cannabisnews.com: 1960's Guru Timothy Leary Cooperated with FBI! 1960's Guru Timothy Leary Cooperated with FBI! Posted by FoM on June 30, 1999 at 18:18:42 PT Source: CNN WASHINGTON Timothy Leary, the counterculture guru whose "turn on, tune in, drop out" preachings made him an antiestablishment icon in the 1960s, quietly cooperated with the FBI in 1974 and informed on a radical left group in hopes winning his freedom from jail, newly released FBI records show. His information identified his collaborators in a 1970 prison escape. Three years later, caught and jailed again, Leary told an FBI agent that he wanted to see "if I can work out a collaborative and ... an honorable relationship" with "intelligence and law enforcement people that are ready to forget the past," according to a transcript of FBI interviews with Leary in May 1974. "I want to get out of prison as quickly as I can," Leary said in a meeting with an FBI agent, a Drug Enforcement Administration agent and two California state law enforcement officials. Fourteen pages of Leary's FBI file, including interview transcripts and FBI reports, were published on the Internet this week by The Smoking Gun, an on-line site that publishes documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. The FBI confirmed their authenticity. In all, the FBI released 585 pages, said Bill Bastone, editor of the Internet site. Leary, who died of cancer in 1996, described for the FBI how members of the leftist Weather Underground helped him escape from a California prison in 1970. In one passage, an agent said, "You've mentioned numerous Weatherman so far, is it correct to assume that each one of them knew ...they were aiding in your escape?" "Oh, no question about it," Leary responded. The identities of those Leary named were blacked out. Leary wrote in his 1983 autobiography that the FBI wanted him inform on the Weather Underground but that he didn't "want to be called a snitch." He wrote that he told the FBI "the story of my hair-breath escape," but he gave no details in the book of what he told the FBI. Rumors that Leary was cooperating with the FBI circulated in 1974, and left-wing leaders said the "high priest of LSD" was simply lying to federal agents to get out of jail. Todd Gitlin, a New York University professor and author of a book about the 1960s, said that the disclosure that Leary cooperated and provided names were "surprising but not shocking." "He was not a man of political principles," said Gitlin. "He'd do anything do get out of jail -- he'd escape with the Weathermen or inform on them, whatever it takes." A former Harvard lecturer who was kicked out of the university after he conducted experiments with psychedelic drugs, Leary became the foremost prophet and proselytizer of LSD during the turbulent 1960s. The drug inspired Leary's most famous line: "Turn on, tune in, drop out." His advocacy of drug use brought numerous run-ins with the law. In 1970 he was serving a 10-year sentence for marijuana possession when a band from the Weather Underground helped him in a daring escape from a jail in San Luis Obispo, Calif. Leary fled the country and bounced from country to country. U.S. agents eventually caught up with him in Afghanistan. He was sent back to prison in California in 1973. In May of the following year he met with FBI agents for a series of interviews, the documents show. The bureau was conducting an investigation into passport fraud and crimes in connection with Leary's jail break and flight from the country. Leary told the FBI that the group helped get him false IDs and helped plan his escape out of the country. He identified some of his collaborators through photographs and was even taken from jail and driven to places to identify safehouse where he was hidden after his escape. An FBI document shows that the agents believed that the Leary interviews "provide the basis for some federal action against culpable principals and conspirators in this and other matters." But nothing Leary told the FBI resulted in any criminal charges, said Douglas Rushkoff, Leary's literary agent and a close friend. Rushkoff said too much was being made of the FBI files. He said they simply confirm what Leary had said in his writings. "He wanted to be a productive member of society and not stuck in jail," said Rushkoff. "It's just so funny that this stuff is being used to discredit him." Pubdate : June 30,1999Copyright 1999& The Associated PressTimothy Leary's Home Page!http://www.leary.com/ END SNIP --> Snipped Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #7 posted by masked man on May 09, 2001 at 11:09:03 PT lsd and leary were part of a plot testing drugs Visit these websites and check them out good.this guy knew leary and lt col aquino aliens and military experiments: nWO ? [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by Linda on September 10, 2000 at 20:43:51 PT: Charles [Chuck] Scott Does anyone remember anything about Chuck Scott, who was a member of Learys' "Brotherhood of Light" during the days of "Sunshine"? I read, in the San Francisco Chronicle, that he was killed by Federal Marshals, at his cabin on Mount Tamalpais, North of San Francisco, sometime around 1984. He was hiding out, after escaping from the Sutter County Jail, where he was awaiting trial for smuggling Hashish from the Middle East. There was to be an investigation of the shooting, according to the paper. Was he ratted out? How did they find out where he was? Any information would be appreciated.Thanks [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by Curious on July 27, 2000 at 15:51:00 PT: Leary & the Weather Underground So, who, specifically, did he snitch on? The Weather Underground, circa late 1970, consisted of Ayers, Dohrn, Rudd, Wilkerson, Boudin, Clark & Gilbert and a few others. Were the people he snitched on possibly Clark, Gilbert, and Boudin, who remained underground until the '81 NY Brinks robbery? Why weren't people indicted from his snitching? [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by lichao on July 01, 1999 at 14:25:51 PT S.M.I.2L.E. Besides, the feds had covert operatives in most "subversive" groups, i doubt if any names they got were news to them. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by Li Chao on July 01, 1999 at 11:30:33 PT S.M.I.2L.E. I think its interesting that nothing Tim told the feds ever led to an arrest. If it really was useful info, does anyone really believe our gov't would not have used it to cage its perceived enemiies? As the specifics are blocked out of the documents, we will probably never know exactly what he gave them. And Leary was smart enough to tell the feds what they wanted to hear without exposing any real secrets. This is the same gov't that, after his sentencing, gave the good Doctor a personality test designed by Dr. Timothy Leary. Since he designed the test, Tim was able to give answers that classified him as docile and easily controlled. Due to the results he was put in a minimum security prison from which he later escaped. Tim Leary was far from perfect, but don't make the mistake of underestimating his intelligence. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by FoM on July 01, 1999 at 06:56:07 PT: Timothy Leary an FBI Snitch! The late Timothy Leary is shown in his Beverly Hills, Calif., home in this Jan. 1996 photo. The counterculture guru, who was an anti-establishment hero in the 1960s, secretly cooperated with the FBI, newly released records indicate. By Karen GulloThe Associated PressWashington, June 30, 1999 Timothy Leary an FBI Snitch [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by Achene on June 30, 1999 at 19:33:48 PT Timothy Leary Cooperated, my butt! Yea, I believe the FEDs!Aren't they the ones who kidnapped Tim in Algiers just so they could release him in the states, so they could pick him up to arrest him.You know the documents just being released may be the official record but I don't believe that it the truth." Timothy Leary's dead, no he just on the outside looking in." Moody BluesRegards,Achene [ Post Comment ] Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: