:19:06,280 --> 00:19:09,240 Speaker 1: We'll talk about Judy's claim that the FBI engaged in 313 00:19:09,359 --> 00:19:12,800 Speaker 1: assassinating political leaders a little bit later in the episode. 314 00:19:13,800 --> 00:19:17,680 Speaker 1: The co intel Pro program officially ended in nineteen seventy one, 315 00:19:18,400 --> 00:19:20,879 Speaker 1: but many of the tactics continued to be used by 316 00:19:20,920 --> 00:19:24,400 Speaker 1: the FBI. When people talk about co Intel Pro being 317 00:19:24,520 --> 00:19:28,240 Speaker 1: used against Earth First, they are talking about these allegedly 318 00:19:28,400 --> 00:19:29,520 Speaker 1: illegal tactics. 319 00:19:30,760 --> 00:19:33,479 Speaker 12: So the FBI stopped using the name co intel Pro, 320 00:19:33,840 --> 00:19:37,240 Speaker 12: but I'm charging that they're continuing to use the same tactics, 321 00:19:37,640 --> 00:19:41,240 Speaker 12: and co Intel Pro of attempted its basically political sabotage, 322 00:19:41,480 --> 00:19:44,479 Speaker 12: of attempting to discredit activists as they did with us 323 00:19:44,840 --> 00:19:47,960 Speaker 12: instead of non violent organizers. They tried to portray us 324 00:19:47,960 --> 00:19:53,840 Speaker 12: as violent terrorists to scare people away, to misdirect our movement, 325 00:19:53,920 --> 00:19:56,240 Speaker 12: to get people not to associate us with us, to 326 00:19:56,280 --> 00:19:59,360 Speaker 12: be afraid to or to think that we were terrorists 327 00:19:59,400 --> 00:20:01,000 Speaker 12: instead of of what we really were. 328 00:20:02,760 --> 00:20:05,920 Speaker 1: And to be clear, Earth First is not the only 329 00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:08,800 Speaker 1: group to allege that the FBI used these types of 330 00:20:08,960 --> 00:20:13,000 Speaker 1: actions against them. The question here is whether the FBI 331 00:20:13,200 --> 00:20:17,200 Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety would be complicit in assassinating an American citizen, 332 00:20:17,840 --> 00:20:20,680 Speaker 1: and if so, would they assassinate Judy Barry. 333 00:20:22,119 --> 00:20:25,560 Speaker 9: Judy and the legal team and Darryl and also a 334 00:20:25,680 --> 00:20:29,119 Speaker 9: number of other people who coordinated with them put a 335 00:20:29,200 --> 00:20:31,760 Speaker 9: lot of work into trying to solve the bombing over 336 00:20:31,840 --> 00:20:38,200 Speaker 9: the years, and explored a lot of different avenues, and ultimately, 337 00:20:38,640 --> 00:20:42,440 Speaker 9: an investigation takes a lot of resources, and there were 338 00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:44,560 Speaker 9: a lot of leads in this case and a lot 339 00:20:44,600 --> 00:20:47,520 Speaker 9: of places to look, and there's just too much ground 340 00:20:47,560 --> 00:20:50,160 Speaker 9: to cover, you know, they just couldn't solve it in time. 341 00:20:50,800 --> 00:20:54,200 Speaker 9: But you know, I think Judy's mature view of the case. 342 00:20:54,280 --> 00:20:56,840 Speaker 9: By mature, I mean after she'd thought about it for 343 00:20:57,000 --> 00:20:59,159 Speaker 9: years and done a lot of research and a lot 344 00:20:59,200 --> 00:21:02,760 Speaker 9: of investigation, and read very closely the FBI file and 345 00:21:02,880 --> 00:21:06,359 Speaker 9: the police file, and deposed a lot of witnesses, I mean, 346 00:21:06,400 --> 00:21:11,200 Speaker 9: a lot of defendants. Her working theory, her educated guests, 347 00:21:12,440 --> 00:21:16,840 Speaker 9: was that basically, the timber industry bombed her, possibly with 348 00:21:16,960 --> 00:21:19,920 