Quick viewing(Text Mode)

Racist Skinheads Understanding the Threat

Racist Skinheads Understanding the Threat

LAW ENFORCEMENT SPECIAL REPORT

Intelligencepublished by The Southern Poverty Law CenterReport

ROLL CALL VIDEO ON Racijst

Enclosed

racist skinheads understanding the threat

racist movement history // GLOSSARY // timeline // symbols

Intelligence Report intelligence report EDITOR Mark Potok

intelligence project director Heidi Beirich

SENIOR EDITOR Skinheads Booth Gunter staff writers Ryan Lenz, Leah Nelson, Evelyn Schlatter

chief investigator in America Joseph Roy Sr. senior intelligence analyst Racist skinheads are among the most danger- Laurie Wood information manager ous radical-right threats facing law enforcement Michelle Bramblett today. The products of a frequently violent and research analysts Anthony Griggs, Janet Smith

criminal subculture, these men and women, typ- program associate ically imbued with neo-Nazi beliefs about , Karla Griffin researchers blacks, homosexuals and others, are also noto- Angela Freeman, Karmetriya Jackson riously difficult to track. Organized into small, design director Russell Estes

mobile “crews” or acting individually, skinheads SENIOR DESIGNER tend to move around frequently and often with- Valerie Downes designers out warning, even as they network and organize Michelle Leland, Scott Phillips, Sunny Paulk across regions. For law enforcement, this poses a web production Caroline Zilk particular problem in responding to crimes and conspiracies crossing multiple jurisdictions. As media and general inquiries Mark Potok these extremists extend their reach across the law enforcement inquiries Joseph Roy Sr. subscription requests Karla Griffin country, it is vital that law enforcement officers Southern Poverty Law Center 400 Ave. • Montgomery, AL 36104 who deal with them become familiar with the (334) 956-8200 • www.intelligencereport.org activities of skinheads nationwide. Published by The Southern Poverty Law Center’s What follows is an examination of the history Intelligence Project and nature of the skinhead movement, prepared with the needs of law enforcement officers in southern poverty law center president mind, a glossary of common skinhead terms, a J. Richard Cohen timeline, and a gallery of insignias and southern poverty law center founders Morris Dees commonly used by racist skinheads. Joseph J. Levin Jr.

southern poverty law center board of directors Howard Mandell, Chair Alan Howard, Marsha Levick, Will Little, James McElroy, Vanzetta McPherson, James Rucker, Ellen Sudow, David Wang

The Intelligence Report is published quarterly by the staff of the Intelligence Project of the Southern Poverty Law Center and provided free of charge to law enforcement officials, journalists, scholars and others. The Southern Poverty OR BI S Law Center is supported entirely by private donations. No government funds are involved. © 2012 Southern Poverty Law Center. All rights reserved. mark peterson/C 2 intelligence report special edition SKINHEADS IN AMERICA The racist skinhead movement in the United them on a darkened street, this does not make them any less fearsome. States has entered its fourth decade. Since the first Origins skinhead gangs surfaced in Texas and the Midwest The first skinheads emerged in the late in the early 1980s, this racist and violent subcul- 1960s as just one of the many distinct youth cultures that flowered in postwar ture has established itself in dozens of states from Britain. Taking elements of English “” and Jamaican immigrant fash- coast to coast and has authored some of the coun- ion, these working-class youths try’s most vicious hate crimes in memory, from crafted an identity in self-conscious opposition to the middle-class “long- to assault to . The racist skinheads’ hairs.” At various points in their early development, English skinheads posi- trademark style — shaved head, combat , tioned themselves as tough working- bomber jacket, neo-Nazi and white power tattoos class counterpoints to foppish mods, long-haired , mohawked punks — has become a fixture in American culture. and made-up goths. The skinhead style first emerged The scowling skinhead has joined the the 1960s and ’70s, whose vision and as part of a non-racist and multira- hooded Klansman as an immediately turf was limited to the East London cial scene. White skinheads took on a recognizable icon of hate. neighborhoods in which they grew up persona that reflected admiration for Unlike the Klan, racist skinhead cul- and lived. and kinship with a new generation of ture is not native to the . The growth of the racist skinhead working-class West Indian immigrants And unlike the Klan, it is a truly global movement has mirrored the rise in into the . Like the phenomenon, with skinhead gangs non-white immigration to the West. Jamaican immigrants of the time, the haunting major cities and towns in just As the hues of and North first skinheads were clean-cut, neat, and about every white-majority country on America have darkened with steady sharp-looking compared to the shaggier earth. From to and post-World War II immigration from youth styles of the period. (White skin- to America, working-class Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, a heads eventually lost their affinity for youths can be found dressed in some nativist backlash has appeared in both as Rastafarian fashions became local variation on the skinhead theme, mainstream and extremist forms. The ascendant, with their overtones of black espousing a crude worldview that is skinhead movement is the most violent pride and pan-Africanism.) viciously anti-foreigner, anti-black, and ideologically crude form of this Many early white skinheads were anti-gay, and anti-Semitic. In recent backlash. Depending on the country, vaguely nationalistic and “proud to be years, the Internet and cheap interna- racist skinheads may have shadowy British,” but their deepest loyalties lay tional airfares have allowed skinhead ties to radical parties participating in with their childhood chums and the

ON groups across the planet to communi- electoral . Skinhead groups in local soccer team, not the “white race,” AN L C cate and organize in ways that would the U.S. lack such connections, but for as professed by today’s racist skin-

