A Former Black Panther-Turned-FBI Informant Brings A Camera Crew To Work

A Former Black Panther-Turned-FBI Informant Brings A Camera Crew To Work
PARK CITY, UT - JANUARY 23: Directors David Felix Sutcliffe (L) and Lyric R. Cabral from '(T)ERROR' pose for a portrait at the Village at the Lift Presented by McDonald's McCafe during the 2015 Sundance Film Festival on January 23, 2015 in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Larry Busacca/Getty Images)
PARK CITY, UT - JANUARY 23: Directors David Felix Sutcliffe (L) and Lyric R. Cabral from '(T)ERROR' pose for a portrait at the Village at the Lift Presented by McDonald's McCafe during the 2015 Sundance Film Festival on January 23, 2015 in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Larry Busacca/Getty Images)

Saeed Torres is a Harlem-born former Black Panther and self-described “revolutionary” who, while imprisoned in the early ’90s, began spying on his Muslim community for the FBI.

As a freelancer for the FBI Torres says he’s made thousands of dollars and helped to bring in at least five convictions. In 2011, the 63-year-old let photojournalist (and one-time neighbor) Lyric R. Cabral film him on what’s supposed to be his swan song: “buddying up” to Khalifah Al-Akili, a Pittsburgh-based, white, Muslim 37-year-old husband and father who also happens to praise the Taliban on social media. The result is “(T)error,” the first documentary film to go inside an FBI counter-terrorism sting operation.

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