Concept in Definition ABC

The Federal Boureau of Investigation, better known by its acronym FBI, is an agency dependent on the department of Justice whose main activity is the fight against crime, especially against organized crime.

The FBI was founded at the beginning of the 20th century and was originally intended to be an organization that fought fraud related to commercial activity. However, in the decades of the 20s and 30s there was a significant shift in their approaches. In 1929 a period of economic crisis of great magnitude began and the FBI feared that this joint could encourage the emergence of communism In U.S.A. On the other hand, the rise of criminality in the country, he made the FBI focus its efforts on dismantling the various mafia groups.

The history of the FBI was associated with the figure of its chief executive for almost five decades, J. Edgar Hoover.

Historical performances

One of Hoover's first actions was to dismantle all the organizations considered subversive for the country. One of the most famous episodes was the expulsion from the United States of hundreds of anarchists, communists and revolutionaries (their expulsion was known as "The Ark of the Soviet").

Who are the G-Men and what functions do they fulfill?

To achieve greater efficiency, an elite body, the G-Men, was created. The agents of this body could not be black, Hispanic, female, or Jewish. Its main function was espionage. It should be borne in mind that in the 1930s the United States feared that Nazi spies were infiltrating the country and, at the same time, concern for communism had become a obsession.

Due to this, the FBI obtained an authorization that allowed wiretapping (there are documents that show that characters such as Einstein, Picasso or Buñuel were investigated by the FBI). The G-Men were secret agents but society knew their functions and they became symbols of the struggle against crime (the G-Men appeared in comics and represented heroes who fight the dangers that threaten the nation).

Campaign against communism known as "Witch Hunt"

In the late 1940s a campaign was launched to detect potential communists among Hollywood intellectuals and artists. This campaign was directed by the "Committee of anti-American activities" and has gone down in history as the "Hunting of witches".

Some activities of the FBI have become known after the publication of thousands of secret reports not censored by the agency itself.

In the movie "J. Edgar "from 2011 tells the story of one of the most powerful men in America, J. Edgar Hoover.