Informants & Snitches

How Law Enforcement Uses Informants and Snitches Against Activists

The government relies on fear to create informants and snitches, and build cases against political activists.

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The Government’s 7-Step Process for Convicting Environmentalists as Terrorists

Despite my deep-seated distaste for all things Baltimore (my apologies to folks in Bawlmor, but your town and I don’t seem to get along), I’ve been watching HBO’s The Wire on Netflix. The series—created by David Simon, a 13-year-veteran of the The Baltimore Sun—is structured so that each episode is a small piece in a [...]

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Feds Hope to Set an Example With “Eco-terrorist” Who Refused to Snitch: Marie Mason Faces 20 Years

Before Marie Mason ever set foot in the courtroom, before the ink on her indictment had even dried, the government was smearing her as a “terrorist.” At a press conference announcing her arrest, an FBI agent said “domestic terrorism is a top priority of the FBI.” A police chief called the 1999 Earth Liberation Front [...]

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Music Video by “Against Me!” About Eric McDavid and Anna the FBI Informant

This is Tom Gabel of Against Me! playing at the Nimbus Dam, the site Eric McDavid was allegedly plotting to blow up with Zachary Jenson and Lauren Weiner. An FBI informant named “Anna” provided the group with bomb-making recipes; at times financed their transportation, food and housing; strung along McDavid, who had the hopes of [...]

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FBI Looking for Informants to Infiltrate Vegan Potlucks

Eric McDavid was just sentenced to 20 years in prison, as a “terrorist,” in a case that would never have been possible without a “confidential source” known only as Anna. She was paid by the FBI. She provided the group with bomb-making recipes; at times financed their transportation, food and housing; strung along McDavid, who [...]

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How the FBI Used “Anna” the Informant to Entrap Eric McDavid and other Environmentalists as “Terrorists”

The FBI paid a young woman, known as “Anna,” to befriend environmentalists Eric McDavid, Lauren Weiner, and Zachary Jenson and pressure them into illegal activity.

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Which Prisoners Should Receive Support?

When environmental and animal rights advocates are sentenced to lengthy prison terms—many as “terrorists”—they depend on the support of friends, family and the larger activist community. They need money in their commissary account. They need books and magazines. They need visitors, phone calls, and perhaps above all else, according to many current and former prisoners [...]

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“Cooperator,” “Snitch,” or Something Else?

Darren Thurston’s support committee has posted an open letter responding to what seems to be widespread condemnation by other activists that Thurston and others “snitched,” or cooperated with the government (as opposed to the non-cooperating defendants), in hopes of receiving reduced sentences in the Operation Backfire cases. Here’s an excerpt, or also take a look [...]

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First Operation Backfire Defendant Sentenced as “Terrorist”

A federal judge labeled property destruction in the name of the environment “terrorism” yesterday and sentenced the first of the Operation Backfire defendants to 13 years in prison. Activists around the country– and particularly the remaining nine defendants– had been watching the sentencing very carefully, because the judge’s tenor may foreshadow the remaining court dates. [...]

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