Speaker 9: the foreknowledge of somebody in the FBI, and then the 349 00:21:20,119 --> 00:21:24,240 Speaker 9: FBI tried to frame her for that bombing, and she thought, 350 00:21:24,720 --> 00:21:27,080 Speaker 9: you know, the timber industry and the FBI, you know, 351 00:21:27,280 --> 00:21:29,000 Speaker 9: essentially collaborating in this. 352 00:21:31,160 --> 00:21:33,200 Speaker 1: Now, on the face of it, this sounds like a 353 00:21:33,280 --> 00:21:37,120 Speaker 1: conspiracy theory, but there are facts that, while they don't 354 00:21:37,160 --> 00:21:42,040 Speaker 1: actually prove anything, do seem well they should make you wonder. 355 00:21:43,320 --> 00:21:46,520 Speaker 1: We've already touched on one aspect of the FBI's dubious 356 00:21:46,560 --> 00:21:49,919 Speaker 1: involvement in this case, the speed at which Frank Doyle, 357 00:21:50,119 --> 00:21:53,359 Speaker 1: an FBI bomb expert, arrived on the scene of the 358 00:21:53,440 --> 00:21:58,040 Speaker 1: bombing of Judy's car. Remember, he was supposedly driving in 359 00:21:58,119 --> 00:22:00,800 Speaker 1: the area when the bombing occurred, so it was able 360 00:22:00,880 --> 00:22:04,320 Speaker 1: to get to the scene quickly. The second piece of 361 00:22:04,400 --> 00:22:08,480 Speaker 1: this that we've already looked at is this determination that 362 00:22:08,600 --> 00:22:11,320 Speaker 1: the bomb was on the floor behind the driver's seat, 363 00:22:11,760 --> 00:22:14,080 Speaker 1: when it seems that the actual placement of the bomb 364 00:22:14,320 --> 00:22:18,240 Speaker 1: under the driver's seat should have been obvious. But there's more. 365 00:22:19,280 --> 00:22:21,159 Speaker 1: Journalist Mike Janella. 366 00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:25,960 Speaker 11: I remember my skepticism shot up twenty four hours later 367 00:22:26,040 --> 00:22:30,399 Speaker 11: when I learned that the very first law enforcement agent 368 00:22:31,040 --> 00:22:34,400 Speaker 11: on the scene of that car bombing was an FBI 369 00:22:34,720 --> 00:22:41,000 Speaker 11: agent who had two months before been conducting car bombing 370 00:22:41,200 --> 00:22:45,399 Speaker 11: classes on Louisiana Pacipic Land up north. 371 00:22:47,160 --> 00:22:50,120 Speaker 1: Just to be clear, he wasn't technically the first law 372 00:22:50,200 --> 00:22:53,200 Speaker 1: enforcement agent on the scene, but he was close to it, 373 00:22:53,720 --> 00:22:57,520 Speaker 1: and certainly well before anyone would have expected. But Mike 374 00:22:57,640 --> 00:23:01,560 Speaker 1: also mentions bombing classes. More on this in a moment. 375 00:23:02,720 --> 00:23:06,639 Speaker 11: Now, of course, FBI, Oakland Police they're all saying, oh, 376 00:23:06,720 --> 00:23:10,760 Speaker 11: it's just a coincidence, Okay, but I have to tell 377 00:23:10,760 --> 00:23:15,719 Speaker 11: you something. An FBI agent processes the bridge from San 378 00:23:15,760 --> 00:23:19,479 Speaker 11: Francisco is the first cop on the scene of the bombing. 379 00:23:21,040 --> 00:23:24,080 Speaker 11: What a coincidence. And then when you find out, oh, 380 00:23:24,240 --> 00:23:27,479 Speaker 11: he's not a novice here, He's just not someone who 381 00:23:27,920 --> 00:23:32,000 Speaker 11: they were suggesting. Williams just coming across the bridge when 382 00:23:32,080 --> 00:23:34,520 Speaker 11: word went out there was a car bomb. This is 383 00:23:34,560 --> 00:23:37,680 Speaker 11: a guy who's intimoly aware of Judy Barry and Darryl 384 00:23:37,760 --> 00:23:42,119 Speaker 11: turned intimoi aware of what's going on the North coast. 385 00:23:42,800 --> 00:23:46,480 Speaker 11: Now you know, the argument was whoa car bombing guy? 386 00:23:46,560 --> 00:23:52,800 Speaker 11: He was just showing local cops how this stuff works. Coincidence, Okay, 387 00:23:53,520 --> 00:23:55,520 Speaker 11: But honestly, that was the moment of truth for me. 388 00:23:57,280 --> 00:24:01,480 Speaker 1: So here's where the coincidences start piling up. It turns 389 00:24:01,520 --> 00:24:04,680 Speaker 1: out that Frank Doyle had the month prior been the 390 00:24:04,800 --> 00:24:08,600 Speaker 1: instructor of what they called a bomb school. The bomb 391 00:24:08,680 --> 00:24:11,879 Speaker 1: school was a week long course educating law enforcement on 392 00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:16,440 Speaker 1: different kinds of bombs and the investigation of bombings. It 393 00:24:16,560 --> 00:24:19,560 Speaker 1: was held every year and sometimes more than once a year, 394 00:24:20,119 --> 00:24:24,240 Speaker 1: in conjunction with the College of the Redwoods. In nineteen ninety, 395 00:24:24,560 --> 00:24:26,520 Speaker 1: it was held about a month before the bombing of 396 00:24:26,640 --> 00:24:30,560 Speaker 1: Judy's car and and yet another coincidence, it was held 397 00:24:30,640 --> 00:24:34,200 Speaker 1: on property owned by Louisiana Pacific, one of the timber 398 00:24:34,280 --> 00:24:39,280 Speaker 1: corporations targeted by Earth First. Barry's legal team found this 399 00:24:39,640 --> 00:24:43,520 Speaker 1: in the testimony of an Oakland Police officer named Myron Hanson. 400 00:24:44,760 --> 00:24:47,680 Speaker 1: Hanson had been on the scene of Judy's bombing. He 401 00:24:47,760 --> 00:24:50,440 Speaker 1: said that he knew Frank Doyle because he had attended 402 00:24:50,480 --> 00:24:53,920 Speaker 1: the bomb school that Doyle led. He also said that 403 00:24:54,040 --> 00:24:57,320 Speaker 1: they had recreated a similar crime scene at the bomb school. 404 00:24:58,640 --> 00:25:01,520 Speaker 1: Two of the FBI agents on the scene had attended 405 00:25:01,600 --> 00:25:05,760 Speaker 1: the same bomb school training, and of course Frank Doyle 406 00:25:05,920 --> 00:25:09,600 Speaker 1: was there too, four law enforcement officers who had all 407 00:25:09,680 --> 00:25:13,200 Speaker 1: been part of an explosive training held on land owned 408 00:25:13,240 --> 00:25:17,240 Speaker 1: by a timber company. It's a lot the bomb school. 409 00:25:17,680 --> 00:25:20,040 Speaker 1: The quick arrival at the scene of the bombing is 410 00:25:20,080 --> 00:25:22,960 Speaker 1: if they knew what was going to happen. The misidentification 411 00:25:23,119 --> 00:25:25,520 Speaker 1: of the placement of the bomb. You could add the 412 00:25:25,600 --> 00:25:29,640 Speaker 1: briefing that the FBI gave positioning earth First to Oakland 413 00:25:29,680 --> 00:25:33,800 Speaker 1: Police as likely terrorists. This is the basis of the 414 00:25:33,920 --> 00:25:37,680 Speaker 1: theory that the FBI was involved. It doesn't smell right 415 00:25:38,920 --> 00:25:42,280 Speaker 1: and There's one more thing. The San Francisco office of 416 00:25:42,320 --> 00:25:46,520 Speaker 1: the FBI was run by an agent named Richard held. Held, 417 00:25:46,600 --> 00:25:49,760 Speaker 1: who retired soon after the bombing in nineteen ninety three, 418 00:25:50,480 --> 00:25:53,800 Speaker 1: was a notorious and radical circles for his involvement in 419 00:25:53,880 --> 00:25:57,560 Speaker 1: co intel pro actions against the Black Panthers and the 420 00:25:57,640 --> 00:26:01,359 Speaker 1: American Indian Movement in the nineteen sixties and very early 421 00:26:01,600 --> 00:26:06,119 Speaker 1: nineteen seventies. His presence was yet another red flag for 422 00:26:06,240 --> 00:26:12,480 Speaker 1: Earth First. The timber industry part of this equation is 423 00:26:12,560 --> 00:26:15,720 Speaker 1: a little harder to get a handle on. The claim 424 00:26:15,800 --> 00:26:18,320 Speaker 1: here is not that a single timber worker or a 425 00:26:18,359 --> 00:26:21,880 Speaker 1: small group of timber workers attempted to kill Judy. It's 426 00:26:21,960 --> 00:26:25,399 Speaker 1: that a timber company did. The company that seems to 427 00:26:25,480 --> 00:26:30,879 Speaker 1: be identified most often is Louisiana Pacific. Earlier in the season, 428 00:26:31,200 --> 00:26:33,879 Speaker 1: we looked at the threats against Earth First and the 429 00:26:34,000 --> 00:26:38,000 Speaker 1: large timber corporation support of those threats, and that is 430 00:26:38,160 --> 00:26:41,879 Speaker 1: troubling to say the least. And more than one person 431 00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:46,280 Speaker 1: mentioned to me that the extraction industries, meaning timber, oil, mining, 432 00:26:46,400 --> 00:26:50,720 Speaker 1: and so on, are violent industries. But did a corporation 433 00:26:50,960 --> 00:26:52,560 Speaker 1: put out a hit on Judy Barry? 434 00:26:53,320 --> 00:26:54,000 Speaker 10: And why. 435 00:26:55,760 --> 00:26:55,800 Speaker 13: This? 436 00:26:56,160 --> 00:26:58,920 Speaker 1: Why seems to spring from the idea that Earth First 437 00:26:59,040 --> 00:27:02,520 Speaker 1: in general, and Judy Berry in particular, closed such a 438 00:27:02,640 --> 00:27:06,040 Speaker 1: threat to corporate timber that they needed to assassinate her. 439 00:27:07,359 --> 00:27:10,000 Speaker 1: So if this was the case, what was the danger 440 00:27:10,119 --> 00:27:14,240 Speaker 1: she presented? That's not so easy to pin down. We 441 00:27:14,320 --> 00:27:17,760 Speaker 1: have heard in previous episodes that Judy wanted to unionize 442 00:27:17,840 --> 00:27:21,240 Speaker 1: timber workers, and this was a threat to the corporations. 443 00:27:22,359 --> 00:27:25,239 Speaker 1: As we saw earlier in the season, her success here 444 00:27:25,359 --> 00:27:30,800 Speaker 1: seems marginal at best. Even Judy felt that way. Private 445 00:27:30,880 --> 00:27:36,399 Speaker 1: investigator Josh Morsel on the threat posed by Judy's labor organizing. 446 00:27:37,119 --> 00:27:41,359 Speaker 9: There might be something to that, But Judy herself and 447 00:27:41,640 --> 00:27:44,200 Speaker 9: a lot of people in the timber community didn't think 448 00:27:44,480 --> 00:27:47,400 Speaker 9: that her organizing of timber workers had reached the level 449 00:27:47,480 --> 00:27:49,720 Speaker 9: that was the sort of threat that would kind of 450 00:27:49,840 --> 00:27:51,560 Speaker 9: that would make a bombing make sense on its own. 451 00:27:51,960 --> 00:27:54,800 Speaker 9: Judy thought the level of threat she posed was not 452 00:27:55,240 --> 00:27:59,399 Speaker 9: really equivalent to the ferocity of the attack against her 453 00:28:00,240 --> 00:28:00,560 Speaker 9: her a bit. 454 00:28:02,080 --> 00:28:06,040 Speaker 1: So if organizing timber workers wasn't the trigger, what was. 455 00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:10,600 Speaker 9: What she theorized is the reason that the timber industry 456 00:28:10,600 --> 00:28:13,200 Speaker 9: would have been motivated to bomb her was it had 457 00:28:13,240 --> 00:28:16,400 Speaker 9: to do with controlling the story of the timber conflict 458 00:28:17,280 --> 00:28:20,680 Speaker 9: that Judy and