Zine Written By Informant Justin Samuel While on the Run

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The travel zine written by my former co-defendant while he was a fugitive in Europe.

It is with some hesitancy I publish this document: The zine written in 1999 by my former friend and co-defendant Justin Samuel, documenting the experiences leading up to his arrest. To my knowledge, the existence of this was never publicized until now.

Some details: This zine was authored by the fugitive mink liberator and covers roughly the period of November 1997 (just after we went on the run) to November 1998. For obvious reasons, he authored it anonymously. He was arrested in Belgium about 10 months later.

The zine

The zine is titled “World Within”, and covers Justin Samuel’s European and Middle Eastern travels while a fugitive. He was 20 years old. He writes about his experiences riding bikes, hitchhiking, and generally living nomadically and with little money through several countries, including Syria, Israel, Belgium, England, Jordan, and more.

The fact that he is a fugitive on the run from federal charges is not mentioned, for obvious reasons.

It is a small miracle this document has survived the passing of 13 years. So the story goes, there were only a handful of photocopied hard copies ever printed. A person (who apparently had no idea who the author was) came across a copy in Israel, felt it deserved a wider audience, transcribed the entire zine, and posted it online. The original website has remained live for the last 12 years, with no indication as to who its anonymous author was.

It is vastly more interesting when read with the knowledge that the anonymous author is an American on the run from the law. For example, this quote, on his decision to travel:

“My new lifestyle allowed me almost no contact with my family and friends, and I didn’t see that as negative. I was free from all ties I had to the old me.”

The original layout has been lost to time, but a text version (with some graphics) has been preserved, and is posted below.

Some background

In 1997, Samuel and I released thousands of mink from fur farms in several states before being pulled over by police near the Zimbal Minkery in Oostburg, Wisconsin. After our vehicle was searched, we went on the run, knowing charges were imminent.

Samuel was arrested in Belgium in September 1999, after an ID check following an anti-nuclear weapons rally revealed his warrants in the US. He was extradited and quickly entered into a plea deal in which he agreed to implicate me and others in exchange for a reduced sentence. He was released in 2001.

Justin Samuel, post-felony road trip

By the time I last saw Samuel, he had undergone significant changes from the person I visited fur farms with. He had taken a sharp left turn towards an odd fusion of anarchism and Buddhism (evident in this zine), which included retracting support for many ALF tactics. At the time, I did not see this as the alarming harbinger I perhaps should have, still believing that his anti-authoritarian politics would carry over into jail, should he get arrested first and be in a position to implicate me.

As history showed, I was wrong.

My dilemma about publishing this

I’ve been sitting on this for some time, often considering posting but always refraining. While it is perhaps of some historical interest (albeit to a small number of people), my hesitancy comes in a couple forms.

One: Because of Samuel’s testimony, I have a natural aversion to publishing anything that might humanize him or showcase his work. His zine, while not profound, is not entirely uninteresting. Were it not tarnished by some corrupt authorship, many would find it a good read.

Second, I fail to see it having any movement-level value. It does not provide any insight or lessons to draw from. It is merely an introspective travel zine that is of interest on a voyeuristic level alone.

There may be one lesson here…

If there is something of value to be extracted from this, it is an important lesson I don’t see often acknowledged: There is absolutely no relationship between how “radical” one’s ostensible politics, and the true makeup of their character. One’s convictions are spoken entirely through their actions, and have no relationship to their words.

In this zine we see Samuel cover the entire checklist of “revolutionary” politics – from capitalism to overconsumption. Yet within months of writing this, he was groveling for mercy at the feet of FBI agents and selling out his friends (myself and others) for a marginally reduced prison sentence.

I hope that is the uncomfortable but lasting lesson of this zine.
World Within zine by Justin Samuel

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Possible FBI Informant Leaves Behind a Message….

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I’m posting a note below that was found folded under a chair after last week’s Animal Ethics Conference in Provo, Utah. It was scrawled on a comment card given to attendees to provide feedback to the speakers and organizers, then left on the ground after my talk.

There is nothing particularly eventful about the FBI lurking around an animal rights event. Yet if this note is authentic, the undertone of urgency is somewhat interesting. It appears to be written from the position of someone who is working as an FBI informant, or is privy to info on who is, while not actually being an FBI agent themselves.

There are two possible theories here. The note is either:

*An authentic note left by an informant the FBI seeded the audience with, who didn’t wish to reveal themselves.

*Deliberately planted disinformation to spread fear among speakers and the conference organizers who host them.

To me, the note reads much more like someone feebly trying to assuage their conscience than anyone genuinely unsupportive of their employers / handlers work.

Decide for yourself. (click to enlarge).

