July 26th 2008 - Despite what some of you might think, the US Federal Bureau of Investigations actually exists. It was not created in Holloywood and subsequently featured in about 9 million movies. Exactly 100 years ago today, President Theodore Roosevelt ordered the creation of the FBI as a gouvernmental organism in charge of National security. That mission has changed drastically during everyone of the past decade yet a constant remains that coloured people are suspicious (seriously, check 24).
Directly from my upcoming book (hint, hint publishers), here is my list of the 7 most noteworthy events in the FBIs tumultuous history.
1. Bordellos in Chicago (1908-1910) – The first responsibility of the Bureau at the turn of the century was to investigate the trafficking of European females in Urban America. Centering in Chicago and Boston, the FBI discovered and surveyed these illegal prostitution/slavery rings led by organised crime. This led to the passing of the “White Slave Traffic Act” of 1910, banning prostitution.
2. The hunt for Al Capone (1931) – The Italian-American “entrepreneur” famously imported and provided bootleg alcohol for Chicago citizens during the 1920s prohibition. Despite his illegal activities including extortion, racketeering and the organised murder of other gang members, the FBI were never able to gather sufficient proof of his wrongdoings. Stubbornly hell-bent on imprisoning him, the “untouchable” and incorruptible FBI agents of Elliott Ness gathered an elusive paper trail, leading to the arrest and conviction of Capone on charges of tax evasion in 1931.
Directly from my upcoming book (hint, hint publishers), here is my list of the 7 most noteworthy events in the FBIs tumultuous history.
1. Bordellos in Chicago (1908-1910) – The first responsibility of the Bureau at the turn of the century was to investigate the trafficking of European females in Urban America. Centering in Chicago and Boston, the FBI discovered and surveyed these illegal prostitution/slavery rings led by organised crime. This led to the passing of the “White Slave Traffic Act” of 1910, banning prostitution.
2. The hunt for Al Capone (1931) – The Italian-American “entrepreneur” famously imported and provided bootleg alcohol for Chicago citizens during the 1920s prohibition. Despite his illegal activities including extortion, racketeering and the organised murder of other gang members, the FBI were never able to gather sufficient proof of his wrongdoings. Stubbornly hell-bent on imprisoning him, the “untouchable” and incorruptible FBI agents of Elliott Ness gathered an elusive paper trail, leading to the arrest and conviction of Capone on charges of tax evasion in 1931.
3. The Lindbergh baby (1932) – Charles Lindbergh was the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean from New York to Paris in 1927. The universal attention this brought him led to the kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh Jr. from his crib in 1932; a ransom note was left. President Hoover immediately pledged the help of the FBI who met little luck in their original search. It is only through a cunning plan of paying the kidnapper with marked bills that they tracked down a man called Bruno Hauptmann 2 years later. His trial was covered by worldwide media and rapidly ended with his execution. To this day, suspicions persist as to the validity of Hauptmann’s involvement as he denied it to his death; yet the FBI maintains that they had extensive evidence (such as the ransom money under his bed).
4. McCarthyism (1950s) – Pioneered by senator Joseph McCarthy and greatly supported by FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. This movement fostered an era of American paranoia and rampant anti-communism. All those suspected of soviet affiliations or communist tendencies were hastily rounded up and aggressively interrogated by the FBI. Needless to say, few of those investigated were spies yet their personal and professional lives were destroyed. It was a dark period for the FBI as the Freedom of Information act of 1975 exposed. Illegal phonetaps, opening private mail and organised theft were among the FBI actions condoned and used at the time that led to the arrest of important people such as Charlie Chaplin, Arthur Miller and Orson Welles. Freedom of opinion and ideology eventually overtook the discriminatory policies of the FBI and McCarthyism.
4. McCarthyism (1950s) – Pioneered by senator Joseph McCarthy and greatly supported by FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. This movement fostered an era of American paranoia and rampant anti-communism. All those suspected of soviet affiliations or communist tendencies were hastily rounded up and aggressively interrogated by the FBI. Needless to say, few of those investigated were spies yet their personal and professional lives were destroyed. It was a dark period for the FBI as the Freedom of Information act of 1975 exposed. Illegal phonetaps, opening private mail and organised theft were among the FBI actions condoned and used at the time that led to the arrest of important people such as Charlie Chaplin, Arthur Miller and Orson Welles. Freedom of opinion and ideology eventually overtook the discriminatory policies of the FBI and McCarthyism.5. Siege of Waco, Texas (1993) – Cult leader David Koresh and his Davidian followers locked themselves in a ranch near Waco, Texas. Alleging the Davidians had illegal firearms, gouvernment officials raided the ranch; this prelude to the siege killed 4 officers and 6 cult members. The following 51-day siege was a media frenzy analysing the duel between Koresh inside and the FBI outside. Despite agile negotiations, the siege only ended when the FBI inadvertently set fire to the compound. 76 people burned alive in that ranch on live television.
6. The Unabomber (1978-1995) – Theodore Kaczynski, for a long time, was the model definition of a terrorist. Carefully sending 16 mail bombs over the course of 18 years, he terrified the American people. The FBI spent millions finding Kaczynski, going through the thousands of leads that were being phoned in daily due to the lack of a clear picture of him or of any real evidence. The culprit promised more deaths if his anarchist manifesto wasn’t published in 1995. Newspapers and officials agreed and the diffusion of this piece of evidence directly led to his identification and arrest.
7. Sept. 11th (2001) – With 3000 dead and another 7000 injured, the terrorist hijackings of 4 American chartered planes and their subsequent crash in the Pentagon and World Trade Center is the deadliest terrorist attack ever perpetrated on American soil. Although no agency was able to prevent such an occurrence, the FBI provided the names and pictures of the hijackers mere hours after the fact. The following investigation involved over 7000 agents who identified Osama Bin Laden and the terrorist group Al-Qaida as the culprits of the human tragedy. Theirs was a morose and difficult task as they identified who did it from overseas yet had to leave the rest to the CIA.
(Pictured: Al Capone - The emblem of the FBI - the Waco massacre)
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1 comment:
Have you seen the film of the Davidians getting mowed down by machine guns as they tried to leave the rear of the fiery building? It's a sight to behold.
Rich Martin
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