Bill O'Neal
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William O'Neal (April 9, 1949 – January 15, 1990) was an American
Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...
(FBI) informant in
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
,
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...
, where he infiltrated the local
Black Panther Party The Black Panther Party (originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense) was a Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist and Black Power movement, black power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newto ...
(BPP). He is known for being the catalyst for the 1969 police/FBI assassination of
Fred Hampton Fredrick Allen Hampton Sr. (August 30, 1948 – December 4, 1969) was an American activist and revolutionary socialist. He came to prominence in his late teens and early 20s in Chicago as deputy chairman of the national Black Panther Party and c ...
, head of the Illinois BPP. After his role was revealed in 1973, O'Neal was relocated to California under the
Federal Witness Protection Program The United States Federal Witness Protection Program (WPP), also known as the Witness Security Program or WITSEC, is a witness protection program codified through 18 U.S. Code § 3521 and administered by the United States Department of Justice ...
and given a new identity. In 1984, he secretly returned to Chicago. He was interviewed in 1989 about his informancy, for the second part of the documentary series ''
Eyes on the Prize ''Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Movement'' is an American television series documentary about the civil rights movement in the United States. The documentary originally aired on the PBS network, and it also aired in the United Kin ...
''. On the night the first episode aired, January 15, 1990, O'Neal died by
suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...
. His own episode was broadcast on February 19, 1990.


Biography

William O'Neal was born and grew up in Chicago, and got into trouble with the law as a teenager. In 1967, when he was about 18 years old, he was caught by FBI agent Roy Martin Mitchell, who had tracked O'Neal down for stealing a car and driving it across state lines to
Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...
. In 1968 the FBI offered O'Neal a deal: in exchange for having his felony charges dropped and receiving a monthly stipend, O'Neal would agree to infiltrate the Panthers as a counterintelligence operative (informant). The FBI had been conducting its illegal
COINTELPRO COINTELPRO (a syllabic abbreviation derived from Counter Intelligence Program) was a series of covert and illegal projects conducted between 1956 and 1971 by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) aimed at surveilling, infiltr ...
operation since the mid-1950s, expanding their efforts against communists to include black civil rights activists. By 1966, it was attempting to infiltrate and undermine black nationalist movements, such as the Black Panthers, and discredit black civil rights leaders. The targeting of the Black Panther Party was heightened due to its adherence to Marxism-Leninism. O'Neal soon established himself with
Fred Hampton Fredrick Allen Hampton Sr. (August 30, 1948 – December 4, 1969) was an American activist and revolutionary socialist. He came to prominence in his late teens and early 20s in Chicago as deputy chairman of the national Black Panther Party and c ...
, who was 20 years old at the time. O'Neal was assigned as one of the heads of the Black Panther leader's security, and had keys to several Panther headquarters and safe houses. In 1969 Hampton was working on the
Rainbow Coalition A Rainbow Coalition may refer different or related political concepts or movements in various parts of the world. In countries with parliamentary systems, it can refer to any coalition government composed of a coalition of several ideologically u ...
, an alliance among gangs and minority groups in Chicago, and the FBI and police became increasingly concerned about his activities and growing political power. That summer, police raided Panther offices, arrested several members, and burned the building down. The FBI required O'Neal to give them a drawing to show the layout of Hampton's apartment on Monroe Street in the
West Side West Side or Westside may refer to: Places Canada * West Side, a neighbourhood of Windsor, Ontario * West Side, a neighbourhood of Vancouver, British Columbia United Kingdom * West Side, Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland * Westside, Birmingham ...
, where the Panthers often gathered, so it could prepare a raid. On the evening of December 3, 1969, Hampton taught a political education class at a local church, attended by most Panther members. Afterward, he and several Panthers went to his apartment, and around midnight they ate a dinner prepared by O'Neal. O'Neal slipped secobarbitol into Hampton's drink so he would not wake up during the police raid. O'Neal left, and at about 1:30 a.m., Hampton fell asleep while talking to his mother on the telephone. At 4:00 a.m., a 14-man armed Chicago Police team arrived at the apartment, and at 4:45 a.m. stormed inside. They first shot and killed Mark Clark, sitting in the front room of the apartment with a shotgun in his lap on security duty. The police cleared out the people from the rest of the apartment, wounding several others, and went to Hampton's bedroom. Witnesses said that they heard two bangs, presumably the close-range shots to the back of Hampton's head that killed him. In January 1970, a
coroner's jury A coroner's jury is a body convened to assist a coroner in an inquest, that is, in determining the identity of a deceased person and the cause of death. The laws on its role and function vary by jurisdiction. United Kingdom In England and Wa ...
held an inquest. They ruled that the deaths of Hampton and Clark were
justifiable homicide The concept of justifiable homicide in criminal law is a defense to culpable homicide (criminal or negligent homicide). Generally, there is a burden to produce exculpatory evidence in the legal defense of justification. In most countries, ...
by the police. The ballistics investigation of the raid found that the Chicago police fired as many as 99 shots, but only one shot was fired by the Panthers, and it hit the ceiling.