KE VI N S have shocked the original skinheads of those unlucky enough to encounter heads. While known for their youthful

intelligence report special edition 3 aggression, petty criminality, and soc- and words of . In 1975, the reported in Texas and the Midwest, cer stadium , this activity was gained a charismatic among other places. But the movement seen as born out of economic hardship leader in the form of Michael McLaugh- only started gaining national attention and a general spirit of bully-boy rebel- lin, who reached out to the racist skin- during the last third of the decade. It lion — not blind race hatred. Indeed, heads and appealed to their sensibilities was then that skinhead gangs like the the first skinhead music was and skills by emphasizing violence and Dallas made a splash and , both black musical forms; the street-level hate. with violent racist attacks on immi- earliest targets of white skinheads’ an- Between the arrival of Michael grants and blacks. ger and homemade weapons were each McLaughlin in 1975 and the election The most important skinhead gang in other and rival soccer fans. of Margaret Thatcher as British prime raising the American movement’s early But a split between racist and non- minister in 1979, the first hardcore neo- profile was Chicago’s CASH (Chicago racist skinheads was apparent and Nazi skinheads were born. Area Skin Heads), which made national began deepening soon after the style headlines with a brutal 1987 crime spree was born. By the early ’70s, skinhead Skinheads in the US. that involved assaults on six Hispanic attacks on South Asian immigrants in The neo-Nazi skinhead phenomenon women, painted on three London — the infamous sport of “Paki spread quickly to the United States. By , and numerous incidents of bashing” — had become an international the early 1980s, skinhead activity was vandalism to Jewish-owned business. news story. These violent skinheads had not yet acquired the trappings of neo- Nazi costumes and ideology, but they were already acting like Hitler’s goon squads, the brown shirts. One skinhead explained a typical “Paki bash” to a Time magazine journalist in 1970: “You go up to them and bump into them, and then you nut [forehead bash] them right, and then you hit them, and as they go down you give them a kicking, bash them with an iron bar, and take their watches and rings and things like that.” More than 50 such attacks were reported within a span of weeks in 1970, triggering street protests by British South Asians. A definitive break between racist and non-racist skins had occurred. During the early to mid-’70s, Eng- land’s skinheads went into temporary decline. They experienced a revival in 1976, when a new generation of skin- heads started earning a fresh reputa- tion for violence through attacks on punks, homosexuals, and immigrants. Fueling these attacks and cementing the new racist skinhead identity was increasing association with two neofas- cist political parties, the National Front and the British Movement. The latter, founded by longtime neo-Nazi in 1968, did the most to stamp a on the racist sector of the skin- head movement. The British Movement ran candidates in the 1974 U.K. general elections who espoused neo-Nazi ideas ON AN L

and wore swastikas while handing out C party literature featuring the image KE VI N S

4 intelligence report special edition The leader of CASH was an ex-con and with his teenage son, John, Metzger After spreading throughout the South, former member of the American Nazi sought to ground the dispersed move- Hammerskin-affiliated gangs began ap- Party named Clark Martell. ment in ideology and direct its wild pearing on the east and west coasts in In the mid-1980s, Martell played the and chaotic youthful energy into build- the early 1990s. role of a skinhead Johnny Appleseed, ing smart, well-trained, and obedient It was out of these geographi- performing around Chicago with his street cells around the country. In 1988, cally disparate Hammerskin gangs punk band Romantic Violence and pass- organized the first major that Hammerskin Nation (HSN) was ing out American newsletters hate rock festival in the U.S., Aryan formed in 1994. The idea was to unite and copies of National Socialist Skinhead Fest, in Oklahoma. all of the regional Hammerskin groups magazine between his band’s sets. Mar- It was also in 1988 that Metzger’s into a national and even international tell’s neo-Nazi recruiting drive caught efforts bore their most bitter fruit. In force, with affiliated chapters in Eu- the attention of Chicago’s numerous November, WAR Youth representative rope. And for a while, the plan worked. “traditional,” or non-racist, skinheads, Dave Mazella visited Portland, Ore., Hammerskin Nation established itself including a number of African Ameri- to train and guide members of a local as the most powerful skinhead or- cans. (According to Chicago punk lore, skinhead crew, East Side . ganization in the country during the the city’s skinhead scene was founded During this visit, a group of Portland mid- and late ’90s. At its peak, HSN by black, non-racist skins). Enjoying the skins under Mazella’s tutelage attacked directed nearly 30 chapters and ran a successful record label, publishing house, and website. The HSN sym- The scowling skinhead has joined bol of two crossed hammers swept the skinhead scene. And an annual the hooded Klansman as an immedi- meeting and concert, Hammerfest, was launched in 1999, allowing HSN ately recognizable icon of hate. members from around the world to advantage of vastly superior numbers, a group of Ethiopian immigrants in the meet and organize. Throughout this anti-racist crews such as Skinheads of middle of a street with steel-toed boots period of Hammerskin ascendancy, Chicago (SHOC) routinely ganged up on and a baseball bat. One of them, gradu- the racist skinhead movement contin- CASH skins at shows and in the streets. ate student Mulugeta Seraw, died from ued to grow and was responsible for “They grew out of what we are — the his wounds. Although Metzger would hundreds of racially motivated crimes punk scene — so it’s up to us to combat later lose a bruising $12.5 million law- around the country. It was also during them,” a member of the Chicago Anti- brought against his organization this period, in 1997, that Denver police Racist Action (ARA) skinhead crew told by the Southern Poverty Law Center officer Bruce Vander Jagt became the the Chicago Tribune. and the Anti- League — a first American police officer killed in By the time Martell and the other five suit that effectively wrecked WAR the line of duty by a racist skinhead. CASH skins were arrested for a grue- as an organization capable of putting Hammerskin dominance failed to some 1987 attack on a former member, skinheads into the street — he contin- outlast the decade, however. As early CASH had been more or less beaten ues propaganda efforts to this day from as 1999, Hammerskins around the into submission by anti-racist skins. a new base in Indiana. But Metzger’s country were complaining in private But Martell had merely proven he was current operation is limited to a radio and on message boards about the ahead of his time, and his defeat was show and a website (resist.com) that heavy-handed and “elitist” leadership local. When he first started recruiting is largely devoted to racist and anti- style of the organization’s top officers. for CASH, there were likely fewer than Semitic “humor.” The number of HSN chapters dropped 200 racist skinheads in the United Sates. The murder of Mulugeta Seraw was off, with new regional groups rising By 1989, when he was convicted of home hardly unique during the American up and loudly asserting their indepen- invasion, aggravated battery, and robbery skinhead movement’s growth years. dence. Chief among these renegade and sentenced to 11 years in prison, there Indeed, there were scores of brutal skinhead groups were, first, the Outlaw were an estimated 3,000. skinhead assaults around the country Hammerskins, and then the Hoosier A major force behind this national during the late ’80s and early ’90s, State Skinheads in Indiana and the growth spurt was Tom Metzger, a Fall- including the cold-blooded Ohio State Skinheads, which in 2004 brook, Calif.-based former Klansman of black men in Birmingham, Ala., and merged to form the Vinlanders Social and longtime leader of the neo-Nazi Arlington, Texas. Club, a.k.a. the Vinlanders. In 2005, group (WAR). Those responsible for these murders the Vinlanders hosted the first Blood & Around 1986, Metzger formed WAR included members of the dreaded Con- Honour USA Council, a unity meet- Youth and launched an organized federate Hammerskins, a confederation ing of regional skinhead crews also skinhead outreach campaign. Together of skinheads founded in Dallas in 1987. known as the Council 28 (because B is

