Editing Ku Klux Klan (section)

===== Jerry Thompson infiltration =====
Jerry Thompson, a newspaper reporter who infiltrated the KKK in 1979, reported that the FBI's [[COINTELPRO]] efforts were highly successful. Rival KKK factions accused each other's leaders of being [[FBI informant]]s. William Wilkinson of the Invisible Empire, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, was revealed to have been working for the FBI.{{sfn|Thompson|1982}}{{Specify|reason=need specific pages|date=August 2024}}

Thompson also related that KKK leaders showed great concern about a series of civil lawsuits filed by the [[Southern Poverty Law Center]], claiming damages amounting to millions of dollars. These were filed after KKK members shot into a group of African Americans.<!-- which event is this? --> Klansmen curtailed their activities in order to conserve money for defense against the lawsuits. The KKK also used lawsuits as tools; they filed a libel suit in order to prevent the publication of a paperback edition of Thompson's book but were unsuccessful.