 

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Lead informant in ALF / ELF Cases Sentenced to 5 Years

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Infamous snitch Jacob Ferguson arrested on drug charges, sent to prison

The man who wore a wire for the FBI and sent over a dozen people to prison for ALF / ELF actions is himself now going to prison. Jacob Ferguson was sentenced this week to 5 years for “manufacturing, possessing and selling heroin”, according to court records.

Ferguson rose to infamy after becoming the lead informant in the “Operation Backfire” FBI sweep. The arrests led to prison sentences for over a dozen people on arson charges for  ALF / ELF actions going back almost 10 years. Three of those charged – Joe Dibee, Josephine Sunshine Overaker, and Rebecca Rubin – are still on the run.

His role in over a dozen arsons claimed by the Animal Liberation Front / Earth Liberation Front made him a valuable asset for the FBI. When he secretly began cooperating with the government in 2004 to send many of his former friends to prison, he accepted a plea bargain which called probation only and no prison time.

That ended this week when a recent drug bust finally led Ferguson to prison. He is also expected to receive a federal prison sentence in addition to his 5 year state sentence.

Ferguson sent people to prison for the following ALF actions (in addition to numerous other ALF / ELF actions):

Cavel West horse slaughterhouse arson (1997)

Burns BLM wild horse corral arson (1997)

Childers Meat Company arson (1999)

The government’s sentencing memorandum, detailing every action Ferguson implicated others in, can be read here.

For a well known snitch, the prisoners where Ferguson is going are likely to be even less forgiving than the judge who sent him there.

– Peter Young

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New Informant in California A.L.F. Case

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Briana Waters agrees to testify against man accused of wild horse corral arson

Briana Waters, charged with involvement in an E.L.F. arson in 2001, has agreed to testify against Justin Solondz, her former boyfriend. Solondz is set to be extradited from China to face arson charges for his alleged role in two actions: an E.L.F. arson at the University of Washington’s Center for Urban Horticulture in 2001, and an A.L.F. arson at the Litchfield Wild Burro and Horse Corrals in Susanville, California.

As part of her plea bargain, Briana Waters has agreed to provide “new, useful information” about the Animal Liberation Front and Earth Liberation Front to the government, as well as testify against Solondz at his trials for the two arsons.

Justin Solondz is set to be returned to the U.S. soon. He became a fugitive after his indictment, and was arrested in China two years later. He has been held in a jail there ever since on unrelated charges. It was only recently announced he would be extradited to the U.S. in the near future.

– Peter Young.

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A.L.F. Snitch Resurfaces In Video: The FBI-Mozilla Connection

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Justin Samuel turns up as programmer for new Firefox internet browser

Where is former Animal Liberation Front prisoner and FBI informant Justin Samuel now? Designing the internet browser you may be using to read this.

This week I was shown a video advertising the new Firefox 4 browser, and asked if the “Justin Samuel” in the new Mozilla Firefox promotional video is the Justin Samuel who entered a grand jury in 2000 and implicated me in six fur farm raids.

It was.

Watch the video at this link (click “watch video”). Justin Samuel is the second person speaking. The man who verifiably worked (or works) with the FBI is now ensuring the new Firefox browser “is the most secure browser out there”. Raising the question: how secure can a browser be when the man assigned to make it secure has a working relationship with the FBI?

Justin Samuel’s grand jury testimony

In 1997, myself and Justin Samuel orchestrated a series of mink releases across South Dakota, Iowa, and Wisconsin. After our indictment, Justin Samuel was the first to be arrested and offered his testimony against me in exchange for a reduced sentence.

You can read 86-page Justin Samuel’s grand jury transcript at this link. His testimony and promise to testify at trial was a major factor in my eventual prison sentence.

A.L.F. snitches: where they are now

While “where are they now” rumors of Animal Liberation Front / Earth Liberation Front informants abound, ranging from former straight edge mink feed cooperative bombers gone 7-11 employee drug addicts to SUV-firebombers gone SUV-drivers, the resurfacing of Justin Samuel is among the more timely and confirmed updates on just where A.L.F. informants end up when they betray their friends, their movement, and the animals.

In August I wrote about the curious micro-trend of Animal Liberation Front informants going into the computer security field. Darren Thurston, who implicated several people in Animal Liberation Front and Earth Liberation Front arsons, is now a computer security consultant. Justin Samuel, on his UC-Berkeley graduate student profile, posts several articles he authored on computer security before surfacing on the Mozilla Firefox 4 team.

It is not unreasonable to speculate this may be more than a coincidence. The FBI would have an interest in placing its prized “ecoterrorist” assets in privileged positions of root-level access into our digital lives – after they’ve burned all bridges in our real ones.

