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They were also interested in finding out if Hampton was using drugs. Nevertheless, they focused on the supply of weapons within the movement. The FBI had plans to disrupt the program because it was "indoctrinating children."
Fbi informant william o neal free#
Once William O'Neal got into the movement, he kept tabs on Hampton as he was setting up free breakfast programs for children. In fact, on top of stealing a car, he had also been involved in home invasions and kidnappings, which meant the informant role was especially beneficial to him. This was the case awaiting him when the FBI offered him a deal that could keep him from spending time in prison. In 1966, when he was around 17, he was caught stealing a car. O'Neal, born on April 9, 1949, had been a criminal since he was young. After all, he didn't have much of an option. Roy Martin Mitchell, an FBI agent, told O'Neal that he would be free from the consequences of his crimes if he agreed to be an FBI informant. Since the authorities had decided the Black Panther Party was a problem, they wanted William O'Neal to infiltrate the party and inform them of Hampton. The fact that he often spoke out against the police made him an even more important target, which might have played a role in his tragic death. The FBI had been unsuccessful in their attempts to stop the Black Panthers from organizing, and they were particularly worried about Hampton since his popularity in the party was growing so fast. The bureau feared that he could unite the poor citizens against the political establishment. He also became an FBI target because the authorities feared that he would be the next Malcolm X or Martin Luther King Jr. Before long, he was a leader in the civil rights movement. Hampton started to favor Malcolm X's idea of self-defense, which led to his decision to join the Black Panther Party in 1968. This was after he experienced violence from anti-civil rights protesters. Eventually, he lost faith in King's policy of non-violence. Soon afterward, he was marching beside Martin Luther King Jr. When he was just a teenager, he managed to make his school let Black girls take part in the homecoming queen competition. Hampton had been fighting for the rights of Blacks from a very young age. He was afraid that a "messiah" could rise and unify the nationalist movement. Edgar Hoover, FBI director, was especially opposed to the Black Panther Party because it grew increasingly popular within the country. Why Were The Authorities So Determined To Kill Fred Hampton? The gravity of William O'Neal's role in the visionary leader's death weighed so heavily on him that he eventually killed himself. When Chicago police finally raided the home on December 4, 1969, they killed Fred Hampton in his sleep by shooting him multiple times. O'Neal had risen through the ranks from being a handyman and a flunky to attain one of the most sensitive roles in the organization.Īs an informant, O'Neal also mapped Hampton's house to help the police during their raid. The young man also had a critical role in the group: protecting Black Panther leader Fred Hampton, the head of the party's Chicago branch. To other Black Panther Party members, William O'Neal was a royal brother in arms in every possible way. William O'Neal chose the latter option and became an FBI informant. After he was caught driving a stolen car across state lines in 1966, 17-year-old William O'Neal was given the option of spending time in jail or infiltrating the Black Panther Party as an FBI informant.