8 Disturbing Conspiracy Theories about the FBI

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re breaking down the darkest, most intriguing conspiracy theories that the Federal Bureau of Investigations has been accused of orchestrating.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev Was an FBI Informant

The April 15, 2013 Boston Marathon bombing was a senseless tragedy, killing three people — including an eight-year-old boy — and injuring nearly 300 more. The perpetrators, brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, were identified by the FBI three days later, with Tamerlan shot to death in Watertown, Massachusetts by local police officers. However, depending on who you ask, the FBI’s association with Tamerlan didn’t begin on April 18th. Investigative reporter Michele McPhee argued in 2017 that Tamerlan “was the perfect recruit [...] He had tentacles in the drug world. He spoke multiple languages. He could mix in anywhere. He was tall and handsome. He had an American wife.” The government has consistently denied claims that the elder Tsarnaev brother was a federal informant.

The FBI Had Advance Knowledge of the Pearl Harbor Attack

The Battle of Pearl Harbor was an out-of-the-blue military strike by the Empire of Japan that essentially forced the United States into entering World War II. December 7, 1941 became the deadliest foreign attack on American soil until the events of 9/11. Some conspiracy theorists have asserted in the years since that the attack on Pearl Harbor was hardly a surprise, and that high-ranking U.S. government officials had foreknowledge of what was to come. Yugoslavian businessman and double agent Duško Popov, who worked for the Abwehr and MI5, claimed that he had broached the possibility of such an attack to the FBI — but was brushed aside and considered paranoid by the organization.

The Viola Liuzzo Incident

The shameful, embarrassing case of civil rights activist Viola Liuzzo still haunts the FBI. Liuzzo, who was moved to pursue such advocacy in the wake of the violent “Bloody Sunday” protests in Selma, Alabama, was killed by local Ku Klux Klan members. Crucially for our list today: one of the men, Gary Rowe Jr., was an FBI informant. As an attempt to draw attention away from the bureau’s involvement, J. Edgar Hoover conspired to accuse Liuzzo of having been on drugs and involved in an intimate encounter with her Black colleague. Liuzzo’s children learned the truth in 1978, having obtained sealed documents through a FOIA request. A lawsuit they filed against the FBI was dismissed in 1983.

FBI Informant Whitey Bulger Was Allowed to Continue His Criminal Enterprise

If this next entry sounds like it was ripped straight from a Martin Scorsese crime movie, that’s probably because the director’s Oscar-winning 2006 film “The Departed” was loosely based on Bulger’s life and affiliation with the FBI. Bulger, who ran a sect of the Irish Mob just northwest of Boston, worked as an informant for the organization starting in 1975. The widely feared career mobster made proverbial lemonade, using his relationship with the bureau to quote-unquote “take out” witnesses, his enemies, and others who had the misfortune of crossing his path. Once it was leaked that the FBI had effectively condoned Bulger’s horrific conduct in 1997, the organization was lambasted for its perceived corruption and turning a blind eye to get what it wanted.

The FBI Didn’t Take 9/11 Threats Seriously

The deadliest foreign attack on the United States claimed nearly 3000 lives, which gives it the tragic, unfortunate distinction of being the most lethal terrorist attack ever conducted. In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, various government officials denied knowing that terrorists were capable of using airplanes as missiles. A damning 2002 Chicago Sun-Times article asserted that “[t]he FBI had advance indications of plans to hijack U.S. airliners and use them as weapons, but neither acted on them nor distributed the intelligence to local police agencies.” Additionally, national security expert Richard Clarke accused the FBI of having the eventual hijackers’ names, given the breakneck speed at which they were identified.

The Disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa

Labor union leader Hoffa was a highly controversial figure in his lifetime. On one hand, he was praised for his adamant support of workers’ rights. On the other, he was well-known for his involvement with organized crime, and regularly associated with individuals accused of having mob ties. His 1975 disappearance, aged 62, has been heavily debated, scrutinized, and pored over. Hoffa’s body has never been found, which has led to several conspiracy theories as to what happened to it. Chiefly among them: that the FBI, or some other federal agency, had Hoffa taken out. Joe Franco, who worked closely with Hoffa, claimed in his “Hoffa’s Man” book that he was pushed out of an airplane into the Great Lakes.

The FBI Participated In a JFK Assassination Cover-Up

The November 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy is now the stuff of American legend. The 35th president was shot and killed almost instantly during a presidential motorcade in Dallas, Texas. As the official story goes, the assailant was former U.S. Marine Lee Harvey Oswald, who was killed just two days later by Jack Ruby. The 1979 U.S. House Select Committee on Assassinations determined that the original FBI investigation was flawed, suggesting a cover-up. The 1992 book “JFK: The Last Dissenting Witness” alleged that eyewitnesses to the assassination had been intimidated by the bureau into changing their stories. The Warren Commission, the federal committee that had initially been tasked with investigating the assassination, was additionally unable to conclusively determine that Oswald had been an FBI informant.

The True Story of COINTELPRO

This series of covert FBI operations sounds so fantastical and sensationalized that it would be easy to dismiss it as the ramblings of unhinged conspiracy theorists. However, the “Counter Intelligence Program” (or COINTELPRO for short) was anything but the subject of an Oliver Stone film. For 15 years, the FBI trailed, surveilled, and otherwise illicitly intimidated individuals that it deemed potential enemies of the state. These included such notable figures as Martin Luther King Jr., and organizations like the Black Panther Party. Some of its methods included smearing its targets by planting false stories, having them locked up, or even assassinated. Although COINTELPRO was disbanded in 1971 following a press leak, accusations that the FBI continues to employ those same methods persist to the present day.

Which conspiracy theory shocked you the most? Let us know in the comments below!