Animal Liberation Front informants in the computer security field: Coincidence, or strategically placed “men on the inside”?

Open letter to Mozilla Firefox

A few questions that might be posed to Justin Samuel’s current employers at Mozilla (these are really three ways of asking the same thing):

*Do you feel employing Justin Samuel, someone who has has worked with the FBI as an informant, to be a credibility-compromising to your product, and trust-eroding among its users?

*Can you brand Firefox a “safe and secure” browser with someone who signed a plea agreement obligating him to provide information directly to the FBI?

*Can anyone feel comfortable using Mozilla Firefox 4 knowing a person responsible for making it “secure” has a working relationship with a federal law enforcement agency?
‘
While I don’t believe in “internet security”, I’m still going with another browser… starting now.

– Peter Young

Warning: Green Scare Informant Runs Computer Security Company

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Updated August 9th, 3:04pm PST

Activists beware: FBI informant Darren Thurston now a “computer security” expert

After Darren Thurston’s release from prison, the informant in the Green Scare A.L.F. / E.L.F. case has resurfaced as a computer security consultant.

A warning to anyone who has received computer security services from someone going by hard_mac, or rad_boy: Your consultant was once working for the FBI, and may still be.

Thurston became an asset for the federal government in the Green Scare case after his arrest on arson charges for the 2001 torching by the Animal Liberation Front of a BLM wild horse holding barn in Susanville, California. In exchange for reduced charges, he implicated several others in serious arsons. Among them was Justin Solondz, who is serving a three year sentence in China on unrelated charges after being arrested there while a fugitive.

There is additional information about Thurston that may be of concern to activists. From Vancouver Anarchist Online Archive:

“Vancouver lawyer Peter Edelmann (who sometimes works for activists) confirmed in early 2010 that Darren Thurston has been working for him in his legal office since sometime not long after Thurston’s return to Vancouver in late 2008. This opens the possibility of breaches of lawyer-client confidentiality, given Thurston’s signed and sealed agreement to give information on other activists to the FBI.”

One point bears repeating: Thurston entered into a plea agreement which remains sealed, and which he himself has never made public. The terms of the plea agreement are unknown, and may include working for the FBI / Canadian authorities after his release.

Thurston’s computer security consulting site can be viewed here.

Perhaps not by coincidence, there is information another government informant, Justin Samuel, has also gone into the computer security field. Samuel provided 86 pages of testimony, and perhaps additional undocumented information, to prosecutors investigating mink releases in 1999.

It is possible the FBI has found the perfect niche for former activists who have switched sides: giving them “expert”-status and putting them in charge of sensitive data on others computers. Warrants may be unnecessary when the FBI has a “man on the inside”.

– Peter Young

A.L.F. Informant Jacob Ferguson Speaks

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Jacob Ferguson – core member of the A.L.F. / E.L.F. cell responsible for over a dozen large-scale arsons in the 90’s and early 2000’s – breaks his silence on this recent CNN clip. After turning informant, Ferguson wore a wire and approached old friends about previous arsons. This testimony was used to send over 10 people to prison, and sparked others to live underground as fugitives to this day.

Taking a revisionist view of history, Ferguson claims that when his cell was active they considered themselves a “terrorist cell” – a doubtful rewrite of history to pander to the interviewer, audience, and FBI. Ferguson is also strikingly inarticulate, casting into doubt his alleged role by the FBI as a charismatic ringleader charming young environmentalists into carrying out arsons on behalf of the Earth. The clearly not-vegan Ferguson has also gained easily 100+ pounds since earlier photos taken of him (Ferguson once joked to a Rolling Stone reporter that during a raid of a lab, his partners in the action, which he called “the vegans” were too weak to carry out the raid effectively). (more…)

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Grand Jury Alert: Informant Frank Ambrose Talking to Indiana Grand Jury

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Its important to spread this information quickly when it comes in:

Frank Ambrose has reportedly been talking to another grand jury, this one in Indiana. It was also reported the grand jury brought in Ambrose when it failed to secure an indictment against another activist. That is all that is known at this time.

Ambrose is the informant who provided extensive information to the FBI regarding actions s such as the torching of chicken distribution center trucks and much more. His testimony lead to the sentencing of Marie Mason to over 20 years.

Grand juries are convened for the sole purpose of charging someone with a crime. People are subpoenaed to grand juries for the sold purpose of using that person’s testimony to put someone in prison. Inform yourself on grand juries and how to resist them:

http://grandjuryresistance.org/

Know the enemy:

Photo of Ambrose

The damage Ambrose has done:

http://freemarie.org/

-Peter Young

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