The Joe Moore KKK Infiltration — FBI Informant Foils Murder Plot

The Case

The Joe Moore KKK infiltration case is a Florida-based FBI counterintelligence and civil-rights investigation in which Joseph 'Joe' Moore, a former Army sniper working as a confidential informant, exposed a murder conspiracy by three Ku Klux Klan members who also worked as Florida prison guards. The plot targeted a Black former inmate, and Moore's undercover work — including wire recordings and years of access to Klan leadership — disrupted the planned killing before it could be carried out.

The Crime

At the heart of the case was a conspiracy to murder a Black man who had previously been incarcerated in a Florida prison where the three Klan-affiliated guards worked. According to reporting, the men used their employment in the state corrections system as both a recruiting ground and an operational base for white-supremacist activity. After an incident involving the former inmate, the guards allegedly resolved to kill him in retaliation, and they discussed the plan within Klan circles where Moore had spent years embedding himself.

Moore, who had risen to the title of Grand Knight Hawk — the group's internal security officer — was trusted enough to be brought into sensitive conversations. When he realized the plot was real and operational rather than rhetorical, he alerted his FBI handlers, who instructed him to gather recorded evidence.

The Victims

The intended victim was a Black former inmate whose full name has not been disclosed in the publicly available reporting reviewed for this article. He had encountered the three guards during his incarceration in the Florida prison system, and that encounter became the trigger for the murder plot. Although the killing was prevented, the case underscored the danger posed to former inmates by extremist networks operating within correctional institutions.

Investigation

The FBI first asked Moore to go undercover in 2013, drawing on his existing presence inside a Florida Klan klavern and his background as an Army veteran. To strengthen his credibility, Moore embellished aspects of his military service, presenting himself as exactly the kind of hardened operator the Klan wanted in its security ranks.

Over roughly a decade, Moore documented internal Klan structures, identified members embedded in law enforcement and corrections, and supplied the FBI with intelligence on multiple plots. The murder conspiracy involving the three prison guards became the most prominent case publicly tied to his work. Moore wore a wire during key meetings, capturing direct admissions from the plotters. Investigators also relied on court records and trial transcripts to corroborate the recordings and tie the suspects to the conspiracy.

The operation was unusually long-running for a domestic-terrorism informant case, and Moore's role placed him at significant personal risk. He continued to live among the men he was reporting on, maintaining his cover as a senior Klan security figure while quietly steering the FBI toward the most dangerous operators in the group.

Trial and Verdict

The three prison guards were identified, removed from their positions, and prosecuted in connection with the conspiracy. The specific charges, court, and sentencing details are not fully captured in the publicly available reporting summarized here, but the case is consistently described as resolved through prosecution rather than left open. Because the planned killing was prevented, the prosecution centered on conspiracy-related offenses rather than a completed homicide.

Today

The case became widely known after an Associated Press investigation by reporter Jason Dearen detailed Moore's decade inside the Klan and the murder plot he helped stop. ABC News Studios and Hulu later produced a documentary titled 'Grand Knighthawk', focusing on Moore's identity, motivations, and the operational details of the infiltration. Additional video coverage has explored the broader implications for white-supremacist infiltration of U.S. correctional systems.

The case is now frequently cited in discussions of extremist networks inside American law enforcement and corrections, and Moore himself has spoken publicly about the experience. It stands as one of the most detailed publicly documented examples of a long-term FBI human-source operation targeting the modern Ku Klux Klan.