“Mo” and “Gloves” Run Amok in Chicago | Black Agenda Report

“Mo” and “Gloves” Run Amok in Chicago

23 May 2012

🖨️ Print Article

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford

Fascist-minded state policies are often executed by likeable, sociable operatives. Chicago police officers “Mo” and “Gloves” appear to have made friends in anti-war circles all over Chicago – with disastrous consequences to some activists. “The two undercovers were clearly among the most gregarious couples in town for the NATO summit meeting.”

“Mo” and “Gloves” Run Amok in Chicago

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford

“The dynamic duo are expected to testify the defendants confided that they wanted to burn and bomb things.”

White middle class Americans grow up imbibing Hollywood stereotypes of police states in which the villains have exotic names and accents and are very definitely not the kind of people you’d want to drink beer or smoke a joint with. But five young people who went to Chicago to oppose U.S. wars had the misfortune to meet some secret police who seemed to fit in quite well with their peer group. Known only as “Mo” and “Gloves,” the undercover police officers were among the eleven people originally seized at an apartment in the Bridgeport neighborhood of Chicago’s South Side. Then, suddenly, they were gone, but three of their erstwhile anti-war friends would face charges of manufacturing Molotov cocktails and conspiring to mount an attack on President Obama’s campaign headquarters. Apparently, Mo and Gloves will testify to that effect. However, attorneys at the National Lawyers Guild say there were no Molotov cocktails found at the scene, just some equipment to home brew beer.

Mo and Gloves were also apparently behind the arrest of two other activists, both from Chicago, charged with making terrorist threats and attempted possession of explosives or incendiary devices. The dynamic duo Mo and Gloves are expected to testify that the defendants confided that they wanted to burn and bomb things. One of the guys supposedly bragged that he could blow up a bridge in downtown Chicago. The other man allegedly wanted to build a pipe bomb. They are guilty, you see, of felonious and wishful thinking.

The two undercovers were clearly among the most gregarious couples in town for the NATO summit meeting. A defense attorney said lots activists told her they had met Mo and Gloves – and were, understandably, worried.

“The informant Azir accomplished this feat of mass manipulation through the dispensing of vast quantities of beer.”

In Cleveland, a 39-year-old police informant named Shaquille Azir appears to have lured five young guys who were associated with the Occupy movement and called themselves anarchists into a possible lifetime in prison. According to an excellent Counterpunch article by Jake Olzen, Azir talked himself into the men’s lives, encouraged them to separate from Occupy to form a People’s Liberation Army, and finally, got them to try to blow up a bridge with an inert bomb built with materials provided by the FBI. The informant Azir accomplished this feat of mass manipulation through the dispensing of vast quantities of beer. Every morning, he gave his victims a case of beer, and each evening he showed up with marijuana and another case of beer. It is, therefore logical to conclude that American capitalism is threatened, not so much by implacable opponents or internal contradictions, but by beer.

When I was a very young child, there was a television show called “I Led Three Lives.” The hero was an undercover informant who infiltrated American communist cells to expose their violent plans. The communists were all played by character actors from gangster films. The result was pure fiction, but it did hang together as a typical TV melodrama of the time. However, I think there will never be a movie about the undercover cops Mo and Gloves, who flitted around Chicago making up conversations in order to put people they had never met in prison for life. There oughta be a movie like that, but there won’t. Even the cops would be shamed.

For Black Agenda Radio, I’m Glen Ford. On the web, go to BlackAgendaReport.com.

BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com.

listen

http://traffic.libsyn.com/blackagendareport/20120523_gf_MoAndGlovesRunAmuk.mp3

More Stories

Salvador Ousmane
Nigerian government unleashes massive repression after #endhunger protests
25 Sep 2024
At the beginning of August this year, tens of thousands of Nigerians rose up to denounce the government in a movement that was organised under the slogans #endbadgovernance and #endhunger. For too…
The Cradle News Desk
Israel considers plan to impose siege, expel 300,000 Palestinians from northern Gaza
25 Sep 2024
The plan is being promoted by Reserve Major General Giora Eiland, who has encouraged the spread of disease among civilians in Gaza to help Israel win the war against Hamas.
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist , Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor , Garland Nixon
Hezbollah Readies War, Israel's Pager Attack Ignites Fury | Garland Nixon & Margaret Kimberley
25 Sep 2024
BAR executive Editor, Margaret Kimberley, and Garland Nixon join Danny Haiphong to break down Israel's devastating pager attack on Lebanon and what it means for the possible outbreak of war after…
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Black Agenda Radio September 20, 2024
20 Sep 2024
In this week’s segment, we learn about Aurora, Colorado, where a landlord used right-wing media to create a story of a non-existent gang crisis just as he was ordered to court to address violations…
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Dr. Butch Ware on his Green Party Vice Presidential Campaign
20 Sep 2024
Dr. Butch Ware joins us from Santa Barbara to discuss the Green Party’s campaign, why it is under a sustained attack by Democrats, and what that means for black voters.