Enhance the Paranoia

REDACTED: Declassified Mysteries with Luke Lamana

Wondery | Ballen Studios

True Crime, History

4.3 • 668 Ratings

🗓️ 14 January 2025

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Fueled by opposition to the Vietnam War, a group of activists broke into an FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania in 1971. Their goal: to expose how the agency was suppressing anti-war protests. Calling themselves the Citizens’ Commission to Investigate the FBI, they successfully stole files that not only revealed the bureau's shocking tactics, but exposed many other unsuspecting targets, sparking public outrage and a congressional investigation into the FBI's abuses.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Love unsettling stories.
0:02.4	Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to redacted, declassified mysteries, early and ad-free,
0:07.8	as well as another twisted tale from Bollin Studios and Wondery called Wartime Stories,
0:12.8	also hosted by me, Early and Ad-Free on Wondry Plus.
0:16.7	Start your free trial today.
0:30.6	Muhammad Start your free trial today. Muhammad Ali in the ring, in a beautiful, beautiful red and white robe. Now here comes Joe Frazier, listen to the roar of this crowd.
0:35.6	While most Americans were at home cheering on the heavily promoted fight of the century
0:40.3	between boxers Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, Bob Williamson was focused on something else entirely.
0:48.3	That's because at around 11 p.m. on March 8th, 1971, the 20-year-old activist was breaking into the offices of the FBI
0:57.4	in Media, Pennsylvania. Bob quietly shimmied through a partially open side door. Then he carefully
1:04.2	slid two large suitcases through the opening, too. Once he was inside, he looked around the room.
1:10.6	His heart pounded in his ears, as he imagined an FBI agent seated at one of the desks waiting to arrest him.
1:17.8	But the only other people he saw were his three accomplices who had gone in ahead of him.
1:23.3	They had been planning their heist for months.
1:26.1	Now they spread out to all six rooms in the office and began to grab as many documents as possible.
1:32.3	Hopefully, some of those papers would help them expose the FBI's underhanded tactics.
1:37.3	Tactics the agency was using to intimidate anti-war protesters and anyone who spoke out against the government. Bob clicked on his
1:46.8	flashlight and used a screwdriver to pry open a locked drawer, while the others kept stuffing the
1:52.2	suitcases. Once Bob emptied the drawer, he crawled up to a window and carefully peeked out.
1:59.0	There was a security guard at the courthouse across the street, but he wasn't looking.
2:04.3	Bob breathed a sigh of relief and gave a thumbs up to the other burglars.
2:09.2	It was time to get the hell out of there.
	...

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