Later life

O'Neal's involvement in the raid was revealed in 1973, and he was relocated to California under the alias of William Hart via the
Federal Witness Protection Program The United States Federal Witness Protection Program (WPP), also known as the Witness Security Program or WITSEC, is a witness protection program codified through 18 U.S. Code § 3521 and administered by the United States Department of Justice ...
. He secretly returned to Chicago in 1984. On April 13, 1989, O'Neal was interviewed for the PBS documentary ''
Eyes on the Prize ''Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Movement'' is an American television series documentary about the civil rights movement in the United States. The documentary originally aired on the PBS network, and it also aired in the United Kin ...
II'', about the civil rights movement in the 1960s. In the extensive interview, he described being recruited by the FBI to become an informant and provide information about Fred Hampton, chairman of the Chicago Black Panther Party. He gave details about his impressions and experiences working in the Black Panther Party, his relationship with FBI agent Roy Mitchell, and his feelings about his activities and his role. He denied having drugged Hampton the night before he was assassinated. O'Neal said, "I had no allegiance to the Panthers." In the early hours of January 15, 1990, after visiting with his uncle Ben Heard, O'Neal ran out of the apartment and into traffic on Interstate 290, where he was hit by a car, and killed; he was 40 years old. His death was ruled a
suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...
, though his wife said that it was accidental. Earlier in the evening, O'Neal had been drinking and attempted to jump out of a second-story window, but Heard pulled him back inside. Heard said afterward that O'Neal had "cooperated with the FBI to reduce his own potential jail time, then got in way over his head and was forever tortured by the guilt", and that "he never thought it would come to all this." He said O'Neal had previously run out onto Interstate 290 in September 1989 and that he was hit by a vehicle and hospitalized. The episode featuring O'Neal's interview, " A Nation of Law? (1968–71)", was broadcast on February 19, 1990.


In popular culture

O'Neal and his betrayal of Hampton are explored in the film ''
Judas and the Black Messiah Judas Iscariot (; ; died AD) was, according to Christianity's four canonical gospels, one of the original Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ. Judas betrayed Jesus to the Sanhedrin in the Garden of Gethsemane, in exchange for thirty pieces of s ...
'' (2021), where he is portrayed by
LaKeith Stanfield LaKeith Lee Stanfield (born August 12, 1991) is an American actor. He made his feature film debut in '' Short Term 12'' (2013), for which he was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. He received further recognition for his roles in the fil ...
. For their performances, both Stanfield and
Daniel Kaluuya Daniel Kaluuya (; born 24 February 1989) is an English actor. His work encompasses both screen and stage, and List of awards and nominations received by Daniel Kaluuya, his accolades include an Academy Awards, Academy Award, two British Academy ...
(who played Hampton) were nominated for the
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor The Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It has been awarded since the 9th Academy Awards to an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in ...
, which Kaluuya won.


References


External links

*, ''
Democracy Now! ''Democracy Now!'' is an hour-long TV, radio, and Internet news program based in Manhattan and hosted by journalists Amy Goodman (who also acts as the show's executive producer), Juan González, and Nermeen Shaikh. The show, which airs live ...
'' discusses O'Neal's role *, ''Democracy Now!'' *, ''Democracy Now!'' discusses O'Neal's role {{DEFAULTSORT:ONeal, William 1949 births 1990 deaths 1990 suicides Federal Bureau of Investigation informants Members of the Black Panther Party People from Chicago Pedestrian road incident deaths Road incident deaths in Illinois Suicides in Illinois