Martin Scorsese: When the FBI came a-calling

Originally published at https://covertactionmagazine.com on April 24, 2024.

On the set of American Masters “Martin Scorsese Directs.” [Source: Author’s Collection]

Ah, Killers of the Flower Moon! An intriguing and brutal story that offers a window into early efforts of J. Edgar Hoover to kick over the murderous rocks and uncover the plot that plagued the Osage Indian Nation in the 1920s.

It is an enthralling tale of crime, greed and the pursuit of justice — with Martin Scorsese at the helm — and the reviews, by and large, reflect an enthusiasm for the film and the film’s content.

But this is not Scorsese’s first dalliance with fedora-wearing Feds; in fact, the FBI (together with other intelligence agencies) kept a file on both him and his NYU Film School mentor, Haig Manoogian.

Haig Manoogian [Source: horizonweekly.ca]

I should know because, together with Steven Fischler and a few others — members of a radical anarchist group, Transcendental Students — we were responsible for precipitating these “visits” to NYU Film School by representatives of both the FBI and the NYPD’s much feared “Red Squad.”

While Martin Scorsese’s film version of Killers of the Flower Moon touches on the story of an FBI in its infancy — “Bureau of…