[Editor’s note: This serial lifts much of the language from the first three pages of Serial 300, the text of which may be found here. This serial was directed for relay to State Department personnel in Georgetown, Guyana – rather than all offices of the FBI – and hence deleted the proposed avenues of inquiry which FBI offices should pursue. The difference is substantive enough that the entirety of Serial 500 is presented below.]
0 2[7]0155Z NOV 7[8]
FM SAN FRANCISCO (89-250) (P) (SQ. 10)
TO DIRECTOR (89-4286) IMMEDIATE
COLUMBIA IMMEDIATE
BT
UNCLAS
ATTENTION: CID COMMAND POST, FOR RELAY TO LEGAT CURRENTLY IN GEORGETOWN, GUYANA.
RYMUR
Re Bureau teletype to San Francisco, dated November 26, 1978.
Reverend James Warren Jones aka Jim Jones, founder of the People’s Temple Christian Church, Disciples of Christ (PT), founded the cult group in Indiana in the late 1950’s and moved with some of his followers to the Ukiah, California area in approximately 1966, where he founded the first Temple
PAGE TWO SF 89-250 UNCLAS
known as the Redwood Valley Temple on East Road, Redwood Valley, California, near Ukiah. Subsequent Temples were established at 1859 Geary Boulevard, San Francisco and at the intersection of Hoover and Alvarado in Los Angeles. The only active Temple at this time is the one in San Francisco. Membership estimated 1200 to 1500 with about 200 members in U.S.
Members recruited by the PT were from a cross section of society, as it it [is] noted that a number of poor people are members as well as a number of well-to-do middle class people, including several attorneys.
Members of the PT were coerced into making written statements confessing illegal and immoral acts such as vowing to kill government officials which were then picked up at open meetings of the Temple by the inner core members known as the Planning Commission (PC) members. These statements were then delivered to the Reverend Jones, who used the statements to ensure the members[‘] involvement in the PT movement.
Information to date indicates four types of persons involved in this investigation: ex-members, current members, members of the Planning Commission (the “inner circle” of the People’s Temple) and “the Angels” or “staff” who were the
PAGE THREE SF 89-250 UNCLAS
“inner circle of the Planning Commission”. The Angels have been characterized as the “hit men” by ex-members who have been interviewed.
Ex-members have also indicated the existence of a “contingency plan” which would go into effect under the following circumstances with the following results:
If a public official attempted to expose the PT, Angels were to kidnap the public official’s children, kill those children, kill their own children, and then commit suicide.
If the head of the PT, Jim Jones, was arrested, public officials (not further identified) would be kidnapped and held hostage until Jones was released.
If the church fell, the following persons are to be assassinated: San Francisco Mayor [George] Moscone, due to his withdrawal of support for PT, Governor of California, the President of the United States, and in those in line for the succession to the presidency. Appropriate officials have been advised.
Bureau requested to relate the above data to Legat at Georgetown, Guyana.
“Armed and dangerous. Suicidal tendencies”.
BT