intelligence report special edition 5 the second letter of the alphabet and H anti-immigrant, anti-black, and anti- head movement. the eighth), in Ohio. It is at this annual Semitic. Groups such as , had been originally founded in 1993 gathering that skins would, accord- Skullhead, and No Remorse forged a by , a young Canadian ing to the Vinlanders web site, “meet common skinhead culture in sweaty, skinhead who also started the band yearly with other crews and exchange beer-soaked, makeshift concert halls, RAHOWA (an for Racial ideas and debate direction and tactics.” with lyrics professing brotherhood Holy War), which was one of the most And drink lakes of beer, of course. among whites and violent, uncompro- popular and influential hate-rock bands Incredibly violent, full of swagger, mising antagonism to outsiders of all of the period. Bernie Farber of the Ca- and loathe to take orders from anyone, kinds. The early hate-rock skinhead nadian Jewish Congress has described the Vinlanders were thought to repre- scene in Britain coalesced around what Burdi as one of the most effective sent the future in a more decentralized were known as the “Rock Against Com- recruiters for the movement in history. skinhead scene. But in the first weeks of munism” (RAC) concerts, the first of (Burdi has since renounced hate and 2007, Vinlanders founder Brien James, which was held in Leeds in 1978. RAC embraced Eastern mysticism.) a particularly violent racist, posted a shows were organized in opposition The first label to seriously challenge notice on the group’s website announc- to the earlier “Rock Against ” the dominance of Resistance Records ing that the group was separating itself concerts, a series of musical events was Minnesota-based Panzerfaust, “from the racist movement.” The an- meant to counter growing racist cur- named after a Nazi-era German anti-tank nouncement explained: “We do not see rents in English culture. A subgenre of weapon. Before imploding amid a scandal anything positive being accomplished, punk that often veered toward racism involving the non-Aryan heritage of its for our nation or our people, by par- was known as Oi!, which soon became founder, Anthony Pierpont, Panzerfaust ticipating in the white racialist move- global (if not completely accurate) was best known for a failed 2005 plan to ment as it stands. We have attempted shorthand for skinhead music. distribute 100,000 hate-rock sampler CDs to change this movement from within By the mid-1980s, a racist skinhead in schoolyards across the nation. and have not succeeded. It is our opin- culture defined by loud hate-rock, cases The impact of U.S. hate rock is not ion that a large number of the people of cheap beer, bloody “ parties” limited to the United States. Since the involved in the greater movement are directed against immigrants and oth- production, performance, and distribu- paid informants, social outcasts, and ers, and the flagrant display of neo- tion of such music is illegal in many general losers in life.” Nazi iconography and paraphernalia countries in Western Europe, the U.S., But the fourth decade of skinheads in had spread to Western Europe and with its First Amendment guarantees of America finds skinhead groups grow- North America. Although focused on a free speech, has become a main provider ing. The number of skinhead groups has skinhead gang in Melbourne, Australia, of music to skinheads internationally increased dramatically in recent years, the 1992 Russell Crowe film “Romper (just as U.S. computer servers host most totaling 133 by 2012. These new groups Stomper” paints a particularly vivid European hate sites in order to keep are defined by a violent gangster ethos and well-researched picture of the day- their owners clear of European anti- that is only partly informed by racist and to-day life of skinheads immersed in hate legislation). This relationship was neo-Nazi ideology. this culture. (A later film that explored built in part by the outreach programs of the racist skinhead culture, this one Resistance Records under George Burdi, Music & Culture set in , was 1998’s “American who used to offer Eastern Europeans Along with exposure to extremist History X,” starring Edward Norton.) CDs at 90% discounts, as well as free political parties and hate literature, The importance of music in grow- license to reproduce the music. music has always been a key element ing the worldwide skinhead movement New media platforms — including in the growth of the racist skinhead cannot be overstated. William Pierce, social networking sites like MySpace subculture. This is appropriate, as the leader of the neo-Nazi National Alli- and twitter and video file-sharing sites original skinhead scene was based ance until his death in 2002, under- like YouTube — are being used by racist around clubs playing ska and reg- stood well the potential impact of hate- skinhead groups to recruit and expose gae. The hard-driving rock-and-roll rock. “Music speaks to us at a deeper others to their views. favored by today’s racist skinheads level than books or political rhetoric: both exploits and channels the youth- music speaks directly to the soul,” said The International Scene ful energy of members and potential Pierce, author of the seminal hate-lit The connections between racist skin- teenage recruits. novel, . heads in the U.S. and Europe are not The importance of music in building Putting this insight into practice, limited to hate-rock catalogs. With the the racist skinhead scene was apparent Pierce purchased the ailing hate- rise of the Internet, groups scattered by the late ’70s, when a hate-rock scene rock label and distributor Resistance across the globe have been able to com- exploded alongside the Records in 1999 and built the company municate and link up as never before, movement, spreading lyrics that were into a major force in the world skin- transforming the skinhead movement