Darryl and Earth First were trying to 459 00:28:21,800 --> 00:28:28,359 Speaker 9: focus the discussion on these out of town corporations liquidating 460 00:28:28,400 --> 00:28:33,080 Speaker 9: and destroying the forest, treating timber workers as disposable, and 461 00:28:33,200 --> 00:28:36,000 Speaker 9: preparing to cut and run. Basically, let's cut the forest 462 00:28:36,040 --> 00:28:38,360 Speaker 9: and let's leave the area, and we'll leave them with 463 00:28:38,480 --> 00:28:42,640 Speaker 9: neither jobs nor a forest. Judy was framing the conflict 464 00:28:42,720 --> 00:28:47,720 Speaker 9: as these out of town corporations versus the entire local community. 465 00:28:48,360 --> 00:28:53,680 Speaker 9: And she thought that timber industry preferred the focus to 466 00:28:53,760 --> 00:28:59,360 Speaker 9: be on terrorism sabotage, and because the sabotage sucks all 467 00:28:59,360 --> 00:29:01,920 Speaker 9: the oxygen now the room, it dominates the conversation, it 468 00:29:02,040 --> 00:29:04,520 Speaker 9: distracts from the central core issues here. 469 00:29:06,120 --> 00:29:10,240 Speaker 1: And so this theory goes the timber industry was unable 470 00:29:10,320 --> 00:29:14,080 Speaker 1: to stand up to this public relations challenge. This was 471 00:29:14,160 --> 00:29:16,160 Speaker 1: too dangerous for them to let continue. 472 00:29:17,360 --> 00:29:21,480 Speaker 9: The timber industry was getting battered in the headlines, and 473 00:29:22,040 --> 00:29:24,440 Speaker 9: you know, the story was getting out of timbers control 474 00:29:24,720 --> 00:29:27,680 Speaker 9: in a way that their PR people couldn't really stand 475 00:29:27,760 --> 00:29:31,040 Speaker 9: up to, and so they bombed her. They brought the topic, 476 00:29:31,400 --> 00:29:34,600 Speaker 9: the story, the discussion right back to the issue of terrorism, 477 00:29:35,560 --> 00:29:38,560 Speaker 9: and that was her theory on the manner in which 478 00:29:38,800 --> 00:29:41,080 Speaker 9: she posed a threat to them and why they might 479 00:29:41,160 --> 00:29:42,480 Speaker 9: have been motivated to bomb her. 480 00:29:44,080 --> 00:29:47,000 Speaker 1: This theory does explain why a pipe bomb was used 481 00:29:47,240 --> 00:29:51,240 Speaker 1: instead of some more conventional means of assassination, as the 482 00:29:51,320 --> 00:29:56,720 Speaker 1: Arizona FBI operation showed the use of explosives hints at terrorism. 483 00:29:57,680 --> 00:30:00,240 Speaker 1: A bomb blast would instinctively call to mind and the 484 00:30:00,320 --> 00:30:05,840 Speaker 1: supposedly terrorist Earth First, not the corporate timber industry. But 485 00:30:05,960 --> 00:30:08,800 Speaker 1: beyond that, does it seem as though losing a public 486 00:30:08,880 --> 00:30:12,680 Speaker 1: relations battle would drive a corporation or industry to murder. 487 00:30:13,960 --> 00:30:16,240 Speaker 1: In the interest of making the best case I think 488 00:30:16,280 --> 00:30:18,760 Speaker 1: I can for this theory, I want to mention an 489 00:30:18,800 --> 00:30:22,200 Speaker 1: election that was happening at this time as well. It 490 00:30:22,320 --> 00:30:25,760 Speaker 1: makes the timber industries concern about losing the public relations 491 00:30:25,840 --> 00:30:30,000 Speaker 1: battle a little easier to understand. I haven't spent time 492 00:30:30,080 --> 00:30:33,640 Speaker 1: on it until now because the story is complicated enough 493 00:30:33,840 --> 00:30:36,480 Speaker 1: as it is. But in the background of all that 494 00:30:36,680 --> 00:30:40,000 Speaker 1: was happening with Earth First and Ecotopia was an election 495 00:30:40,440 --> 00:30:45,160 Speaker 1: on Proposition one thirty, the so called Forests Forever Initiative. 