New Book Says FBI Was Mastermind Behind MLK Assassination and Its Cover-up

[villager]

<snip>

It is no surprise that J. Edgar Hoover, the founder and head of the FBI until his timely departure in 1972, waged a war against Black America, civil rights leadership and Black nationalist organizations with his COINTELPRO program. As a result of the program — its role to “prevent the rise of a Black messiah”— Black leadership ended up murdered and imprisoned, and its institutions compromised and decimated. At one point Hoover called Dr. King “the most notorious liar in the country,” as the FBI monitored the civil rights leader, bugged his hotel rooms, and even sent him a letter encouraging him to commit suicide. But two authors believe the agency did even more, having a direct role in his assassination through FBI informants.

In their book, Killing King: The Multi-Year Effort to Murder MLK, Stuart Wexler and co-author Larry Hancock delve into the notion of a cover-up into the King assassination. Specifically, they allege that the FBI under Clarence Kelly, Hoover’s successor, misled Congress by destroying files related to the murder of King. Wexler says the bureau disobeyed a direct order to preserve all materials, destroying files in two field offices on Tommy Tarrants, a high-ranking Ku Klux Klan member from Mississippi, in 1977. This came as a new Congressional committee was established to investigate the assassination of King and President Kennedy. The author claims there was something about Tarrants that made the FBI upgrade him from an obscure racist to a major player in the assassination.

“I have no doubt this was done deliberately. They are not destroying everybody’s files, they are selectively destroying files,” Wexler told the Daily Mail. “They wanted Tarrants to give evidence to the committee; they didn’t want him to be a suspect.” Meanwhile, according to Wexler, a man named Laude Matthews was in line to take over the leadership of the Mississippi Klan. Wexler refers to Matthews as “a big time deep cover agent for the FBI.”

“’We can imagine a situation where the FBI does not want the Congressional investigation to lead back to Laude Matthews,” Wexler speculated, offering that the Mississippi Klan was among the most violent, anti-Black chapters of the organization. “They did not want to expose him to suspicion. Imagine what it would have looked like if an FBI informant had a connection to the King assassination?”

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https://atlantablackstar.com/2016/01/18/new-book-says-fbi-was-mastermind-behind-mlk-assassination-and-its-cover-up/

[pennylane100]

1. This should be investigated immediately.

Unfortunately it will not happen until Bernie is President. All those responsible, both living and dead should be named and the living should be brought to justice.

[RKP5637]

2. K&R! n/t

[Wellstone ruled]

3. There was a book published a few years back by

a ex CIA fellow claiming the same thing. Got to hit the Amazon for a copy.

[villager]

4. Don't worry -- the corporate media will be sure to never broach the subject!

Go, Kardashians! What will Trump say next!?

[Wellstone ruled]

5. Probably true,

you know the NYC Times will run several fake stories defending Hoover as the greatest thing since sliced bread.