6 intelligence report special edition from an exclusively neighborhood- based phenomenon into a global culture RACIST SKINHEAD GLOSSARY with common points of reference and 14/88: Common white supremacist Hammerskins: A nationwide skinhead even annual events. The ease with code. 14 stands for the “14 words” syndicate, also known as Hammerskin which interested parties can access hate slogan coined by David Lane, who is Nation, with regional factions and chap- literature and music online has also serving a 190-year sentence for his ters that once dominated skin subcul- given rise to the phenomenon of the part in the assassination of a Jewish ture nationwide. “internet Nazi” — young fellow travelers talk show host: “We must secure the who are not part of organized skinhead HSN: Hammerskin Nation. existence of our people and a future for gangs but who profess allegiance to the white children.” 88 means “Heil Hitler,” HFFH: “Hammerskin Forever Forever movement’s code and support purvey- as H is the eighth letter of the alphabet. Hammerskin.” ors of skinhead paraphernalia with online orders. 28: Shorthand for Blood and Honour, a Hang-around: A young person who The country with the worst skin- skinhead group. associates with skinheads but is not yet a probate (see below), akin to a head problem today is , where it 38: Confederate Hammerskins, the gangbanger “wannabe.” is estimated there are tens of thousands southern faction of Hammerskin of active neo-Nazi skinheads, includ- Nation (see below). Probate: A “member in waiting” who is ing thousands in the capital alone. In on probation for a set amount of time Boot party: Beating a victim to the recent years, immigrants, students and before he or she becomes a full-fledged ground then stomping and kicking him even senior embassy staff from Asian member of a skinhead crew. and African nations have been the or her with steel-toed boots. RAHOWA: Short for “Racial Holy victims of assaults and murders on the Braces: . streets of . War,” a slogan that originally came out Crew: Skinhead gang or faction. As in Western European countries, of the neo-Nazi Church of the Creator; Russian skinhead violence often dovetails Colors: Marks identifying affiliation; also the name of a defunct band. with soccer hooliganism. A 2002 report in can be tattoos, patches on jackets, etc. Red laces: Bootlace color indicating the The Nation described the trend: Curbing, curb job: Breaking a victim’s wearer has shed blood for the skinhead “In the past few years a curious jaw or neck by forcing his or her face movement. Racist skinheads will often synthesis of the soccer hooligan and against a street curb and kicking the randomly attack non-whites to “earn” skinhead movements has been observed back of the victim’s head; popularized their red laces. steadily gaining strength in the city. in the 1998 movie “American His- It’s no longer uncommon in Moscow Spider web : Racist skinhead tory X.” to see crowds of 300-400 soccer fans “badge of honor,” often worn on the — dressed in the black bomber jackets Dr. Martens (a.k.a. Doc Martens): elbow, indicating wearer has committed and black boots popularized by German Brand of durable boots popular with murder for the skinhead movement. skinheads — loitering on the streets in skinheads as well as young people in SHARP: Short for Skinheads Against the city’s outer regions, and not always all walks of life, though skins lace the Racial , commonly known on the same nights as soccer matches.” boots differently (see “straight-laced”) as SHARP skins, who often battle Some of these skinheads, the article and wear either red or white laces racist skins. notes, have been seen wearing the arm- (see below). Skinbyrd: Female skinhead. bands of the neo-Nazi Russian National Homey sock: Pool ball in a sock Unity party, suggesting links between wrapped in tape so it doesn’t split open Straight-laced: A complex boot-lacing street hate and organized political when used as a weapon. system favored by racist skins who lace parties. Such links are suspected to be their boots in horizontal, straight lines common in many Western European Featherwood: Female skinhead. rather than X or cross patterns. countries, where radical parties partici- Five words: “I have nothing to say.” White laces: Bootlace color identifying pate in electoral politics in recent years Skinheads are exhorted to give this a skinhead as being “white power,” as with sobering success. standard response to any and all media opposed to a non-racist (“traditional”) Across Europe, radical parties are and law enforcement inquiries. or anti-racist skin. on the rise, exploiting fears over im- : Brand of polo shirt favored migration. In several of these coun- ZOG: Shorthand for “Zionist Occupation by skinheads. tries, associations have been traced [or Occupied] Government,” reflecting between skinhead gangs and parties Fresh cut: A newly indoctrinated skin- the neo-Nazi conspiracy theory that the with representatives in regional and head whose head has recently been American government is secretly con- national bodies.  shaved for the first time. trolled by a powerful Jewish cabal. Bryon and Julie Widner decided to quit the world of hate. But former comrades, and Bryon’s tattoos, made it an uphill struggle

