Beyond “Alphabet Boys”: Police Infiltration and Repression in the Denver Area

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On this episode of the It’s Going Down podcast, we speak with a member of Colorado Springs Anti-Fascists about the history which has now been placed center stage on the popular podcast series, Alphabet Boys, which looks at how the FBI used informants during the George Floyd uprising in the Denver, Colorado area.

As Democracy Now wrote:

A new podcast out today called “Alphabet Boys” documents how the FBI disrupted racial justice organizing after the police killing of George Floyd in 2020, including paying an informant at least $20,000 to infiltrate and spy on activist groups in Denver, Colorado. The informant also encouraged activists to purchase guns and commit violence, echoing the FBI’s use of the COINTELPRO program to sabotage left-wing activist groups in the 1960s.

But as our guest explains, the FBI’s use of informants during the George Floyd protests was only the latest example of government agencies engaging in surveillance, infiltration, and repression of grassroots left-wing movements in the Denver area. This includes surveillance of groups like the American Indian Movement (AIM), infiltration of socialist organizations and community spaces, and the placement of informants even within tenant union organizations.

Repression is a constant mode of activity for the state and the US has engaged in a campaign of counter-insurgency against movements from bellow and communities which threaten the established order since its conception. As A Murder of Crows wrote:

Because of democratic baggage, repression is often understood as simply an anomalous and outrageous violation of rights. What people fail to comprehend is that repression is part of the standard operating procedure of any class society. There are those that rule and those who are ruled, and to maintain this divide, a combination of coercion and accommodation is necessary. To preserve the social structure of our society then, it is necessary to recuperate parts of social movements, and to repress the other parts. Essentially, repression is a strategy for maintaining power by capitalist ruling classes within nation-states. Thus, since it is a long-term strategy, it is always in motion and not some occasional occurrence.

As shown by FBI infiltration of anarchist demonstrations and events and local police infiltration of protest groups, it is easy to see that they were not investigating crimes that had taken place, but rather they were investigating possibilities of concrete resistance, which by necessity, generally break the law. This shows that there are plenty of examples, and certainly many that we may never know about, which demonstrate that repression already exists and is underway. It is not intermittent, and does not always respond to particular violations of the law; it is a long-term strategy of the state to destroy opposition. This strategy, however, has wider implications beyond the bounds of the radical milieu and affects the exploited as a whole.

During our discussion we also talk about attempts by Colorado Springs Anti-Fascists to call out under-covers, how informants attempted to push back on their outing by attacking those exposing them, and the relationship between authoritarian politics and state actors.

Timeline of Events Discussed in the Podcast:

2017

Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD) Metro, Vice, Narcotics, and Intelligence Division infiltrated Colorado Springs Socialists, leading to citations and arrests for taking a march off of the sidewalk.

June 2020

CSPD Officer April Rogers infiltrates the Chinook Center, a hub for leftist organizing in Colorado Springs by joining the Colorado Springs DSA. Officer April Rogers also infiltrated the Colorado Springs Tenant Union, which organized out of the Chinook Center.

Summer 2020

Mickey Windecker infiltrates Black Lives Matter formations on behalf of the FBI and entraps Zebb Hall with an illegal firearms purchase.

September 1^st, 2020

Mickey is involved in a direct action at the Denver Police Academy that the police appeared to know about before hand. 8 people are arrested.

September 2^nd, 2020

Colorado Springs Anti-Fascists issues a statement urging caution around Mickey Windecker as red flags around him grow.

September 3^nd, 2020

Mickey Windecker makes a video in-front of a PKK flag and an ar-15 calling Colorado Springs Anti-Fascists cops and fascists.

September 7^th, 2020

Mickey Windecker sends a threatening message to Lloyd Porsche who he falsely believes to be involved with Colorado Springs Anti-Fascists, saying something big is going to happen that might make the news to the anti-fascist group.

September 10^th, 2020

Lloyd Porsche’s home is violently raided by Denver Police. The home’s windows were shot out with rubber bullets with a two-year old baby inside. While being interrogated, Lloyd Porsche rats on another radical who is subsequently arrested.

July 2021

Colorado Springs Tenant Union organizers are arrested by CSPD after taking a march off of the sidewalk. April Rogers began trying to entrap members of the Colorado Springs Protest Security group by pressuring them to make illegal firearms purchases, sales, and to form a militia.

More Info: Alphabet Boys podcast and Colorado Springs Anti-Fascists on Kolektiva