496 00:30:46,680 --> 00:30:50,120 Speaker 1: California has a system by which citizens can vote directly 497 00:30:50,280 --> 00:30:55,120 Speaker 1: on certain issues through what are called propositions. In this case, 498 00:30:55,280 --> 00:30:59,640 Speaker 1: the Forest Forever initiative was a mainstream proposition that would 499 00:30:59,640 --> 00:31:02,520 Speaker 1: it protect did some of the redwoods and provided worker 500 00:31:02,600 --> 00:31:06,880 Speaker 1: retraining for timber workers who lost their jobs. And as 501 00:31:06,920 --> 00:31:10,280 Speaker 1: you can imagine, it would have drastically changed the approach 502 00:31:10,320 --> 00:31:15,080 Speaker 1: of Pacific Lumber, Louisiana Pacific, and others. This was why 503 00:31:15,160 --> 00:31:19,360 Speaker 1: the pr battle would have been so important. Still, would 504 00:31:19,440 --> 00:31:22,200 Speaker 1: killing Barry have solved the problem or would it have 505 00:31:22,320 --> 00:31:26,560 Speaker 1: created a martyr that would have helped the proposition. In 506 00:31:26,640 --> 00:31:29,840 Speaker 1: the end, Prop one Pint thirty was voted down, as 507 00:31:30,080 --> 00:31:31,840 Speaker 1: was a timber industry proposition. 508 00:31:35,160 --> 00:31:38,280 Speaker 9: I think you know the motivation there basically is this 509 00:31:38,480 --> 00:31:40,640 Speaker 9: is the kind of thing the FBI does. This is 510 00:31:40,760 --> 00:31:45,160 Speaker 9: co intelpro and that you know, she looked at the 511 00:31:45,440 --> 00:31:49,400 Speaker 9: therm con investigation in Arizona as supporting the notion that 512 00:31:49,480 --> 00:31:54,200 Speaker 9: there was a pre existing cointelpro like operation to destroy 513 00:31:54,280 --> 00:31:58,480 Speaker 9: her first underway, an operation that was making an effort 514 00:31:58,560 --> 00:32:02,479 Speaker 9: to associate leaders of verth first with bombs, and they 515 00:32:02,520 --> 00:32:05,280 Speaker 9: had just busted Dave Foreman, the co founder in Arizona, 516 00:32:05,640 --> 00:32:07,560 Speaker 9: and then she was next on the list associate her 517 00:32:07,640 --> 00:32:10,280 Speaker 9: with the bomb, and that would be a theory behind 518 00:32:10,280 --> 00:32:13,920 Speaker 9: the FBI's motivation, and certainly the legal team's theory of 519 00:32:14,000 --> 00:32:17,600 Speaker 9: the case was that the FBI had a pre existing 520 00:32:17,720 --> 00:32:23,640 Speaker 9: desire to harm, disrupt, neutralize, smear Earth First, and that 521 00:32:23,800 --> 00:32:26,160 Speaker 9: that came out of this pre existing campaign to destroy her. 522 00:32:26,160 --> 00:32:30,560 Speaker 1: First journalist and filmmaker Steve Talbot. 523 00:32:31,600 --> 00:32:34,360 Speaker 14: There was never even any evidence for it. I mean, 524 00:32:34,440 --> 00:32:38,120 Speaker 14: look in general the FBI. For all the nefarious deeds 525 00:32:38,160 --> 00:32:41,760 Speaker 14: the FBI has done over the years, most infamous league 526 00:32:41,840 --> 00:32:45,080 Speaker 14: the co Intel program back in the nineteen sixties, when 527 00:32:45,120 --> 00:32:49,760 Speaker 14: the FBI really went after the Black Panther Party in particular, 528 00:32:50,120 --> 00:32:52,959 Speaker 14: but the anti war movement in general. The FBI did 529 00:32:52,960 --> 00:32:55,520 Speaker 14: a lot of terrible things, but in general, the FBI 530 00:32:55,680 --> 00:32:59,120 Speaker 14: does not go around trying to bomb American citizens. That 531 00:32:59,640 --> 00:33:02,240 Speaker 14: just does happen as a general rule is the fact 532 00:33:02,280 --> 00:33:02,720 Speaker 14: of the matter. 