Racist Philadelphia police Red Squad and Stakeout Unit
COINTELPRO document on Mumia
Mumia’s COINTELPRO documents reveal that FBI findings were shared with notorious Philadelphia Police Department under the racist mayor Frank Rizzo, whose 1978 reelection slogan was “vote white.” During the 1960s and ’70s, the Philly cops kept their own voluminous files—none of which have been made available—on some 18,000 people! There was extensive collusion between the FBI and Rizzo’s police. Like many other big cities, Philly had their own COINTELPRO—the Philadelphia Civil Defense Unit led by George Fencl, the city’s version of the Red Squad.
Frank “Vote White” Rizzo
Foremost among Philadelphia’s killer cops were those in the Stakeout unit, an urban death squad made up largely of veteran military sharpshooters. This squad was established by Rizzo and, together with the Red Squad spearheaded the brutal repression of the Black Panthers and other black militants in the city. Later, when the police turned their attention to the MOVE organization, Stakeout cops again played a forward role, from the vicious beating of Delbert Africa in 1978 to shooting at MOVE members trying to exit their burning home seven years later.