The Fairshake Files

In Chapter 3, The Fairshake Files uncovers the moment COINTELPRO stopped hiding behind pretext.The threat was no longer violence. It was unity.We examine how the FBI expanded from monitoring dissidents to actively sabotaging peace groups, student organizers, clergy networks, and community coalitions — anyone capable of turning protest into political force.At the center of this shift was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whose moral authority the Bureau viewed as a national risk. But King was only one node

In Chapter 2, The Fairshake Files investigates "The Good Lie"—the narrative shield J. Edgar Hoover used to protect his secret war.We examine the one COINTELPRO operation that history deems a success: the destruction of the Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi. But beneath the surface of this victory lies a disturbing reality.We reveal how the FBI’s massive infiltration created a dependency on illegal tactics, protected violent informants, and inadvertently forced the Klan to evolve from a regional vigilante

The Fairshake Files opens the story of COINTELPRO: the secret, illegal domestic spying program run by the FBI and J. Edgar Hoover.We reveal how the operation was created out of frustration with the Supreme Court's protection of free speech, leading Hoover to declare a secret war on dissent outside the law. This is American political history, surveillance, and true crime with deep context.IN THIS EPISODE:FDR's secret 1936 mandate to hunt the "fifth column" threat.The shock of real spies: the Duquesne

The world knows one story: "Helter Skelter."The story of a charismatic cult leader and a doomsday prophecy. But that's just the narrative they wanted you to hear.In this deep-dive investigation, The Fairshake Files deconstructs the Manson legend to find the truth by investigating the three competing narratives:THE CULT: The official "Helter Skelter" motive the prosecution sold to the world.THE CRIMINAL: The drug deals, rivalries, and copycat killings the evidence actually pointed to.THE ASSET: The

In Part 3, we dismantled the "Helter Skelter" narrative, revealing a simpler, more believable story of drug debts, failed ambitions, and chaotic copycat crimes.In our series finale, we explore the third and most unsettling narrative of all: that Charles Manson was not a mastermind, but a "monster manufactured in the shadows".The Fairshake Files investigates the documented realities of the CIA's Project MKUltra and its mission to control human behavior. We trace Manson's time as an inmate at the

In Part 2, we laid out the official story: "Helter Skelter."In Part 3, we begin to dismantle it.Fairshake traces the fissures beneath the prosecution’s case to uncover motives that were far less theatrical but far more believable.We investigate how prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi's personal ambition—and a "Helter Skelter" book deal signed before the verdict—may have shaped a narrative that served his quest for a legacy.We explore the personal vengeance motive: Manson's failed record deal with producer

"Helter Skelter." It's the motive that defined an era. But was it the truth, or was it a brilliant prosecutor's perfect story?In Part 2 of our 4-part investigation, Fairshake dives deep into the official narrative that convicted Charles Manson and his followers.We explore the complete case built by legendary prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi—a story of a messianic leader who used a unique arsenal of psychological tools to turn lost flower children into killers.We examine how Manson allegedly weaponized

What truly led to the Manson Family murders?Before the "Helter Skelter" prophecy and the Hollywood slaughter, a tinderbox was being set.In Part 1 of this 4-part investigation, The Fairshake Files explores the volatile world of 1960s America that created Charles Manson.We deconstruct the "Generation Gap," the utopian dream of the "Summer of Love," and the predatory collapse of the Haight-Ashbury.We also introduce the parallel, documented reality of a secret government war on its own citizens: the