Gary Thomas Rowe Jr.
Gary Thomas Rowe Jr. (August 13, 1933 – May 25, 1998), known in Witness Protection as Thomas Neil Moore, was a paid informant and agent provocateur for the FBI. As an informant, he infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan, as part of the FBI's COINTELPRO project, to monitor and disrupt the Klan's activities. Rowe participated in violent Klan activity against African Americans and civil rights groups.
Gary Thomas Rowe | |
|---|---|
| Born | Gary Thomas Rowe, Jr. August 13, 1933 Savannah, Georgia, United States |
| Died | May 25, 1998 (aged 64) Savannah, Georgia, United States |
| Other names | Thomas Neil Moore |
| Spouse | 4 wives (all divorced) |
| Children | 5 (2 adopted) |
From 1965 until his death, Rowe was a figure of recurring controversy after he testified against fellow Klansmen who were accused of killing Viola Gregg Liuzzo, a civil rights volunteer. He was accused of being an accessory to the murder. He was involved in the attack on the Freedom Riders and also accused of involvement in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. He was given immunity by the FBI and he was never convicted of any wrongdoing. Rowe admitted to many of these violent acts in his 1976 autobiography, My Undercover Years with the Ku Klux Klan, and in confession and testimony given to the United States Senate.