Storyville: Season 2015, Episode 24

2015 - 24: FBI Undercover

With remarkable access, this documentary follows an unfolding active FBI counterterrorism sting operation, telling the story of Saeed 'Shariff' Torres, a 63-year-old former Black Panther turned informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Shariff is an ex-convict who claims to have at one point made hundreds of thousands of dollars a year sidling up to Muslims accused of pro-terrorism leanings. From a rented Pittsburgh home he receives instructions by text from his FBI handler. He's told to befriend a white Muslim convert who has publicly made pro-terrorist statements.

As the documentary observes Shariff closing in on the suspect, viewers get an unfettered glimpse of the government's counterterrorism tactics and the murky justifications behind them. Taut, stark and controversial, the film illuminates the fragile relationships between individual and surveillance state in modern America, and asks who is watching the watchers.