Bryon and Julie Widner were hard-core racists. Bryon, nick- named “Babs,” was so committed to the cause that he tat- tooed his body with racist emblems, including his face, which depicted a bloody straight razor, his weapon of choice. Now 34, Bryon co-founded the Vinlanders Social Club, once one of the most notorious and violent racist skinhead outfits in the country. Julie, now 40, became a leader in the neo-Nazi Na- tional Alliance during approximately the same period. In 2005, Bryon and Julie met at a hate music event and it changed their lives. They married later that year and had a son (they also are raising Julie’s other four children together). After spend- ing 16 years as a vicious brawler and razor-carrying skinhead enforcer, Bryon realized he didn’t want to raise his family in the hostile culture he once embraced. But he knew that his marked face would forever frustrate his efforts to rejoin the respectable world. In a courageous move, the Widners reached out to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), their longtime enemies, for help. Against daunting odds, both Widners made a permanent break with their pasts. Bryon’s path entailed excruciating physical pain, as he underwent some two dozen laser treatments to remove the tattoos from his face and neck that made it impossible for him to find work. The treatments, which were documented in the MSNBC film “Erasing Hate,” were made possible by a generous donor to the SPLC, which had long tracked the Widners. Bryon and Julie Widner spoke to the Intelligence Report in September about the white supremacist movement and why they left it.

What first drew you to the movement? style. To impress him, I shaved my head weren’t many in Albuquerque. I met my BRYON WIDNER: I first became a skin- and drew swastikas and upside-down first when I was head at 14. We lived in Albuquerque, crosses on my jacket. I got beat up a lot about 17, when a whole crop just came N.M., in the predominantly Mexican for this. Any normal person would have out of nowhere. This was long before North Valley. When I was young, I grown their hair out and quit. I decided the Internet. There was no way of get- didn’t like . I learned about to stick with it, probably because in that ting information easily. If you wanted to skinheads from a relative who was one area white kids got jumped a lot. hear racist music, you had to mix a tape. in the late 1980s. He didn’t indoctrinate But I didn’t meet any serious white We had to do it old school. me; he just gave me a taste of the life- power skinheads for some time; there JULIE WIDNER: My parents

8 intelligence report special edition Interview conducted by Laurie Wood. intelligence report special edition 9 divorced when I was about 9 and my nization] in 2005. The nametags had was dating a stripper. I have always been mom ended up a single parent. She your name and your screen anti-smut. I didn’t even know he had a worked all the time. When I was 13, I name, so we got to know each other. girlfriend, because he would call me and had a mohawk, a swastika shaved on one say, “What are you wearing?” I would say, side of my head, and an anarchy sign on Tell me about your time in the movement. “What do you mean what am I wearing? the other. Even though I was living in BRYON: After the Soldiers [of the New I’m in my pajamas, let’s talk business.” I a very nice part of Arizona, I would tell Reich] fell apart, we went our sepa- talked to Gliebe a lot on the phone and people Hitler wasn’t that bad of a per- rate ways. I got into some legal trouble, all of a sudden I find out that he’s marry- son. I didn’t think of myself as a racist. bounced around and landed in Indiana. ing a stripper? Even worse, in 2002, when I was just rebelling against society. But In 1999, I met the guys from the Gliebe told me [NA founder and long- I know now that I was raised in a fam- Northern Hammerskins [a racist skin- time leader] William Pierce died, he said ily with racist beliefs. My father raised us head group]. They were all huge body Pierce had a huge pornography collec- in that environment, in the Detroit area. builders. They were completely covered tion. So when I found out, it was an easy You kept to yourself, didn’t intermingle, in tattoos, frightening looking and a solid decision to make, I was gone. I joined [the didn’t date someone not of your race. unit. Their leader, Jeremy Robinson, racist skinhead outfit] , I got pregnant with my first son at was really charismatic. He was the kind but I never got my patch. 17 and dropped out of high school. I of guy you would follow to the gates of had two kids by 19 and a failed relation- hell. But I never got my patch because of How did the Vinlanders Social Club ship, but it wasn’t until my late 20s that legal trouble — I would get in bar fights. come about? I actually found the movement. I met I always had anger issues. BRYON: I was basically the last man some skins from Tempe, Ariz., and they Once I cleared up my legal prob- in OHS. The day after I turned in my thought since I was new I should take lems, the Outlaw Hammerskins [OHS] patch, Brien James started talking to baby steps. And baby steps meant join- had formed. Jeremy [Robinson] remem- me about forming the Hoosier State ing the National Alliance [NA]. bered me from the parties that I went to, Skins. A bunch from OHS jumped on but I didn’t see him for a couple years board, Eric [“The Butcher”] Fairburn, What about the racist scene appealed because I was in and out of jail. I brought Jon Carr. We were blackballed from the to you? [future Vinlanders Social Club (VSC) co- movement because of OHS’s threats BRYON: It was a family thing. I was a founder] Brien James to meet Jeremy, against the Hammers. We really didn’t street kid, a chronic runaway. It got to and we got drunk. Our claim to fame as the point that my dad told me to call OHS was the fact that we basically took every couple of weeks to let him know on the Hammerskin Nation [then a dom- I was alive. So I didn’t have any family inant racist skinhead federation that but my new family, a small skin group included the Northern Hammerskins] we called the Soldiers of the New Reich. and showed they were too chicken shit I found out later that my family really to shoot us. All the other skinhead did care about me. crews saw that the Hammers were JULIE: For me, it was the excite- a joke. Our tattoos and Web pres- ment, because I had been a single mom ence made us look like a very, for so long. All I did was work and take very extreme group. For the care of kids. And one of the skins I met most part, we just kept to our- from NA meetings, I ended up marrying selves, and it was very rare if him. I joined the NA in 2002 or 2003. anyone was shot or stabbed. After my husband died in a car crash in But OHS fell apart after 2003, I became even more active after Jeremy left around 2002 or moving to Michigan. I was alone with 2003. He was paranoid and the kids and they took me in as family. scared and just gave up. And I was really active on [the rac- JULIE: I was a loyal NA ist Web forum] Stormfront.org. I even activist for years. Things ended up moving some prominent rac- changed after I found out that ists to my town and some stayed in [NA Chairman] my house. I traveled with a bunch to EURO [European American Unity and Skinheads, a love story: Bryon and Julie Rights conference, a gathering of white Widner were some of the toughest rac- supremacists held near New Orleans by ist activists on the scene. Then they met, former Klansman ’s orga- and everything began to change.

