Ngo Dinh Diem and Ngo Dinh Nhu Died Bound in an Armored Car
Bound hands and bullet holes marked the end of the South Vietnamese presidency, a scene transmitted via "Secret; Flash" telegram to Washington in November 1963.
By Desmond Okafor ·
Assassinations
"Trigger-Happy People" Killed Ngô Đình Diệm, Rusk Told Senate
President Ngô Đình Diệm and his brother were executed in a CIA-backed coup, but the State Department spent a secret Senate hearing scrubbing the record of American fingerprints.
By Theo Marchetti ·
General René Schneider shot two days before Allende's presidential confirmation
A "Secret; Sensitive; Eyes Only" briefing from October 1970 tracks the chaos following an assassination attempt and the plotters' drive for a military coup.
By Theo Marchetti ·
Senator Frank Church and HSCA Battled National Archives Over State Abuses
Families sought evidence of fallen sons while the Church Committee mapped illegal surveillance and the HSCA hunted for missing memos and redacted cables.
By Theo Marchetti ·
FBI Filtered JFK Murder Files for Senate Intelligence Probe
FBI agents and headquarters filtered case records for decades to control what senators could find during a probe into intelligence failures and illegal operations.
By Theo Marchetti ·
FBI Targeted Oswald’s Associates and Mobsters in Assassination Probe
Those who knew Lee Harvey Oswald or moved in the mob's orbit were treated as targets who endured lifelong suspicion and redacted histories.
By Theo Marchetti ·
Senate Investigators Tracked Researchers Hunting JFK Secrets
Men and women digging through the 35th president's archives were unaware the government was keeping a separate ledger of their names and movements.
By Theo Marchetti ·
Millions Lost Trust While Senate Hunted JFK Murder Leads
Families of the fallen lived in a permanent state of suspicion while Senate leads into the 1963 killing stayed tucked away in National Archives boxes.
By Theo Marchetti ·
1,000 Europeans Faced Evacuation as Mobutu Planned Strike on Lumumba
Patrice Lumumba was hunted as a ghost in his own country while redacted sources tracked his disturbed personal condition and an unidentified shipment moved toward Stanleyville.
By Theo Marchetti ·
Justice Department Sought 'Cheap and Easy' Way to Remove Manuel Noriega
US government spent twenty-six years hiding a legal strategy to bypass assassination bans by funding violent coups, with key reasoning still blacked out in official records.
By Desmond Okafor ·
Patrice Lumumba Arrived in Chains With All His Teeth Knocked Out
Congolese prime minister Patrice Lumumba was beaten in flight and vanished into an unknown prison while US intelligence kept the brutality hidden under "Continued Control."
By Theo Marchetti ·
Belgian Officer Shot Patrice Lumumba After He Refused to Repent
Lumumba and two companions were shot dead in secret, with Belgian involvement kept hidden for decades while assets worked to protect the Belgian government.
By Theo Marchetti ·
Washington Shielded Antonio Lozano to Protect Border Task Forces
A suspected assassin walked free in 1996 while Washington shielded Mexico's Attorney General to prevent the collapse of vetted investigative units and border task forces.
By Desmond Okafor ·
CIA Agents Plotted to Physically Eliminate Patrice Lumumba
Hidden under the Rybat cryptonym, US agents weighed killing Patrice Lumumba as he was squeezed out of power, while one key telegram remains missing.
By Theo Marchetti ·
Richard Helms and William Colby Forced to Account for Hidden JFK Records
Families of the fallen waited 30 years for answers while CIA architects Richard Helms and William Colby scrubbed records and hid files to maintain plausible deniability.
By Theo Marchetti ·
US officials weighed assassination to remove Trujillo
Washington plotted a 'controlling junta' and an unofficial scheme to protect the dictator's loot from confiscation to prevent pro-Castro elements from taking power.
By Desmond Okafor ·