533 00:33:04,320 --> 00:33:06,200 Speaker 1: It is hard to come up with a firm number 534 00:33:06,240 --> 00:33:09,080 Speaker 1: of people who might have been killed indirectly by co 535 00:33:09,240 --> 00:33:14,560 Speaker 1: Intel pro operations. The FBI was effective in instilling paranoia 536 00:33:14,640 --> 00:33:18,240 Speaker 1: and suspicion within radical groups, and the violence that these 537 00:33:18,360 --> 00:33:22,240 Speaker 1: actions brought about is hard to quantify. Claims that co 538 00:33:22,400 --> 00:33:27,360 Speaker 1: Intel pro actions included political assassination, largely stemmed from the 539 00:33:27,440 --> 00:33:30,960 Speaker 1: murders of Fred Hampton and Mark Clark during a joint 540 00:33:31,040 --> 00:33:35,320 Speaker 1: raid with Chicago police on Hampton's Chicago apartment in nineteen 541 00:33:35,360 --> 00:33:39,280 Speaker 1: sixty nine. Hampton was an ascendant leader of the Black 542 00:33:39,360 --> 00:33:42,360 Speaker 1: Panthers when he was killed in his bed. He was 543 00:33:42,400 --> 00:33:46,080 Speaker 1: twenty one years old. There are no other clear examples 544 00:33:46,120 --> 00:33:51,440 Speaker 1: of assassinations, certainly not by pipe bomb earth Verst activist 545 00:33:51,840 --> 00:33:52,640 Speaker 1: Andy Caffrey. 546 00:33:53,720 --> 00:33:56,000 Speaker 2: I mean the Black Panthers, you know, Fred Hampton and 547 00:33:56,040 --> 00:33:58,840 Speaker 2: all that kind of stuff. That was a revolutionary movement 548 00:33:59,560 --> 00:34:02,520 Speaker 2: and they were, you know, marching around with guns. And 549 00:34:03,040 --> 00:34:04,920 Speaker 2: I am a fan of the Panthers, by the way. 550 00:34:05,200 --> 00:34:08,320 Speaker 2: And you can understand how in the context of the 551 00:34:08,400 --> 00:34:10,600 Speaker 2: Vietnam War and the anti war movement and the weather 552 00:34:10,719 --> 00:34:13,480 Speaker 2: underground and SDS and all these things that the FBI 553 00:34:13,560 --> 00:34:15,919 Speaker 2: would get involved in shooting somebody or bombing them somethings. 554 00:34:15,920 --> 00:34:19,439 Speaker 2: But you know, it's like Redwood Summer had about five 555 00:34:19,520 --> 00:34:23,600 Speaker 2: thousand people who came out. I don't know that anything 556 00:34:23,800 --> 00:34:26,920 Speaker 2: was really stopped because of it. And you know, we 557 00:34:27,040 --> 00:34:30,320 Speaker 2: were small, little right groups up here. We weren't a 558 00:34:30,480 --> 00:34:35,200 Speaker 2: national organization as far as what the panthers were or sds. 559 00:34:35,800 --> 00:34:39,600 Speaker 2: So I don't buy the theory that the FBI did it. 560 00:34:41,280 --> 00:34:43,080 Speaker 1: Steve Talbot on the FBI. 561 00:34:44,400 --> 00:34:48,040 Speaker 14: The FBI was surveilling earth First. There's no doubt about that. 562 00:34:48,239 --> 00:34:50,120 Speaker 14: And that's one of the things I reported both in 563 00:34:50,200 --> 00:34:53,080 Speaker 14: Mother Jones and and in the documentary. They were out 564 00:34:53,200 --> 00:34:56,000 Speaker 14: to get Earth First. They regarded Earth First as an 565 00:34:56,040 --> 00:35:00,640 Speaker 14: eco terrorist organization because of the monkey wrenching policy, spiking 566 00:35:00,719 --> 00:35:03,560 Speaker 14: trees so they wouldn't be cut down. They were particularly 567 00:35:03,680 --> 00:35:06,680 Speaker 14: upset with Dave Foreman, who was the leader that case 568 00:35:06,800 --> 00:35:11,080 Speaker 14: was in Arizona. They infiltrated earth First and they