A Washington Post story on what the stolen documents revealed.

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

One of the seven conspirators who revealed a dirty campaign of intimidation by the FBI in March 1971 by stealing a cache of documents in burglary of an bureau office in suburban Philadelphia died on Nov. 12 at his home in Philadelphia.

John C. Raines, a Temple University religion professor, was 84, the Washington Post reports. 

During the burglary, the seven conspirators stole documents that showed a campaign of intimidation by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover against civil rights and antiwar activists, communists and other dissenters.

One of the documents revealed an that agents were directed to increasingly interview perceived dissenters “to get the point across there is an FBI agent behind every mailbox.”

The burglars, who called themselves the Citizens Commission to Investigate the FBI, disseminated the stolen documents to newspapers.

The leaked reports lead to the formation of the Senate Church Committee, which revealed widespread abuses among intelligence agencies.

Raines kept the explosive secret for 43 years before revealing his identity to a Washington Post journalist, Betty Medsger, who wrote a book-length account of the break-in, “The Burglary: The Discovery of J. Edgar Hoover’s Secret FBI.”

The reported called Dr. Raines’ actions “one of the most powerful acts of resistance in the history of the country.”

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By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

An undercover ATF vehicle was broken into and valuable equipment stolen in Detroit on Thursday.

FOX2 reports that the break-in occurred around noon in the parking lot of a Thai restaurant.

“I guess a couple cars got broken into and then the police actually came in and got the owner of the car, which one of my waitresses and told her that her car got broken into,” said Sy Pradithavanij, owner of Sala Thai.

The ATF declined to say what was stolen, but said no weapons were taken.

The ATF vehicle was one of three cars that were broken into by pushing a tool through the keyhole.

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By Steve Neavling
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The FBI is trying to determine who broke into an agent’s car and stole two service weapons on Sunday in Northeast, D.C.

Fox5 reports that someone smashed a rear window of the vehicle and stole a Colt AR-15 rifle and a Glock 22 pistol.

The FBI said the weapons were in a lockbox in the parked Ford Expedition.

The FBI declined to say whether the agent is on administrative leave or if it’s standard operating procedure to leave weapons inside a lockbox in an unattended car.

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The film “1971,” which documents a group’s break-in of an FBI office in a Philadelphia suburb on March 8, 1971, has received both critical and audience praise at the Tribeca Film Festival in April.

They stole every document to expose the FBI, under the autocratic leadership of J. Edgar Hoover, for widespread surveillance of the American people.

At the first screening of the festival on April 19, the thunderous ovations for the eight subjects of the film were extraordinary,” wrote Dade Hayes, contributor for Forbes. “I have covered — and done PR for — almost every edition of the festival and I can’t remember many scenes quite like it.”

The true-life story, which also is a book, depicts the eight buglers as everyday people, many of them raising families.