...according to documents the newspaper obtained via Freedom of Information Act during a two year investigation, Withers was also working for J. Edgar Hoover's FBI.
According to the documents, Withers followed King the day before his murder and told FBI agents about a meeting King had with suspected black militants and later divulged details he learned at King's funeral in Atlanta.
The alleged spying took place from at least 1968 until 1970. Withers, according to documents, passed on tips and photographs to the FBI which detailed an insider view of the civil rights movement as well as politics, business and everyday life in Memphis' African-American community.
"It is an amazing betrayal," Athan Theoharis, a historian at Marquette University who has written books about the F.B.I. told the New York Times. "It really speaks to the degree that the F.B.I. was able to engage individuals within the civil rights movement. This man was so well trusted."
Good thing nothing like that happens anymore, oh yeah, right, and just to make it all bi-partisany.