set 569 00:35:11,120 --> 00:35:14,000 Speaker 14: them up. They set them up to go out and 570 00:35:14,480 --> 00:35:16,640 Speaker 14: try to knock down some power lines out in the 571 00:35:16,719 --> 00:35:20,680 Speaker 14: Arizona desert, and he was busted for that. He pled 572 00:35:20,760 --> 00:35:24,800 Speaker 14: to a lesser charge. And that was an obvious case 573 00:35:24,920 --> 00:35:28,880 Speaker 14: of the FBI, to say the least, overreaching and going 574 00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:32,839 Speaker 14: after a radical but basically pro environmental group. 575 00:35:34,880 --> 00:35:37,640 Speaker 1: This is the type of operation that the FBI has 576 00:35:37,760 --> 00:35:42,080 Speaker 1: run against what it sees as dangerous, radical or militant organizations. 577 00:35:42,520 --> 00:35:46,360 Speaker 1: In the long aftermath of co Intel pro there are 578 00:35:46,440 --> 00:35:49,400 Speaker 1: recent news stories that indicate that they still run these 579 00:35:49,440 --> 00:35:53,960 Speaker 1: types of operations. There's one more possibility for FBI complicity 580 00:35:54,120 --> 00:35:57,879 Speaker 1: that seems more in keeping with their history. That would 581 00:35:57,920 --> 00:36:01,000 Speaker 1: be that they saw a possibility need to blame Earth 582 00:36:01,120 --> 00:36:04,399 Speaker 1: First for the bombing, thereby discrediting them. 583 00:36:05,440 --> 00:36:09,480 Speaker 9: Josh Morsel, Yeah, I think that, you know that the 584 00:36:09,600 --> 00:36:13,680 Speaker 9: basic theory that the FBI had a pre existing effort 585 00:36:13,760 --> 00:36:18,239 Speaker 9: to destroy Earth First doesn't require us to think that 586 00:36:18,440 --> 00:36:21,480 Speaker 9: they knew the bombing was going to happen, right right. 587 00:36:21,560 --> 00:36:24,319 Speaker 9: It could just be the bombing happened and then they're like, hey, 588 00:36:24,920 --> 00:36:27,279 Speaker 9: let's jump on this, you know, So you know that 589 00:36:27,880 --> 00:36:29,359 Speaker 9: certainly is open to debate. 590 00:36:30,920 --> 00:36:33,759 Speaker 1: The timber industry and FBI theory was born in the 591 00:36:33,920 --> 00:36:37,360 Speaker 1: hours after the bombing. A second theory of the bombing 592 00:36:37,560 --> 00:36:40,360 Speaker 1: and the identity of the bomber took a little longer 593 00:36:40,400 --> 00:36:44,240 Speaker 1: to come into focus, but is still out there, strongly 594 00:36:44,280 --> 00:36:48,280 Speaker 1: supported by some and fiercely opposed by others. The battle 595 00:36:48,360 --> 00:36:52,600 Speaker 1: over this theory threatens to overshadow Judy Berry's activist legacy. 596 00:36:53,680 --> 00:36:55,439 Speaker 1: Next Time on Rip Current. 597 00:36:57,520 --> 00:37:00,640 Speaker 13: Rip Current was written and hosted by Toby Ball. Our 598 00:37:00,719 --> 00:37:04,560 Speaker 13: executive producers are Trevor Young and Matt Frederick, with supervising 599 00:37:04,600 --> 00:37:08,800 Speaker 13: producer Remat el Kyali and producers Nomes Griffin and Jesse Funk. 600 00:37:09,360 --> 00:37:13,000 Speaker 13: Original music by Jeff Sanoff. Our voice actor for Judy 601 00:37:13,080 --> 00:37:17,160 Speaker 13: Barry is Gina Rikikey. Editing and sound design by Nomes Griffin, 602 00:37:17,520 --> 00:37:21,360 Speaker 13: Rima el Kylie and Jesse Funk. The show is mixed 603 00:37:21,440 --> 00:37:25,919 Speaker 13: by Rima el Kylie. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit 604 00:37:25,960 --> 00:37:29,440 Speaker 13: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your 605 00:37:29,520 --> 00:37:30,040 Speaker 13: podcasts