10 intelligence report special edition care. We told everyone on the Net that "I was preaching white women are the holiest we were a white power group and if they didn’t like it, they could fuck off. things in the world, but they thought they looked But Brien had delusions of grandeur better with black eyes. I didn’t want to say that he was the next führer and would take over the white power movement. anything because I was afraid they’d shoot me." Even so, I jumped on board because it gave me a chance to beat up some Hammerskins. I was an enforcer, after all. If another crew was worth a damn, end to that. But there was another tent that. I contacted [black anti-racist I would bring them on board and run with another girl that the guys were tak- activist] Daryl Jenkins and we became off all their buddies. But the ego battles ing turns with, too. It was supposed to be friends. Then I reached out to former between Brien and Eric started to really a family event! By the time Bryon and I skinhead T.J. Leyden, whom I’d been hurt VSC. Everybody thought Eric was started talking after Nordic Fest, we had following on the Web. He told me to call the VSC “president” because he was so much to talk about and we were on the SPLC. That was February 2006. loudest on the Internet. And he loved it. the same page. And six or seven months But Brien didn’t. after that, we got married and Bryon What was it like sitting down with your came to live with me in Michigan. mortal enemies? When did things start to go sour? And then it got worse because Bryon’s BRYON: It was incredibly strange. I BRYON: My doubts started even in buddies were mad that he was closer to mean, [SPLC co-founder] Morris Dees? OHS. My brothers abused women. I had his family than them. Here we are try- He was the guy that hid under your always been very adamant about not ing to make a life — we’re married and bed and shut down your crews, Public kicking the crap out of girls. My image having a child — and everybody is turn- Enemy Number One. I was nervous. of a skinhead was basically a guy who ing against us. Then Eric [Fairburn] worked hard and took care of his busi- came to see what we were up to. They How did your tattoos affect your life at ness. Your work and family comes first were partying every day. One we this point? and after that you make time for the were at a lake and the guys were trying BRYON: I couldn’t get any decent jobs. guys. But apparently that just wasn’t to get Bryon to come with them. They Half of the people wouldn’t give me an the deal. I was preaching white women were all hell-bent on kicking some guy’s application because of the way I looked. are the holiest things in the world, but ass, some Klan member. I leave, go home It sucked and I needed to feed my family. they thought they looked better with and I get a phone call asking what medi- I even talked to Julie about getting some black eyes. I didn’t want to say any- cations is Bryon on—he’s at the hospital dermal acid on eBay. I was going to test thing because I was afraid they’d shoot and the doctor wants to know. it out on my hands first and see how it me. The OHS guys were pretty scary, so Here we are trying be a family and worked and I was going to douse my face I just keep my mouth shut. One of the they come out and they start drinking in it. I figured if I did that enough times crutches I used was alcohol. and Bryon is at the hospital. They’re try- the tattoos would come off. What hypocrites! I mean, nobody ing to tell me that it’s none of my business cared about their kids, or their family. as his wife. After that, Bryon decided no Tell us about why the film “Erasing They had bastard children all across the more drinking, because we fought, too, Hate” was so important to you? country. They didn’t pay child support. when he drank. And that’s also when the BRYON: I agreed to do the first couple All they cared about was drinking and phone calls started, around the middle of laser treatments without anesthe- committing felonies. of the summer of 2006. They were call- sia. It was one of the most excruciating JULIE: It started for me at Nordic ing at 3:30 a.m. and hanging up or saying, things that I’ve done in my life. But I Fest [a major white power concert in “You’re going to die.” felt like I deserved it. It was penance. Kentucky in May 2005], where I first It took 24 separate treatments to get met Bryon. Nordic Fest reconfirmed con- How did you actually leave the the tattoos off. But if I can prevent one cerns I already had. None of the women movement? other kid from making the same mis- I’d met had their children. It seems like BRYON: There wasn’t any kind of defin- takes I did, if I can prevent one other all the skinhead chicks had their kids itive moment when I just said, “I’m family from having to go through what taken away or their parents were raising done.” It was the culmination of a lot of I put my family through, maybe I can them. It’s about drinking and partying — things as I slowly opened my eyes. Once redeem myself. And it’s really amazing. not about furthering any agenda. the death threats started happening … People have said that I have touched And then at Nordic Fest, there was It was the most ridiculous, unbrotherly their life in positive ways. I never once a 17-year-old girl and she was in a tent thing in the world. That’s when I hung thought I would ever touch anyone’s life having guys go back and forth. I put an up my boots. Julie was done long before — except maybe by punching them. s

