Three years after the death of Fred Hampton, Fort was found to have misused federal funds, and spent a couple years in a prison as a result. In taking out the feared Fort, community tensions were lessened somewhat in Chicago, where allegations had surfaced…
By now, the War on Poverty was in full swing, having been announced by President Johnson three years prior. Along with establishing straightforward welfare programmes such as Medicare, Johnson’s war nurtured a new generation of leaders in marginalised community who were outside of the…
In 1973, Major Coxson was shot dead in his New Jersey home. A powerful figure in nearby Philadelphia, Coxson was a nightclub owner, political candidate, and reportedly a key player in the city’s turbulent underworld. At the time of his death, he had…
In April 1976, around $15 million was stolen from the bookmakers at Melbourne’s Victoria Club. Soon known as the “Great Bookie Robbery”, the heist is believed to have been masterminded by Raymond “Chuck” Bennett, who had been associated with the Federated Ship Painters and Dockers Union in the 1960s. Since…
In April 1976, around $15 million was stolen from the bookmakers at Melbourne’s Victoria Club. Soon known as the “Great Bookie Robbery”, the heist is believed to have been masterminded by Raymond “Chuck” Bennett, who had been associated with the Federated Ship Painters and Dockers Union (FSPDU) in the 1960s…
Following the Second World War, the American government would be rocked by a conflict between two of its most powerful agencies; the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Central Intelligence Agency. Although part of the problem was down to jurisdiction, with the two sharing an…
In 1981, a Royal Commission of Inquiry into Drug Trafficking was established by the governments of several Australian states. Chaired by New South Wales judge Donald Stewart, the Commission was set up following the dramatic downfall of the Nugan Hand…
In July 2019, a dispute arose between activist group Auckland Action Against Poverty and the Labour party’s Minister for Social Development, Carmel Sepuloni. At the heart of the matter was the cause for long lines of beneficiaries outside the Manurewa offices of Work and Income New Zealand, which had formed…
On July the 4th, 1975, heritage activist Juanita Nielsen disappeared. Having campaigned against the rampant pace of development in Sydney’s King Cross, Nielsen had emerged as the spokesperson of a diverse coalition of interests which included the National Trust of Australia as well as militant local chapters of the…
In early 1943, a radical Italian-American publisher named Carlo Tresca was murdered in New York. Having left the Manhattan offices of his newspaper, Il Martello (“The Hammer”) for the day, Tresca was shot dead while crossing Fifth Avenue. Shortly before his death, Tresca had directed his editorials against former supporters…
