Eight ordinary citizens broke into an FBI office in Media, PA on March 8th, 1971, stealing every file and mailing them anonymously to newsrooms. The heist revealed a secret surveillance program, COINTELPRO, overseen by J. Edgar Hoover. Despite a massive investigation, the burglars were never caught and their identities remained unknown until now.
1971
The 1971 FBI office break-in, a pivotal event that revealed the agency's systemic mistreatment of political dissidents.