FBI Online Vault Opens For 2015

May 11, 2015

The Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI") has an online Vault, which is described as a Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA") library containing:

6,700 documents and other media that have been scanned from paper into digital copies so you can read them in the comfort of your home or office. 

Included here are many new FBI files that have been released to the public but never added to this website; dozens of records previously posted on our site but removed as requests diminished; files from our previous FOIA Library, and new, previously unreleased files.

From time to time, the BrokeAndBroker.com Blog delves into some of the new additions to the FBI's Vault. Did you know Joan Rivers had an FBI file? What did they have on Shirley Temple? And what was up with Casey Kasem? Consider these 2015 additions:

Recently Added

05.04.15
Thomas Michael Menino (1942-2014) served as the Mayor of Boston from 1993 to 2014. This release consists of material from a 2002 corruption investigation that did not lead to prosecution.
04.28.15
Joan Alexandra Rivers, ne Molinsky, (1933-2014) was a well known entertainment figure. This release consists of several FBI investigations of violent threats made against Ms. Rivers.
04.27.15
On February 4, 1974, Patricia Hearst, the daughter of a well-known newspaper owner, was kidnapped by members of the domestic terrorist group called the Symbionese Liberation Army. The FBI's investigation of this kidnapping and Hearst's actions while with the group was called HEARNAP. This release is a new processing of the FBI's HEARNAP file, which was previously released.
04.24.15
Richard Matsui Aoki (1938-2009) was involved in a number of radical groups on the West Coast including the Socialist Workers Party and the Black Panther Party. At the same time Aoki served as an informant for the FBI (symbol source number SF-2496-R). This release consists of material from the period 1962 to 1970 and a record of the FBI file search for material on Aoki in 2009.
04.24.15
Alger Hiss (1904-1996) was a lawyer and former government official who spied for the Soviet Union; he was convicted of perjury in 1950. This release is a reprocessed version of previously released material from the FBI's main file related to the investigation of perjury charges against Hiss. The material spans October and November of 1949.
04.24.15
Jay David Whittaker Chambers (1901-1961) was an author, reporter and Soviet spy. This release is a reprocessed version of previously released material from the FBI's main file on Chambers. It spans the years 1949 to 1977.
04.23.15
Shirley Temple Black (1928-2014) was a well known actress and political appointee in several administrations. This release consists of a 1969 background investigation made when Ms. Black was under consideration for executive appointment. Also included are two small files regarding threats made against Ms. Black.
04.03.15
Irwin Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997) was a well known poet. This release consists mostly of an FBI file opened in 1964 when Ginsberg planned to travel to Cuba for a poetry competition. There are also some later references to Ginsberg's political activism and earlier criminal arrests.
03.27.15
Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev (1906-1982) was a senior politician in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) who became head of the country from 1964 to 1982. This release consists of an FBI clippings file on politics in the Soviet Union from 1943 to 1960; many of these articles mention Brezhnev.
03.24.15
Daniel Patrick Moynihan (1927-2003) was a sociologist and long serving U.S. Senator and academic. This release consists of references to Moynihan in FBI files between 1968 and 1999. They include materials relating to investigations into a number of threats made against Moynihan and references to background investigations of Moynihan for appointment to high government positions.
03.12.15
Casey Kasem, 1932 to 2014, born as Kemal Amen Kasem, was an actor, producer, and well known disk jockey and music celebrity. These files concern FBI investigations of violent threats made against Kasem between 1981 and 1993.
02.20.15
Fred W. Phelps, Sr. (1929 - 2014) was the founder of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas, a group known for anti-gay activism.
02.04.15
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) -- a civil rights group created by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and others in 1957 - was investigated by the FBI for possible ties to domestic communists and the U.S.S.R.
01.15.15

Video of Arrest, March 3, 1991 

Video footage of arrest by Los Angeles police officers on March 3, 1991. Rodney King Video