intelligence report special edition 11 RACIST SKINHEADS

CIRCA white supremacist group White Aryan Resis- 1969//////////////////// tance (WAR). 1991//////////////////// The original skinhead subculture explodes In June, more than 60 Aryan National Front among urban, working-class youths in Brit- //////////////////// (ANF) skinheads and Klansmen march ain, combining style elements drawn from 1988 through downtown Birmingham in a dramatic white “Mods” and West Indian “Rudeboys.” Skinhead violence erupts across the United show of force. Though tinged with soccer hooliganism, States, with scores of violent attacks and mur- traditional skinhead culture is not racist ders recorded over the next four years. (to this day, there are black “trad” skins). Tom Metzger and son John organize the first EARLY hate rock festival, Aryan Fest, which is held in Oklahoma. //////////////// 1980s A flying chair breaks the nose of televi - British skinhead scene factionalizes. White sion talk show host Geraldo Rivera during a power skinheads develop a separate sub- brawl between skinhead gang leaders and culture based on the white nationalist music African-American activists on the set of of “Rock Against “The Geraldo Rivera Show.” //////////////////// Communism” 1992 In April, members of the skinhead gang ANF bands like Skrew- murder a homeless black man in Birmingham, driver, Skullhead, Ala., after attending a Hitler birthday party. and No Remorse who opposed the “Rock Against //////////////////// Racism” concerts 1994 Regional Hammerskin factions unite under of anti-racist skins. the common banner of Hammerskin Nation CIRCA (HSN). //////////////////// Skinhead gang leader Randall Lee Krager 1982 forms in Oregon. Racist skinheads begin to appear in U.S. in Members of the Confederate Hammerskins significant numbers. patrol Robert E. Lee Park in Dallas, beating //////////////////// any non-white they come across. The gang is 1995 CIRCA ultimately linked to 40 crimes, including the Southern California skinhead Randall Rojas vandalism of a Dallas . Police foil a beats a homeless black man to death behind 1986//////////////////// plot by armed Hammerskins to destroy Jewish a fast-food restaurant. Romantic Violence, also known as CASH businesses on Nov. 9, the 50th anniversary of (Chicago Area Skinheads), takes form as , the Nazi also known as //////////////////// one of the first true racist skinhead gangs in the “Night of Broken Glass.” 1997 the United States, followed in short order by Bruce Vander Jagt becomes the Confederate Hammerskins in Dallas. Ethiopian immigrant Mulugeta Seraw is the firstA merican police offi- beaten to death by members of East Side cer killed in the line of duty by Former California Klan leader White Pride, a Portland, Ore., gang with close a racist skinhead when he’s Tom Metzger forms the ties to WAR. gunned down in Denver by Aryan Youth Movement, 25-year-old racist Matthaus a skinhead division of his Vander Jagt Jaehnig after a high-speed A TIMELINE OF THE MOVEMENT

Five ousted members of the Northern Region Hammerfest attendance dwindles to 150. of Hammerskin Nation form a renegade outfit they call Outlaw Hammerskins. 2003//////////////////// Hammerskin Nation reorganizes and throws The number of skinhead chapters nationwide its first Hammerfest, the group’s signature more than doubles, due mostly to the rapidly hate rock festival, in rural Bremen, Ga. More increasing strength of independent, regional than 600 skinheads from across the country skinhead crews, most notably the Hoosier attend. State Skins (Indiana and Illinois), the Ohio chase. The next week, a dead pig bearingV ander State Skinheads, and the Pennsylvania-based Jagt’s name is dumped outside a Denver police /////////////////// Keystone State Skinheads. substation, and Denver skinheads Nathan Thill 2000 and Jeremiah Barnum murder While Hammerskin Nation remains the /////////////////// a West African immigrant nation’s largest skinhead organization, the 2004 they encounter at a bus stop. number of HSN chapters drops from 27 to 19. Non-Hammerskin crews continue to evolve Thill later tells a reporter that and unify. he killed Oumar Dia because //////////////////// he was “wearing the enemy’s 2001 Members of the Hoosier State Skins and Ohio Nathan Thill uniform” — his black skin. Midland Hammerskin Shane McCormick stabs State Skinheads — including several former a black man in a restaurant. Outlaw Hammerskins — form the Vinlanders //////////////////// Social Club, also known as the Vinlanders, a 1998 skinhead “warrior ” devoted to drinking, Independent Nazi Skins gang leader John fighting, and a racist form ofO dinism, a pagan “Polar Bear” Butler ambushes and kills two once practiced by Norse . Anti-Racist Action members in the desert outside Las Vegas on the Fourth of July. //////////////////// 1999 Shane McCormick Florida skinheads attack interracial couples, killing a woman and a child in two separate incidents. Hammerfest attendance drops to 220 as HSN’s (p i g) v e Buresh/ denver post a elitist posturing and relentless attempts to dic- ); D tate the rules of skinhead culture in the U.S. breed widespread resentment. 2002/////////////////// Skinhead Kevin A. Johnson beats a man to //////////////////// death outside the Courtesy Diner in St. Louis 2005 while spewing anti-Semitic epithets, although The Vinlanders host the first official Blood and his victim is not Jewish. Honour Council, a unity meeting of regional skinhead crews also known as the Council The Outlaw Hammerskins implode due to of 28 (B is the second letter of the alphabet, infighting. H is the eighth; hence, 28 stands for Blood and Honour). The council is attended by at HSN’s power continues to wane. athan th ill l do r iv era, N athan l d (gera ap w i de wor (1980s sk i nhead); or bi s/ b ettman c 2010//////////////////// Fifty people are arrested in the largest take- down of white supremacist gangs in Orange County, Calif., history after a two-year federal probe dubbed “Operation Stormfront.” Mem- bers of the , La Miranda Punks, West Coast Costa Mesa Skins, Nazi Low Riders, O.C. Skins and Public Enemy Number 1 are charged with a variety of crimes, including extortion, conspiracy, solicitation of aggravated assault and murder, criminal fraud, and illegal firearms and narcotics sales.

More than a dozen members or associates of the Arizona faction of the Vinlanders are arrested on charges that include aggravated least 60 members of more than a dozen white The Hammerskins and the Vinlanders Social assault, murder, drug possession and miscon- supremacist groups. Club declare an uneasy truce. duct involving firearms. /////////////////// Utah jail inmate and //////////////////// 2006 longtime skinhead 2011 Skinhead resurgence parallels rise in skin- Curtis Allgier allegedly American Front founder David Lynch is found head-related criminal activity. shoots and kills correc- shot to death in his California home. As of yet, tions officer Stephen no one has been charged with his murder. Kurtis William Monschke, Anderson while being head of the Washington Curtis Allgier transported from jail to Vinlanders co-founder state chapter of Volks- a local hospital. Ander- Eric Fairburn pleads front, helps three other son’s death marks the second time in a decade guilty to murder in the racist skinheads use base- a law enforcement officer is killed, allegedly, 2004 shooting death of a ball bats and rocks to beat by a racist skinhead. 57-year-old Missouri man to death a homeless white and is sentenced to life in Kurtis Monschke man in Tacoma. prison. A few months later, //////////////////// Eric Fairburn 2008 the Vinlanders hold their State or regionally based independent skin- Steven Edwards, son of a Kentucky Klan first white power concert, “Plunder and Pillage,” head crews, such as the Keystone State Skin- leader, and several associates form a new in Ohio. The truce between the Vinlanders and heads in Pennsylvania, begin to flourish. racist skinhead group called the Supreme the Hammerskins continues to hold. White Alliance. Sixty-seven alleged members of the skinhead gang Public Enemy Number 1 are arrested on Daniel Cowart, a probationary member of the ////////////////////

2012 i r b urn) g i er, fa charges including illegal weapons and drugs, Supreme White Alliance, and Paul Schlessel- Six members or associates of the Outlaws forgery and identity theft. The gang report- man are arrested in Tennessee for plotting motorcycle club and the neo-Nazi 1st SS edly had a hit list that targeted local police to assassinate President Obama and murder Kavallerie Brigade Motorcycle Division are officers and a prosecutor. more than 100 black people. In 2010, Cowart arrested on drug-related charges and charges is sentenced to 14 years in prison and Schles- relating to threats to throw a destructive selman to 10. device. They allegedly plotted to blow up

//////////////////// ll l d (a ; ap w i de wor i s monschke) u rt 2007 buildings and houses and kill rivals. American Front founder David Lynch re- TR IBU NE (k

//////////////////// S - emerges on the West Coast as a leader in the 2009 Twelve members of American Front’s cen- nationwide skinhead scene, uniting American membership rises in the wake of tral Florida crew are arrested on charges of Front crews in northern and southern Califor- the election of President Obama. Authorities conspiracy, committing a and par-

nia, Utah and Florida. Rising anti-immigrant see an increased crossover between skinhead ticipating in paramilitary training. The group .] NE W oma, WASH c sentiment helps fuel movement. crews and motorcycle gangs, spurring orga- was allegedly preparing for a “race war” and a nized criminal activity. planning an attack (which did not happen) on a May Day rally in Melbourne, Fla. / [ T ANET J ENSON J

14 intelligence report special edition Skin Symbols Insignias and Tattoos of the Racist Skinhead Underground

American Front Ohio State Skinheads/ Keystone State Vinlanders Skinheads

Volksfront Blood and Honour, Klan, Odinist iconography Vinlanders probate patch

Old school RAC logo

Skinhead merchandise United Kingdom distributor Hate rock label patch skinhead patch

American Thule Totenkopf tattoo Skinbyrd Norse runes Celtic Cross tattoo Society (“My Honor is Loyalty”) patch tattoo White power fist w/ laurels Independent skin tattoo Hate rock band patch Triskelion (“three w/Thor’s Hammer sevens”) tattoo

Fenris Wolf Pagan/ SS lightning bolts tattoo Odinist symbol tattoo Northwest Hammerskins Thor’s Hammer Hammerskin tattoo Nation

Skrewdriver life Council 28/Blood Western rune patch and Honour Council 88 boots tattoo Hammerskins Confederate Hammerskins

Skynbird spinning swastika tattoo w/ 14/88

Hammerskin Eastern prospect patch Hammerskins

Skin skull tattoo “Hammerskin Forever, Forever Hammerskin”

Midland Hammerskins

Crucified skin tattoo Nazi skin (“One people, One Totenkopf (death’s Northern Hammerskin Celtic iconography tattoo Empire, One Leader”) head) patch w/ 14/88 Hammerskins Cross tattoo

16 intelligence report special edition intelligence report special edition 16 If you are an officer who specializes in tracking racist skinheads, there is a national organization dedicated to that purpose. The Skinhead Intelligence Network — or SIN — is a unique network of officers that is meant to aid law enforcement in monitoring, tracking and pros- ecuting racist skinheads involved in criminal activity. Active-duty officers interested in more information about joining SIN can email their inquiries to [email protected]. Southern Poverty Law Center Non Profit Org. U.S. Postage 400 Washington Ave Paid Montgomery, AL 36104 Southern Poverty Law Center

The SPLC Intelligence Report Offers Online Investigative Resources The Intelligence Report is offering free online resources to help law enforcement track extremist activity in their communities and conduct criminal investigations. Check out our website and see all that we have to offer. www.intelligencereport.org

Intelligence Files intelligencereport.org/files Read our in-depth profiles about hate move- ment leaders and their groups. Learn what motivates them, how they act and how your community may be affected. Hatewatch.org intelligencereport.org/blog Don’t wait for the printed edition to get up- dates about hate groups and extremists. Read our online Hatewatch blog for current events in the world of hate. And subscribe to our free e-newsletter Hatewatch Weekly. Interactive Hate Map intelligencereport.org/hatemap Ever seen tattoos like these while on duty? Find detailed information about hate groups Everything you wanted to know about and their activities in your area. Racist Skinheads and more is available on our website. Intelligence

Learn more about our free trainings tailored for individual local, state Report and federal law enforcement agencies. Request training online. We’re more than a magazine intelligencereport.org/training

Receive a Free Subscription to Intelligence Report magazine: www.intelligencereport.org/subscribe

Top View